My goodness but its been a week since I wrote anything here.: as you’ve probably gathered it’s been a busy one. This week, Beautiful Wife decided it was time to master the Bakfiets, and that the best way to do this was to go out for the evening with me alongside on the Xtracycle. Even Ostfildern manages to have sufficient cycle lanes to avoid running along a road much, and we followed these to a restaurant in the next town.
Beautiful wife getting used to the Bakfiets.
Her verdict: great bike, but a bit of a pull on hills, and probably not good to ride wearing a short skirt. She also found it awkward to make corners in a hurry. This we discovered when we missed a turning and she had to do a 240 degree turn to fit into the cycle lane. This was in no was due to my bad navigation. Not at all. And the driver of the car following was very nice about waiting for us to manouvre. We made the restaurant comfortably and parked the bikes be the hedge.
Bikes onna date.
They are locked, although it’s not obvious. local bike thieves wouldn’t know that this is, let alone have a market for it, so we felt pretty safe, especially as we were sitting on the other side of the hedge. The meal was punctuated by overheard conversations like this:
“What is that?”
“Is it a bicycle?”
“Can’t be…”
5 comments
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September 29, 2009 at 10:07 am
anna
Oh, it looks gorgeous. I wish I had a bike like that (and a place to park it somewhere). Looks like you have fun with it
.
September 29, 2009 at 11:51 am
Nick
Hmm, your wife has my sympathy; I would imagine, never having ridden one, that manoeuvrability in general is not one of a bakfiets’ major plus points.
September 29, 2009 at 10:33 pm
John . Dublin Ireland
How many Gears on it and how did you find it yourself going up Hills. I am not Talking about going up Steep Hills but average City Hills of about 2Hundred Metres long. I would imagine if you had to Travel a very long Hill it would be very Tiring.
On my Dutch Kruisframe which has 8 Gears it can be Hard going up Long Hills of3 Hundred Metres in the City but Do able all the same. It depends on what Condition I am in,if I have been Cycling all over the City and I am Tired.
I went a Total of 45K or 25 Miles there and back to the south side of Dublin around the Bay to a Market on Sunday to Dun Leary and Dalky and I had to go up several Hils there and back. it was hard going up the Final Hill to my Home on the Nth Side, It is a Heavy Bike but Great for keeping you fit.
October 1, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Lovely Bicycle!
That is a very attractive Bakfiets!
I also get the “what is THAT?” comment directed at my Pashley, and it is not even a cargo bike.
October 2, 2009 at 10:03 am
Andy in Germany
Hello all…
@Nick. it takes some getting used to, sure; we gain though because it’s such an unusual bike and drivers tend to give us space. Beautiful wife was a lot more confident by the end of the evening, and we went out yesterday with one of the boys in it (extra weight) and she managed. I was well proud of her.
@John: Eight gears. Compared to the Xtracycle long hills are a bit of a drag, and I certainly have to factor that in wher I plan to go anywhere. I’m doing a test run to a hilly place in half an hour so I’ll let you know how it goes. Partly because of that, the Xtracycle remains my bike of choice for most things. I’ll do a fuller review soon when I’ve had more experience.