Bram's Mother's Bike

Bram Moens, of M5 ligfietsen, made his mother a new town bike over the Christmas holidays:

Inbetween Christmas/New Year job.......
January 14th, 2010

Super lightweight carbon city bike for Bram Moens' mother, because an
electric bike was not an option!

It's in the genes, that much is clear. Bram's mother is almost 84 en does around 6000 km all year round on the bicycle. Up till now she used an already lightweight custom-made bicycle with Cr-Mo Reynolds tubing.

So, the weight of this city bike was already little with approximately 12 kg, but starting and stopping it was a bit hard because of the relatively high positioned top tube. Therefore a full carbon lightweight bicycle with a much lower frame curve and obviously a lot of lightweight M5 components (hubs, brakes and rims) was made. The result is a remarkably rigid, smooth and lightweight (7.3 kg) carbon city bike with a 9 speed gear system. The crank is acquired from another recumbent builder in the USA (Lightning). Two carbon chain rims around the 42 toothed blade make sure the chain is kept perfectly in place.

The Dutch version of the article also mentions that a 250 gram extra light rear rack is being made for the bike. Hopefully she'll get mudguards too. These are all parts of what make up a practical bicycle for everyday use.

Cycling is for all demographic groups in the Netherlands. While Bram Moen's mother may be exceptional, Dutch people over 65 on average make a quarter of all their journeys by bicycle.

Please read more about elderly people cycling in the Netherlands and about cycling quickly in the Netherlands.

M5's usual products are fast recumbent bicycles, and very nice they are too

Fresh Mangos

Photos of three of the latest Mangos delivered. On Friday evening they were all out in the snow for the first photo before being loaded into vans for delivery to customers.

The orange top and white bottom Mango in the middle is the lightest yet produced. It weighs just 30.5 kg including everything (lights and battery etc.). That's light for a velomobile. The owner asked for a minimal setup and lightweight equipment because he wants to race it and I look forward to the result. We've been working on weight reduction for a product that I can't tell you about yet, so this was good practice for us.

The second photo, taken by Harry in Germany, is of the customer of the yellow Mango taking his first test ride through the snow.

I'll be setting off for work in a few minutes myself, riding my yellow Mango through the snow to Groningen. It's -6 C this morning, 5 C warmer than it was when I set off last Friday morning, but still cold. A warming cup of coffee will be very welcome when I arrive, and having found the banana I carried on Friday to be complete solid on the way home when I tried to eat it, I've got a muesli bar today instead.
Read my review of the Sinner Mango Velomobile.

A small bridge in Assen

A few weeks back I covered a big bridge for cyclists in Nijmegen. It's nice to see such exceptional examples of infrastructure but their importance is often over-stated. The many small bridges which make links in the comprehensive grid of good quality infrastructure in the Netherlands make a bigger difference for cyclists. This blog post is about one of those small bridges in Assen.

This example is on the bicycle road which takes cyclists from the western side of Assen to the city centre. The bollards at this point are one of several reasons why motorists can't use the road as a through route. As a result, the bicycle road remains almost completely car free, except for people accessing their own homes along the road and this road provides a fantastic direct route for cyclists.

Stand for just a few minutes here watching and you'll see all types of people on bikes.

The cars rarely move. They belong to people who live along the road and are parked in residential car parking spaces.

The historical end of the road is surfaced with old fashioned looking tiles in keeping with the buildings, but they're actually an updated version which give a smoother ride for cyclists.

The red and white bollard prevents drivers from using this as
a through route by car

Cycling makes for 41% of all journeys in this city. While it's not the highest cycling rate in the Netherlands, it's a higher rate of cycling than in any city outside the Netherlands.

The extremely high subjective safety for cyclists in Assen makes it possible for children to have a much higher rate of independent personal mobility than is the case elsewhere.

Look in the opposite direction and it's a similar tale. All sorts of cyclists, many children making their way to the very centre of the city on their own bikes.


It's very common for young (and sometimes not so young) couples to travel two to a bike. It's also a good way of collecting children, or to pick up friends from the railway station.


Outside the more historical part of the city the bicycle road takes a slightly different form with tarmac for the majority of the surface with a raised and less smooth centre which discourages fast overtaking by drivers.

The rules remain the same. Cyclists have priority, and drivers may not park on the road. In effect it is a 5.5 m wide cycle path, and a very pleasant place to cycle. The motor vehicle through route is on the other side of the canal, which is also good for cycling.

In total, this bicycle road provides part of a 3.5 km direct line route right into the city centre from the west of Assen.

The bridge is not new. Actually, it's an historical bridge in Assen which had pretty much fallen into dis-use. Two years ago it looked as shown in this photo. It was moved a short distance and turned around to take its new place in the city, providing an important link for cyclists.


You can tell from the weather that this post was written a few weeks back. The bridge looks a bit different at the moment.

This bicycle road has featured several times before on my blog. Apart from the post about the direct route that it creates for cyclists, it was also in a post about how cycling should not be like an extreme sport, showing access to the city centre by bike on a Saturday, and as a demonstration of how cycle routes can be separate from driving routes.

Before and after photos of this location can be seen in another blog post. This bridge can also be seen on Streetview.

Update January 2015
This bridge has been replaced by a much narrower bridge which will cause conflict.

Perceptive comments on safety

Via the Waltham Forest blog, I was made aware of the very perceptive comments of someone using the name "BikingBernie" on the bikeradar website. I recommend taking a look at both links.

There is more at those links, but to whet your taste, here's a segment of J.S. Dean's 1947 book 'Murder most foul: a study of the road deaths problem' as quoted by BikingBernie:

A vicious circle has been created. The more the drivers kill and maim the more right they become and the more right they become the more dangerously they drive. Or, to put the position from the opposite side, the more the non-drivers, and especially the pedestrians, are killed and maimed, the more this is proof of their carelessness and refusal to be "educated" and the more this is accepted the less care is taken by the drivers to avoid them, and this is applied to the youngest children and the oldest and most infirm persons... As a nation we are placed in the grotesque position of being forced to listen to and practice the degrading gospel of "Safety First" merely for the purpose of increasing the danger. There is no end to the process and there can be no end. Thus, it was not enough that the "responsibility" for child accidents should be placed on the children: the attempt is now being made to place it on their absent parents and guardians: as if more than a fraction of the nation's children or practically any of those of the working class can be accompanied more than very rarely in the streets, and as if parents and guardians generally did not live in a condition of perpetual misery and anxiety because of the dangers to their children. The "education" campaign that refuses to rebuke the drivers for breaking the law rebukes the parents when their children are killed or maimed.

.... In the first place this "education" is the worst possible training for the children as the drivers of the future since it teaches them to believe that the driver is the master of the road and that the only role for the other road-users, including the youngest children and the oldest and most infirm persons, is to keep out of his way and that if they are killed or maimed through not doing so this is something they deserve, Much of the motor slaughter may, indeed, be traced directly to the yearly appearance on the roads of young drivers brought up in this evil and destructive belief. Secondly, it is the worst possible training for the children as the citizens of the future, i.e. that they should be taught to accept the spectacle of the motor slaughter, with all its implications. as normal and as something to which they must submit without question. The spectacle of children passing from, one classroom where they have been told about the "great traditions of British freedom" to another where a police officer tells them that unless they keep out of the way of the motorist they will be killed or maimed and, by implication, will deserve to be, is neither pleasant not encouraging.

...The question of the general effects of this "education" on the minds of young children hardly lies within the scope of this work, but brief reference to it may be made:

A simple child
That lightly draws her breath
And feels her life in every limb,
What should she know of death?

Everything, say the "education" propagandists. Put the idea of death and destruction deep into their minds. Never let them forget it. Fill their lives with it. Teach them fear. Make them frightened and keep them frightened.

Rural bike paths in the winter

The explanatory captions on this video are only visible if you view it on a computer and not on a mobile device.

Heading in the opposite direction
on the same path in summer. Note
the tractor path alongside. This is
an example of how routes are
unravelled in the countryside.

This video is a combination of video shot in summer 2007 with some I shot on Sunday. The same path in fine weather and difficult weather is just as usable by cyclists when the temperature is -6 C and there is snow.

To maintain a high cycling rate, it has to be made easy to ride bikes all year around, even in rural areas. This cycle path is well used by adult commuters and also by school children who ride from villages into Assen.

A cycle route, shown in blue on the left, between Zeijen and a secondary school in Assen is 6.1 km. There is one traffic light on the route and the majority of it is on cycle paths or very low traffic roads. The equivalent driving route is shown using red. This route is 6.8 km in length and has two traffic lights. Cycle paths lead to cyclists making more direct journeys in greater safety whatever the time of year.

At the time of posting this, two days later, there is still about the same amount of snow on the ground, it's snowed lightly again this morning, and the cycle paths look just as clear. I took the dog for a walk by bike this morning, my children have both gone to their schools by bike (no schools are shut due to the weather), and my wife's gone to a meeting by bike. Tomorrow it's supposed to be -12 C, and I expect to ride to work in Groningen 30 km away. It's probably going to look a bit like it did two weeks ago.

A few days ago I was told a detail of how the gritting is performed so efficiently. The drivers follow routes determined in the summer and use GPS to turn the salt supply on and off. This prevents drivers from dumping all their salt too close to the depot, and is the reason why there are some very small patches which oddly seem not to have been gritted at all - they are due to mistakes made months ago when planning the routes.

I'm impressed by some of the details. For instance, these works required blocking the cycle path an diverting cyclists onto the sidewalk to go under a bridge. Gritting carries on under the bridge, and a temporary flush kerb has been installed.

Cyclists don't have so much of a problem due to snow as ice-skaters do. The local news reported that people running ice skating rinks which rely on the cold weather have problems because the snow causes the ice to be thinner.

Update 15 Jan: Google's Streetview car got very close to going along this route, on the road. They seem to have been put off by the bad surface, though, as they stop at the end of the smooth bit.

There are more posts about gritting of cycle paths, school travel and road works. The snowy video above was made last Sunday when there was 12 cm of snow and the temperature was -6 C. You can see more of it from my post about a pleasant ride through the countryside on that day.

A ride through snowy countryside

On Sunday mornings there is a regular ride of local recumbent enthusiasts, called the huneliggers. This morning the temperature was -6 C ( 21 F ) and there was 12 cm ( 4.5 inches ) of snow, but that didn't stop a few of us going out.

First there were Peter and myself, we met Anton along the way and visited Ritsert at home. In all a ride just short of 70 km, and a lot of fun.

Peter also wrote the ride up on his blog, and in two weeks from now, Peter is leading the Noordelijke velomobieltocht starting here in Assen. The video gives a taste of what the event could be like.

There are more posts about huneliggers rides, or if you want to join in, go to the huneliggers website.

The bike I was riding was again the wonderful Sinner Mango velomobile. On days like this it makes a big difference to comfort to be out of the wind, and it's wonderful to be able to just wash down the outside and not have to bother about cleaning the chain (completely enclosed) or other parts after such a ride.
Read my review of the Sinner Mango Velomobile.

Happy New Year

After a very pleasant evening with the neighbours and an awesome racket from fireworks into the early hours, we wake up today in a new year.

We got up late, and took our dog, Harry, for a walk. As normal, we did this by bike. Harry's a regular on the blog, having been featured going for a ride in the countryside and riding in his dog trailer. Now we're back on the same dog walking path as I covered earlier in the year.

However, it's a bit colder today. It just about crept up to freezing point before going down again later. It didn't snow today, but it should do so again tomorrow, and the temperature is predicted as being down to -9 C ( 15 F ) on Sunday - just in time for the children to cycle back to school on Monday.

This path is a bit slippery, but it's not a bike path so it can be so.

Next to a frozen ditch. Today Harry didn't go for a swim.

And over one of the bridges on our walk.

Now we're back on a bike path. You can see the difference it makes for it to have been gritted and swept regularly. The gentleman in the photo is walking his dogs using an electric buggy. One of the great things about having an extensive network of cycle paths is that they a resource accessible to all.

Another shot of the same cycle path as it turns into a bicycle road which goes directly to the city centre.

And here we're about to cross a bridge which was visible on another video from earlier in the year.

And along the cycle path by the side of the now frozen canal which provides the first part of my route to work.

We returned home to watch and listen to the wonderful broadcast of the New Year's Day concert from Vienna, including of course the Blue Danube waltz, as used by Mike Rubbo in his film of bikes in Amsterdam in the summer.

Anyway, it's time that I wished all my readers a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous new year.