Just chatting away on the mobile phone…

…while hauling about a million styrofoam boxes on a cargo trike. All in a day’s work in China. Photo by Elyse Sewell, a fashion model living in China (I think). Her copious posts are sarcastic and insightful, filled with photos of the absurdities of her daily life as a “ladyposer” and all the weird things she comes across. Such as a guy talking on the phone while cycling with about 40 cubic meters of styrofoam. We don’t even see that in Amsterdam.

Bakfuts sighting!

I had heard about the bakfuts, the latest in Dutch cycling footwear, but until recently had never come across a pair. Luckily last night I managed to capture an image of a bakfuts in my neighborhood! 

As I'm sure you're all aware, the Dutch love their clogs. The bakfuts is a clog -- for bikes! The benefits should be obvious to any bak-ficionado -- warmth, stability, buoyancy, power transfer, and pure Dutch style. Check out the sleek styling on this bakfuts - pure utility matched with raw Dutch bak appeal.

I tried chasing this guy down, but he thought I was crazy & took off. He was right, incidentally. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out where to order these. Anyone have any tips? 

De Bakfiets Band

Perhaps only in Amsterdam: A jazz band that plays while riding in a bakfiets.

And I just noticed that the video was made in the Palmgracht, right around the corner from WorkCycles Lijnbaansgracht shop.

Azor’s bakfiets factory video from de Volkskrant

Here’s a nice little video interview of Jan Rijkeboer, founder of Azor Bike where they make Bakfiets.nl, Onderwater and some WorkCycles bicycles. Jan proudly gives a tour of their factory in Hoogeveen… far from Amsterdam where their bikes are most popular. He describes how most of the parts come from the various factories in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, and how people with various disabilities (or do I need to say challenges this year?) perform some of the functions in the assembly process. It’s in Dutch but you’ll still find it fun to watch even if you can’t understand this strange noise we call a language.