American reacts to a BAKFIET for the first time 

As a Belgian my jaw dropped when you said you commute 80 miles to your job... Like, I don't see my grandparents often because they live 40 km (about 25 miles) away lol

European here. I know a number of people who will do a daily 25 mile (single route) commute by bike on a daily basis. I guess, we Europeans are just wired differently….

The good thing about american streets is, that they are big enough, that you could build an even bigger bike-lane on it, than in Europe.

When my husband takes the bike to work, he always comes home in a good mood. If he drives, it’s hit and miss. Riding his bike allows him to get all of the stress/anger/aggression he may be feeling out of his system. You’d think he’d be tired and sweaty, but he is happy and refreshed when he arrives home (and sweaty😂).

The advantage of transporting kids in front of you: They're usually cooperative wanting to get on the bike. They're less likely to squabble straight in front of you. You're more likely to detect things which could lead to a squabble. They often have too much to look at to start a squabble anyway. The closeness makes it easier to talk to each other.

Watching the shock of the footage of the Netherlands, was kinda hilarious. Being a Dutchie myself it seems so normal to me, I step outside my house and bikes are everywhere. I see a bakfiets atleast multiple times a day and I live in a medium sized town. I was fun watching you react, just a bit disappointed you didn't get to see someone transport a couch on a bakfiets. Seen that happen myself multiple times in Amsterdam., quite something to observe. Edit: The bike garages are usually located underneath or next to a trainstation. It is a way to leave your bike, get on the public transport to school/work etc and in the evening grab your bike again and cycle home. It is very common in the Netherlands and used extensively.

I am a reasonably fit cyclist who pedals hard and used to be the fastest thing on two wheels, until recently when I was overtaken by a 70 year old on an electrically assisted bike. He wasn't even breaking a sweat. Those things are definitely an alternative for anyone who commutes, say, 20 miles each way.

My husband has a 22km (13,75 miles) commute and did it often on his e-bike. It was usually about 45-60 minutes, and that was sometimes even faster than taking the car, especially when he came in on the late morning and had to search for a parking spot almost for half an hour regularly. What you need: an e-bike, weather adaptive clothing, and the ability to endure a bit of inconvenience if it's raining...

These bikes are quite common here in Germany as well, especially in urban areas. We call them "Lastenrad" which literally means "load bike".

Dutch guy, 45 years old. Never owned my own car. But I own 4 bikes... 1 all terrain bike, for fun and exercise. 1 old fashioned 50's bike for groceries And 2 folding bikes for daily commute (I can take it for free in the train). The second is a spare if I need it to be fixed at the shop. When I needed a car, I always could borrow a car from the company I work(ed) for, or from friends. I think I just rented a car once for personal use. So just try a cargo e-bike. I think you will like it.

I'm in the UK and have an electric assist cargo bike with a 40-50 mile range ,charged for free off solar and I've only used my car 3 times in the last year. 👌

I highly recommend the videos called "The Lively & Liveable Neighbourhoods that are Illegal in Most of North America", "Suburbia is Subsidized: Here's the Math [ST07]", "The Ugly, Dangerous, and Inefficient Stroads found all over the US & Canada" and "Why City Design is Important (and Why I Hate Houston)" from Not Just Bikes, it gives you a very good understanding of infrastructure differences between Europe and the USA

Ryan, I’m an Australian who lives in a similar car culture to you. Maybe not quite as bad. When travelling to northern Europe it really opens your eyes to how far behind we are. It is like coming how to a developing country. The infrastructure in northern Europe, and lifestyle it allows, is a joy to see.

I live in Germany and I literally drool when I go to a bike shop in the Netherlands with the most incredible choice of bikes you can imagine.

I live in Sweden and last summer I worked at the swedish postal service. There i delivered all the mail and packages using a three wheeled bike much like the ones in the video. Keep up the good work!

I'm so happy you're reacting to more Not Just Bikes stuff ^^

One more advantage financially is that the bakfiets keeps it value much better, so you can see it as an asset. Plus bikes like these can with proper maintenance be used for decades. I currently have three bikes, and one is over 40 years old and still going strong. And it still has a resale value.

My commute by car is 7km. The safest route by bike is 10km and it's even much faster, than the 7k by car. And if the weather is fine, I usually extend my commute to 25km in each direction, because it's fun and calming to bike through a car-less park and see birds, squirrels and other wildlife basically within a big city. At the end of the day, I do not need to do any cardio in a stinky gym :) When we lived closer to the city center, we ditched our car and just used our bikes, subway and every now and then a share car. Saved us a lot of money and nerves. I mean the hunt for a parking spot often lasts longer, then my whole bike commute.

They don't haave all electric assist.When i was in Amsterdam back in 2012,most of them didn't have any and the pedals were pretty hard.But i used to see lots of Dutch women caring their children on them! I remember i was thinking that if i ever get kicked by a Dutch woman i'm dead!😂

My brother and his girlfriend have a bakfiets. And yes, their kids loved it when they were little. The bakfiets you see in the video is the modern version. Oldschool bakfietsen had a way bigger 'bak' on the front and was often used for jobs like town gardeners, milkmen, etc. Smart Dutchies buy their bakfiets secondhand. Because many people only use them when they have small kids. So there are enough secondhand bakfietsen available, because kids get older (no shit) and get their own bicycle.

Die sind in Deutschland auch seit Jahren nicht mehr weg zu denken. Und es gibt ganz viele verschiedene!😎👍

In the more expensive neighborhoods in Amsterdam and bigger cities you have a crowd of bakfietsmoeders, mummies that ride their kids to school in bakfiets and on their way back all meet up at coffee places. It’s not uncommon to see a few dozen bakfiets parked at Starbucks or Coffee Corner.

First saw a Bakfiet when I was in Copenahgen, the owner had their German Shepherd in the front who appeared to be loving being chauffeured round the city 😂

I'm living in Salzburg, Austria and here the last few months the Bakfiets became more and more popular by students of the local university. There's even a bike rental with at least 20% Bakfiets

My commute is ~85 miles and I travel by train. To be precise: Tram to train station (5 minutes), long distance train connection (~1h15m), local train (15 minutes), walk to the office (10 minutes). By car the commute would at least take 75 minutes in the best of circumstances and the cost of living is less where I live. Contrary to the general perception and experience in Germany, my connection seems to be more reliable and is mostly on time which is definitely a plus - and commuting in first class is cheaper than having a car!

Hallo Ryan, Welcome to the not just bikes rabbit 🐰 hole !! 🎉 been waiting for this moment for a while now 😊😊 greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱 ❤

Definitely react to more of his videos! Not Just Bikes opened my eyes to sustainable, safe public infrastructure.

My Vancouver grandsons (aged 12 and 10) cycle 6km each way to/ from school each day, plus cycling with friends at weekends. So North America is not entirely devoid of cycle-friendly cities. One of the boys has even joined his neighbourhood cycling club and competes regularly in road races. Btw, their school only allows parents to drop off kids by car if he/she is under nine or it is snowing!!

In Germany, new fancy kinds of e-bikes, with convertible parts for passengers, child-safe, closed cabins for kids, heavy, load, and what not, is A REAL THING. More and more variety showing up and its amazing. They are like tiny mini vans now.

Ryan, in English -s equals plural, not so in Dutch there it is -en as indicative of a plural. So if you don't mind changing the title to bakfiets (the s at the end is part of the word for bicycle). :D

As an American living in Europe, I love taking my kids out on the cargo bike around the city. It's faster than a car and no need to find (or pay for) parking. Our car is used only for long trips.

4500 Canadian dollars = 3300 US dollars. Plus here in the Netherlands second hand you can get them a lot cheaper. Still an investment, but doable. And you don’t have to pay road tax, insurance (except maybe insurance for theft), and hardly any maintenance. Also the cost of parking is a lot lower. Now I know this is not really an issue in the USA, but in the centre of Amsterdam you pay 7.50 euro an hour. (8 dollars) Bike parking is free on the street and in bike parking garages usually the first 24 hours is free, after which you pay 1-2 euros a day. And it is much healthier, for both the biker and everyone else. I even forgot to mention you don’t need any petrol.

It's also here in Germany. I'm 31 years old, don't own a car, never owned one, and I rent a cargo bike every two weeks or so to go grocery shopping. Luckily, my city does have a lot of these bikes all around the city that I can easily rent via an App.

I'm dutch and yes I use my "fiets" to go to work everyday 35km (21,7 miles) oneway. Its just faster then going by car. By car its 40 km one way and there is always a traffic jam. But using the bike doesn't meen you give up your car. Its just that you don't use your car for every trip you make. Going to the city center you take the bike. Easy parking and get some fresh air.

In Spain, the train is completely free, so many people take their bicycles on the train to travel to their faraway destinations. The cost is €0 and by car you have to pay for gas and many times there are only paid parking lots. You can also read, watch videos etc during part of the trip...

i am from the Netherlands and i also have a bakfiets. can not live without one, i transport all kind of things. including my dog, who has 3 legs. so she can have fun outside to. everyone needs a bakfiets........................

I live in Munich and these are everywhere. Because European cities are so densely populated cars are absurdly unpractical. I'm not about to be in busy traffic at walking speed and then look for a parking spot for 44 minutes just so I can use a car.

Regarding your 80mile commute (04:55) kudos on stomaching that travel distance twice a workday. I literally can't imagine how much time is lost daily sitting in traffic. My gut reaction to this (obviously without knowing your personal situation) is "Hang on, there's not a single job as interesting or better than your current one closer by?" or vice verse ''There's not a single housing solution just as good or better closer to your work?". With your commute you almost cover the whole of West Virginia. If it were me (which, again, it isn't and "I don't know your personal situation"-caveat applies here) I'd be looking for a job closer by home. There's gotta be one.

I live in Munich and we have bikes like that, that you can rent for free in our building. It's part of the "mobilitätskonzept" and it enables planners to having to provide less parking. It's great only about 20% of the parking spaces are in use anyway because every shop and the tram is right next to our building anyway

14:02 I used to drive in that "not a bycicle" here in the UK for a delivery company. Its called an EAV And runs on electric pedal assist. Absolutely loved it, kept me outta the rain, had indicators and a big old horn and was small enough to go anywhere The amount I could put the bag was redicroulous too I could easily ait down and relax in there if it was raining during lunch break

German here. The city I live in actually subsidised transport bicycles in the last 3 years with up to 1000 Euro. Their budget was 600000 Euro, that meant a lot of cargo bikes. From this year on they want to invest in cargo bike sharing, apparently.

I even saw (I don't remember if it was on TV or RU-vid) a technician of the ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club, a club that is there for lobbying for car drivers) with an e-cargo bike. He was from the ADAC breakdown service. He had tools and what else they have otherwise in their repair cars. He even had a battery for starting cars with empty batteries. Obviously he only responds to breakdowns in the city he was in. He said, the people that called were always surprised and that he could be there much faster than with a regular car.

Very popular in Sweden these days.

Cargo-Bikes (Bakfiets) become increasingly common here in Central Europe. You can do your shopping quite comfortably, or get your children (or dog!) around easily with it. It is a frequent sight in the mornings when Kita (Kindergarten/Daycare) starts and parents bring their little ones in that front compartment of the bike there, and later in the afternoon for picking them up again.

Motorized cargo bikes have become pretty popular in Germany as well. I find it quite convenient and use it for a good amount of my trips. That is shopping, bringing kids to school/daycare, visiting friends and going to work. To be fair, all of those trips are below 10 Km and I live in a city that is actively changing its infrastructure to support more bike traffic. Those two points are what makes travelling by e-bike fun and convenient =)

I spend a bit of time in the Netherlands every year and everyone uses all kinds of bikes. They're used to transport your family to do shopping and they are so fast. Everywhere you go there are dedicated buslanes and children learn to ride bikes, the rules etc from 5 years old. It's lovely. People also drive cars and more and more of them are electric.

I thought it was a toy from the west, but spring has come and I see a lot of such vehicles on the streets of Warsaw. I'm a cycling enthusiast myself, so I'm all for it.

I wouldn't say that bakfiet are hugely popular in the UK (I have only seen a few of them around) but you certainly can get them. While I wouldn't use a bicycle for an 80 mile commute, most people in the UK and Europe wouldn't take a job that far away from where they live (or they would move closer to the work location). Americans make fun of people in the UK for thinking 100 miles is a long way, but that is 100 miles of town and suburban roads to us, not just a straight highway.

The best thing about “cycle culture” is that you can sub your commute with a bike and skip the gym. Otherwise you’d have to commute to and from the gym as well. This is why the Dutch stay slim while most of Europe is slowly getting bigger.

And the average bakfietsmam is in better physical shape than the average carpool mam. Cause the dutch mam is combining childcare, grocery shopping with a couple of hours of light cardio workout on a daily basis. 💪Saves time, money and just makes you (and the kids) happier. Whats not to love.

We bought ours 16 years ago for 1700 Euro. No electrical assist though since that's what's making them more expensive (plus shipping and customs for buyers overseas) We used a kids trailer when biking on the Greek island Corfu. It was fun, but heavier to handle than the bakfiets (towing dead weight is hard) and I didn't like it in busy towns and more traffic it behind you and you have to be more mindfull because of that. Kids like the bakfiets better because of the view and movement (they are relatively close to the ground and get een airplane sensation when making turns) and for babies because they sit in it backwards facing you.

I'm french and my father bought a bakfiets more than a decade ago now He used to bring us to school with it before going to work, now he mostly uses it to transport all the groceries from the shop to our home It was not electric when he bought it, but he had a motor added onto it That shows how useful the bakfiets is in Europe, along with the substantial rise in popularity we have seen around this kind of vehicle since we have one.

I live in Lyon (France) and sold my car when I moved into this city where I use my electric bike on a daily basis. I'm gladly surprise to see how much bakfiets have been taking by storm this city in the last few years. I love your channel!

I understand what you mean by saying that cars’ prevalence in America is ingrained but….have you seen the Netherlands in the 1970s? If you compare the car-infested cities of that time to what it is now, it’s pretty mind-boggling that it was achieved in a mere few decades….

Here's the thing. In central Europe your commute isn't like 15 miles, it's rather 1-5 miles

Don't forget that Amsterdam has a million people but can be crossed by bike in less than 45 minutes. Most possible trips are under half an hour cycling at 10-12 mph. Cars cause urban sprawl because of all the parking spaces and road space needed, urban sprawl makes cars necessery. If it goes on like that at one point you will need a bike to get from the parking lot to the real destination. The point of cities historically has always been short travel times to go places and see people, by foot, horse, carriage or bike. Amsterdam has kept that and has to because there is no space for sprawl anyway. People there simply can get more done in a day because they get places quickly, regular bike or E-bakfiets. A top E-bakfiets in the Netherlands will still be under 5000 euro I believe, It will last 20 years or more with little maintenance and maybe a new battery once. It's not expensive at all.

You might also find this topic entertaining: "Bike Camper" or "camping trailer for bicycles". I've already seen some of them on the streets in Germany and I kind of like the concept.

There's a bloke round here who has one of these in which he carries around his enormous brown hound. It amuses me no-end to see them go past with the dog gazing morosely out the front (he's a nice doggy in reality). I want one too

Excellent that you've discovered Bakfietsen. Our family bought one instead of a car about fifteen years ago and found loads of advantages. It cost us 2000€ but it's still going very well, still looks good and has probably cost about 200€ for maintenance and parts ever since. I don't use it to commute; everyone in the family has their own bike, but a commuting bike and a Bakfiets is still far cheaper to run than a car.

I used to have a colleague who lived about 12 miles from his job he used to run to work each day work a machine in a factory and run home again in the evening almost running a marathon each day

Hello Ryan. I spent 4 years working in Amsterdam. It would be wrong to say every Dutch person has a bike. There are the few that don’t. The vast majority have two, one they use foe leisure and the other probably parked at the station. Loads of Dutch people will ride their bike to the station, get the train or Metro to the station near work, then take their second bike to the office. Amsterdam built a 3 storey bike park over a canal because there was no room to park! There are other underground bike parks around the city. You see loads of Cargo Bikes and it’s not unusual to see an adult with 5 or 6 toddlers on board. Everything in Amsterdam can be delivered by bike. The Netherlands is very flat, I recall only one hill in the city and that was only about 50 foot high. To ski the Dutch will get a Friday night sleeper train to the Swiss Alps for the weekend. However skating is very popular especially if the miles and miles of canals freeze over!

Bakfiets is Dutch for cargo bike. That one in 2:05 is a Babboe, one of the older brands specialized in cargo bikes. The model is of the type "Long John" (not a tricycle, but the cargo space before the driver). If the cargo is behind the driver, it is called a "Long Tail". 2:58 A Long John made by Urban Arrow. 3:40 A Babboe tricycle. Newer tricycles have often front suspension and tilting systems to provide better stability and allowing for narrower bends at higher speed. More of that: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-f5pytNeRS7g.html or here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1nINKXbL54U.html (German channel, but sometimes with edited English subtitles like this one) 14:02 Is that a Mubea? (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_w6WtLBuuJ4.html / www.mubea-umobility.com/ Similar model: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0m-cxpvAGyc.html Large cargo trailer: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aktefArfNK4.html More models including the GoCab bicycle children taxi for daycare: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rXtXf33KCb4.html

When I went to Beijing, China and Hanoi , Vietnam it was not uncommon to see a family of four on a scooter. Or someone hauling a double matress on a bicycle. It was incredible. In North America it is much more difficult to have a bike as a primary source of transport. But I built an e-bike and using it more and more.

You would wonder what I all had driven with a bakfiets without motor: a corner closet 2x1m over 8km, two big Ikea Expedia over 12km and up a steep spiral to get on the bridge, a treatment chair and a complete bed (iron frame, slatted frame, mattress); all worked out well and easy. I could pretty much move within or to close by cities using a bakfiets, might take several more tours to get my stuff over but I wouldn´t mind.

We don’t have a car but an assortment of bikes including a 2 and a 3 wheeled bakfiets and an electric bike and trailer. The main thing for the bakfiets was to have your kids safe (e.g. I had a car drive over the back of my Tandem because he did not notice it without anybody sitting there, luckily it was no trailer. The trailer we have is our handcart to drag along rather than wasting space in the front-box. I love driving our bakfiets as you can instantly do a huge shopping when you feel for it. For the town you live in it’s a car except that you are exercising and out in the fresh air all the time :)

Fun story: my brother found a used deep freezer at the junkyard which looked promising. It didn't fit into my car but it did easily fit on his cargo bike. We just had to dismount the sidewalls so we could put it crosswise onto the bike. The transportation was so much easier with his bike (btw it was mostly along curvy and hilly and therefore slow driven country lanes, not in the city or such).

2:56 That would be the Budweiser from Czechia, not the American stuff you are thinking of.

I have friends here in Germany, that they opt out from their second car for this cargo bike. The only car is possible for them to travel and sleep in, and take the bikes with them.

Imagine the costs of fuel... Bikes are cheaper. And oil is to important for other things... so burning it in cars is stupid.

In germany, daily Mail is still delivered by a Postman with a bike. Not a Cargo bike but also with electric assist and certainly yellow.

those babboe bikes are everywhere in Lübeck (Germany) 😅 since i live here i bike a lot (16 km commute every day) it's just normal here

The cart that is used in the US behind the bicycle is also used in the Netherlands. But more often for transporting dogs than children. I think we are just really a cycling country, since we even take dogs with us on bicycles😂 Plus, gas, taxes and insurance are very expensive here

One thing to consider is some modern cities they are becoming pedestrian only access and cars are not allowed so people have reverted back to cycles as a form of transport. And parking and traffic is major cities is almost impossible. Take my city London, it would take longer to drive into central get through the traffic find somewhere to park ,pay the high parking charges and still have to walk to your destination as parking is nowhere near where you need to get to. So cycles and rentAbike is getting very popular as it's still quicker than walking. And not forgetting to drive into some cities like London you have to pay a toll called the congregation charge just to drive into the city and it's a daily charge..

When I was living in Netherland I saw a lady riding a bike with like 10 or more children,like the whole kindergarden group. It seemed so fun for the kids,super nice.

It’s a « bakfiets « « Bak » is a container, a fiets is a bicycle. It’s a typical dutch thing, I’m 79 and I remember being carted around in it.

80 miles to go to work ? WTF lol for a French it would be pretty crazy. Once I had a job at 38km / 24 mi (with some circulation in the city) I was loosing between 1h and 2h30 every day on my car (depending on the circulation) that's a pure lost, it's like unpaid overtime and I don't even count the gasoline, the stress or fatigue in traffic jams... That's the last time I ever did this kind of shit lol. Since then I always managed to live near my work, 20-30 minutes of travel is really the maximum I could accept and most of my life I have been at 10-20 minutes from my work. Now I even sold my car and I'm only using an Electric Unicycle, so now, in addition to saving time I save a ton of money (no gasoline, almost no maintenance and assurance cost and I even rent out my parking space) and the bonus : the journey to work is fun lol. Would never go back...

The word is "bakfiets", not "bakfiet". "Fiets" is the Dutch for bicycle and it is singular. The plural is "bakfietsen". Please do all the Dutch here a favour and correct the title of your video (which you can do in retrospect, in case you didn't know). 🙂🙂🙂

11:17 We (living in a dutch city) had one of these bike trailers as well when our daughter was smaller. Some of the disadvantages compared to a two wheeled bakfiets: 1. less stable ride; 2. bumpier ride for the kid (because of lower mass of trailer); 3. way less capacity for carrying anything but a child; 4 the combination is longer than even a large bakfiets and hence won’t allow safe passage of many bicycle crossings in the Netherlands. Worst is: the problem is behind you and you might not notice your rear is blocking the passage of other traffic.

@5:00 the point is: even a 15 mile commute would be considered on the _long_ end by European standards. This just re-emphasizes how North American cities are "build wrong", like NJB says in the beginning. If you have walkable cities with good public transit instead of North American suburbia, bikes (not just Bakfietsen, but bikes in general) make just _so_ _much_ more sense as everyday vehicles..

Simplicity of a bike it's an advantage really. You're paying pretty much only for the quality of materials, battery and there's much less to brake. About the three wheeler. Once you get used to leaning opposite way when turning you'll be fine. They're also three wheelers with two wheels at the front, which are more stable. Some of them got wheels that also lean to the side.

Riding a bike on most of your errands in the US really isn't as crazy as it sounds. My husband and I have been getting by with 1 car +1 bike in central PA for 2 years now. We upgraded from the trailer to the Urban Arrow after the first year. We live 'in-town' in a pretty rural area overall but so do most of the people who live in rural areas. You don't have to live in a city to make the bakfiets work and you don't have to be particularly fit either.

As a Dutch person, I want to quickly touch on the subject of having a car. I don't think many people in the Netherlands would willingly live without a car. A car is simply very useful for the 10-20% of trips that you can't make by bike/public transport. A car sharing service fixes this problem too, but these aren't yet widely used. Most dutch people have a car and a bike, not just a bike. That said, you definitely don't need to have 2 cars if you have bikes and public transport.

Oh!! Not Just Bikes! Fabulous. You should watch all of his videos, as he is often comparing American vs Netherlands suburban diffrencies.

If you live in a typical European city , your typical distances for daily life like work , shopping , medical , recreation would be in a distance of not more than 4 miles around your home easily doable by bike

You are right that there are less parts on a cargo bike than on a car. However, bike parts are usually precise and lightweight. The smaller market, less automation and not made in Mexico / China does the rest. 4500 CAD seems like a lot for a bike, but if you can replace a car with it, you will save that in a short amount of time (think gas, repairs, maintenance, insurance)

Bike trailers have disadvantages compared to bakfiets. They are less manoeuvrable, more affected by wind and can feel heavier. You can also monitor your kids or cargo more easily in a bakfiet. Trailers are cheaper of course.

I'm Dutch and cycle 8 mile every day to work and 8 mile back. I dont even have an electric bicycle, keeps you fit and sharp!

Australian cities are much like the US, much more spaced out than Europe. However our cities are actively encouraging alternative commuting by building dedicated veloways for bikes, electric scooters, etc that are separate from the roads. I live 12km from Brisbane city centre and at peak times, a bike or scooter takes about the same time or often less to get into the city and with plentiful bike parking, easy to find, free and close to the destination, you can actually get to work sooner.

In the UK. Our car died and we decided to try not getting a new one for a year. That was 12 years ago and still no car. We've had an Urban Arrow bakfiets for coming up for 9 years. We had a kid bike trailer before that. The kids cycle the 5 miles to school on their own bikes now but we kept the Urban Arrow for larger shopping trips, moving tools or furniture. It is still going strong (it has had some replacement parts over that 9 years but has cost a lot less than 9 years worth of car use and maintenance). It is so much fun to cycle day-to-day. And if we need a car or van, then we hire the kind we need.

I live in a rural area and I don't know when I should use a bike - even if the streets were safe. Everything is either too far away to take the bike or close enough that I can walk. But I still would appreciate more bike lanes or combined lanes for bikes, pedestrians and other slow vehicles. We have enough space next to the streets and it would make things easier for a car driver as well.

Cycling is such a joy!

So... when are we to expect the unboxing/first impressions video?😉

I know, that the USA is not very bike friendly. But to see that cargo bikes are completly unknown for you is shocking. How do US Americans want to do something against climate crisis, when they don't even know simple things, that could be part of the solution?

Ryan, the word really is B A K F I E T S with an S at the end! Thank your for taking notice!

I am from Austria and we have this bakfiets since over 20 years.

You should do more of not just bikes especialy the ones about urban design it might be an eye opener what is possible. If you look at the netherlands we where on the route to become the US when in the 70 ish we decided to go a differnt route so change is possible.

People are often shocked to see the amazing house i live in and wonder how i can afford it on my salary This is why, the amount of money i save is insane, and allows me so much other things i would normally be unable to afford

The average price of a bicycle for half of my colleagues is $4700. Neither of them has a car. In Prague, a car is more a ballast, we have perfect public transport. I love the European way of life, where everything is done for comfort and fun, but not for laziness like in America. It is true that entire networks of cycle paths are being built in Europe, mainly in the countryside, so that people can cycle safely to work in the summer. They only drive a car in the winter. You can safely travel all over Europe by bike.

European Urban Arrow rider here. I can confirm that it makes your car completely redundant. Riding is a lot more fun than driving, the kids love it and I can haul anything with it.

so now you know what a bakfiets is..