Batavus BUB review

You may remember that the Batavus Urban Bike (BUB) was one of the new designs that really caught my attention at Interbike. Soon after the show, I was lucky enough to get the chance to try out one of the prototypes for a few weeks. Before I get into my thoughts about the time I spent with the bike, I will remind you of the BUB background information that I posted by Eric Kamphof, the General manager at Fourth Floor Distribution. You can also read more about the BUB at the Renaissance Bikes website. Renaissance Bikes was the place where I picked up my loaner BUB, and I can tell you that they have some other interesting bikes as well. While I am throwing out links, I will also mention that Arleigh, AKA Bike Shop Girl, also had a BUB prototype to review at the same time I did. See what she had to say about it at her site, Commute By Bike. Finally, you can see the rest of my pictures in my Batavus BUB photoset on Flickr.

As mentioned, the bike I tried was a prototype. The production models will be available Spring of this year. Retail for the BUB will be $550 with a 3 speed Shimano drivetrain and a coaster brake (the prototype I had was a singlespeed). The front and rear racks and lights that can be seen on the bike I tested are all optional. Pricing is still TBD for the racks, but it is estimated that they will be about $50 each. Two frame styles, step through or standard, will be available in gloss or matte black, battleship grey, raw silver, red (matte), or white with white tires (like my test bike). You can see some of the different colors and styles in my photos from the Batavus booth at Interbike.

Before I get into my experiences with the bike, I will reiterate something that many of you already know. As much as I like urban or city bikes from a design standpoint, those are not the types of bikes that I ride on a daily basis. I have mentioned before that my commuter bikes have what many people would consider fairly aggressive positioning, with the seat way above the handlebars. When I first received the BUB, I resisted the temptation to lower the stem as much as possible. Instead, I wanted to get used to that bolt upright “omafiets” position. On the first few rides, I tended to instinctively bend my elbows and lean forward, as I always tend to do on bikes like this. A few times, I even found myself gripping the middle of the handlebars right next to the stem, as if I was trying to ease down into some sort of Graeme Obree like position on a bike that was clearly not designed to be ridden that way. I know that the completely upright position has its benefits; increased comfort for shorter rides and a better view of the road. Still, the position that I am accustomed to from many, many years of racing and road cycling is second nature, so it was not easy to resist that tendency to lean forward a bit. I felt a little strange with my back completely perpendicular to the ground the first few rides, but by the end of the 3 weeks that I had the bike, I was able to cruise around comfortably upright. I wouldn’t want to ride 40 miles like that, but that is not the point of a bike like this. For people who are not interested in cycling as a sport or recreational activity, but want to replace short trips, especially in an urban environment, the BUB’s riding position is ideal.

Unlike the riding position, the lack of hand brakes was something that I never really did get used to. The coaster brake did work great and I imagine would be maintenance free, but for slowly modulating speed I much prefer a hand-operated brake of some sort. In a fairly flat place like Holland, coaster brakes are fine (I guess the same could be said for NYC and many other urban areas where a bike like this would be used). I have ridden Dutch bikes with only a coaster brake many miles on flat terrain with no concerns at all. Here it was a little different though. At one point, I felt a little uncomfortable flying down a very steep hill next to parked cars without a brake lever under my finger. I think the addition of a hand brake might make the bike better for the US market, at least for places where the terrain tends to be hilly.

Speaking of features I would like to see added to the BUB, a set of water bottle braze-ons would also be nice. I realize that the bike is not intended for long distance riding, but even for a 2-5 mile commute or shopping trip, it is nice to have a place for water. Sure you could store a bottle in a front basket or something, but I think water bottle braze-ons would be a nice (and inexpensive) addition to this bike for the US market.

I never rode the BUB to work. My commute involves riding on a couple of busy stretches of suburban two-lane road and that is not really what this bike is designed for. On those sections, I prefer to get down in the drops and ride fairly fast. For casually riding around town though, I really enjoyed the BUB. The bike is very comfortable (thanks in part to those fat Schwalbe Big Apple tires) and overall it had a very sturdy feel. The bike, even with its aluminum frame, is definitely not a lightweight. I like the fact that it feels a bit overbuilt...it is nice to know that can take whatever the rider and the urban environment can dish out. For a short urban commute, shopping, running errands, riding to the coffee shop, etc., I think a bike like the BUB would be a great choice. Of course, that is no big revelation considering the fact that city bikes like this are common in places where short trips by bike are the norm.

Aesthics are subjective, but I think the BUB looks great. I wasn’t the only one though. It turned a few heads and a couple of people asked about it when I rode it downtown. Personally, I like the bent “paperclip” design element where the top tube and down tube meet the head tube. It is primarily an aesthetic detail, but to me it is what gives the bike its personality. As I said in my Interbike recap, the BUB has several nice design details, especially when you consider the retail price. I was a little disappointed that my test model was missing its “mood meter”, a little red plastic dial that fits into a hole in the frame. The “mood meter” may be more of a conversation piece than anything else, but I think it adds to the bikes personality. There is certainly nothing wrong with a fun little design detail like that to set the bike apart.

Though the BUB looks a bit different from the typical omafiets, it has a lot in common with the traditional bikes that are in use in Holland, as well as other parts of Europe. I already mentioned the overall sturdy feel and the geometry, but many of the features are the same as well. The BUB includes nice stout fenders (not the flimsy kind that are likely to bend out of shape and rub against the tire) and a chaingaurd that pretty well encloses the entire front of the drivetrain. The original design included a full chain enclosure like most other Batvus models. That would have been nice, but it turned out to be cost prohibitive for a bike at the BUB's price point. Another included feature is an integrated rear wheel lock. The lock immobilizes the rear wheel to serve as a deterrent against thieves looking for an easy target. Wheel locks like this are not very common in the U.S., but you do see them on utilitarian bikes in Holland and other parts of Europe. It doesn’t replace a U lock or chain if you plan to leave the bike unattended, but it is a nice feature if you ride to a café or shop where the bike is in view.

The front and rear racks (to be sold as accessories) are very sturdy and look great on the bike. Arleigh mentioned in her review that the oversized tubing on the racks was too big for the clips on a few different panniers that she tried, but I had no problem attaching my Specialized panniers or my rear rack cargo net.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the BUB prototype and I truly do think it is something that the US market needs. It is a basic and functional transportation-oriented bike, but styled in a way that I think will appeal to a different segment of the market than more traditional upright bikes. Time will tell, but I expect the BUB to do pretty well…I certainly hope it does.


Note: I am no lawyer, but in the interest of complying with the FTC’s new blogger disclosure rules I will mention that Batavus and Renaissance Bikes provided the BUB to me to try out for a few weeks with no strings attached. No money, schwag, or free vacations to Holland were exchanged in the process. I just used the bike, returned it, and I’m telling you all what I think about it.

Background on the Batavus BuB

I recently mentioned that the Batavus BuB was one of the new city/urban bikes that really caught my attention at Interbike. Soon, I will get a chance to try out a prototype BuB for a couple of weeks… in fact I will be picking the bike up at Renaissance Bicycles this Sunday (speaking of Renaissance, they have several additional pics of the BuB prototypes posted here). I will share my impressions of the bike after I have the chance to live with it a bit, but today I want to post a background story about the design from Eric Kamphof of Fourth Floor Distribution. Eric didn’t write this specifically for the blog, so it may be a bit longer than the average post. Still, I think it provides some great insight into the idea behind this design, so I want to share his story with you in its entirety:

“It may seem difficult to believe, but Dutch bicycle companies like Batavus have recently had a very difficult time penetrating the Dutch urban bicycle market. Companies like Batavus build high quality bikes that tend to last a long time, creating a strong used bike market in urban centers. What is truly impressive is that these bikes last a long time while receiving a massive amount of abuse. The average Amsterdammer leaves their bike outside year round, rarely tunes it, and rides it nearly 3000 miles a year. The average age of a bike in Amsterdam is nearly 35 years old.

The Dutch hardly romanticize their bikes like we do. They are born onto bikes and treat them like tools. They regard their bikes the same way they regard their washing machines. The urban demographic may be tough to reach because of their preference for used bikes, but an even tougher demographic to reach is the 18-35 age group. After riding in the rain from the age of four, many youngsters want nothing more than a car. Perhaps it’s strange, but as Americans fall in love with bikes again, the Dutch are falling in love with cars. To lure urbanites, and especially young urbanites back onto bikes, a new approach was needed. Enter the Batavus Utility Bike - BuB.

As a wholesaler of European city bikes, we knew the only way to get people riding bikes again is to sell the romance of cycling. We call this the 'lifestyle' approach. Everyone knows bikes are better than cars, but nonetheless, this knowledge does not create new cyclists. Consider the Velib system in Paris. The Velib system gave Parisians an iconic bike that provided solutions to a range of problems, and it was cute to boot. Velib is romantic, it fills Parisians with Parisian pride - it's motivational. The Dutch need to be motivated back onto city bikes, and that required a fresh approach.

The typical classic Dutch bike, affectionately called the omafiets (grandma bike) is one of the most memorable icons of Holland. Every bicycle manufacturer in Holland still makes an omafiets, and while the Dutch bike has certainly evolved far beyond the omafiets the omafiets has still been the enduring answer for urban markets. But, it has problems. When Batavus first released the Personal Bike they had an instant hit in urban markets. It had a different seating position than the omafiets, it could stabilize weight better (like children and groceries) – and it was versatile. The seating position of an omafiets is almost excessively upright. The Personal Bike relaxed the position without stretching the rider into a sportive position (which every North American bike company still insists on doing). It also introduced the concept of high pressure 26” tires to the market, allowing the bike to roll exceptionally well despite potholes and bumps. However, like the omafiets, the Personal Bike was a little on the heavy side. While neither bike rides heavy, anyone who wanted to bring their bike inside their apartment (a reality as Amsterdam builds higher) didn't enjoy lifting it. The Personal Bike was a bold invention, but it missed the mark in terms of reaching the widest possible demographic. What was needed was a lighter, more ergonomic bike with the same broad appeal as the classic omafiets.

Based on the same geometry as the popular Personal Bike, the BuB features a much lighter aluminum frame. It’s a very evolved city bike, but not a commuter bike either. The average city cyclist in Holland travels no more than 7km (~4.5 miles) in a single trip. In fact, the average cyclists in Manhattan or Amsterdam spend 80 - 90% of their time within a 10km (~6.25 miles) radius of home. The BuB, like the omafiets, was designed to multi-task this entire 'lifestyle radius.' Conversely, a commuter bike mimics the same patterns of North American car traffic. It takes one from the suburbs to the center, and back. Batavus makes bikes for those people too, but the BuB ain’t it.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle to creating an evolved omafiets was the iconic nature of the omafiets. Like wooden shoes or windmills, the classic omafiets is one of the most visible icons of Holland. To create a lighter version with a better seating position may have been necessary, but the real challenge was creating something as memorable. Like the Velib, Batavus needed to create an instant icon that would romance the Dutch (and others!) back to cycling. As one of the oldest companies in Holland Batavus certainly played a role in the development of the omafiets as we know it today. And Batavus also designed and implemented the entire Paris Velib system. They were also the first develop the Personal Bike design, which has been copied by numerous competitors. In Holland - which typically has a very conservative and insular bike industry - Batavus is that one company that thinks outside the dijk, so to speak.

The BuB was a difficult process to implement. Most companies order their bikes directly out of the large "Taiwan Bicycle Catalog" and slap their decal on it. Not Batavus. The BuB was designed from the ground up by Batavus, and the bent 'paperclip' design was painstaking in its implementation, requiring an entirely new tube bending technology. While the omafiets may be very 'Amsterdam', the BuB is very 'Rotterdam'. Rotterdam, which was completely bombed out during WWII, rebuilt its entire city center from the ground up with an architectural style that was fundamentally practical, yet playful. The BuB, in other words, is just as Dutch as the omafiets bike. It reflects modern Dutch design, and does so very well. It's austere, like Danish design but without being cold and aloof.

Planned obsolescence is hardly a Dutch trait. In fact, paranoia may be a more consistent Dutch trait. This, no doubt, has to do with living below sea level. If the Dutch built their products - including their dijks - poorly, they would be underwater. Yet, despite this extremely prescient practicality, the Dutch are also famous for building in delightful quirks into their products. This, no doubt, fulfills their idea of the gezellig life - a word that has to do with delightful sociability, the right atmosphere, and certain 'coziness'. So, the BuB isn't just practical, it’s a little bit fun. For instance, it has a 'mood indicator', which is hardly practical - but perhaps maybe keeping track of your mood is a gezellig idea? Imagine if a car had a mood indicator...how happy would you be?

The final challenge with the BuB, of course, was price. The average Dutch citizen is used to paying an average of 700 Euros for a city bike. That's nearly $1100 USD. The perception of a bicycle in Holland is quite different than North America. But then, the Dutch are well aware that their bike is used far more than their car, yet costs a fraction of their car. So they invest. This perception will take years to work itself into the North American consciousness, as people essentially learn what their riding habits are. Unlike the rest of the Batavus line, the BuB will not be made in Holland, but it will be made to the Dutch standards of quality. It's a simple, yet sophisticated bike. With a three speed coaster brake hub the focus is on a robust, rust free frame and parts that keeps the rider upright, safe, and comfortable. The BuB is not for everyone, but for anyone in a dense urban center that needs a simple bike that multi-tasks their entire lifestyle radius, the BuB is exactly what they're after.

As you can see, the BuB wasn't just some clever idea dreamed up in a vacuum. It is intensely tied to the axioms of Dutch product design, and at the same time, aligns itself with recent advancements in bike culture around the world. As city bikes increasingly woo’d North Americans, the BuB offers practicality and a long history of experience building and designing the world's best city bikes. For anyone who just wants comfort, low maintenance, complete clothing protection and, well, something pretty - the BuB hits the nail on the head!”

Photo credit: Renaissance Bicycles