workbike shop in london
dean at brompton, via brompton
well-traveled frog. my son's toy frog. helps son follow travel story.
brompton factory
single-speed coaster brake porter bike.
kid seat
frog
old skool
there are about 3 cargobikes per block in some parts of amsterdam; 1 every 2 blocks is about average. paint helps keep them apart.
what happens with no rain cover.
deters saddle theft
short bak up front, xtracycle-length rear carriage. owner raved about it.
mom from brooklyn living in amsterdam pulled up on this.
i think black top would look even classier.
was going to take a video clip, but dad was scolding them pretty hard.
what's unusual is the helmeted child. most kids aren't even strapped in.
brazer's longtail love child.
Fietsfabriek. Strong on branding.
from de fietsfabriek. that shiny cylinder is for... wine? flowers? umbrella? ash tray? answer: chain lock holder.
the top left one has the bike in white cobbles, not paint. this was an amsterdam shop for "vacation bikes" -- the local term for most any bike so impractical that its like might be sold in typical US bike shops.
meat is murder poster on back.
drunken buildings.
one of the nicer trike makes.
front wheels turn independently of cargo hold, reducing cargo area significantly.
decent build. available through auto parts distributors.
a nihola (denmark)
ackerman steering
flat betrays prop status. but many are used. these are *very* heavy.
dutch longtail. note massive front rack, front kid seat in spite of huge rear accommodations. this bike weighs about 70lbs, judging by a heave the happy owner sanctioned.
2-tone rack/frame: sweet
some people ask "where do you keep such large bicycles?" outside, of course. they're no hothouse flowers.
at azor in hoogeveen. they assemble the bikes here.
this is portland's first container full of dutch workbike goodness.
baks.
schwalbe whites! sweet.
nary a disk tab nor canti stud among them.
machines can make good wheels if you let them run long enough, but it takes longer to pay off the machine if you let them run long enough to do a great job.
in case you were thinking that bikes were big only in the big dutch cities, here's a lensful of bike parking at the train station in a small-ish town. if they were cars, think maybe 6 football fields of asphalt.
el cheapo knockoff bakfiets, rusting.
...but at least it breaks down for shipping.
about an hour after i took this, i was stopped by the police. seems i looked mighty suspicious drooling over all the bikes, photoing them, etc. i explained why i was photoing them. "don't you have bikes in america?" "we have recreational bikes, not for family transport!" even if the woman cop hadn't been smoking hot, it was gratifying to see the police trying to prevent bike theft.
wood laminate rack
ugly frame, cool basket, way practical, very popular setup
what happens when you leave your brooks out in the rain. for decades.
what's that red thing?
yes, it's a street cleaner machine
felt best of the trikes in this basic design category; well made
sorte jernhest. most agile of trikes, lightest. and weird. rear linkage steering.
sorte jernhest
a bike for when you are so old or disabled that you can't lift a leg over even the lowest of top/down tubes.