Road Test

The search for a new bakfiets has seen us trying out a lot of bikes in recent days.

On the two-wheeler front, I’ve ridden the CargoBike Long from bakfiets.nl and the Fietsfabriek‘s model 996. Both bikes are longer than the Fietsfabriek 995 that we currently use.

Deciding which bakfiets to buy is, to a large degree, a question of deciding to what extent one is prepared to sacrifice manoeuvrability for cargo volume. The three-wheelers generally have much larger crates than the two-wheelers, which means that they can carry more children and/or cargo. They’re also much more difficult to manoeuvre in a busy, compact city like Amsterdam.

Since a bakfiets is a significant outlay and the desire for a new bike is primarily motivated by the need for more cargo and child space, we owed it to ourselves to test the current crop of both two- and three-wheelers alike.

Starting with the trikes, I’ve ridden the bakfiets.nl CargoTrike, a Christiania bike (either the Light or the H/Box; I’m not sure), the trioBike Carrierbike and the Fietsfabriek FF16.

A bakfiets is a very personal and subjective experience. One person’s ideal bike may prove utterly unusable by someone else, even if the two have similar requirements. I certainly had no problem distinguishing the suitable from the unworkable.

Of the tricycles, I was most comfortable on the Fietsfabriek’s FF16. The reason for this is both obvious and simple: its front wheels steer independently of the crate.

Most three-wheelers have handlebars (or a single horizontal bar), a crate and front wheels that do not move independently of one another. This means that one must use the handlebar to push the back of the crate out to the left in order to steer right, and vice versa. This can prove easier said than done, because pushing the steering in the opposite way to the desired direction of travel is very hard to get used to when one has decades of experience with the opposite principle. That’s a lot of neural rewiring.

The FF16’s independent steering makes the ride much more like that of a traditional two-wheeler, but the wide wheel arches that house the wheels make the bike unbelievably wide; even wider than the traditional three-wheelers with dependent steering.

The best of the traditional three-wheelers was the bakfiets.nl CargoTrike, which, in spite of its dependently steering front wheels, did, at least, have normal dual handlebars. That didn’t stop me from lifting off once when sharply cornering, but that’s a danger with all of the three-wheelers.

Unfortunately, in spite of the comfortable ride, it’s too wide for fast cycling and overtaking on the narrow streets in the centre of town.

The Christiania bike was a bit disappointing to me. It was obviously very well-made (half of Copenhagen rides around on these), but I found the steering bar too awkward to use in daily life. Because of the difficulty involved in pushing the bar far out to the left or right — once you are about to exceed arm’s length, one is required to lean off to the side of the bike to achieve greater reach — the turning circle is gigantic. It’s like trying to turn a passenger coach. The bike is also too wide, in my opinion, for use in the centre of town.

The trioBike, too, was awkward to use, although it has the virtue of having a clever, detachable crate and wheel unit, which then doubles as a rather improbable-looking pram. The whole thing is made of aluminium, too, which makes it much lighter than you might expect. Weight is a serious issue with the three-wheelers in particular.

Unfortunately, in spite of the bike’s light weight and engineering ingenuity, its width once again forces me to draw the same conclusion as I did with its brethren: prohibitively impractical on the streets of Amsterdam. I found myself unable to overtake double-parked cars on narrow streets and the turning circle was, frankly, dismal.

So, whilst having a crate the size of those available on the three-wheelers would occasionally be a boon, it’s not worth the sacrifice of having to be that wide on every single trip I take. With the difference between a miss and a near-miss in Amsterdam often being measured in no more than a couple of centimetres, increasing my width in traffic is a decision likely to exact an unpleasant toll at some point in the future. It’s just not worth the risk.

Some people consider the three-wheelers stabler and therefore safer than the two-wheelers, but I would have to proffer the opinion that it’s an illusion in a city like Amsterdam. The ability to cycle at speed, flexibly manoeuvre, rapidly divert one’s course, squeeze between two obstacles and not jut out too far to the left all contribute much more to your overall road safety than being able to balance on three wheels.

Yes, a three-wheeler can’t fall to one side, but in my opinion, you’re much more likely to become involved in a collision whilst riding one. You can’t squeeze past cars along the canals. You can’t overtake other bikes on separate cycle paths. You can’t even be overtaken by other bikers. In short, I would only buy one if I absolutely could not do without the huge cargo and child space that they offer. Otherwise, they seem to offer nothing but a false sense of security to inexperienced expat riders.

It’s clear, then, that I pick my winner from the duo of two-wheelers that I tried. The Fietsfabriek’s 996 rides very much like our current 995 and is an obvious choice. In fact, we probably would have bought one if this model had existed in 2005, when we arrived back in Amsterdam.

I haven’t been entirely happy with our 995, though. Its bench is held in by barrel bolts, which vibrate loose over the course of a few rides). Eloïse’s child seat is screwed onto this bench and has its own safety belt attached. You don’t use the belts fixed to the back of the crate until the child is big enough to sit directly on the bench.

Sarah has had a couple of incidents of the bike falling to one side, which caused Eloïse, seat, bench and all to become dislodged and collapse into the crate. If a collision at speed were to occur, the child could easily be propelled into the road, still in her seat. That’s because, once the barrel bolts shake loose, there’s nothing securing the bench to the bike!

When I confronted the Fietsfabriek about this, I was told by the main man in the workshop that the complaint had been passed on some time ago to the design and marketing part of the business on the other side of the street. He also said that I should have opted to have the bench screwed down instead of retaining the flexibility to remove it, but I was not presented with any such choice at the time of purchase. Sloppy at the very least.

When I made the same complaint in the sales office, my account of the problem received a lot of passive nodding, but not much more than that. I asked why there hadn’t been a recall of such units, but didn’t receive a proper answer. Instead, I was shown how they now either bolt down the bench on new bikes or put in screws that allow it to hinge upwards and be folded out of the way when not in use.

Great. They’ve solved the problem for new buyers, but not informed their older customers, even though they still have our contact details on file. I suggested that they yet go ahead with such a recall, as there are still a lot of older model 995 bikes out there, many of which undoubtedly have unsecured benches with child seats on them. I don’t have any confidence they will actually do this, though.

Since I didn’t even receive an apology from them for exposing Eloïse to such a serious risk, I’m not inclined to purchase there again, even though their designs are innovative, their workshop service is very good and they generally enjoy a good reputation. For me, the primary reason to use a bakfiets is to be able to transport my child(ren) more safely than I can on a normal bike. If the bike cannot be trusted to retain the child in a collision, the thing is useless.

Although they do now have a solution for the problem, the fact that they didn’t inform their existing customers of the potential danger and the solution says to me that the people at the Fietsfabriek don’t take child safety seriously; and a bakfiets company that doesn’t take child safety seriously is not one that I’m going to support with my money.

I had them screw down the bench on our 995, so it’s safe now, but the reception my complaint received reeks to me of complacency and apathy. What a shame, since it’s a good company in other ways.

That leaves just the CargoBike Long from bakfiets.nl. Even without the bad taste left in my mouth by the 995 experience, the CargoBike Long is a better bike than the equivalent Fietsfabriek model, the 996. And, if you buy a CargoBike at Het Zwarte Fietsenplan, it’s a considerably better bike, because they supply each bike with saddle suspension and a hub dynamo. Both of these enhancements make for a more comfortable ride.

You’ll also get a sturdier stand than on the 996, seven gears instead of five, and handbrakes instead of a back-peddle rear brake. Opinions are divided, however, on whether this last detail is an advantage. The optional rain cover, too, is more easily mounted on the CargoBike and opens out flat, making it more convenient to store.

Sarah needed to test-ride only one of the aforementioned three-wheelers to conclude that the entire concept wasn’t for her. That made it very easy to agree on the CargoBike Long as our next bakfiets. All we have to agree now is the colour, which may take some time. Luckily, our new family member is still some weeks away.