SNOWPOCALYPSE!

No matter how much we swear we've learned our lessons, Seattle always seems to get caught by surprise by the snow. There we were, minding our own business with our feet all toasty in our sandals and socks, when the temperature plummeted and it turned into Juneau in January. While this year the City did a much better job than last year at preventing widespread carnage and destruction, we at Dutch Bike Seattle still didn't bring in studded tires because it never snows in Seattle. Even if we had stocked them, I'm not sure they'd sell because it never snows in Seattle, right?

We found something else, though. Something else entirely.

You're not going to believe it at first.

It's quick, it's cheap, and yes, it looks completely ludicrous.

BUT. It works. It works beautifully.

I can accelerate, brake, and corner with aplomb, even on the vile snowpack/sheet ice mix the plows leave in the bike lanes. The zip ties dig nicely into the hardest packed surfaces, but they're thin enough not to bounce the bike around at low speed or on short pavement sections.

I've cunningly positioned the tie heads to dig in as soon as the bike goes into a corner while staying up and off the ground in a straight line. This is the place that the ties are most likely to interfere with the fenders, so if you're installing these yourself be careful to make sure you have or can create the clearance.

It is at this point that I must admit that I didn't dream up this amazing technique. It pains me to admit this not because my ego suffers, but because the zip-tie-DIY-bicycle-snow-chains idea appears to have originated with my favorite bicycle industry whipping boy: fixed gear hipster culture. Several years ago, I'm sure, some bright child with extremely tight pants and an asymmetrical haircut had a genius-caliber idea, and I hate that it wasn't me. So here it is: Fixed gear street bike hipster guys, I'm sorry for the things I've said over the years. It's not true that the only drink you like is 4Loko. It's also not true that you're not allowed to wear shoes that don't match your bikes. You can wear whatever you want. And finally, you have come up with a good idea besides brightly colored deep-section rims.

Just thought everyone might like to know what happens when Dutch Bike Chicago heads over to Dutch Bike Seattle. Watch until the end to see who forms the head.  Who is that guy?

Welcome to the Dutch Bike Café!

This is Brian, the lead Barista at the new Dutch Bike Café that is located right in the heart of old Ballard in the Dutch Bike Co. Take a break from shopping for your Workcycle or a Bakfiets and check out our new coffee locale! I’m excited to let you know about the refined focus on coffee and espresso in our warm and inviting new café.  

We are using locally roasted Lighthouse Coffee, and getting compliments and winning loyal regulars right from the start. The espresso profile is rich and warm with lingering notes of cocoa and a dry finish, much like a good red wine. To showcase the fresh roasted beans we are offering great drinks like the macchiato: which is espresso with a touch of steamed milk. We call it “the world’s tiniest latte." The doppio -- simply a double shot of espresso in a cute little cup & saucer -- is another great way to savor the flavor of the espresso. If you’re a traditionalist we have piping hot French press coffee all-day for your “drip coffee” experience.

 

Pair any of our great espresso drinks -- like the cinnamon and vanilla infused cappuccino -- with a lunch sandwich hot from the grill or one of Julie’s famous Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies and you are in for a tasty and enjoyable treat!

Plenty of folks are stopping in for a cup of morning joe and a breakfast sandwich. We also see a lot of you swinging in with your bikes for a tune-up and to test ride the great selection of bikes at the shop and to have a latte with friends.

Stay tuned for more updates on our fabulous baked goods, ice cream sandwiches, and espresso delights!

Hey there! This is Alex, the newest addition to Dutch Bike Seattle, coming to you with my inaugural blog post.  Born and raised in Seattle, I graduated from the University of Washington in 2008 and have been wasting my anthropology degree working in the bike industry ever since. For blogging purposes, I’m going to start of by focusing on events and other fun things to do on a bike, whether specifically bike related or not.  To that end, here’s the post, about how I spent the 4^th of July:

4^th of July! Fun! Family! Beers! Hotdogs! Bicycles? Here at Dutch Bike, we say yes. What better way to celebrate the birth of our country than by celebrating your independence from traffic jams and fossil fuels? To that end, I spent a good chunk of my 4^th of July at the Arboretum riding bikes and just hanging out.

The real impetus for the gathering (other than just having a good time) was the third annual 4^th of July Sprints, held again this year at the bridge to nowhere at the Washington Park Arboretum.

The bridge to nowhere, if you’re not familiar with it, was originally constructed to be an Interstate 5 bypass from I-90 to Route 520, but then abandoned due to environmental concerns. Today it sits unused except for the occasional person brave enough to dive from the high point of the bridge into lake Washington below.

Though the event was ostensibly a competitive one, the atmosphere was decidedly laid back.  Not being much of a racer myself, I chose to spend most of my time just watching and talking.  Eventually the day proved itself to be a true Seattle 4^th of July, and the rains came, moving us down the bridge under shelter.  Which just goes to show, one of the most important characteristics you can have when biking in Seattle (in any season!) is adaptability.

If you’ve never been (or just never ridden) to the Arboretum, it’s something I would heartily recommend checking out.  The array of flora present ensures that it’s beautiful in most seasons, and it’s home to one of my favorite places in Seattle, the Japanese gardens.  Perhaps most importantly, access is extremely bike friendly, with a number of routes to take depending on where you’re coming from. So the next time you’re in the neighborhood, you should stop by! Have a picnic, drink some wine, and have a great day on your bike.

...So once again we spring-less Chicagoans have skipped right through from winter into summer, and as the temperatures jump from frigid to boiling, we find ourselves in season for beautiful weekends and wonderful bike rides.  As Memorial Day draws near, I look forward not only to channeling my inner Dade County fashion sense and releasing my vast assortment of white linen clothing onto the bike lanes and pathways of Chicago (not really), but also to the amazing event that is Bike the Drive.  

We want to see every Chicagoland Dutch Bike riding down Lake Shore Drive this Sunday.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve got an heirloom omafiets or a brand new Workcycles Transport.  If you ride like the Dutch, you should ride with us.  Is your bike less “Holland” and more “anywhere else?”  Don’t worry, we won’t discriminate.  Come ride with us too.  It’ll be fun.   If you are coming down from the North Side, up from the South Side, or in from the West Side, feel free to meet up at Dutch Bike Co. for some coffee and morning sundries.  I’ll be in the shop around 5:00am listening to some James Brown and getting properly caffeinated.  We’ll head out for the ride at 6:00am. We’ll cruise down to the ride start in Classic Dutch Style with a Bakfiets full of supplies.  So please join Will, the Brehmen brothers and myself for a great ride.  Just go to www.bikethedrive.org for all the information and registration.  Or come by the shop and pick up a coupon for discounted registration.

Need to rent a bike for Bike The Drive?  Give us a call at 312-265-0175 and we’ll set you up with special pricing for the big ride on Sunday.  Pick it up on Saturday night before we close up or come by on Sunday morning.  So let me know if you need a bike.  And call me if you want some more info on where to meet. 

Hope to see you there,

Vince

Dutch Bike Co.
651 W Armitage Ave
Chicago IL 60614

It's been almost a year since I built and started flogging the strange hybrid beast that we named the Saison (a saison is a Belgian farmhouse beer style whose wild yeast strains produce a light body but strong earthy flavor).  The idea was to build a bike that could balance the toughness and "fuhgeddaboutit" maintenance interval of one of the Dutch bikes with the speed and acceleration of a modern American commuter.  Strong wheels, a strong frame, internally geared drivetrain, disc brakes, full fenders, and a comfortable riding position were required.  Add a few little extra touches for comfort (carbon bar and 28c Tserv tires) and style (gold Nokon brake housing and gold grips), and I was ready to go.

The Frame
Predictably, I couldn't let myself simply order a frame designed to do exactly what I intended for it (they exist).  Instead, I decided to use the wrong-est frame to build this multi-speed city bike: a single-speed mountain bike.  The Surly 1x1.  And yes, I am perfectly aware of the abject silliness of this premise.  That said, measure the actual radius of a 26" wheel with tire, and a 700c wheel with tire, and you'll find a surprisingly small difference.  Measure the wheel/tire clearance of a 1x1 and you'll run out of measuring tape; you could lose a medium-sized child in the depths of that gigantic rear triangle.  Even with tires half again the size there would be plenty of room for nice beefy fenders, too.
 


With tough steel tubes, convenient horizontal dropouts, and easily adjustable brake caliper mounts, the Surly would have been a fair bet even if it weren't super cheap.  And deep down, who doesn't want to ride "the thing that should not be"?

The Build
Lace up a wheelset: light-ish rims made for 29'er mountainbikes on a Shimano Alfine hub (the stealth-bomber version of the eight-speed hubs in our Workcycles bikes) and a mostly-matchy front hub, and slap them into the frame.



Throw on the rest of the parts.  Get a different crankset because the chainstays are so wide that the arms of the compact road crank I'd planned on using wouldn't even come close to clearing...wow.  Bend the fender stays and install spacers to clear the brake calipers.  Install lights on the brake bosses because they're just sitting there doing nothing.  Install the KitchenAid headbadge because this is supposed to be an appliance, right?

The Ride
The first impression of the ride is the quickness: even though it's a big bike with a wide bar, it feels very nimble and responsive.  You just point your shoulders and the bike zips that way.  It's difficult to sufficiently emphasize the nimble feel of the bike and the resulting confidence: the handling is so intuitive that maneuvers that would be nerve-wracking on a more conventional bike just happen naturally and with little fanfare.  The wheels and frame are highly rigid, and even with relatively big tires and the flex of the carbon handlebar the ride isn't Dutchbike-smooth, but it's not punishing.



The Alfine hub and shifter snap off quick, positive gear changes with almost no lag or interruption of power transfer.  The disc brakes (Avid BB7 calipers and Shimano XTR levers) offer a surfeit of power and smooth enough modulation to keep it under control, although after putting in the miles on our roller brake-equipped city bikes they feel surprisingly aggressive. 

The Year
Now, after a year of riding around Seattle, up and down stairs, through alleys, around parks and pump tracks, through street brawls and farmer's markets, and over every nasty piece of pavement and road debris I could find, I can actually evaluate the bike.  It has commuted, gone on dates, shopped, and pubcrawled.  It's been taken on countless test rides, and borrowed for extended periods.  Through it all the Saison has required very little of its rider in terms of either maintenance or even basic consideration.  After a few adjustments for break-in, the mechanical systems have functioned as close to flawlessly as any bike I've ridden.  A little chain lube every few weeks, and the occasional stack of batteries for the cheap blinky lights I can't seem to get around to replacing with a sexy generator setup.  It's not quite as impossibly maintenance-free as a Workcycles bike, but it's not too far off.

I can explain the experience of living with this bike best by calling it "enough."  It's tough enough that even through the year of abuse I've barely had to think about it, while remaining light enough to accelerate and climb with pizazz.  It's fast enough to really feel fast, and -- most important of all -- fun enough that I consistently want to ride it.  The best bike is, after all, the one that you ride.

Want one?
With a somewhat less extravagant component selection, you can have one for right around $1700.  We're custom building each one of these for the time being, so even though you're dodging the challenging "experimentation phase" of a project like this you can still have plenty of input on the specifics of your Saison.  An albatross bar, a Brooks B67 saddle and 38mm wide tires for a more "Dutch" feel?  A narrow cut-down riser bar and racy tires for tackling traffic?  A Workcycles Transport-style front cargo carrier?
No problem.  Have a tall, chilly glass of Saison.

Chicago 1 Year Anniversary Celebration — Tonight

Join us at our Chicago shop for a Belgian beer tasting tonight, Saturday evening, 6-9 PM, with Don Feinberg and Wendy Littlefield of Vanberg & Dewulf, the Belgian beer experts and founders of Brewery Ommegang, the first Belgian style brewery in the USA. Also, join us during regular hours in the shop,  for a weekend of sales specials on bikes and accessories.