Cargo Bikes and Kids

Even with 40,000 cargo bikes in Copenhagen, most cargo bike action involving kids takes place in the neighbourhoods, where families live close to the schools. 26% of all Copenhagen families with two or more kids have a cargo bike. It's the Copenhagen version of the SUV.

There are cargo bikes with kids in the morning rush hour however. Here are a few of them. Just a kid reading a book on their way to school.

Cycle Chic Super Cargo Dads

It's quiet in Copenhagen at the moment, during the three weeks of summer holidays. The numbers of bicycle users heading to and from work are still mind-blowing to visitors but it is clear to those of us that live here that most of the nation are holidaying at home, in their summer houses or off travelling.


Cargo bikes and Copenhagen are like a hand and a glove. With 40,000 cargo bikes in the city you're certain to see them everywhere. In the summer holidays the pace slows. Kids don't have to be transported off to kindergarten or school but cargo bikes still fulfill an important role. There are still beaches or museums to be visited, playgrounds to be explored.

Denmark is one of the countries in the world with the greatest level of gender equality. It's not just in business or politics - out of the eight polictical parties, four have female leaders, including the Prime Minister - but in everyday life. A simple phrase from other societies like "soccer mom", for example, seems rather odd and archaeic. We're just soccer parents.

We hear, however, the same thing from cargo bike brands and bike shops. When a young family is discussing getting a cargo bike, it tends to be the mother who calls the shots regarding brand, accessories, etc. Nevertheless, the bike becomes The Family Bike when it rolls out of the shop, as you can see in this article. Superdads just getting on with it. Rolling kids around the city.

Given our involvement in the European Cyclelogistics project, we have cargo bikes on the brain at the moment here at our offices. So here goes.


At left: Here are my kids napping on the way home from the beach on our Bullitt.
At right: My boy and two friends on our old Longjohn.






Christiania Bikes in action.







Nihola Bikes do their thang.


In Ljubljana and Montreal, too.




Bullitts from Larry vs Harry.


A no-name brand at left and an Winther Kangaroo at right. The flag reads "Go, Mum!" and they were riding alongside his wife as she ran the Copenhagen Marathon.

The iconic Triobike.


Bakfiets from the Netherlands.

Sorte Jernhest (means Black Iron Horse). The one on the right is available for residents to borrow from various locations around the city.

Then again... kids are doin' it for themselves.

Straw Square

Sitting in the sun on Halmtorvet (Straw Square) and watching the Copenworld go by.

Cycle Chic Testdrive - Velorbis Leikier

Here's a bicycle that Cycle Chic has been riding around on for a few weeks. It's fun to test drive new bicycles in the ongoing search for cool urban transport. It's an ocean out there, filled with schools of groovy rides.

Taking a bike for a test drive is great, but I don't think you really get a sense of the bicycle by staring at it intently and riding it around the block or on a parking lot or at a bike fair. The best way to test drive a bicycle is to use it for a longer period.

A short test drive places all your focus on the bicycle and is a bit nerdy. Because it's not about the bicycle. It's about you on the bicycle. So here at Cycle Chic we figured we'd test drive bicycles for a longer period. In order to become comfortable with the machine and, in a way, to forget the bicycle.

Once you ride a bicycle around for more than a couple of days, you don't notice it. You're looking around your city, going from A to B. Then it's possible to return to thinking about the ride.

The bicycle featured here is the Velorbis Leikier. It's a co-branding effort between two Danish companies. Lars Leikier is a respected bikesmith, located here in Copenhagen. Together with his business partner he produces that proud workhorse of the Danish cargo bike fleet - the Sorte Jernhest, or Black Iron Horse.

Here's a Sorte Jernhest in action in Copenhagen.
Lars Leikier is inspired by the American choppers from the 50's and 60's and the Leikier is an offshoot of this fascination. On their website it's described as a Stately City Floater [statslig byflyder]. He crafts 15-20 of these bicycles each year in his bikesmithy. Totally con amore.

Now Leikier and classic Danish brand Velorbis have entered into a co-branding of the bicycle. Taking it to the next level. The result can be seen here.

So what's it like to ride? First of all, the bicycle is a real headturner. You can't pedal anonymously through the city on this puppy. Men, women and teenagers notice it and admire it as you roll past.

I've found that the description "Stately City Floater" is a perfect way to decribe riding the Velorbis Leikier. You sit grandly upon the saddle. The design makes your mother proud in the way that you're sitting up straight. I've discovered that it's virtually impossible to ride with two hands. One hand is magically drawn away from the handlebars to hang casually at my side or to glide into a pocket.

You feel like a king on this bicycle. You rise up above your city and survey it from a two-wheeled perch. All desire to go fast is removed from the design - although with 8 gears you can get up to speed if you need to. It is the poster child for the Slow Bicycle Movement. And it looks bloody fantastic, too. Oh, and super easy to find in bike racks filled with hundreds of bikes. It's the tallest bike around.

I like it when you ride a bicycle and just kind of forget about but somewhere, somehow you just feel good on it. If you notice your bicycle too much, it's not necessarily a good thing. It's like holding hands with someone you fancy. It should be natural. You should know exactly how you both like to hold hands and when your fingers intertwine it should feel nice for a moment and then just become natural.


During the Velo-City Conference 2010 I loaned the Velorbis Leikier to my friend Joel, from Ottawa. A good choice. He dressed for the bicycle.

- The Velorbis Leikier is available from Velorbis - www.velorbis.com.
- It retails for 10,000 kroner - $2995 in the States. There are only 15-20 of them hand-made each year at the moment.
- They come in two colours; black and silver.

The verdict? Cycle Chic approves.

Supermadre y padre

Here's Claudia. She's Mexican and lives here in Copenhagen. We met on a bike ride with the Mayor of Mexico City last week and she knows this blog well. She admitted that she always checks the blog in the hopes of perhaps seeing herself under the Supermum category.

Her kids weren't with her that day, nor was the cello they transport around, so we'll have to fix that on a later occasion.

For now, this lovely Copenhagen supermadre gets to grace our blog and gets our respect for riding her trusty cargo bike around our fair city. Lovely to meet you, Claudia!


In the interest of equality, allow us to present a Copenhagen superpadre on his cargo bike in the bitter cold.

Dentherlands Nethermark

Another beachalicious photo. A family with two cargo bikes. One a Danish Sorte Jernhest and the other a Dutch bakfiets. Perfect for getting to and from the beach with three kids. And on the left is a pregnant Copenhagener parking her bike. Cycling while pregnant is encouraged and virtually prescribed in Denmark.


A Nihola cargo bike in action near the City Hall Square on a blustery day.