Babies in bakfiets
Hello everyone,
Welcome to Issue #11 of Cargobike Culture!
If all has gone to plan, as this arrives in your inbox, I’ll be arriving at the National Cargobike Summit in central London. Follow along on my Twitter if you’d like to see what’s happening. Or just wait for the next few issues where I’ll be sharing what I learnt.
Also, I’ve assumed that everyone reading this knows what a bakfiets is (see title). If you don’t, it’s Dutch for a cargobike with a box on the front (literally translates to box bike).
That’s the Dutch lesson over, let’s talk about babies and bikes.
Babies in cargobikes
Do you have kids? Were they born in a hospital? I bet they came home in a car.
Ours did, even though we don’t have a car. We got a taxi.
Here’s me and our one week old daughter outside the hospital, waiting for our taxi to arrive.
Between that car ride, and her reaching 9 months, we were pretty much stuck in our neighbourhood with our stroller. We took the occasional bus ride to the doctors for vaccinations, but other than that, we stayed local.
Finally, at 9 months, her neck was strong enough for her to join us on the our moederfiets*.
Back then I wasn’t wise to the ways of the cargobike. And little did I know, we could of been safely exploring Utrecht’s cycle paths almost from day 1.
Official recommendations state that babies shouldn’t on a bike until 9 months. For cargobikes though, it’s a different story. In a cargobike, you use the same baby seat you’d use in a car. The seat attaches to the bottom of the box with similar fittings you use to attach it to a stroller frame. Some fittings even have suspension built in.
In this situation, theres not really a minimum age for your baby to be in a cargobike.
Some manufactures advise 2 months, others 3 months. In my experience, you’re not going very far in the first month or two anyway. So I’d say you’re good to go in a cargobike from as early as you feel comfortable.**
And it’s such a great way to get around with a tiny baby!
They face backwards and you get to keep an eye on them whilst you ride.
If they have siblings, they get to entertain them on route.
Babies love sleeping in cargobikes. Imagine all the scandi-sleeping-outside-fresh-air parenting points you’ll get.
No car parking to deal with when you get where your going. Just pull up outside the café and offload the babe.
And when you get to your destination, you either wear the baby in a sling, or when they get a bit older, unfold your cargobike friendly tiny stroller.
What about the non-Dutchies
But I write this from Utrecht, one of the best cycling cities in the world. We’re spoilt with miles and miles (or kilometres and kilometres) of great cycling infrastructure where I’d feel entirely comfortable cycling my baby around.
For most people I recognise that isn’t the case. Would I feel as comfortable cycling around the cities we’ve lived in before?
Berlin? hmmmm, probably not
Norwich? Nope
London? Yes probably, some bits of London are much better for cycling.
Lyon? Maybe
Montreal? No way
It’s a privilege to live somewhere where you feel happy to shepherd a kid in a cargobike. Especially when the kid is under 12 months old.
And there’s something else which could have a big sway on your decision to use a cargobike or not. It’s what everyone else thinks. Anyone thats had a kid knows the amount of judgment which gets thrown at you about how you’re raising your baby.
If you’re not living somewhere where people are generally supportive of your baby-in-a-cargobike plans, I can imagine it could wear you down to the point of abandoning it all together.
So if you’ve got your baby in a bakfiets, I salute you. Our cities and our planet need more people like you.
*A moederfiets looks like a traditional Dutch bike, but it’s got some features which make it particularly good at carrying kids. They’re built with reinforced frames for the extra weight. They have big, swept back handlebars so there’s room for a baby infront of you. And the bars are covered in a nice soft foam.
**Obviously, this is a male writing this. If you gave birth to the kiddo, then you have my respect, admiration, and permission to stay out of the bike saddle as long as you need.
Cargobike of the week
This issue’s cargobike of the week is a bike from Christian based in Central Pennsylvania .
I absolutely love a loaded up cargobike, especially with a kiddo stuffed in their somewhere.
Other links of interest
Cargoroo goes lyonnaise
Regular newsletter subject Cargoroo, the shared cargobike company, have just launched in my favourite French city, Lyon.,
According to a post from Bruno Bernard, Président Écologiste de la Métropole de Lyon, twenty cargobikes have been rolled out as part of a trial. It’s the first trial of it’s kind in France, and has come about through the partnership with Cargoroo and Vélo'v', Lyon’s bike sharing scheme. Rates are €0.08 cents per minute. So an hours ride will cost you €4.80. The trial is set to run for a year, and fingers crossed I’ll get to try them out whilst devouring a croissant sometime soon.