So what? It's not like England is a real country like Denmark.

I agree with you and I'd rather live in DK than ENG, especially in KBH.

Could you check my math?

Extremely stupid question, how do you get on a bike with a rear mounted seat?
Step 1: Load child.
Step 2: ????
Step 3: Ride away.

Does it require a step-through frame or something? I'm having trouble seeing how to kick my leg high enough to clear a child without kneeing them in the head.

I don't care about your math. What I'm asking you to do is stop trying to use math to prove that other places are less valid than the ones you like.

And? My GP says the number one problem she has with the parents in her practice is that they are scared to death of letting their kids: get wet, play in dirt, play outside, play, live... as for the WeeHoo, I like it. I think that is the ticket for a place like Brooklyn. The o.p. should do whatever they need to do, including hitting up the forum for donations (I'll contribute) to get one.

Step 2 = roundhouse kick the kid in the face

Seriously though, you are right, it's not trivial, you pretty much have to get your foot over the toptube, because the knee-over the saddle option is taken away. So if you don't have a townie or mixte with a low toptube, and if you don't have the flexibility of a gymnast or a porn star, you have to lean the bike over. It certainly helps to have a spouse to hold things (or load the child for you after you straddle the bike), or maybe if you lean the bike away you can have the kid squish against a wall for a few seconds or something.

This was not my experience. A single child trailer like this one is no wider than an adult's shoulders, and they have minimal impact on the handling of the bike. I used a double (wider for two kids) when I lived in a city of 1,000,000 people and had no problems crossing town via side streets to get my toddler to the babysitter... but that city regularly gets ranked as one of the best places to ride in NA. Brooklyn is likely a different story.

I've lived in most of what I discuss, so I can make an accurate comparison, with some loss in temporal resolution as places do change over time. Note, that this also includes Texas, not Austin directly, but reasonably close to visit a few times/month and to have long-term friends there.

A step-through does help a lot.

Excellent! Next time I get an electricity bill from the "City of Austin", I'll just send them back a little note that says, "sorry I can't pay your silly bill, you aren't a proper city".

I do see bakfiets in use all of the time in Austin. Usually downtown or very close in neighborhoods on the outskirts of downtown. Almost entirely east of I35 due to the hills in other directions. They are used to move children, compost collection (Compost Peddlers), and keg deliveries of local beer. I have two friends that have bakfiets. One is custom made here and is owned by a senior member of COA Bicycle Program staff. They live just east of downtown. He works downtown and his wife is the director of a Waldorf style outdoor learning preschool in their neighborhood. Works well for them. The other is a parent I know through my child's school. She uses hers to go back and forth from home to school, to the park, to grocery/farmers market, etc., and rarely if ever rides outside of her neighborhood. They both live in single family residential houses with yards, carport/garage, etc., in very expensive real estate for our neck of the woods due to close proximity to the downtown area. Also, both of their neighborhoods have cycle tracks, separate bike paths or buffered lanes, etc… Not the case with much of our city at large.

Last year we estimated about 80 in Minneapolis / St Paul. All that I'm aware of are used for hauling kids, groceries, dogs and other stuff and are either kept outside all year or in a garage. About half are ridden by women/mothers and many are ridden all year (studs on front typically in winter). I know of 4 people there for whom their bakfiets is their primary form of transportation all year.

A step-through frame is one option, but I used my regular road bike with a high top tube. Quite easy to swing a leg forward and over the handlebars.

In The Netherlands (and much of northern Europe) you'll rarely see young children on the back. They're almost always up front (seat behind handlebars or seat mounted on top tube) or in a bakfiets. If an older child is riding on the back of a step-over you can get on the bike first and then they crawl up. Most bikes with child seats will also have a center stand.

I never had issues with just a slight tip of the frame and get my leg up and over the top tube with no problems. I mount from the left, I grab the bars with my left just to the left of the stem and the nose of the saddle and tip it towards me and hoist my leg over.

Practice

Tip the bike slightly towards you to lower the top tube and lift your leg over the top tube.

Or swing your legs over the handlebars.

But yes, a step through frame helps tremendously.

Good questions. I have no answers. It makes me wonder how it is that bakfietsen are gaining popularity in Manhattan where I live. I see one almost every day, and not the same one each time. I don't know where people are keeping them.

Now, you're just being silly

I guess that I should give Austin a little more credit as it is part of a MegaRegion in the US:



However, after being born and raised in the NE Corridor and living in two others (including the Texas Triangle), Austin doesn't feel that impressive, even compared to Miami.

Still think the Blue Banana more with 110 million people is more appropriate to represent an urban area.

Thanks for the estimate. Any estimates available for how many total bikes are owned or in use in Minneapolis / St Paul?

Thanks for the reply. Seeing one almost every day doesn't really sound like very many for someone who is bicycling savvy and rides around Manhattan as much as your self. Do you think you might see thousands of every other type of bicycle in use everyday?

With a sales baseline of probably about zero in the U.S. until the last few years, selling a relative few here and there might be be described as gaining popularity. I believe they are more popular in bicycling related media and blogs as the latest trendy high priced bicycling shaped object, than in actual use in the U.S.

Thanks for the reply.
Your description fits with my impression of the practicality of the bakfiets - OK if all special conditions are met: willingness to spend $$ for a limited purpose bicycle, available ground level storage, flat terrain, recreational paths or low traffic areas available close to home that are also close to desired destinations.

Interesting map. Surprising they didn't expand it to include Paris, but I guess widening to a boat-shape would add so much other dead space it lessened the population density overall.

I wouldn't mind getting one if my wife and I ever decided to reduce from 2 cars down to 1 car. I'd have room in the garage, and the savings on gas, insurance, taxes and annual inspection and registration would pay for it within the first couple of years.

However, we have so many great bike trailer options in America, it would still be hard to justify a single use hauler at such a high price.

you're 100% correct. it's based on the transport, finance and manufacturing capitals. most of the wealth is also located within the region.

here's a superficial description:

Doubtful if a bakfiet could ever pay for itself in home use, rather than commercial use. An exception would be if you used it to replace a second car that was used exclusively for short shopping trips near home that involve many packages and/or children. Even then a bike trailer combo makes better economic sense.

It should make a nice, though expensive conversation piece when meeting strangers on the bike path or at the Whole Foods Store, even better than walking a cute dog.