Batavus, the Dutch maker of granny-bikes, has teamed up with designer Van Berlo to make the Batavus Utility Bike (BUB). The purpose of the bike is to make the Dutch City Bike a little more suitable for the modern-day city, and it has just won an iF Design Award.
The BUB’s shape was inspired by a paperclip, but despite this appears to be a good design: The front luggage rack, the full-fender, oversized chunky tires and laid-back seating position all make for an extremely comfy ride, even under load. The actual looks of the bike are more questionable, though. Why make the down-tubes that shape, other than because you can? And the brightly-colored, interchangeable plastic parts are likely to just fall off. Finally, what do you think that little plastic widget above the crank might be? It appears that it is nothing more than a bike-smiley, a dial that can be turned to “express” your mood. That’s just plain annoying.
Still, if Batavus can get this in stores for a reasonable price, and lose the Star Wars Sand-Trooper color-scheme, it could make an excellent update for any city-rider, including granny.
Van Berlo and Batavus Win iF Gold Award [Van Berlo via Bicycle Design]
BUB photos [Flickr]
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