Lmst

#dutchbikebits

I've painted the shed and the fence this morning, planted a few veg, and now it's time to build a new wheel for my two-wheeled recumbent.

The freehub in the existing wheel has decided to be "free" more often than it should be. Sometimes it works just fine, and other times when I pedal the pedals just spin without doing anything. I'll probably take the hub apart and see if it's salvagable, but first I'll get the new wheel in use.

It's an old bike, about 27 years old now, but it suits me. It's comfortable, nice to ride, and I'm used to it. This is the fourth time I've rebuilt the rear wheel. The other occasions were twice due to wearing down the rim too much when braking, once when the original hub failed, and once when someone in the UK drove into me on my commute to work and destroyed the wheel (luckily I wasn't hurt on that particular occasion).
https://hembrow.eu/personal/pashleypdq.html

I have a fair number of these perfectly good and reasonably inexpensive rims in stock should any of you want one:
https://www.dutchbikebits.com/20-inch-rim
#dutchbikebits #biketooter #cycling #wheelbuilding #regel17 #diy #ReduceRepairReuseRecycle

The new wheel, partly built, on a garden table

A photo from a few weeks back, when the old freewheel was behaving itself. My bike is leaning against a graffiti wall.

Later in the day I have to deliver some parcels. We don't have powered vehicles, so all our parcels begin their journey by bicycle, including through winter.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #snow #BikeTooter #biketrailer #bicycle #cycling

Bicycle pulling a trailer on a Dutch cyclepath. Unfortunately the snow plough hasn't been along here for a while so it's not easy cycling.

Further into town it's a bit better. This has obviously been ploughed quite recently. It's also of course very nice to be a long way from the road on a day like this.

The same place as in the first photo. By the time I came back the snow plough had been along here again so it much easier to cycle.

I could really do with a break from this damp and misty weather. It's not especially cold right now, around freezing point, but it's somehow piercing. A cold that you feel despite a decent jacket.

Anyway, more parcels of bike parts began their journeys to customers with a ride on my bike today. Sadly I've decided to stop accepting orders from the USA until we know what's going on with the wild man and his tariffs. When the UK changed its rules for imports it ended up costing me a lot of money (due to parcels sent early enough that they shouldn't have been affected not being delivered and instead being returned broken many months later) and I don't want to risk repeating that experience with the US.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #cycling #biketooter #cyclepath #netherlands #everybikeisacargobike

My bicycle parked on a Dutch cycle-path with parcels stacked on top. Cyclists heading in both directions past me. Cars on the other side of the wide verge, which also serves as cycle parking for the bus stop.

Parcel deliveries this week. We've had a lot of fog this week. Freezing fog, even, as it's been below zero a lot of the time. Not especially nice weather to be out and about, tbh, but there you are. Anyway, it's safe for me to continue to cycle with my parcels of bicycle parts because the cycle-paths keep the cars away from me.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #cycling #cyclepath #fog #wintercycling #biketooter

Bicycle on a cyclepath with parcels loaded on the back. The cyclepath also has other cyclists on it. There are cars on the road, spaced from us by a large verge, making it's safe to cycle in fog.

Also from this week, photos of bicycle parts starting their journey to customers. Every parcel starts its journey by bike.

It always surprises me how much extra car traffic there is on wet days. People seem happy to wait time and time again for a green light which only lets through three cars at a time, rather than ride their bikes through what was actually quite mild weather.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #cycling #biketooter #everybikeisacargobike #bicycletrailer

An enormous queue of drivers in cars (many behind me as well as in front) waiting for a traffic light to turn green. But the cycle-path is quite empty for me so I made my journey more quickly than these drivers made theirs. Even in the Netherlands there are lots of people who are "made of sugar" and who won't cycle when there's a little rain (as there is in this photo).

My bike on the cycle-path further into town with various other cyclists passing. As usual, it's loaded up with parcels full of bicycle parts.

Bicycle pulling a trailer with some larger parcels of bicycle parts on a cycle-path on the way to the post office. You can also see the road with some cars and other cyclists on the cycle-path.

As is traditional for my little online bike parts shop there is no "black friday" sale.

Everything costs the same amount today as it did yesterday.

I'm not trying to trick anyone into buying anything that they don't really need by offering a "special" price.

I didn't increase the price on any items last month so that I could pretend they were on sale today.

If you need something then I'm happy to sell it to you. Otherwise remember that there is no offer price which will more effectively save you money than not making a purchase in the first place.

Tomorrow is Saturday. The prices will not change. So please consider your needs carefully, take your time over your decisions and don't hurry to make a purchase today.

https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#blackfriday #dutchbikebits #advertisingsucks

This is the peak of bicycle technology.

It's a bike which a local customer brought around yesterday because it's been a few years and she thought it was about time that someone had a look at it.

I know it looks terribly old fashioned, but hear me out:

This is a reasonably light-weight, efficient bike, with effective gearing and brakes. Nothing on it is unmaintainable.

This bike came out of the factory in 1982 (May 1982 according to the stamp on the rear hub). It has admittedly had a fairly good life, always having been kept indoors, but it's been ridden a lot yet needed almost no work.

The front rack had a broken non-essential part which I removed. The rubber strap / snelbinder over the rear carrier rack was broken so I replaced it, and the skirtguards were perished and falling apart so I replaced those as well. Otherwise, I've just checked that things were working and added a bit of oil. One of the pedals was running roughly until I oiled it.

Bike shops don't sell bicycles like this any more. Modern bicycles are not designed to last a whole lifetime, like these were.

https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#bicycle #BikeTooter #cycling #repairability #righttorepair #netherlands #ProperBicycle #NotAnEBike #dutchbikebits

A RIH Sport bicycle from 1982. It's just come in for repair. There is no rust. All that I had to replace was a broken snelbinder / rubber strap over the rear carrier and the skirtguards, which had perished due to age.

Today's delivery run. I park outside the post office next to a sign advertising a lottery which has cars as prizes. On the way home I cross the road next to evidence of the everyday violence handed out to pedestrians and cyclists by drivers.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#biketooter #cycling #cars #fuckcars #netherlands #dutchbikebits #carviolence #carsRuinCities

Bike parked outside the post office with a parcel visible in my rear basket. There's also an ad for lottery tickets with cars as prizes. I won't be buying any of those.

On the way home parked on a central divider where cyclists and pedestrians cross the road. A driver has lost control here and run straight over the "safe" place for us, demolishing a sign on the way.

And this afternoon I took more bike parts to the "post office". But because this is the modern world and everything is strange now, the "post office" is actually a pet shop.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #everybikeisacargobike #cycling #biketooter

And then I took some parcels to the post office. This photo shows a bus-stop bypass. Note that the cycle-path is completely straight and wide enough for cyclists to pass each other, while also being very well separated from the road.

There are more good examples of bus-stop bypasses at this link to my blog:
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search/label/bus%20stop%20bypass
#cyclepath #cyclinginfrastructure #netherlands #dutchbikebits #biketooter #cycling

Bicycle carrying parcels parked next to a bus stop in a Dutch city. We're well separated from the road, and the cycle-path is nice and straight behind the bus-stop. No need to make cycling inconvenient for public transport !

Today's first delivery ride: A 65 km round trip to deliver a parcel to a customer in Veendam. Therefore he received his parcel today, not tomorrow with the mail.
I needed a bit of exercise anyway...
#regel17 #cycling #BikeTooter #dutchbikebits #ligfiets #velomobile

One sixth of the way through the journey I'm riding on this wide smooth uninterrupted concrete cycle-path

A third of the way through the journey here's someone with a disability coming in the opposite direction on a rural cycle-path

Half way through the journey, about to enter a village on this cycle-path

2/3rds of the way through the journey, a barn with a roof covered in solar panels contrasts nicely with the small solar panel on my velomobile (which keeps the small battery for lighting topped up)

Photos from today's 50 km delivery round trip, taking bike parts to a customer in Beilen. Local deliveries are usually made by human power. Also some nice Dutch cycling infrastructure.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #cycling #velomobile #cycling #biketooter #netherlands #cyclepath #regel17

Highland cattle very near the cycle-path. I'm always cautious around these animals.

Cycle bridges, low (the one I'm on) and high (going left to right above us). I always like the idea of cycling over that bigger bridge, but it's not really going in a useful direction for me today.

Another small bridge on the cycle-path about half way home.

A tunnel under the main road. Drivers have to negotiate a single lane (cars coming towards the camera have priority over those going in the same direction as I'm cycling) but the cycle-path remains bidirectional through the tunnel

A few busy cycling days behind me, all I needed to do today was take these parcels to the post office. They were light enough to tie down on top of my basket (which was already full) so I didn't need a trailer.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #cycling #BikeTooter #cyclepath #everybikeisacargobike

Parcels stacked on top of a basket on the back of a bicycle on a cycle-path in the Netherlands.

Today's delivery run. A bunch of parcels of bicycle parts weighing 30 kg went with me for the first few km of their journey on my bike and in the trailer behind it, before they continued their separate journeys to customers in Canada, Finland, Germany, the USA and elsewhere in the Netherlands.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #bicycletrailer #biketrailer #cycling #biketooter #netherlands #bicycle

Bicycle trailer behind a bike beside a Dutch bicycle path in the middle of the city. There's also an electric vehicle used by someone who needs a wheelchair and someone cycling toward the camera on a normal bike. We're parked next to a toy shop, which is the sort of place that it really is important to be able to reach by bicycle, as is the grocery store on the other side of the bicycle path of course.
There is car parking nearby for those who insist on driving. It's behind the shops on both sides.

Today's parcels being sent to customers.

When I was not much younger parcels all really did get taken to the post office, but these days a lot of them instead got to a pet shop. I'm not sure that this change actually made anything better.
#dutchbikebits #cycling #biketooter #biketrailer

Bicycle pulling a trailer full of parcels outside a local pet shop, which also serves as a parcel pick-up location.

Today I took parcels to the post office. When I can I do this with the normal town bike. It's by the door, ready to go. But sometimes I need the cargo bike for larger boxes.
If your parcel was on my bike today then you'll already have received email to tell you that the bike parts that you ordered are on their way to you.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#cycling #BikeTooter #xtracycle #dutchbikebits #everybikeisacargobike

A photo of today's parcels loaded onto my town bike, next to a cycle-path in Assen.

One of last week's loads included a couple of boxes that are too big for the town bike, so I took the xtracycle instead. This photo was taken on a different cycle-path in Assen.

Another parcel run today, during a period in the afternoon when the rain stopped.

Today's photo shows an example of how cycle-paths enable all kinds of people to travel safely.

Cycle-paths are probably the most inclusive infrastructure that exists. They're not just for conventional bicycles, and they're certainly not just used by super fit individuals.

Cycle-paths enable many people who can't walk very far to travel independently. They also enable many who can't use cars due to illness, disability, or budget, and also due to age (both young and old) to go wherever they want, whenever they want without having to wait for or pay for public transport. They even work for people who live no-where near public transport routes.

Direct routes from A to B, protected from the danger of motor vehicles, makes "cycling" highly attractive, whatever type of vehicle is actually used.
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search/label/everyone%20cycles%20in%20the%20netherlands
#dutchbikebits #bikeTrailer #BikeTooter #bicycle #netherlands #cycling #cyclepath #cyclinginfrastructure

Bicycle pulling a trailer filled with parcels of bicycle components that I'm taking to the post office. It's parked on a 3.8 m wide red asphalt cycle-path in Assen, Netherlands. The stationery bicycle has just been overtaken by a person using an electric mobility device. You can also see a couple of other bicycles at greater distance in the background. Next to the cycle-path there's a walking path. On the other side of the cycle-path separated by about 10 m of grass is the road. The separation is part of what makes cycling so pleasant in this city.

Today's delivery run by bike. All the parcels that I send begin their journey by bike, and are taken for a short journey on the cycling infrastructure which exists between my home and the post office.

In this example there's a single direction cycle-path which becomes bidirectional at the junction just ahead of my bike. The reason why this happens is to allow visitors to the shops behind the hedge on the right to make their journey without having to cross the road twice. Bidirectional cycle-paths substantially improve cyclist safety and convenience when they prevent road crossing in this way.

#dutchbikebits

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