Posts Tagged ‘Dutch’
Cycling in heels
The kids have been riding balance bikes since May. Took them a few months to want to try them and some time after that to get past frustration, but now they tear around the house with their feet in the air. G’s been walking in her mother’s heels. A few days later she got on […]
Filed under: Dutch, Kids | 2 Comments
Tags: balance bikes, Dutch, heels, Kids, shoes
Photo by Amsterdamize The Wall Street Journal ran an article yesterday in which much puzzlement and a fair amount of scorn was directed toward the Dutch for not wearing helmets. From the lede on through, the implication is the Dutch are fools not to wear them and it is only a matter of cultural stubbornness […]
Filed under: bakfiets, cycling infrastructure, Dutch, legal | 6 Comments
Tags: bakfiets, bicycle, bike, Dutch, infrastructure
Born on a bicycle
I have the good fortune in the work that I do to have met a few Dutch people this year. When the conversation inevitably turned toward cycling, they all said the same thing: “The Dutch are born on bicycles.” The reason all that fantastic infrastructure works so well is because people start learning to use […]
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Tags: bakfiets, bicycle, bike, Dutch, infrastructure, Kids, twins
Shout outs
Two surprising shout outs from the street today. This morning on the way to the farmer’s market, we got a “look at that silly thing!” from a little girl in her lawn. Which was of course hilarious. Tonight on the way to ice cream, we passed a handful of people on a second-floor balcony. A […]
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Tags: bakfiets, bicycle, bike, Dutch, ice cream, Nederlands, neighborhood
Is that a boat?!
I’ve been riding the bakfiets full time since Mr. Blazer mashed up my Raleigh. I love my LBS, but they’re a tiny shop. With Memorial Day weekend coming up, they said they’d need at least a week and a half to order the rim and build the wheel. I could have gone to the other […]
Filed under: bakfiets, Dutch, My Bike | 7 Comments
Tags: amphibious, bakfiets, bicycle, bike, boat, Dutch
Hallo, bakfiets!
If you want, the bakfiets can take the place of a car. That’s what it does. You don’t need to live in a place without hills. You don’t need Dutch cycling infrastructure (although I wouldn’t turn it down). You need only a fair amount of urban density and the patience to ride a bike more […]
Filed under: bakfiets, Dutch, Useful Things | 7 Comments
Tags: Azor Bikes, bakfiets, bicycle, bike, Clever Cycles, drum brakes, Dutch, dynamo, internally-geared, long john, WorkCycles
Our second car…
… is a bike! It’s a Dutch bike and it’s called a bakfiets, which translates literally to box-bike. (Quick Dutch lesson: fiets = bike. That’s the singular. In Dutch, the suffix -en denotes the plural, the same way in English we say ox and oxen. So: many bikes are fietsen; many boxbikes are bakfietsen. Bike […]
Filed under: bakfiets, Dutch, My Bike, Useful Things | 3 Comments
Tags: bakfiets, bicycle, bike, Dutch, groceries
Doppelgänger
I was in Amsterdam this past fall when I happened on my bike’s Dutch doppelgänger on one of the 9 Streets. It’s an earlier model than mine; I’m guessing 1950’s because of the chaincase. It’s been well maintained and has gotten a lot of use, if the additions are any indication. Over time someone has taken […]
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Tags: 3-speed, Amsterdam, bicycle, bike, Brooks, doppelgänger, Dutch, Netherlands, Raleigh, repair
Bikes Can Work 