Bakfiets

Mike from Littlecircles bike blog will be importing Bakfiets! These are arguably the most functional form of bicycle on the planet. I think all utility bikes are great, every thing from the milk carton on the back of a 3 speed, to Surley's new big dummy, extra-cycle of course and these Bakfiets.

I think that these Bakfiets are in a category of their own. These are truly designed to, and have been very successful at replacing the car. Any bike with a 275 payload capacity is 100% utility. That's right, up to 200lbs on the front and 75 on the back.

If I lived in an urban area, where most everything I need is close by, I would probably have one of these already. Fact of the matter is I live 26 miles from the nearest grocery store. I think pedalling two kids and groceries 26 miles (Canada is also know to get a bit cool in the winter) would be a bit of a pipe dream. I think that if I were to buy a bike like this and live where I currently do, it would simply be for the novelty of it. Who knows, maybe I'll end up living somewhere in a downtown core, or at least somewhere that not in the middle of the prairies. Where I just moved from would have been perfect for Bakfiets bikes. Everything I needed was within 4 miles of my house. I could realistically never drive anywhere, with the exception of winter. And that only because of my 1 and 3 year old boys. I rode to work almost everyday last winter, even when the temps went down to -32C. I would think that the long wheel base of these would only make it more stable when plowing through a few inches of fresh snow.

The more I look at these bikes, the more excited I get about them. How cool are they? Check out more pictures here. I can't help but think these are on my list of some of the greatest bikes going. While I don't own one, I do think that this is a bike that I will own at some point in my life. Like I said before, if for nothing else, just the novelty of it. Maybe I'll wait until I hit my midlife crisis. My buddies will pick up new sports cars, and I'll buy a Bakfiets bike on a whim.

Next question: how long do I have to wait before I can make the mid-life crisis argument work? Dang I hate waiting.

Taxi

Cool song, cool video. Concept caught me as funny, yet very much true of much of North American culture. Watch and you'll see. Found at Reno Ramber.

Delta Sucks

On my way to a measure in Kansas City, MO today, and Sarasota, FL tomorrow.

UP at 3:30am to be able to shower at work (living in the RV right now and showing there would wake up the family) only to get in to SLC (Salt Lake City) at around 8 in the morning. Flight out was to leave at 10am. Flight canceled. Re-booked through St. Paul, delayed(bad weather there apparently). Doug, was there actually bad weather, or was it a little white lie from the airline? Ended up hanging out at the airport (just cause it's the cool thing to do ya know) until around 3 and then got a hotel. Thanks for something Delta.

I was able to hook up with Patrick, a great contractor that's done a fair bit of work for me in the last while. He and his wife and my co-worker enjoyed some Mexican, but before that, I scored big on a bike light.

Dicks sports had some pretty nice headlights, and I picked up one for my winter cycling and running (yeah I'm getting back into that now). Petzl TIKKA. Uber bright. They also had the Princeton TEK EOS LED as recommended by Vik on Brol, but I decided to go with this option because while reviewing the literature on the packaging, I noticed the Petzel has a significantly higher battery life, was 15 lumins brighter and was 10 grams lighter. Not a big deal, but I may as well try something different and if it doesn't work, I'm sure there will be more of the princtons available.

Checked out the Target (checking out something for my wife that's not available in Canada) and headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow, conf. call @ 7 am, flight @ 9:30, arive in MCI around noon. Measure, catch the 5:30 to SRQ and hopefully get that job measured up also. If not, first thing Thursday morning. Hope to be home Thursday night. At latest, Friday afternoon.

Friday I am planning on checking out the Calgary home & interior design show for some ideas/products for my house before heading to a Hitmen game. This will be the first hockey game that I am taking my oldest son to, so I'm pretty stoked. He's a hockey fan like I am and I think he's going to love seeing it live. I've already got a few pairs of tickets to some Flames games this season, so who knows, maybe he'll be checking those out also if he can actually sit there that long.

End on a beer note: I went into a gas station while my host was filling up and saw this Full Suspension Pale Ale by Squatters Brew Pub. Unfiltered style. Not too bad. Support for the biking themed brews. Actually the only reason that I chose this one over others that were available. It's a little spicy, definatly reminds me of the SNIPA, but a little tamer.

Peace all. Ride your bike, cause right now, I can't.

Can we fix it, yes we can!

That's one of my boys favorite lines, as I'm sure it is with other 3 year old rowdy boys.

I took it literally and fixed the issue with me not riding much right now. The bike I left at work, my winter commuter, was one that I'm not too fond of. I mean it's a great bike and all, but the reason I'm willing to subject it to salt, slush and all sorts of other crap with out any frequent washing or cleaning, is because it's not too valuable. It's a trusty old steed (originally my mom's bike when I was a kid - yeah, that's a bit embarrassing) and work well all the time. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

But, when the weather is good, it's fun to ride something a little faster, a little less utilitarian. In comes one of my all time favorites, my fixie. This is still not a fancy bike (I found it in a recycling yard) but I put some decent components on it - Paul flip flop hub, Alex eyeleted rims, 16ga SS DT Swiss spokes - and when it was all done it only weighs a touch under 18lbs!! pretty impressive for a junker.

I also changed it up a bit by adding drop bars, a front brake and a free-wheel thinking I'd do a little more commuting with it. Then I bought my Volae, and well, nothing touches the Volae as a fast long distance commuter. So, even before I was able to give it a test ride, I changed it back to a brakeless dream machine. Here it is in free-wheel form:
And here it is back to it's purer state:
Anyway, after converting it to a real fixie I brought it in to work today and will leave it here for a while. I found 3 excuses to go for a ride today! Feels great and reminds me of why I love riding bikes so much. I've even got a Campy cycling hat now so I go with that and no helmet to feel really hard-core.

I'm still working on my house until about midnight every night (driving there straight from work) so bike commuting is still not going to happen for a few more weeks, but at least I can do my local running around on my bike. Inspired by FBC, lunch time rides rock! Rock on.

Fixed Gear Bikes @ PBP

These guys are tough. Doing the PBP on a fixie! Check out the pics here.

Courtesy of FGG

More Dust on My Bikes

Also in my house.

Right now I'm deep into the home reno. After work, I head to our home and work until around midnight. Just to start work early (6:30) and do it all again. Right now, between work, and the house, bike riding has been lacking in a big way!! I haven't done a real ride in over 3 weeks!

The rest of this week I'll be hauling on the house. Next week, more business travel. Stinks! Totally. Oh well.

In other news, I've got a Mojo bag coming from Jeff and Kristy! Many thanks!

I thought I'd put this clip up. I've seen it all over and thought I may as well put it up here also. It's pretty funny.



Cheers!

Dust

Collecting on my bikes.



Blame it on my house.