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We’ve had a couple of bakfietsen for a while now, and ridden a couple of others a few times, so I guess we can start comparing them. Please don’t take any of this as gospel; it’s just our impressions – go and try some out for yourself, and do compare with a trike if you get the chance. For what it’s worth, the first bakfietsen we considered buying were some cheap copies that I’ve written about before. We went as far as getting shipping quotes organised. Fortunately an exchange with the ever helpful Henry from Workcycles put a stop to that. My wife and I looked at a couple of Bakfiets.nl Cargobikes, rode a Winther Kangaroo, and had a couple of test rides each on the Cabby and the De Fietsfabriek FF995. The FF995 used to be about 2/3rds the cost of a bakfiets.nl Cargobike over here, which made it difficult to consider buying the Bakfiets.nl bike as our first bakfiets. It appears that in Holland, the FF is only 100E cheaper than the Bakfiets.nl, so we’re getting a great deal in the UK. We’ve subsequently bought a year old Cargobike from a family who didn’t get on with it, and taken it back to Hugh at Dutchbike.co.uk, the UK distributor, to ensure it’s running as it should. I can’t imagine there are many families who’d want two bakfietsen, but it works well for us. Thanks Hugh from Dutchbike.co.uk for taking such good care for us and standing by the product so wholeheartedly.

Comparing the 3 two-wheeled bakfiets we’ve tried, the Cabby shares gears and brakes with the Cargobike, but the Cabby has the upgraded brakes with the cooling fins. Can’t say I can detect any difference. The SRAM gears on the FF995 are fine, but don’t shift under heavy torque, and the shifter is a bit clunky. I prefer the Nexus setup; the SRAM feels bombproof but it’s only a 5-speed and the range isn’t as good. In terms of braking, the Fietsfabriek has a coaster brake on the back. In terms of full on braking, the power of the coaster brake is epic. It can bring a fully loaded bak to a stop really, really quickly – throw the kid hard up against the straps quickly. However, coaster brake is less intuitive, and I’d suggest in an actual emergency, the nexus setup might stop you quicker due to reaction time. I would add, once you get used to a coaster brake, it’s a wondeful thing. It makes me feel more of a part of the bike, and it’s cool being able to brake front and rear whilst ringing the bell. The front brake is relatively squidgy compared to the very positive feel at the lever you have on the Cargobike.

Another difference is the rain cover. When we were looking, the Cabby raincover hadn’t been seen, and bakfiets.nl cover wasn’t foldable, whereas the Fietfabriek cover is foldable, and stows neatly under the bench or in a pannier. Bakfiets.nl have foldable poles coming, and the UK Cargobike distributor was kind enough to show me the new (prototype?) folding poles for the Cargobike; they aren’t ideal yet, IMO. There’s a possibilty we may get to try them out for a while, which would be cool. When using the Cargobike, I do miss being able to stow the cover away. Hugh reckons you can fold the Clarijs cover into a Clarijs pannier if you fold it right, as the current poles are flexible enough, but he’s a braver man than me. In terms of the Cabby, Gazelle are now showing their raincover on the website, but I’ve not seen it in the flesh. It looks VAST. Of the 3, I think the Clarijs looks nicest, and it seems to be the most waterproof. I’ve not seen the Gazelle kit in the flesh, but the Fietsfabriek item isn’t completely rigid, so doesn’t look great. It’s easily rectified (you can easily substitute plastic pipes for the metal strips), but they could have done a better job off the bat. If you think of the Fietsfabriek as a convertable car hood, and the Clarijs as a hardtop, that seems a fair analogy.

I should point out here I am not comparing like with like – the FF995 is the equivalent to the short Cargobike, whereas I have a long Cargobike, and the Cabby seems even longer still. This may contribute to a fairly noticeable difference in rigidity. Despite being longer, the Cargobike is lighter, but feels less substantial. In comparison, the Fietsfabriek’s frame and box feel stiffer. The thick betonplex box feels very solid compared to the thinner and shallower item on the Cargobike, and I suspect it contributes to the noticeable weight differential. Also, the Fietsfabriek comes with Schwalbe Big Apples, so rides very plush. Generally, the Fietsfabriek is a sedate ride compared to the relatively nippy Cargobike. Despite being longer stil, the Cabby falls somewhere between the FF995 and the Cargobike. It seems lightish too, mainly as the box is fabric, I’d guess. What I notice when on the Cargobike is that the steering tube has more flex in it than the FF995 and the Cabby. Looking at the designs, the extra tubes in the Cabby and the FF995 would appear to me to make the steerer tube more rigid than the gusset on the Cargobike. Still, if you live in a hilly area, you’d gladly live with the extra flex for the lighter weight. Actually, if you lived in a really hilly area, you’d probably want to swap the front chainring on any of them to save your knees.

I could say more about the difference between the boxes, but I’ve written about the Cabby’s box before. Comparing the baks on the Cargobike and the FF995, the FF995 is more substantial. The betonplex is very thick, and the edges are bolted together with a big metal frame. If someone started a bakfietsen jousting sport, my money would be on the FF995. Also, the bolted down seat feels like it’s hewn from rock compared to the light folding item on the Cargobike. Lastly, the sides come up higher on the FF995, so the child sits more “in” than “on” the box. Both boxes seem very safe, but if I had to choose, in a crash, I’d prefer my boy was in the FF995. Still, I suspect the preference is groundless, as in the realworld, I doubt the differential box strength would be a factor. The Cabby, nice as it is, doesn’t give the same sense of security, albeit I am sure the metal frame would be sufficient.

In terms of stability, none are terrible, but the bakfiets.nl is least “steery”. One thing I’ve noticed is that on the steering linkage, the Cargobike has a steering lever that is longer than the fork lever, so that the front wheel turns more than the handlebars. I’d never looked at the Fietfabriek closely before, but it’s actually got 3 possible settings you can have it so that the set up is the same as the Cargobike, a 1:1 ratio, or with some mechanical advantage. It came set up 1:1, and the steering is relatively light compared to the Cargobike (this may be a setup issue, but another person who’s tried both brands said the same). Since swapping the Fietsfabriek setup to the Cargobike-alike setting, it’s made an obvious improvement. I have no idea why De Fietsfabriek don’t ship it with this setting. In terms of steering / stability. The Cabby feels the most unwieldy, but not by a massive margin – certainly 10 minutes in the saddle will have you full of confidence. The FF995 in the standard setting next, with the Cargobike being the most stable. Changing the setup on the FF995 brings it really close to the Cargobike, but the stand setup robs it of the extra chuckability that the Cargobike has because in hard cornering, it’s possible to ground the front legs of the stand.

I should mention the stands. The Gazelle stand did not inspire confidence. The Gazelle stand is very skinny, and the lack of rubber feet makes it noisy and a bit unpleasant to use. I don’t know what the weight capacity of the box is, but with that stand, I wouldn’t want to put 80kg in it. It may be that the relatively narrow distance between the feet means that the skinny stand is fine in terms of strength, but the compromised stability is the trade off. To be fair, we let our son clamber about in it, and it was absolutely fine. It just doesn’t inspire the confidence that the ridiculously chunky Fietsfabriek design inspires in us. I’ve often seen the Bakfiets.nl stand praised. It is good, but the new (2008?) Fietsfabriek 4 point design we have feels a bit more stable, is easier to engage and drop, and just feels stronger. Also, it has a limiter to stop the bike rolling back. Not an issue with the frame lock engaged, but it is something I miss when I am using the Cargobike. However, like many aspects of the De Fietsfabriek (especially the box), the FF995 stand feels overbuilt, but it’s an area that I appreciate it. If that makes it sounds like I think the Cargobike stand is bad, please don’t take it that way. Actually, if I am nitpicking, the Gazelle has the nicest bell, followed by the Incredibell on the bakfiets.nl, and last the funky but ineffective horn thingy on the Fietsfabriek.

Wow, what a lot of waffle. My summary would be this: If the bakfiets.nl bike is out of your price range, shouldn’t be disappointed with either the Gazelle or the De Fietsfabriek. If you have to store the bike outside or plan on transporting a lot of non-human cargo, forget the Cabby. If space for storage indoors is short, the Cabby is a solution. If you have a De Fietsfabriek, change the steering settings. If you live in a hilly area, the lighter Cargobike is the best choice. Any of the three will enhance your cycling life with your child and give you lots of fun times! For what little it’s worth, I prefer the Cargobike, but my wife prefers the FF995. She also likes the Cargobike, but is put off by the box on the Cabby.

Posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 8:57 pm in the category:Reviews. Comment RSS 2.0 feed. Comment it , or trackback this post.