Ladies with babies
Before kids can cycle themselves, they have already been on a bike many times. Dads and mums take them in a carrier, a child seat or in the cargo bike and cycle them around. To daycare, to the supermarker or just for a relaxed ride through town. Kids love it. You see them looking around, enjoying the speed when cycling down a bridge or just sleeping like angels.
by Joni
Cyclist of the month: Ed, coolest Opa ever!
Ed is born in Assendelft. He moved with his sweet wife Ellie to Amsterdam in the 60’s where they got 3 daughters. Ed retired 8 years ago after having served as a social worker for 30 years. Next to his work, Ed has always been a big collector. He used to pile baskets on his bakfiets and cycle all over Amsterdam, looking for pieces of bikes, etc.
As you can see, both house and bicycle storage contain huge collections of all kinds of items Amsterdammers ever left on the street…
One day, Ed and his wife were asked by their daughter to look after her newborn twins: Ines and Sofia. Ed’s daughter is a graphic designer and works full time from home. She is very good by the way, see here.
As they live on opposite sides of Amsterdam, Ed had to find a solution to go and get Ines and Sofia twice a week.
So 1,5 year ago, Ed decided to give a new life to his bakfiets. He removed the pile of baskets and made this unique creation to carry this precious duo:
The bakfiets itself is actually older than Ed himself! But, as Ed likes to put it: «this sort of quality is nowhere to be found anymore these days».
As you can imagine, they do not go unnoticed. Many tourists as well as locals have already got a snap of them!
Don’t think this is the only bakfiets redesigned by Ed. He has one more, a very special one:
This is a picture he took of another of his daughters with some more grandkids:
This bakfiets has a nice story :
Translation : «The story started with my friend Henk. A long time ago he made a bakfiets in the form of a bible. He used to cycle around Amsterdam with it for years. He also set up the bakfietsclub of Amsterdam. I became myself the chairman, secretary and treasurer. Henk passed away a few years ago. It seemed that his last wish was to be buried in his bible. So we drove him in his bakfiets to his last resting place. Henk’s daughters offered me the undercarriage of the bakfiets. In his attic, Henk still kept a float of a waterplane;just to have something to sail away with, in case a deluge would ever occur. We have then installed the float on the bakfiets and it is still on it today.» Ed Koomen.
Ed never had a car, he is a member of the cyclist union Fietsersbond. He is a real Dutch man; healthy and happy to cycle! Inspired by the Roman times, his motto is «veni, vidie, fietsie».
Ines and Sofia : enjoy the ride!
Reportage by Aude
PS : As it’s never too late to start learning Dutch, here you go: Opa = grandfather and bakfiets = delivery bike
Music and bikes: last chance to win!
This weekend is your last chance to send in pictures for the Music & Bikes competition to win a Hotelfietsbel. So we thought we might give you some more inspiration with these pictures of Amsterdam cyclists.
Boy giving an ‘air-drum-concert’ on his dad’s front carrier
Carrying a drumset on a bike while listening to music
Cycling with a guitar
Mum cycling home after her violin classes
To win a Hotelfietsbel (hotel bike bell), the coolest bell in Amsterdam, you can post your pictures of Music & Bikes to our Facebook wall, our Flickr Group, or just email them to amsterdamcyclechic@gmail.com
For more inspiration check out the Flickr group and the ‘Cycle to the music‘-post
Visit the Hotelfietsbel website for more information about the bell or read our blogpost about it.
Busy sunny afternoon
The two-weeks of summer are suddenly over. The rain has returned. But sometimes, suddenly, the sun breaks through the clouds. Then everybody goes outside to enjoy it!
The little girl is a bit sceptical about the sudden sunshine and is checking if there really isn’t any rain falling from the sky…
Mums and dads cycling – Cycle Chic Republic
This last Friday of the month, the Cycle Chic Republic collected pictures of mothers and fathers cycling with their kids from all over the world.
Bohemian style
Pictures taken
by Aude
First I got the mother cycling by with her 2 kids (she is holding one against her chest). And few bikes later, appeared the daddy, carrying all the necessary for a day at the park…What a cool bohemian style!
Style and Speed
In the Cycle Chic Republic it is all about Style over Speed. In Amsterdam it generally is, you do not see that many sporty cyclists in the city that just want to go as fast as possible. What you do see are stylish speedy cyclists. They wear normal clothes, they cycle a Dutch bike, but they are going really fast! Probably late for a date, or just work, or a boring meeting or maybe their kids are waiting to be picked up from school…
pictures by Ayolt
Three kids, one mum (2)
In Amsterdam you see many parents cycling with their kids. With one or two kids it is easy enough, but cycling on one bike with three kids is quite a balancing act. Especially when it is not a cargo bike. Our friends from Hungary managed to capture this on film:
The Amsterdam Cycle Chic team spotted this mum. Cycling with two of her kids on her bike (one sitting backwards) and her third child on her own bicycle in Amsterdam City Centre.
This is not the first time we post images of one mum cycling with three kids, check out our other post.
Amsterdam rush hour
Heaven – Amsterdam rush hour from Cyclechic hu on Vimeo.
This weekend our friend Áron from Hungarian Cycle Chic visited the Netherlands. He made this cool video of rush hour in Amsterdam’s city centre. Check out all the people chatting, making phone calls and rushing to work. You can also clearly see how popular the bicycle crate is in the Netherlands. The Mr Visserplein, where the video was shot, isn’t what you call the most beautiful spot in Amsterdam, but for Áron it was ‘Heaven’….
Red touch
Red touch by Aude
Father and daughter
Father and daughter chatting while cycling in Amsterdam
Daughter sitting on the back carrier of her father's bike
Father cycling with his daughter in a child seat between his arms
Father with daughter in a cargo bike
Three kids, one mum
On this one it is quite obvious, this mother has her 3 kids in her Marilyn Monroe’s delivery bike:
On this one, you have to focus, but there are also 3 kids: one on the bike in front, one attached to the bike behind, and one …
