> The Bakfiets Cargobike: Guest Post - Bird Dogfiets

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Guest Post - Bird Dogfiets


[Pete and Porter]


[Solas retroreflective Ducks!]


[Cece takes a turn with a friend]



Guest post from Peter E.S. Cole, Portland, Oregon:

"We are proud to join Rick and family in The Bakfiets Revolution. We have been testing it for several weeks as a kid mover, a dog hauler and a commuter/errand bike for Gamblin Artists Colors Co. If you are reading this, know that The Bakfiets Revolution will hit your neighborhood - it's not a question of if anymore, it's just a matter of when. Thank to the folks at Clever Cycles and Rick Wilson's prescience, it's probably going to be sooner rather than later.

The Bakfiets just flat out hauls. It hauls kids - to their endless delight. It hauls dogs and lulls them to calm with its heft and the hum of its tires. And it hauls ass down any hill. The good news is that the drum brakes provide reliable stopping power and first gear is low enough that you can get up most anything if need be, albeit slowly. Think of off-roading uphill in 4LO...slow and steady, nothing fancy.

After several shakedown cruises with multiple kids and the dog, we are ready to try some longer distances. Next stop: an unnamed railroad bed up an unnamed, for now, river for a bike/camp/fish durnig the salmon fly hatch. What do you say Rick?"

5 Comments:

Blogger Richard said...

Thanks for sending the photos, Pete. Am looking forward to the fishing expedition and experimental off-tarmac adventures - I volunteer to carry the cooler to smooth up the ride on those RR tracks...

12:58 PM  
Blogger Brad said...

I think that you are right Pete. A bakfiets is definitely coming to my neighborhood sometime soon. I have a question, for either Pete or Richard. I am 6'2" and my wife is 5'4". How are they sized, and is there enough adjustment to make it possible for us both to ride it comfortably?

5:09 PM  
Blogger Richard said...

Brad - they come in one size. I don't think either of you will have any problem fitting, though the seatpost may be nearly all the way inserted when your wife rides. You should only need to adjust the seatpost, the handlebars seem to work okay for everyone in one position. There's a quick release on the seat post so it only takes a few seconds to switch back and forth...

12:04 PM  
Blogger Brad said...

Richard,
Thanks for the information. I'm glad to hear that it will work for us.

7:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can't find a contact link on your blog, fyi, www.batavus.com has a USA page that lists a distributor in Seattle http://www.seattlebikesupply.com
while not a bakfiets, they are Dutch bikes.

10:18 AM  

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