Tue, 9 February 2010
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People in the Netherlands don’t bat an eye when an out-of-breath mother cycles by with her brood in a bakfiets.Also known as a cargo bike or carrier cycle in English, the bakfiets is about to take the world by storm, say the owners of De Fietsfabriek, a company that manufactures and sells the practical and popular bikes.
Tulips, windmills and De Fietsfabriek: all quintessentially Dutch. When foreign film crews come to the Netherlands, they often visit the Fietsfabriek shop in Amsterdam. “France, Belgium, Japan, Germany, Spain, South Korea, Russia and the United States” - owner Dave Deutsch lists the countries where bakfietsen have been featured on television. Film crews come mainly for the really photogenic showroom models such as the tall man’s bike, the cycle without a chain guard, the unicycle and of course, their number one hit – the bakfiets.
Dutch trend
Bakfietsen have actually been around for some time, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that they became popular with young parents. Children, shopping, the baby seat… there’s room for everyone and everything. De Fietsfabriek, established in 2004, took advantage of the trend by making bakfietsen in all shapes and sizes. The company sells 2500 bikes per year in the Netherlands; 500 are shipped abroad.
Global potential
Dave Deutsch sees global market potential for his bikes: “You see cycle paths being made in places all over the world. It used to be just the poor who cycled, but now it’s also the creative types who no longer wish to drive five blocks to take their children to school.”
A bakfiets by De Fietsfabriek
Japan and South Korea
Most of the bicycles sold abroad are sold though a dealer network. They go to bike shops in Europe or further afield, like Tokyo for example. “We export approximately 10 to 20 bikes to Tokyo each year. The Japanese appreciate quality and are already skilled cyclists. It’s not only Dutch expats who buy bakfietsen in Japan, it’s also the Japanese.
Dozens of De Fietsfabriek bicycles can be found at a theme park in South Korea. “They’ve built a Dutch village that’s very well-known there,” Deutsch explains. “We sold them some of our bikes which they use as props for taking pictures.”
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