Testing out a Nihola Trike

Last weekend was the Adelaide Cargo Bike Party, which unfortunately I wasn't able to get to.

However, I did get some cargo biking fun in, as Jurgen for Dutch Cargo Bikes stayed at our place for the weekend so that he could get to the party.  Jurgen bought with him a trailer load of interesting bikes:

On there you can see a bullett (in green), a bakfiets cargo long just like ours (in creme), and behind them both the Nihola trike (in black).  Here is the Nihola after I rode it to work this morning:



After his visit, we arranged to leave the Nihola trike here for me to try out, since I have never ridden a cargo trike in anger, and wanted to get a sense of what they are like to ride.

This was a bit of deja vu for me, because when I first thought about getting a cargo bike I was thinking of one of the big trikes because it would fit more.  I can't remember if it was Jurgen or someone else who wisely counselled me that if I could ride a bike, then I really didn't want a trike.  I was now about to put this theoretical knowledge to the test.

First, some important tests.  This particular one has only one seat-belt installed (the 2nd can be easily added), so it was just Miss.6YO who got to go in this morning to go to school.  She loved the little door, and climbing in that way as the following series shows:

The door is great for very little kids who are too small to climb into something like the bakfiets unassisted.

You do have to be a bit careful, as with a larger child, the trike may tip forward.  It won't tip far because of the geometry, however, this does mean that your back wheel is now off the ground.  This means if you are using the frame-mounted lock as a parking brake that the trike may now try to roll away if you are on a slope.  It does have a "hand-brake" function on the brakes on the two front wheels that locks the rim brakes on and provides some protection against this, but it isn't perfect.

It was rainy, so the weather cover got a good test.  Little miss loved the extra headroom compared to the rain shield we have on our bakfiets (there is now apparently a higher rain shield for the bakfiets, and we will very likely get one -- expect a post when that happens).  The generous head room is a real plus here in Australia where we need to wear helmets when riding.

Here we are fully loaded. There is a deceivingly large space under and behind the seat for putting loads of stuff.

The next test before departure was for my wife to take a look at it.  She has yet to hop on a cargo bike herself.  She immediately saw how much shorter, and thus more manoeuvrable the Nihola is.  Other people throughout the day commented on how fantastic and fun it looked.

It is also quite a bit easier to move around when walking.  This is in part because you can pick the back up and swing it around (that tilting forward problem becomes a feature here), something that is quite a bit harder on our long bakfiets.

Once at school, it attracted the usual intense interest that cargo bikes get from school kids:

The trike is wider than our bakfiets, and could only just squeeze through the school gate:

At low speed, the trike is really nice to handle, and does indeed have a tighter turning circle.  Compared to many other trikes, the Nihola has steering like a car, where the wheels turn, and the box stays stationary.  This is really helpful, as you can't end up with box at a horrible angle to the back when turning a corner, which is a common way for trikes to roll over.  

The risk of rolling over or generally throwing you off is a good reason to not get a trike if you can ride a bike, as all trikes have this risk, and the risk increases greatly with speed.

Pootling along to school was fairly comfortable, although I did immediately notice how trikes, especially tadpole configuration trikes with the two wheels at the front want to follow the camber of the road into the gutter.  You have to set a noticeable angle of attack towards the middle of the road to keep straight.   Then potholes and other obstacles will try to divert you.

At higher speeds, like around 20km/hour and above, the handling gets quite unsettling, simply because it is a trike.  My wrists got tired and a little sore just trying to keep it going straight on the various turns and strangely angled roads on the way to work.   It should be said that I work at Engineering at Flinders University, so this included riding it up Ring Road, which has some quite unpleasantly cambered corners.  I am sure that my wrists would toughen up if I did it regularly.

Being able to stop at lights without having to balance the bike was very nice.  Also, not having to balance meant I could pedal even slower than normal up the hill to work, which was very welcome on the 10% grade sections.

That just left riding home.  Now that was an interesting experience.  I normally do the ride down Ring Road at close to the 50km/hour speed limit in the bakfiets, without trouble or feeling out of control or at all unsafe.  Goodness me riding a trike down that hill is a very, very different experience, and not one that I want to repeat in any hurry.

I was in and amongst the afternoon peak-hour traffic leaving the University, and the trike is just a bit too wide to keep left enough to let cars go past easily.  So I had the real sensation that I was holding up the traffic.

The natural tendency of trikes to follow the slope of the road was a much greater problem, and to control this I had to brake the whole way, and try to keep below about 20km/hour.

Turns against the camber can only be made at very low speeds, and I ended up missing my usual turn onto Flinders Drive because I couldn't safely take the turn.

That left me with the unenviable task of riding the trike down the weavy and strongly cambered Ring Road and University Drive towards Sturt Road.

I managed to stay in the left car lane, but only just, and only with a lot of work.  I feel sorry for the poor traffic behind me as the trike tried to take me into the right-hand lane on several occasions.  You really have to be watching the sideways slope of the road ahead and managing the angle of attack quite intensely with a trike on this kind of road.

All up it took me probably 75% longer to get home than with the bakfiets.

So after my adventure, what do I think of the Nihola and trikes in general?

Regarding trikes, I would repeat the wisdom given to me two years ago:  Go for a two-wheeler unless there is some reason why you really can't.  Two-wheelers handle better, especially at any credible speed, and on cambered roads.  Of course, if you can't balance, only go short distances at low speed or have some other reason why a trike meets your need, then they fine.

As for the Nihola specifically, I haven't ridden other trikes.  However, I do know enough about the normal tadpole trike configuration that having the wheels turn and keeping the box and rear of the trike in line makes the thing a whole lot safer, and it really won't tip in normal conditions, provided that you keep below about 15km/hour.

So in short, my feeling is that the Nihola is one of the best trikes on the market, is really nicely made, and the kids loved riding in it, but it is still a trike -- and that introduces some serious limitations.

It was supposed to be flat-pack...

Today I went to Target to get a cupboard for our son's room that my wife had seen on special.  It comes flat-pack, and she and the kids were going to a birthday party, so we figured it would make sense for me to go and get it on the bakfiets.

So I wandered into Target, found said items, and then discovered that all the floor stock was black, and we wanted white.  The only white one was the demonstration unit that had already been assembled.  Finding a store assistant, I asked if I could buy that one.  Not only did they say yes, but we even got it 10% off because it was ex-demo.  That just left the challenge of getting it home, as it was no longer a little flat-pack box, but quite a bulky storage unit.  Fortunately I carry cargo straps in the bakfiets just in case, so I was able to strap it down, and ride it home happily:

Riding around Copenhagen

This week I was supposed to have been in Norway for a conference.  The conference got cancelled at the last minute, but I was already in Sweden by then, so I rearranged some things to meet with some other organisations while I am this side of the world.

The upshot of all that is that I ended up with a day in transit in Copenhagen, with several hours between my flight from Oslo and onward flight to Luxembourg.  So naturally I decided to get out of the airport, and ride around in Copenhagen a bit.

I have already ridden in Amsterdam twice, so I was especially interested in seeing how the "other cycling capital" compares.

My overall impression was that Copenhagen was more of a compromise between a regular car-oriented city and a cycling city than Amsterdam, where bicycle reigns as the overwhelming mode of transport.

Copenhagen has much less cycling infrastructure than Amsterdam, with cyclists and motorists sharing the same physical roadway much more often.

In fact, the key difference with Adelaide was more the attitude of drivers and cyclists to one another, rather than the infrastructure.  This is a bit sobering, given the generally poor relationship between cyclists (who regularly flaunt the law and seem to go out of their way to annoy motorists at times) and motorists (who regularly fail to look for cyclists or other non-car road users, and seem to believe that cyclists somehow don't pay any tax or own and register cars, and thus should not be on "their [the motorists]" roads).

Anyway, enough social commentary, and now for some pictures of my wandering around Copenhagen.

This was the view outside the front of Copenhagen Central Station. Only a few bikes to be seen in this direction, and much more car-oriented infrastructure.

But look in another direction, or go around the corner, and there are lots of bikes.  The bikes are much more varied in style compared to Amsterdam, with many more mountain bikes and racing bikes in the fleet compared with the much more uniform city-bike fleet in Amsterdam.

... and more bikes.

Like in Amsterdam, some bikes find unusual graves.  Here are the bent and buckled carcasses of bikes that have fallen onto the train line and been thrown into the verge.  

A nice view down the river from on a bridge.

... and towards one side of the bridge...

... and looking down into the water which also serves as the grave yard for many bikes.

Here is the nice bike shop guy who let me try out a Christiania two-wheeler.

While I was talking to him, this family turn up and say "You're from Australia, aren't you?" in a Melbournian accent. They are living in Copenhagen for a few months, and getting their new cargo bike serviced after assembling it themselves.

Here is my noble steed that I rented for DKK100 (about AUD$20) for the day.  The Christiania was much nicer and more fun to ride!

Here is the view across the street where I had lunch

And some people riding past on cargo bikes.

And a Mum riding a 3-wheeler.  I really wanted to get a few shots like this to help people in Adelaide understand that cargo-bikes are often ridden by women, and you don't need to be an athletic guy to move your family this way.

This is a road safety centre playground like the one that used to be at Oaklands Park for kids to play and learn the road rules in a safe way.

I am visiting Copenhagen, so had to have my picture taken by the little mermaid.

Cobblestone road next to the Royal Palace.  The queen was apparently in, but I didn't see her.

There is also a Noah's Ark you can go on and do various things.  It was quite rainy as can be seen by how wet Bo was.

The entrance to the Ark.

Riding a Christiania Two-Wheeler in Copenhagen

This week I am on a work trip which got a bit messed around due to the threat of a hotel strike in Oslo.  The net result was that I had a few hours in transit in Copenhagen, and so I took the change to get outside, and ride around Copenhagen a little.

For a long time I have wanted to try riding a Christiania two-wheeler, and also to visit Copenhagen to see the bike culture there.

This post will focus on the Christiania, and I will talk more about riding in Copenhagen in another post.

While riding around I found this nice bike shop where they were kind enough to let me take a Christiania two-wheeler for a ride, despite me being very honest that I was not going to buy it, but just wanted the chance to ride one so that I could write about my experience.

So here is the nice guy from Barholt Cykler in Copenhagen, and the Christiania two-wheeler that I would get to ride:

We had a bit of a chat about it, and some of the advantages, including the nice side door that makes it easier for very little kids to get in and out:

He then explained that he rides a bakfiets.nl Bakfiets Long very similar to the one I ride.  His view was that Bakfiets was a more "finished" bike, while the Christiania felt a bit less refined.

The cover mechanism is different, but I didn't get to play with it enough to know whether I thought it was better or worse.

The stand mechanism on the Bakfiets was easier to operate, and a little more stable with the four feet on the ground instead of two with the Christiania, but both are fine.

The two bikes are quite similar, as I have discussed in a previous post, so I was interested in how the bike felt, and how much difference the reduced weight made.

Copenhagen is about as flat as inner Adelaide, that is there are some fairly gently but noticable slopes on various roads.  The Christiania was quite noticeably easier to ride up the slope than I feel my Bakfiets would have been.  Of course the Christiania didn't have all my junk sitting in the box and panniers, so it wasn't entirely fair, but I still expect that there would be a noticeable difference.

The steering on the Christiania felt very similar to the Bakfiets, and after the first turn, I wasn't really noticing the difference, except that the Christiania has a spring that tries to return the steering to the middle, which could be felt when turning sharply, but was not a problem.

The cargo box is a little smaller, both shorter and narrower, and the bike as a whole is a little smaller.  As I mentioned in my other post, this would suit a smaller rider for whom the Bakfiets feels too large and heavy.

All in all, the Christiania was the pleasant and practical ride that I expected.

8-wheeler cargo bike (requires two riders) and other things

My friend Angus pointed me to this one:

http://notechmagazine.com/2014/04/eight-wheeler-cargo-cycle.html

Basically a bike-truck capable of carrying 450kg with a 10m^2 bed. The cargo bike sitting in one corner of the tray is the same 2.9m long bakfiets lang type as I ride.  See the link for a picture.

I was also impressed by a novel axe design by a Finnish guy which converts the residual kinetic energy of an axe strike into leverage that looks like it makes it much easier to chop and split wood, with much less risk of the axe ending up in your leg:

http://notechmagazine.com/2014/04/the-axe-has-been-reinvented.html

Here is another interesting bike-related post from the same magazine:

http://notechmagazine.com/2012/10/bicycle-trailer-with-solar-panel-charges-electric-bicycle.html

This one is a bike with trailer with solar panel.  I have already ridden around carrying a 40W solar panel in our bakfiets just to move it from place to place and thought about how handy it would be to have one fitted over the box if I had an electric assist motor (which I don't).  The box is big enough that a 80W - 100W panel would be possible.

War on Weapons of Mass Deflation

There is a force of at work that seeks to disrupt our peace and safety.  It is responsible to no government, and has a single-minded objective of world domination.

This force is no terrorist organisation, but the terrorist organism.  You may know it by one of its many common names: three-corner-Jack, bindii, bullhead, burra gokharu, caltrop, cat's head, devil's eyelashes, devil's thorn, devil's weed, goathead, puncturevine or tackweed.  But its true name is tribulus terrestris, the earth-thorn.

This menace has probably existed in Australia since the fall, relentlessly spreading to our fair state by concealing itself, and seeding new terror cells wherever it lands.

Like other terrorist cells, tribulus can lie in wait for many years biding its time for the right opportunity to launch a coordinated attack on Australian our way of life.

Terror Organism Activates in Adelaide

After being forced into hiding in cracks and crevises in recent years by the drought and the surveillance of local authorities, tribulus has seized the opportunity afforded by recent summer rains to regroup and multiply its stocks of Weapons of Mass Deflation, appearing in many places where it was until recently thought eliminated.

Now like something out of the Little Shop of Horrors, this organism of terror is reaching its tendrils out onto parks and paths, byways and highways, seeking to use its Weapons of Mass Deflation on cyclists, walkers and pets, indiscriminately inflicting pain and suffering everywhere.

Like something out of The Little Shop of Horrors, tribulus terrestris begins as a small plant with innocent looking yellow flowers.  But these soon transform into factories producing hundreds of weapons of mass deflation in just a few short weeks. Image credit: Forest & Kim Starr (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Starr_030612-0063_Tribulus_terrestris.jpg)

An Opportunity to Defeat This Terror on the Ground

Tribulus is counting on us, the people of South Australia, not being willing to engage in an extensive ground war, to commit the necessary personnel to locate, target and eliminate this terror organism from all its bases of operation.

So confident is it of this, that it has not held back, and has activated almost every dormant seed of activity, with the goal of enlarging its operations and infliction of terror for many years to come.

However, this combination of hubris and lack of discipline is tribulus' weakness: If we can root out tribulus throughout this fair city, we can eliminate its strong-holds, and look forward to a city free from the fear of terror rising out of the ground, unleashing biological weapons of mass deflation on an unsuspecting public.

Chemical Weapons and Indiscriminate Action are not The Answer

In fighting this biological weapon of mass deflation, we must not be tempted into the hypocrisy of fighting with unethical or terrible means ourselves, such as chemical weapons.  

It is unlawful to apply chemical weapons on public or private property, and while they may disable tribulus' biological weapons plants, they do not disable the biological weapons themselves.

Similarly, we must not take actions that violate sovereignty by invading land over which we have no jurisdiction.

Where terrorist organisms are found active on land beyond our jurisdiction our call is to carefully document and collect this information, so that diplomatic solutions can be found.  Diplomatic solutions can include seeking permission to cross borders and fight this terrorist organism on behalf of the citizens or governments resident there.

A Call to form A Coalition of the Willing

Diplomacy among the authorities has already made great progress on the war on tribulus, declaring it an organism non grata.

However, as terrorists know, diplomacy takes time.  Time that tribulus will use to manufacture and deploy massive quantities of biological weapons onto an unsuspecting, peace loving public.

Tribulus cannot be given this opportunity.  We therefore need to form a coalition of the willing, who are willing to strike this foe decisively, while abiding by all local and international treaties, regulations and upholding the rule of law.

We need Weapons Inspectors on the ground who can collect information and share it with the coalition and other relevant authorities, and root this menace out wherever it is found.

We need Analysts who can examine the information, and direct efforts to where they can be most usefully employed.

We need to develop the high-technology tools that will support this mission and give the coalition the tactical and strategic advantage over this cunning adversary.

This will be a short war, as winter will force this terrorist organism to temporarily cease its operations.

A Call to Dig In and Work Cooperatively

We must take careful, targeted action, pulling this menace out by the roots, using mechanical support if required.

We must coordinate our activities, and share intelligence among us, so that we can operate effectively and in a united manner, and so inflict the greatest damage on this terror.

We need to pull together the intelligence tools and resources that will enable this to happen, produce field operations guides for Weapons Inspectors and Analysts.  We already have prototypes of several of tools that can play an effective role in the war on this, and other terrorist organisms, which need to be rapidly prepared for operational deployment.

Above all, we must act quickly, before this relentless enemy of humanity begins deploying its biological weapons arsenal, causing damage to (pet) life and (bicycle) infrastructure. Otherwise we have just days before we begin to feel the pointy end of this terrorist organism.

How to join the Coalition of the Willing

If you wish to be part of the Coalition of the Willing on the War on Terrorist Organisms, join the weapons-of-mass-deflation Google Group, and we will begin coordinating our actions there.  Again, you don't need to be technically skilled to contribute, although we are looking for technical people to help with some of the tools.  We will also need writers, people on the ground to report weed infestations, spread the word, engage property owners and lots of other stuff.

This will be a short war, as winter will force this terrorist organism to temporarily cease its operations.

School run for three by bakfiets

One of our daughter's friends from school lives a few blocks from our place.  So on days when we are organised enough, I pick her and her older sister up on the way through.

It's a bit squishy, but they all seem to love it, with their mum saying that they both get super excited at the prospect of riding to school in the bike.