Boulevards and Dutch bikes: a perfect fit
Posted by: TomAug 22 2006, 1:28 pm
Here's another in a series of reports from our Bicycle Boulevard Campaign visits to bike-friendly cities.
Last weekend, the Boulevard team (Scott, Jessica, and me, Tom the intern) took a trip north to Vancouver, BC. We were there to take a look at their bicycle boulevards and greenways with city engineers/planners and local bike advocacy legend Gordon Price.
We made sure to take a detour, though, to check out a not-to-be-missed bike shop. Situated at the base of the Cambie St. bridge, Jorg&Olif is a Dutch bike shop selling European style city bikes. They designed the bikes to work better for the North American market (that’s a fancy way of saying that they added gears!) and created the Jorg&Olif brand. The bike components are produced in Europe and shipped to Canada, where Jorg&Olif assemble them locally. They sell both the Omafiets (grandma bike) and Opafiets (grandpa bike), but don’t let the names fool you: these are high fashion and practical bikes with class and style.
Jorg&Olif (aka “George and Olive,� the imaginary Dutch grandma and grandpa who ride these beautiful bikes) also stock what is fast becoming everyone’s envy, the Bakfiets. This child, grocery, dog, handyman carry-all bike has become incredibly popular in the Netherlands and Denmark and has generated all kinds of interest over at Bikeportland.org. It’s a comfortable, good-looking cargo bike for everyone and everything.
Rob, one of the partners in the shop, was an urban planner prior to a trip to the Netherlands where he fell in love with the simplicity and style of the bikes he now sells. He says that his hope is that he can get people on bikes that would not have bought a mountain bike or racing bike by making it fashionable, fun and accessible.
Best of all, Rob let us know that they’re considering opening a US shop, and Portland’s high on their list of potential cities…it’s still too early to say, but just imagine being able to walk into Jorg&Olif right here in Stumptown and walk out with an Omafiets or a Bakfiets! Here’s hoping they realize what a good fit this would be for Portland’s burgeoning bicycle community.
It would be really wonderful to have a sleek Jorg&Olif Dutch bike boutique in the Pearl, so I hope Rob or someone else makes that dream a reality next year.
I’m a recent Dutch bike convert - just ordered a Bakfiets long wheelbase cargobike from Dan Sorger of The Dutch Bicycle Company this week. Dan has nicely outfitted the Bakfiets for the North American market with 8-speed Nexus hub, added more powerful lighting and normalized other components so it is easily serviceable in local shops with commonly available parts. Only complaint is that shipping on these things is brutal as they are too big to break down into a UPS size parcel and need to be shipped as freight.
Why give up a light, refined, speedy, high-tech bike for a heavy, low-tech Dutch one? For me it’s the frustration of all the bits and pieces it takes to make a typical road or touring bike into an effective, year-round commuter/cargo/child-toting machine. I have to say I'm really excited to finally be able to walk out the door with nothing but keys and helmet (okay, and maybe a rain coat on occasion) to run errands with or without kids and get out on the town in normal street clothes by bike. No more hooking up kid trailers, dealing w/uncharged headlight batteries or removing panniers & lights while getting coffee or running back into the house for the third time before heading out to grab the forgotten taillight or cleated shoes. I guess my only fear at this point is how long (255cm) and heavy (don’t ask) the Bakfiets will be…
I’ll post my impressions w/detailed photos of the bike in its NE Portland environment once it arrives. Do take pity and try not to pass me too quickly on the hills.
Aug 22 2006 at 4:18 pmThat's great to see Dutch bicycles come to North America. My wife and I were in Amsterdam a couple of years ago and were really impressed with the simplicity and efficiency of their bicycles for city commuting. Thanks for sharing!
–Ryan
Oct 12 2006 at 7:43 amWell, our Bakfiets arrived recently in one piece, though the crate was alarmingly large… I've begun a blog at http://bakfietscargo.blogspot.com with more technical details and Cargobike info. Hope to see more of these on the road in Portland soon!
Oct 31 2006 at 11:10 amHello Everyone,
Just to let everyone who doesnt know already, our company Raincitybikes.com will be the official Canadian distibutor of Bakfiets.nl and Workcycles-Azor. These are the Dutch manufacturers of the cargo bikes and omafiets and opafiets that everyone have been curious about. Please visit us at raincitybikes.com and feet free to email us with any questions.
Bedankt
Dec 08 2006 at 10:40 pmvictor
Has anyone seen the Electra Amserdam?
Jan 15 2007 at 12:40 pmTypo, I meant Electra Amsterdam.
Jan 15 2007 at 12:41 pmYes, we'll be auctioning one off at our annual event…. learn more at AliceAwards.org
Jan 17 2007 at 11:44 amGREAT JOB!!!
Feb 12 2007 at 3:04 pmI will gladly buy one of your bikes.
NOT one of the "Amsterdam" bikes from Electra…
They should be called the "Bejing" bike…
Electra is playing the greed card and passing of these bikes which are MADE IN CHINA, as the real thing…
Please don't buy a bike covered in Tibetan blood!!!!!!
THANKS VERY MUCH!!!!!
The electra bike is an insult to anyone who takes the idea of a city bicycle seriously. Dutch bicycles are not beach cruisers. They are not children's bikes designed by lawyers, they are real bicycles. The electra is just another lame beach cruiser, this time it's dressed up to look like a dutch bicycle. What is says is that the people at electra (designers or ad men?) don't care too much about the design of their dutch bike and don't think that the potential customer is intelligent enough to even care about a front brake or a proper riding position. Typical of design in this country which seems to be based on the inability to distinguish between the appearance of the thing and the thing itself. Another lifestyle accessory for suburbia. Buy it, hang it up next to the 15 mpg subaru and sell it on craigslist in 10 years. Perhaps by that time hipsters will be buying them used for bicycle polo.
And while we're at it someone in the business of importing bicycles needs to take the trouble to find something other than a high tensile tank to import. There are plenty of chromoly city bikes in europe. In the land of gutted out cities and endless sprawl we could use a few of the lighter bikes usually made by those people to the south of Holland.
Feb 25 2007 at 1:35 amDutch bikes are in stump town! CleverCycles has quite the array. I rode one and fell in love. I've been part of the slow food movement and now I'm taking on the slow ride movement.
Aug 23 2007 at 7:53 amI am Dutch and tried out the Electra bike…it really is a cheap version….nice try but needs a lot more….also quite small frame…I am 5 foot 7 and this bike was much too small for me…
Sep 17 2007 at 10:23 amI made the mistake of buying the Electra. At first I thought it seemed tough (except the skirt guards were obviously junk) After riding it around a while I decided the gearing was a joke. THen the fender "support" broke away from the fender when i was loading the bike up in the car. The bike was just really cheap and what at first seemed like a nice dutch style bike was actually a glorified beach cruiser. I was lucky that my local bike shop allowed me to return it.
Sep 29 2007 at 7:51 pmHey guys, I live in london and we have always had an array of every type of bike from hi tech to the Like-a-bike german kids wooden bike. I was always from the hi tech point of view…the most efficient bike etc etc… which usually means thousands out of your wallet right? anyway, i was tired of the "quick release culture" … (read "quick steal or carry half your bike on your back culture"). So invested in a dutch bike… my god.. this is like heaven.. everything is bolted on… properly, no quick release..everything runs smooth…its practically like riding a sofa around the streets and i think a BIG bonus is the 28!!! yes 28" wheels…. they glide! Anyway, there are a heap pf european bikes that are the same concept (at the end of the day these brands are all much of a muchness and are proper quality stuff…) : Pashley (from england - probably the nicest and most classy of them all), closely followed by Kronan from Sweden, a dignified military steed of the same ilk, then i would have to say third place would go to the danish brand Monark. They have a bike called a Danish Baker's bike which is amazing, and then finally i would give Dutch bikes the next best vote. I base my opinion on quality of materials (premium or basic), craftsmanship (slow or rushed), quality of the components (branded or copies), and finally fit/finish/sturdiness (in other words how is it put together and is it stronger more solid than the others. here's the links…
http://www.pashley.co.uk/ (roadster is my fave)
http://www.kronan.com/ (one bike several colours)
http://www.monark.se/ (danish balers bike if you can locate it)
http://www.bobbinbicycles.co.uk (their bobbin bikes are made in holland - i own the transporter and i LOVE IT!).
Go treat yourself to a european cruiser of sorts, i dont think you'll regret it.. its forced me to slow down and start to appreciate life more instead of being full on to each stage in my life… money well spent i reckon!
Feb 20 2008 at 9:23 am