Posts Tagged ‘heavy’

The MyDutchBike Store Decamps – Off to Marin County, or Someplace, or Nowhere – Expensive Bikes, Expensive Rents on Market

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Say good-bye to the extremely expensive MyDutchBike sto on Market Street in the Financh. I think. I saw a sign that said that they were moving on up to Sausalito,

But the Yelpers are making it seem like the store just has weird hours, so maybe it’s not gone.

Mmmm…

This place is crazy though, so don’t miss a chance to check it out, wherever you may find it.

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And the best part is the touchiness:

“im glad you have all the time in the world to write BULLSHIT.
you are an idiot. I have what is called real world experience,
something you know nothing of.
get a life, you are not welcome in my company.
I’m sure youve heard this before.
I know much more than you and always will
you dont know how to read
call shimano and talk to them
i know you havent
give it up
you fucking looser”

MyDutchBike in Golden Gate Park

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

It’s the minivan of bikes: 

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Anyway, count this as an actual sighting in the wild – usually I only see these rigs at the uber-expensive MyDutchBike sto on Market Street.

Ah let’s see here:

“Gone were last year’s cheap chinese cargo bikes, so at least no one got turned-off to cargo bikes this year…”

And there’s this:

“To sum it up, whatever “metal” the Chinese use to build their bikes out of is soft, weak, and full of impurities.”

(Hey do you know why Euros spend so much on bikes in Europe? Maybe it’s the 50% tariff on the Made-in-China competition…)

But maybe you’re a San Francisco millionaire with a garage, so here’s the spiel:

“We ship our Dutch bike, Dutch bikes, Dutch bicycles and Dutch city bikes FULLY assembled nation and worldwide. We sell utility bicycles from Amsterdam and other cities in Europe like Oma bikes, also known as Omafiets, or Oma fiets, Omafiet, Abuela, abuelas, GrannyBike or Granny bike and Grandma bicycles,Abuela bikes, Amsterdam Bike. Opa bikes also known as Opafiets, Opa fiets, Opafiet and Grandpa bike, both comfortable, stylish straight up riding position bikes that will last for decades. Check out our Fr8 bikes, or freight bike, gorgeous in everyway and extremely strong for real-life situations like school, shopping, commuting and errands around town, designed by Henry Cutler. Also from Workcycles are the Secret Service or SecretService bikes and are made with Azor frames hand build in Amsterdam. Also seen on the streets in The Netherlands or Holland is the Bakfiets, or Bak fiets, Bakfiets.nl, Cargobike, Cargo bicycle, longjohn, long john bikes, boxbike and box bike. We have them in several colors all with Shimano Nexus 3 and 8-speed hubs. We now carry the fabulous Retrovelo, some say Retro velo or Retrovello, bikes. Retrovelo bicycle unites functionality, city chic and the individualism of its rider. With models like Paul, Paula, Klaus, Klara, Otto Solo/Duo in fantastic colors. These balloon racers or ballon racers are designed by Frank Patitz in Leipzig Germany. We also sell other european bikes or euro utility bikes or Danish bikes from Denmark and Germany. We also carry Velorbis or Danish bikes. Not to mention Pashleys which are English bikes like the Guv’nor. We also have accessories like Yakkay helmets and Yakkay covers and Clarijs and Basil panniers Po Campo and Nutcase helmets and finally Carrie Swedish bicycle baskets. Don’t forget to check out our Umberto Dei bicycles from Italy too! Please visit our shop if you’re in the neighborhood. Our address is 575 Market Street, San Francisco California USA. Did you know that the following cities have the highest percentage of bicycle commuters in the U.S.A? Minneapolis MN, Sacramento CA, Portland OR, Tucson AZ, Fresno CA, Tampa FL, San Francisco CA, Oakland CA, Mesa AZ, Anaheim CA, Boston MA, Washington DC, Seattle WA, Albuquerque NM, New Orleans LA, Oklahoma City OK, Phoenix AZ, St. Paul MN, Long Beach CA, Santa Ana CA, Los Angeles CA, Honolulu HI, Denver CO, Chicago IL, Pittsburgh PA, San Diego CA, San Jose CA, New York City NY, Houston TX, Raleigh NC, Milwaukee WI, St. Louis MO, Cincinnati OH, Riverside CA and Columbus OH, in that order. You landed on the My Dutch Bike website, which is the same as MyDutchBike and MyDutchBike.com.We are open to the public. Public may also make an appointment if not able to make our normal store hours. Please visit our website for hours.”

And here’s something else, on the topic of some customer-dude’s opinion of Shimano roller brakes:

“Here’s the e-mail response to this review I received from Josh, the mechanic at My Dutch Bike:

“im glad you have all the time in the world to write BULLSHIT.
you are an idiot. I have what is called real world experience,
something you know nothing of.
get a life, you are not welcome in my company.
I’m sure youve heard this before.
I know much more than you and always will
you dont know how to read
call shimano and talk to them
i know you havent
give it up
you fucking looser”

And that’s enough for me from MDB.

Teach the Children Well: Proper Bike Security is the First Lesson to Learn on the Mean Streets of San Francisco

Monday, August 29th, 2011

See?

That heavy-duty chain and tiny U-lock probably outweigh this wooden push-bike:

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Does the kid wear the chain bandolier-style when s/he’s riding? That’d be sweet…

Watermelons for Chinatown: Emergency Shipment of Sweet, Sweet Melon Taxes Tiny Ford Ranger

Monday, August 15th, 2011

Didn’t think this load was going to make it even a block up Nob Hill via Pine:

Scraaaaaaaaaape:

But this trucklet managed the turn on Grant and into Chinatown (which, unlike other parts of town, nobody calls a “food desert,” AFAIK)

And only one fell onto the street.

Hurray!

Resolved: The “MyDutchBike” Store on Market Should Change Its Name to “MyExpensive-AssDutchBike”

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

The MyDutchBike store on Market Street has bikes that are way expensive. That’s The Message, can you dig?

Now, let’s hear from Yelper Luke M:

I’ll just be honest.  I don’t get it so I don’t like it.  The first time I was in here it took me a while to figure out it was a store.  I thought it was a gallery of industrial art pieces disguised as bicycles!   I’ve you’re looking for a big hunk of a bike that costs $3000 for basic breaks and shifters–or you want to pick up a $109 handle bar bag–this might be the place for you. But really if you wanted to get down the street with more style than speed you could probably hire a troop of palanquin bearers for less than the cost of these huge bikes!  Conclusion: Not for me.

And I think the prices are up from last year. Throw in your San Francisco 10% sales tax and you’re looking at a couple grand for the most basic model. Oh well.

Cost? You have no idea how much this rig runs:

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Oh well.

Bixi, the Bike Taxi, in Golden Gate Park – Testing Out the Canadian Bike Rental System

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

The Bixi short-term bike-share roadshow blew into town today, however briefly, to show us how they do it up in Montreal.

But first things first – a quick report on what our visiting bike-sharing visitors were surprised by in GGP:

1. The summertime cold and wind;

2. The homeless dude with a guitar case who flipped out, attacked a jogger, and had to get taken down by a bunch of Park Rangers and SFPD officers;

3. Noisy raptors circling low overhead; and

4. San Francisco’s famous bicycle built for four. It almost stole the show. See?

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Program Director Andy Thornley with SF Weekly’s Matt Smith et ux, ”quad” liberi, all together on a charming, fully-functioning bicycle. Click to expand:

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So Bixi is just like the Parisian Velib program except the Bixi bikes aren’t as heavy, which is a good thing. But the Bixis are still heavy though. And if you happen to be six foot one and a ton of fun, you’ll find that the frame is strong enough but that the seatpost doesn’t go up high enough. Otherwise the whole program is as you would expect.   

The mise-en-scene today:

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In France, they incentivize people to drop the bikes off at the tops of hills. If a program like this ever gets off the ground in San Francisco, what would it take to deal with stations at the tops of our mini-mountains?

Bienvenue à Montréal!

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It’s enormous work keeping a program like this going. The little monsters of France have effectively managed to steal, vandalize, and otherwise mangle the entire original fleet – at a replacement cost of thousands of dollars each, that’s a tough row to hoe.  

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If you want to make a system like this work in San Francisco, you’d need  a subsidy from the government, the way that MUNI and BART and Golden Gate ferries get subsidies.

And where will people get the helmets they’ll need? Whoops. (In gay Paris, they take a c’est la vie approach to matters like this.)

All in all, I’d rather have a regular bike and a U-lock than a Bixi program membership. But if you can’t find a cab or you just missed your bus, you might like having the option of a short-term bike rental.

We’ll see.

 
City CarShare Cohosts Bike Sharing Demonstration.

Exploring New Trends in Green Mobility

WHAT:   A one-day opportunity for the public to ride bikes from a bike share system. Bike sharing allows people to pick up a bike from one station, travel to their destination and return the bike to any other station in a network. City CarShare will be conducting a survey among participants to get their feedback on the concept, the equipment and their level of support for bike sharing in San Francisco.
 
WHEN:   Sunday, August 2, 10 am- 3:30 pm
 
WHERE:   Golden Gate Park, (just inside the car-free Sunday road closure on JFK Drive at Conservatory Drive East)
 
WHY:   To allow the public to test-ride the bikes and learn more about this eco-friendly mode of urban transportation. Through this demonstration project, the sponsors hope to encourage awareness and increased civic conversation about Bike Sharing for San Francisco as having the potential to build a greener city while encouraging healthy living.
 
SPONSORS:   City CarShare, SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), BIXI (of Montreal)
 
COST   Free