#dutchbikebits — Public Fediverse posts

This morning began with an NL Alert.

Mobile phones across the country made a horrible noise and woke everyone up at 6:30.

We're too high to flood, so it was either nuclear war, or (more likely) the horrible weather that we were expecting.

It was a Code Red alarm and the weather was worse than had been predicted. No-one was supposed to venture outdoors even walking until at least 14:00 because it was so lethally slippery absolutely everywhere. It was clear even from looking through the window that anywhere that ice could settle was like a skating rink.

This afternoon after the alert was over I packed some parcels, put a bit of salt and grit on some remaining ice on our own driveway, and cycled to the post office. I shouldn't have bothered: they were shut.

Oh well. These customers will have to wait until tomorrow.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #cycling #netherlands #assen #drenthe #biketooter #wintercycling #coderood #nlalert

Photo from today's delivery run. The parcels in the trailer are all full of bike parts and as always they begin their journeys to customers by bike. Even on a horrible rainy day like today.
Still, I shouldn't complain about the weather. At least it's warm today (about 10 C !) which is a big contrast from three days ago when there was still snow everywhere.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #cycling #biketooter #biketrailer #regel17 #velomobile

Photos from the last few days of cycling around Assen. Sunday's velomobile ride with @TheoZw and @twilwel, today's delivery run for DutchBikeBits.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#DutchBikeBits #velomobile #cycling #biketooter #everybikeisacargobike #regel17 #assenliggers #goats

More parcels of bike parts beginning their journeys to customers.

This time I've taken the photo on a cycle-path heading into a tunnel. If I were driving a car I'd be heading toward that traffic light on the left, but the cycle-path goes through the tunnel so I never have to stop when cycling.

This is a good example of how to give cyclists an advantage and make cycling more efficient than driving.

Though I've lived here for a long time now, I still find it amazing that I can use cycling infrastructure of this quality on a daily basis, that it works so well, enabling so many people to ride bikes, and that it keeps everyone safe.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #bicycletrailer #biketooter #biketrailer #cycling #assen #cyclepath

I'm just back from another run to the post office with parcels full of bike parts.

Assen's cycle-paths make all kinds of journeys easier. This kind of infrastructure really should be everywhere.

https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#cycling #BikeTooter #assen #cyclepath #dutchbikebits #biketrailer

A few cycling photos from the last week.
Early morning cycling with Judy so we could be back before it got hot. We took a route designed to go past a lot of trees and much shadow.
Taking parcels to the post office for https://www.dutchbikebits.com I usually use my everyday town bike for this. But it's surprising how much it can carry with a few bungies to hold the larger boxes in place.
Collecting bread from a baker needlessly far from home in order to have a nice ride there and back.
Visiting a yacht harbour with @twilwel on our Sunday ride.
#everybikeisacargobike #regel17 #cycling #biketooter #recumbent #velomobile #netherlands #drenthe #dutchbikebits #assenliggers

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

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

Photos from recent delivery runs.

To the greatest extent possible I do my work by human power, but there are limits to how much I can control.

This morning I made a delivery to someone who lives in a village in Drenthe so that delivery was made 100% by human power as I rode there and back in my velomobile.

Parts ordered by people who live thousands of km away are a different story. I can then only control the first few km. So I go as far by bike as I can and then those parcels continue their journeys by commercial shipping companies.

All shipping companies make green claims these days, and they make rather more grand claims than I do. But none of those claims amount to anything close to traveling by human power alone.
https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#humanpowered #humanpowereddelivery #dutchbikebits #velomobile #cycling #netherlands #biketooter #biketrailer #bicycle #recumbent #regel17

Just one parcel to deliver today.

2024 hasn't been good for our business so far. Perhaps having a website which doesn't help google also means they don't help us. The #enshittification of web search results is probably also making the site more difficult to find. Anyway, not having been able to pay myself this year so far at least means I'm far from being a member of the top 1%, or even the top 10% of polluters.

http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2020/02/who-are-one-percent-super-polluters.html

It's a video today because the emergency alarm system was operating, as it does on the first Monday of each month at mid-day. Our government wants to scrap this, which is probably a mistake. It won't really save money, as they claim.

https://www.dutchbikebits.com
#dutchbikebits #cycling #biketooter #eatthe1percent #onepercent #tenpercent

Photos from today's second parcel run, featuring typical everyday Dutch cycling infrastructure.

The first photo shows a bus-stop bypass, but the cycle-path is straight and reasonably wide (about 2.5 metres wide for single direction use) so this doesn't inconvenience cyclists.

The second photo shows a junction with a side road. We have priority and drivers have a place to stop at 90 degrees to the cyclepath and look both ways before they cross.

The second isn't perfect. Sight lines to the right are less than ideal, and drivers sadly cannot be relied upon to drive safely. But generally this infrastructure works well.

There's more about Dutch cycle-paths here, including lots of photos:

https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search/label/cycle%20paths

And if you need bicycle components and would like them to at least begin their journey to you on a bike, click here:

https://www.dutchbikebits.com/
#biketooter #cycling #cargobike #bicycletrailer #dutchbikebits #cyclepath #cyclinginfrastructure #dutchcycling

Top cycling tip: when your tyre is worn to the extent that the puncture resistant layer becomes visible it's probably time to replace it.

Also, I should probably follow my own advice :-)

This tyre lasted over 15000 km, with some fairly enthusiastic cornering (three wheelers can be hard on front tyres) and it never punctured, as you'd expect from a Schwalbe Marathon.

It's a good thing I run a bike parts shop and keep these in stock:
http://www.dutchbikebits.com/tyres-and-inner-tubes/schwalbe-marathon-tyre

#regel17 #velomobile #bicycleTyre #bicycleTire #bikeTooter #cycling #schwalbe #schwalbeMarathon #dutchbikebits