bakfiets: "It can haul groceries"
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Someone commented about my new bakfiets cargo bike this morning that "now I could I haul groceries on the bicycle".
I had been getting groceries fine on my "normal" bike fine for some years. But you couldn't tell that from casually looking the bike.
I never once made a trip where I couldn't bring home everything I wanted. Usually just some saddle bags were used for the hauling, but occasionally a trailer was used to fetch a large bag of dog food.
But on most trips the saddle bags and trailer are left at home, so the carrying capacity isn't visible.
The importance of the bakfiets in the US now is that it is obvious that the bakfiets is built to haul. And it does in fact haul a lot. I believe it's rated to haul about 250 lbs of cargo or kids, plus the weight of the driver. (That's 175 lbs in the bucket, and 75 more on the rear rack).
The bakfiets instantly communicates its practically, without the need to explain how racks, saddle bags and a trailer can extend the capacity of a common bike.
With a bakfiets cargo bike, it's easy to visualize how a parent could take a kid or two kids to the grocery and have room to haul everyone and everything back. The bakfiets is much easier to see as a car-replacement vehicle.
Biking
I live in Anchorage, and the advent of mountain bikes, and more recently studded tires for mountain bikes as well as very bright led bike lights, has meant there are more and more people biking all winter. A bike friendly mayor also means the bike trails along roads get cleared of snow faster too.
It seems to me as we go back to bikes, maybe gyms will become less necessary. People will get their exercise just going from place to place and won't have to drive to a gym for that.
The sad part is that as we move to bikes, the Chinese are getting rid of their bike lanes to make more room for cars. They were ahead of the times, but had to copy us to look up-to-date.
Now, how do you pronounce bakfiets?
how to pronounce bakfiets
Steve,
I believe it is pronounced "bach feets"...or depending on who I'm talking to, I pronounce it "Dutch cargo bike", which seems more likely to be remembered. Of course in the Netherlands the have more than kind of cargo bike, but I don't have to worry about the distinction until more than kind of Dutch cargo bike is common here!
More of my bakfiets photos.
Mark