Any interest in a Dutch-style bike rider gathering?

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Anondson
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Location: Where West Minneapolis Once Was

Any interest in a Dutch-style bike rider gathering?

Postby Anondson » May 28th, 2018, 10:23 pm

I was convinced my next bike should be a Dutch-style a few years back after reading some streets.mn posts on bikes. Walker Angell, and a few others, mentioned the virtues of the Dutch-style bike over the popular over-the-handle-bars style. I had given up riding bikes because of back and neck problems riding in that position.

I took an opportunity to try out a few Dutch-style Workcycles bikes and I was sold, I could go bike riding again. I looked at a few brands of Dutch-made bikes like Gazelle and others but settled on a customized Workcycles Gr8.

I’ve ridden it around the streets and trails of Hopkins and SLP, with an occasional long outing to the Midtown Greenway. I’ve gotten remarks how unusual it is, requests for photos even, but I rarely see sit up, Dutch-made bikes.

I have been thinking that in a metro of over 3 million people there had to be a few owners of Dutch brand (or Danish brand) sit up style bikes. Gazelle, Velorbis, Workcycles, Umberto Dei, Retrovelo, etc.

Is there an organization that organizes a meet up of Dutch-made bikes? Is anyone here an owner of a Dutch-made bike that would want to have a meet up of fellow Dutch-made bike lovers?

I’d love to see all the Workcycles in Minnesota in one place some day.

Oreos&Milk
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Re: Any interest in a Dutch-style bike rider gathering?

Postby Oreos&Milk » May 29th, 2018, 1:28 pm

I seen a bike like this around Minneapolis before. I would be interested in getting one myself I'm pretty sure it was a Dutch style bike. I would absolutely love to be able to have the space to store this easily and do weekly grocery hauls. Although I'd be skeptical on how easy it be to balance it with a full load. I seen a few with front dual tires. Again turning radius must be a bit wide. Still I think it's far superior being able to carry your load up front so you can keep an eye on it instead of a trailer pulling behind, review mirror or not front hauling seems better.

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PhilmerPhil
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Re: Any interest in a Dutch-style bike rider gathering?

Postby PhilmerPhil » May 29th, 2018, 2:08 pm

I've also thought about having a similar ride, but oriented more on the clothing style than the bikes themselves. Something that always frustrates me about group rides, especially when they are pitched as ways to get new people into biking, is the amount of spandex, high-viz, helmets, jerseys, etc. that end up dominating the appearance and giving biking a really athletic image that you have to buy a bunch of gear to do properly. It'd be cool to have a helmet discouraged, normal clothes only ride.

Also, I recently got a Nihola Family bike on craigslist for quite a steal, and I love it. I've been using it for big grocery runs, picking up furniture, dragging around parts of a pop up skatepark, and as of today, the first ride with my 3 month old daughter!

Anondson
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Joined: July 21st, 2013, 8:57 pm
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Re: Any interest in a Dutch-style bike rider gathering?

Postby Anondson » May 29th, 2018, 6:33 pm

I don’t have sport wear or gear so if such a gathering was to happen I’d be showing up in casual dress!

If we got enough to show with their different Dutch-style bikes it could be an opportunity for others to try a ride in the all the varieties that people bring. For instance, like Oreos&Milk, I’ve always want to try riding those bikes with buckets in front for cargo or kids.

amiller92
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Re: Any interest in a Dutch-style bike rider gathering?

Postby amiller92 » May 30th, 2018, 8:54 am

I seen a bike like this around Minneapolis before. I would be interested in getting one myself I'm pretty sure it was a Dutch style bike. I would absolutely love to be able to have the space to store this easily and do weekly grocery hauls. Although I'd be skeptical on how easy it be to balance it with a full load. I seen a few with front dual tires. Again turning radius must be a bit wide. Still I think it's far superior being able to carry your load up front so you can keep an eye on it instead of a trailer pulling behind, review mirror or not front hauling seems better.

Image
That's a different brand, but we've got a Babboe City Bike, which Varsity Cycles in Dinkytown sells: http://babboecargobike.com/product/babb ... argo-bike/

We got it as much for carrying the kid as actual cargo, but it definitely works well for transporting groceries. I've not loaded it particularly heavily yet, but with what I have done I think it handles better with some load than an empty box. (I tried a brief winter ride in it and skidded a bit without a load).

Babboe also make the Big, which has three wheels. I didn't give it a ton of consideration because I've read there's harder to maneuver and having ridden the City, I was fine with how easy it was to balance. Definitely prefered to have the kid where I can see her rather than in a trailer. Also, the Dutch know what they are doing.


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