Cargo Bikes

Douze

Funny, I don't recall ever seeing one of these here in Berlin, yet now there's talk about them here I just spotted one yesterday outside of a supermarket.. looking really good in the flesh!!

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That's a really nice one. Longest front bit. Also I prefer that rear, but demo model came step through and it means mywife might even get on it one day.

Where in Berlin was this?

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Looks like it only has the coaster brake

See Dickie Dee.

Has anyone tried one of these:

steering damper

Does it work (for reducing speed wobble and front-wheel judder) ?

I guess this is the simple version:

We have something similar on one of the Bullitts I use for work. It makes a huge difference to how the bike handles. All of the Bullitts without it suffer from the front wheel flapping all over the place quite alarmingly at any sort of speed. The one that has the stabiliser is much more confidence inspiring! I have no idea what brand the one we use is but I'd definitely recommend something along those lines.

The cheap or expensive ones?
The lower bunch seem more to prevent wheel flop when parked?
I don't know.

Did they operate with a single brake?
Or have some connection to Christiania?

I commuted on an electric Bullitt for 4 weeks now. It has the hydraulic damper and it handles like a ski even on snow and rough surfaces. Never tried one without but the steel replica i'm building will definately have a steering damper/stabilizer.

@AngusMacGyver Thanks! I guess it does what it says on the box. I will try to get a test ride with one.

Yep, single brake being the reason why I mentioned them.
No connection to Christiania unless inspiration (either for or from, they've been around a long time).

edit - the Dickie Dee bikes predated the Christiania ones, the latter have only been around since the 70s, the former since the 50s.

I must say the Douze we have is rock solid and wobble free no matter what the speed/load thanks to the cable steering... However it doesn't look as sexy/aggressive as a Bullitt.

My Bullitt use is mainly leisurely weekend rides with two kids, but I haven't really had any issues with steering. This is a newer model with tapered headtube and fork, not sure if that makes any difference.

There is some play in the steering, I suppose that's unavoidable with a steering rod. I've experienced some judder when descending fast on rough asphalt, or briefly when going over bumps at speed, but I've felt it's predictable and not something I have to pay much attention to.

Personally i hate the damper,slower steering and less feedback from the front wheel.they are useful if you load around 100kg regularly as they avoid the ftont wheel to turn over 180° when doing tigth manouvers

We have some older Bullitts and one brand new one, the only one that I don't notice the front wheel wobbling alarmingly when going at any sort of speed is the older one with the damper. It seems to be less exaggerated when the bike is fully loaded than when it's empty so maybe the weight of the kids is cancelling it out. To be honest, I've never had anything bad happen because of the wobbly front wheel but I can't imagine it's a good thing!

At low speed the wobble is because the front wheel is almost unloaded(front braking unloaded is always scary),imperfections in tires and steering tolances make it worst

Never noticed any wobble/weirdness with my Kr8, even at very high speeds, but they had a problem with early bikes - they changed the steering rod design, and I think offered a replacement for all existing ones. Must have been some flex in the steering hitting a nasty harmonic mode.
I can't say I've noticed any weirdness with unloaded front braking either, but then the front brake is pretty feeble on mine - I think it's the long cable run.

Things get more rattly on an empty bike, but even that hasn't bothered me. I'm a casual rider, so maybe that's a part of it, but I actually quite like how Bullitt handles.

Bullitts are fine when you get used to riding them but really dont ride like a normal bike so definitely have an odd handling, they're meant to be rode loaded and where they excel.

Ok, so I'm planning on buying a Bullitt for kid and dog carriage. Their total load would currently be 20kg, I suppose the canopy and seat would add a little bit more weight, would that be insufficient load for its intended/designed stability? Would the dampener be more necessary at that end of the scale?

Just because they feel better loaded doesn't mean they're unrideable unloaded and after a few days you'll probably won't notice as shown by the people above.

Don't know about the dampener, I own an Omnium as i prefer how it rides, but understand why people wouldn't want one for child carryin duties.

@thebrenthamtaffy How do you bolt down the seat belts on the douze? No instructions :(

Thanks very much laner.

Actually the omnium looks pretty good to me if it was just a child i had to carry , its just a shame that the child seat that can mounted has to point back towards the rider.

I quite like how they ride as well, I just take it a bit easier than I would like down hills and on the flats if the bike is empty! It's annoying because our depot is down hill from nearly everywhere we deliver to so we're always going up hill with a full bike and down hill with an empty one