A sea of bikes at Oregon Manifest 2011.

In late September 2011, I attended Oregon Manifest in northwest Portland. I visited the opening night showcase, and was able to get a peek at most of the entries. I saw some beautiful bikes, some silly bikes, and some extremely interesting bikes. Though I did not spend enough time at this year’s Manifest events to provide a thorough or detailed report, I will write here about some of the bikes I saw that will be of interest to my readers. (If you care to read a very thorough, well-written, and well-informed report, get your hands on the Winter 2011 issue of Bicycle Quarterly.)

In the interest of full disclosure, note that I had a few cards in the game this time around. The Antload/Joe Bike team hired me to design the logos and website for their entry, the Byerley. Metrofiets and Clever Cycles are clients of my design studio (for work not pertaining to their Oregon Manifest entries).

Full disclosure (and plug): I designed the logos for the Byerley,
a collaborative effort between Mike Cobb's Antload Fabrications and Joe Bike.

Oregon Manifest’s primary event is a design competition called the Constructors’ Challenge, where framebuilders are asked to enter bikes that meet a certain set of criteria. This year’s challenge sought the “ultimate utility cycle.”

WHY INNOVATE?

What innovations are needed, in order for bicycles to be used as transportation? In general, North American innovations to city-bike design tend to Americanize traditional European bikes, by creating a lighter, faster, or prettier bike that will appeal to North American tastes. In this, there is an implied critique that existing European bikes are inadequate to American riding conditions. Yet a wide range of utility bikes are available now, whose usefulness has been proven already in other parts of the world, many of which are as traffic-clogged, potholed, and hilly as American landscapes.

I include in the existing pantheon everything from sturdy Dutch and Scandinavian city bikes, classic English three-speeds, and vintage 10-speeds enhanced with promenade handlebars, fenders, and a basket. Even the newer “city bikes” from companies like Electra, Linus, and Public, some of which feature only metaphorical chainguards rather than a real chain cover, and derailleur gears rather than internal gearing, suit the casual errand-runner very well at a good price. These bikes are ideal for exactly the kind of riding that Americans can be doing: short rides, to destinations close to home. No one’s suggesting that European-style city bikes are suitable for mountainous 40-mile commutes, any more than I’d suggest a mountainous 40-mile commute was a very good idea.

Some innovations merely solve problems that don’t exist. Remember Shimano’s innovative “Coasting” drivetrain system, which featured a generator-powered automatic shifter so the user didn’t have to shift her own gears? No? You don’t remember that? Yeah, neither does Shimano.

Whether or not there’s really a need for much innovation in bicycle design (and the folks at Oregon Manifest have clearly heard this line of thinking—they devote a post to the subject on their own site), events like the Constructor’s Challenge are delicious times for bike geeks. The bikes were thought-provoking and fun to look at, and the level of craftsmanship was stunning—even the less practical designs were beautifully executed.

THE WINNING BIKES

At this year’s event, the judges’ choice for best of show was chosen on its merits to the prospective bicycle user. Designer and framebuilder Tony Pereira won the Constructor’s Challenge with a bike designed to get someone out of their car and onto the saddle. It’s a beautiful machine, with a style that manages to mix aspects of randonneur bikes and classic American faux-moto cruisers. The key design innovations—electric assist, a music system, and a lockable cargo box—are aimed directly at someone who wants to ride a bike, or ride a bike more, but wishes the experience were a little more like driving a car.

2011's winning design, from Pereira Cycles. Photo by PDXCross.

Thus the music, the effort-reducing electric motor, and the very practical notion of being able to lock away a few items securely in a cargo compartment. It will be interesting to see how these ideas trickles down to production bikes. The value of Pereira’s bike depends on the “Tesla gambit” (a term I just made up), which supposes that incredibly expensive, innovative items like the Tesla electric sports car will appeal to wealthy users, who will then create a demand for more quotidian versions of same, since the majority of Americans want to be like wealthy people. This concept hit home for me when I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal that was very excited about Oregon Manifest in general and the winning Pereira bike in particular.

Meanwhile, which of the bikes at Manifest are more useful to people who already use bikes? And, more specifically to my interests and the interests of Vélocouture’s readers, which entries would serve the use patterns of everyday urban bicycle users? I was disappointed that there were so few improvements on everyday equipment, like chainguards (or, for that matter, any chainguards at all), or innovative generator-light systems (for trikes, say). On the other hand, several bikes featured smartly-designed kickstands meant to support a front load. And I was excited to see many bikes that aimed to fill the gap between a standard city bike and a larger, full-duty cargo bike such as a bakfiets or Christiania trike. My three favorite bikes all addressed this type of use—they were able to carry large or bulky cargo, and/or a kid, but on a slimmer platform, and with more versatility, than the standard cargo bike.

The Ballena, from Josh Muir's Frances Cycles. Photo by PDXCross.

I loved the Ballena, from Joshua Muir of Frances Cycles. The bike is essentially a lightweight version of a long-wheelbase cargo bike. It features two innovations that Muir first developed for his Smallhaul bike: a perimeter frame, where the frame itself provides structure to the cargo box; and cable steering, where the traditional steering rod of a long-wheelbase bakfiets is replaced with a pulley-and-cable system that can be routed through tighter spaces. The bike also features a small, rigid-bottomed cargo space with a gorgeous heritage-chic canvas bag and rain fly. The frame is built into couplers, so that it may be broken down for easier transport. Muir offers a thorough description of the bike on his blog.

I noticed a small stand on the Ballena’s double top tube that, in the show, was used to hold a clipboard with a route sheet on it.

Detail of the Ballena, showing the accessory port that here holds a cue-sheet clipboard,and could be used to hold a stoker

Muir explained that it is an accessory port, designed to hold a variety of things, including an additional seatpost where a young stoker could be seated and added to the drivetrain by way of a second bottom bracket. Up to now, a lighter-duty cargo bike that could also serve as a tandem for kids is something I have only dreamed about, not actually seen or heard of. I have yet to see this part of the bike in action, and hope to hear more as this idea develops. In the same way that the Pereira is a great bike for people who are just starting out with a bike for transportation, the Frances Ballena is great for people who have been using a cargo bike to carry kids for a few years, and, now that the kids are older, are hoping to get the added benefit of cargo that pedals. Kind of like an e-assist, except you have to feed it and ask it to clean its room.

The trick to making a kid-specific tandem work is accommodating for its brief usability window. A child will be pure cargo for the first five or so years, and then could be a stoker on a Ballena (or similarly designed kid-tandem) for a few years, but after the young one is on her own ride, the kid-tandem needs to be useful in another way. The Ballena addresses this elegantly; at its core, it is a well-designed medium-duty cargo bike, with some built-in flexibility that could provide an ideal solution for a growing family. From all reports, it’s a great bike to ride, too, and I wish I’d had a chance to try it out myself. I look forward to further developments on this theme from Frances Cycles.

You realize that as more people take this kind of thing up, there will be trends in new bike design to appeal to the biggest demographic groups. For example, right now the bike industry is falling all over itself to sell bikes to people who want to a) ride a bike more often, b) carry stuff on front racks, c) ride fixed gears, or d) carry their kids, just to name a few of the latest trends. And in a few years, who knows? If the folks carrying their toddlers keep at it, they might need a bike to carry older kids who want to pedal—or at least they’ll want some practical, non-BMX bikes for their kids. As kids grow up into young adults who can envision an adolescence without cars, will there be highly adjustable, cool-looking bikes specifically aimed at growth-spurting tweens? Larger families will surely increase the demand (and, presumably, innovation in design) for bigger family bikes and trikes, and grown-ups might validate the design and production of cargo bikes built to carry other adults, be they grandparents, or just visiting friends. (One could argue that Christiania trikes and Bakfiets.nl trikes are already well-suited to these purposes, of course.)

Another bike that really appealed to me was Metrofiets’ entry.

Metrofiets' entry to the 2011 Challenge. Photo by PDXCross.

Like the Frances, it builds upon an existing design—in this case, Metrofiets’ aesthetically luscious interpretation of the classic long-wheelbase cargo bike. Metrofiets’ entry into the 2009 Oregon Manifest was a super-light flatbed cargo bike. The 2011 entry is a bit more robust—sleek and graceful, yet utilitarian and strong. The addition of a low, “skirt-friendly” top tube adds the structural benefit of a cross-frame with the linear elegance of a horizontal tube. Instead of their usual single main beam supporting the cargo area, Metrofiets used a triple-beam solution—let’s call it a “demi-perimeter” frame—to support the cargo area. In addition, they employed a larger rear wheel than usual, to provide a smoother ride on rough surfaces. The overall bike looks just like a Metrofiets, but when you dig a little deeper you find a bike that’s a little lighter and stronger, and that incorporates some sensible thinking for long-term use, like the use of standard, off-the-shelf components for ease of maintenance. From where I sit, Metrofiets has used the Oregon Manifest for its highest purpose: as an opportunity to try out new ideas on a show bike, and to take the best of these ideas and apply them to their custom and production lines.

The other bike that attracted my attention, even before the show began, was the Clever Cycles/Quixote Cycles collaboration, called the Xtravois 2.0.

The Xtravois 2.0. Photo by PDXCross.

As the name suggests, this bike is, like my other favorites, based on a successful existing design. The original Xtravois, designed by Clever Cycles owner Todd Fahrner in 2003 as a purpose-built platform for the Xtracycle longtail cargo system, presaged the plethora of cargo/kid-hauling longtail frames that are now available. The Xtravois 2.0 is similarly designed to work with Xtracycle’s system.

I am not personally a big fan of the Xtracycle system—I’m more of a front-loader, frankly—but despite that, I am struck by the potent blend of craftsmanship, functionality, and dialed-in precision of of this bike. As a kind of preview, Fahrner provided “a super geeky breakdown of the design, its background and rationale” in a post on Clever Cycles’ site a few days before the event, and I won’t attempt to improve upon his description. Suffice to say that as far as I could tell, no one had put more consideration into every aspect of a bike’s design than this team. What is especially impressive is how so many of the design innovations are based on real-world experience—from the original Xtravois as well as the accumulated wisdom gained from four years of selling utility bikes to Clever Cycles customers. Furthermore, the Xtravois 2.0 was the only bike that seriously addressed the issue of carrying kids, to the extent of carrying a young passenger on the field test, and for that alone it stands above every other entry in the competition.

Overall, I really enjoyed this year’s Oregon Manifest. From what I have seen in photos, it looks like tagging along with the field test would be a good time too. The event is still in its infancy, and some growing pains that were there in 2009 continued in 2011. The opening night, when the bikes were displayed, was crowded and oddly lit, so the bikes themselves were hard to see and inspect. As in 2009, there was no formal description included with the bikes, leaving viewers to guess at some of the less obvious design features and innovations of each bike. A bit further afield on my wish list, I’d like to see a separate category for quotidian solutions—for the everyday bike user to have a chance to show off his or her home-brewed city bike conversion. But even for a cranky guy like me with all my misgivings and sub-par night vision, the Oregon Manifest is bike nerd heaven. They’re providing a fun and interesting event for bike framebuilders, industry designers, and the public, and I look forward to seeing what all the builders have to offer for Manifest 2013.

Bike books are like bike infrastructure. Their purpose is either to attract new riders, or appeal to experienced users. Effectively appealing to both groups is difficult, if not impossible.

Yet that’s what On Bicycles: 50 Ways the New Bike Culture Can Change Your Life does. It’s an all-around guide to bike culture, filled with useful information and bursting at the seams with earnest enthusiasm for all levels of interest. But will this self-proclaimed bike culture make the bicycle a vital part of North American transportation networks? Does bike culture necessarily help to bring bicycling to the mainstream as a method of transportation?

Read the rest of the review on Sightline.

Every year I hear from friends who have removed their fenders “for the summer” and then been surprised — shocked! — by a “freak” summer rainstorm. And I always think, wait, wait… back up a bit. Fenders are removable?

OK, I’m being snarky, but I just don’t get why you’d take off your fenders. Even if it NEVER rains, there is plenty of stuff on the roadways that I’d rather not have splashing up onto my pants.

Also, if you’re Anastasia, keeping fenders attached at all times is pretty important. You can use them to climb up into the box of the trike.

(I’m guessing that by the time she is heavy enough to damage the fenders by doing this, she’ll also be big enough to get into the trike without climbing up the fenders.)

Pilen is a Swedish bike company, founded in 1999 with the intention of creating a sturdy line of city bikes in a classic Scandinavian style. Like most American bicycle companies, the firm designs and assembles its bikes in Sweden, and has the frames constructed in Asia.

The Pilen Lyx is their all-road model, meant to be used on pavement as well as dirt roads and gravel. It’s got easy handling and a super comfortable ride. In a nutshell, it’s a lighter-duty version of the venerable Dutch city bike—a lighter weight, no skirt guard, a chainguard instead of a full chaincase—but still fully equipped for the rigors and pleasures of everyday urban transport.

In addition to all this, the Lyx has a little secret: it’s downright speedy. The bike rewarded my pedaling efforts with perky acceleration and a vigorous cruising speed. In fact, for whatever reason, I was able to go faster, more easily, on the Lyx than on my Kogswell, a lighter French-style city bike with a more aggressive, forward-leaning posture. It was hard not to smile as I zipped along. Even in headwinds and up hills, the bike surged forward under my efforts. I began to refer to the bike’s “built-in tailwind.” Once or twice I actually caught myself checking to make sure there was no hidden electric assist behind the bottom bracket.

I reckon that the reason the Lyx moves so nicely is because of something that Jan Heine, of Bicycle Quarterly magazine, calls “planing.” In effect, the frame flexes in sync with the user’s pedaling, causing a positive feedback loop that makes the bike feel more responsive and easier to ride. Assuming this is the case with the Lyx, the frame’s flexibility is a boon to its ride quality, but the down side is that the Lyx is not the ideal bike for very heavy loads or multiple kids. This is not really much of a down side, since if you want to carry loads like that, you ought to do it right on a Workcycles FR8, an Azor Oma, or a good old cargo bike.

The Test
I tested out the Pilen Lyx during a very wet couple of weeks in early April—an ideal time to assess the bike’s performance and usefulness in, alas, a variety of weather conditions.

The bike I used is slightly different from the Pilen Lyx that you will see described online. The model I tested was a prototype of the Pilen Lyx ‘Portlandia’, a kind of sub-type that will be specially equipped according to Clever Cycles spec. The official ‘Portlandia’ version will be a little different from what I tested, but not that much.

The bike is fitted with hub brakes, and internal gears. The rear hub is an 8-speed Shimano Nexus with roller brake. The front hub is a Shimano dynamo hub, also equipped with roller brake, which provides power for a fork-mounted LED headlight.

The bike I tested used a halogen headlight and lacked a standlight (in other words, the bike went dark when it stopped rolling, even at stoplights), but I am told the ‘Portlandia’ will be equipped with an LED headlight with standlight. The taillight is battery powered, and has a sensor that turns it on when the bike starts moving. I’d probably just replace it with a wired taillight, but it was pretty neat.

Wheels were heavy duty 700c (or 28″, as they say in old Stockholm) with super fat 2″ wide Big Apple tires, which, in combination with the sprung Brooks saddle, provided an extremely pleasant, smooth, comfortable ride, even on rougher pavement and gravel roads.

The handlebars are barely-swept back city bars, a kind of cross between MTB-style “flat bars” and your traditional city bike handlebar. I prefer a more swept back handlebar style, but I did come to appreciate the simple usability of these bars. Shifting is achieved with a grip shifter, which, again, is not my preference, but the shifting was smooth and reliable throughout the test.

The bike also comes equipped with a rear wheel lock and plug-in chain, and a Pilen-model bell that was a bit anemic (I attached a Crane brass bell instead). Stainless steel fenders (but no mudflaps) and a rear carrier rack are included, both painted black. My test model also had a frame-mounted front rack, a version of which will be made available as an option for the ‘Portlandia’. I zip-tied a milk crate to my front rack to use as a basket for most of my rides. For part of my test, I took the basket off and used the rack as a flat platform to carry various bags. I used rear panniers a few times when I needed extra cargo (for example, coming home from the farmers’ market). The photo at the top of the post shows the bike loaded with market produce, flowers, and a backpack full of more produce and extra clothes I’d shedded during a day of working the market.

I used the Pilen for my everyday trips: to appointments, a few parties and engagements, the library, and, of course, the farmers’ market. Essentially, every time I wasn’t carrying my daughter in the Christiania, I rode the Pilen. This is normal use of a bike for me: short trips, in the city, wearing everyday clothes. The Pilen served me very well for these tasks.

Locking up was fast and easy thanks to the wheel lock—no need for a cable, just a U-lock on the front wheel/frame and a flick of the wheel lock, and I knew the bike was locked up solid. The large front rack (and basket) carried everything I needed for these everyday trips. Even a few heavier loads, carried home from the farmers market, were no trouble. One evening, returning from a party, I was surprised by rain; fortunately I had brought a rain cape in my panniers, so the ride home was pleasant and dry thanks to the fenders, easy shifting, and the smooth stable ride afforded by the huge tires. Overall, the bike proved to be a worthy and versatile transportation device.

Handling with a load
When carrying a full load on the front, I noticed that the bike had a wobble, an oscillation of the handlebars that could have been a result of the steering stabilizer responding to pedaling forces, or a side effect of that responsive, flexible frame. I have noticed this same effect on another bike with a large, frame-mounted front rack: the Civia Halsted, which has a very nice cycle-truck design and a decent ride (n.b., I only took it round the block), but also suffers from the same “cargo wobble.”

This opens up a minor can of worms which I will idly pick at here. There are at least two, probably more, schools of thought on front-load carrying. Some people (notably Henry at Workcycles) are proponents of frame-mounted racks. Others (Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly, for example) prefer a smaller front rack or basket, attached to the bike’s fork. The fork-mounted school claims that the effect on handling can be managed by a low-trail geometry, and that the bike will ride more naturally than with a frame-mounted rack. Frame-mounters would claim that the fork-mounted rack is not as useful because it can’t carry as much and is unstable when parked and loaded.

I am familiar with the pros and cons of each method. My Kogswell is a low-trail bike designed to carry a large load on a fork-mounted rack. It carries 30- or 40-lb loads without difficulty, and the handling is affected, but in a way that is useful; the steering changes slightly with the differing loads in a way that is predictable and easy to manage. With a rear load of any size, my Kogswell exhibits a front-end wobble that is suspiciously similar to the frame-mounted-rack wobble, but since I stopped carrying anything (even a rack) on the back of the Kogswell, I’ve had no handling problems at all.

I think that in general, if you are looking for a heavy load carrier, a frame-mounted rack will serve you well, whereas if you just want to add significant daily carriage ability to your bike, a fork-mounted front rack is the way to go. I like my Kogswell for most of my solo transport, and if I need to carry bulky or heavy loads, or a kid or two, I just take the Christiania. I could comfortably carry more weight, and significantly more bulk, on the Pilen’s frame-mounted rack than I could on the Kogswell. The cargo wobble is a minor side effect of this convenience.

Conclusions

I would recommend the ‘Portlandia’ for anyone seeking a solid city bike. It’s a great introduction to city bikes for North Americans—its zippy ride, semi-swept-back bars, and relatively lighter chassis will feel comfortable to users accustomed to riding mountain bikes and ten-speeds. It’s perfect for everyday loads, and for family use—you could carry a kid on the front or back pretty easily, although it’d lower your cargo capacity. It’s not for super-heavy loads, or for very fast riding. But for getting around town in style, the Pilen Lyx ‘Portlandia’ is an excellent choice.

PRODUCT SUMMARY
Pilen Lyx ‘Portlandia’
List price: US$1500
Where to buy: Clever Cycles in Portland, or contact Boxcycles to for ordering information and other dealers.

This photo shows a great advantage to the Boxcycles Bugatti-style cover over our previous Prairie cover. With the Bugatti, you can go practically top down, but the hoops stay in place thanks to the side walls, which provide a little wind protection while they hold the hoops down. The fabric for all of the cover is stretchy and soft (yet durable and completely waterproof). The top part of the canopy unsnaps quickly, and easily rolls up and packs away under the bench. And pops back on quickly at the store. It’s a really well-designed, well-constructed cover.

We still have the Prairie cover, and we use the hoops in the summer in combination with Holly’s custom made sunshade. But the Bugatti cover is much easier to use and more versatile. I’m angling to put together some kind of sun cover for the Bugatti so we can just use it all year.

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I finally took a Nihola trike for a test ride and thought I would share my impressions.

Nihola is a cargo bike company based in Denmark. Nihola trikes, like Christiania trikes, are popular among parents there, as well as businesspeople who want to haul stuff, advertise stuff, or otherwise use a bike commercially.

Like the Christiania, Nihola trikes have a well-designed rain canopy, and have design amenities specifically aimed at carrying one or two kids in the cargo box: the rain canopy, a sturdy bench, seatbelts, and a carriage design that maximizes head and legroom.

Unlike most cargo trikes, the Nihola uses a steering linkage system. Most cargo trikes steer by using the box as the steering mechanism: the front wheels are on the box, and you steer by rotating the box on a pivot — the headset — which is positioned underneath the box, near the center. This sounds crude but can be quite sophisticated and well-engineered (as in the Christiania, with its inverse-angled floating headset, and hydraulic steering damper).

Nihola eschews the turning-box method, instead using a front steering linkage system, just like a car. The steering comprises tie rods and individual wheel pivots, and uses a design known as Ackermann steering geometry. Along with being extremely cool and fun to draw on a napkin, this steering mechanism is smooth and responsive. It also theoretically will wear less on the tires, since they are each turning exactly along the outside of their own individual arcs. I hope you’re geeking out on this as much as I am.

There is another advantage to a steering mechanism independent of the box, and that is that since the box is not changing position, the cabling can run more cleanly and predictably. On the Christiania, the brake cables for front and rear, as well as the shifter cable, all come from the handlebars, which are attached to the box. Thus, the cables need to be routed in such a way that they are long enough to clear the box when it’s being turned, but not so long or dangly that they get caught on the operator’s feet while pedaling. On the Nihola, the cables stay clamped to the frame tubes, as on any normal single bike. This is much tidier, and would be a great advantage to home or shop mechanics servicing the bikes, and presumably would reduce cable and housing wear.

Anyway, about that test ride. I was one of the many people at Clever Cycles’ winter party in January. I’d wanted to test a Nihola for a while, so I asked to take one for a spin and Todd quickly rolled one out onto the street for me. I took the trike for a spin round the usual Clever Cycles test route: down 9th a couple blocks, over to 10th, up to Clay and back. Shifting, pedaling, and braking were all blissfully smooth and clean. I kept reminding myself that this was a brand-spanking-new bike in very good adjustment, but even so, it is clearly very well designed so that the mechanic aspects all work well. All three of the brakes are drum brakes, and the gearing is an internal 8-speed hub with a grip shifter. In another departure from traditional trike design, the Nihola uses a regular city-style handlebar instead of the “shopping-cart” crossbar found on most cargo trikes (including the Christiania, although our Christiania has been modified to use a normal handlebar).

When I returned from that first spin, Todd told me I should try it with a load and gamely donated himself as the cargo. We did another circuit, with him pointing out various aspects. He asserted, correctly, that because the steering is independent of the weight in the box, the handling (i.e. how easy it is to steer) does not change as the weight of the load in the box changes. That’s pretty neat, as we say in the bike industry. The trike rode great with an adult-sized load.

That’s me at the pedals, and Clever Cycles owner Todd Fahrner showing me how the trike handles under load. Thanks Shetha for the photo.

We came back from that round, and no sooner had Todd exited the trike than a young fellow, just off his dad’s Xtracycle, asked if he could go for a ride. I said sure, and took him around the block, too. Again, it exhibited smooth and intuitive handling with the load in question.

My conclusion at the end of this test ride was that the Nihola is an extremely well-designed cargo bike. The biggest downside it has, especially compared to the Christiania, is the relatively small cargo box. In the weeks since I tried the Nihola, I always note how full our (very large) Christiania cargo box gets when we go to the supermarket, or to a friend’s house. In many cases, we can barely fit Anastasia in there amidst the provisions (especially now that she’s a bit fussy about legroom . . . ). Now, we’re pretty heavy travellers, which is why a cargo bike appeals to us to begin with, but it would be a serious problem if I couldn’t go get a full load of groceries, case of wine, bundle of TP, etc, with Anastasia in the seat. So for our purposes, a Christiania is the superior choice. Also, the handling differences between the Christiania and the Nihola are, in our case, somewhat mitigated by the alterations we’ve done to our Christiania trike.

A disadvantage that both trikes have is that they do not come equipped with a generator light system, and there’s no simple way to install a hub generator (theoretically you’d want to install one hub generator on each of the front wheels, which would be wonderful but expensive). We have a sidewall generator on our Christiania, and the same would work on the Nihola, but it’s far from ideal.

In a nutshell: The Nihola is an extremely high quality trike, with excellent handling and smooth mechanical function, as well as serious cargo capacity. I only took the trike on a short test ride, but I tried it out with a variety of cargo and it shone under all conditions. You’ve noticed that I constantly compare the Nihola trike to the Christiania trike; this is because we own a Christiania trike and I have a lot of experience using it, so there’s plenty to compare it to. Also, they’re both popular in Copenhagen, and available at Clevercycles, so the comparison is perhaps apt. (To read more about our Christiania trike please see this post.)

If you are looking for a solid, durable cargo trike, either the Christiania or the Nihola will serve you very well. The Nihola features extremely high performance, but lacks the cargo space of the Christiania. The Nihola would be great for taking a kid or two to and from school; or, from the commercial standpoint, for using as a delivery vehicle for small packages or repeat trips (such as pizza or other food delivery). From my family’s perspective, the Christiania is the ideal choice, but the fact that there is a choice is a blessing in itself. No matter what, if you have serious interest in these machines, you owe it to yourself to give them a test ride.

PRODUCT SUMMARY
Nihola cargo trike
Click here for product information on the manufacturer’s website; Clever Cycles also has a very informative page about the trike on their web site.
List price: US$3,399.00
Where to buy: Clever Cycles. Are they available anywhere else in North America? Please let me know.

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Photo by Flickr user eva.lu in Venice, California

Be a part of Vélocouture! Submit your photos of people going places in style to the Vélocouture group on Flickr. Thanks for tuning in, and thanks as always for all of your contributions.

In 2006 I made up the word “Vélocouture” as a title for the Flickr group I started. It was one of those things that took a couple minutes to think up, although obviously it was informed by much that had come before it. In the years since, the word hasn’t become a household word, exactly, although I suppose that depends on your household. It has begun to pop up here and there, though, and I was excited to hear about a fashion show in Berlin that held a Symposium Vélocouture as part of its events.

It appears there are some upcoming bike-related events as part of this program, as well, so take note if you are in the area.

See the whole story here.