The best bakfiets ever made? The WorkCycles Kr8 (pr. ‘Crate’) is a heavy-duty cargo bike, designed and built by the WorkCycles team in Amsterdam. As a family bike, the Kr8 is truly outstanding; designed from the tyres up to deal with the demands of parents, the safety of children, and the rigours of daily life. Thoughtful features like the frame’s Adaptive Seat Tube mean that the same bike can be easily adjusted to fit riders from 160cm right up to 200cm. This is ideal when sharing between riders of different heights, as it is a truly universal frame geometry. By adding a rear rack, the Kr8’s cargo capacity is increased, and you’ll wonder how you lived without it!   Advantages

• Wide and stable kickstand means the bike is always rock solid when loading and unloading
• Low and central centre of mass results in excellent handling
• Step-through frame for easy mounting
• A second bench means the WorkCycles Kr8 can easily carry up to four children in the box
• Highest-quality components used throughout
• Rock & RAL – custom colours available on all painted parts
• Gearing and braking options so you can build the Kr8 your way
• Unparalleled build-quality, genius design, and legendary reliability

 

 

As the WorkCycles team is known for their attention to detail, it should come as no surprise that their latest offering has a number of well-considered advantages over its predecessors and peers. For example, the Kr8’s lighter weight, better steering, clever cabling, enhanced ergonomics, and improved parking stand all work in harmony to set it apart from the competition. Easier and nicer to ride than any three-wheeler, the low-lying box and adaptive geometry make handling a piece of cake.

In terms of its adaptations as a family bike, the Kr8 really is beyond compare. Two kids on the rear rack with another four in the box? Sure, why not? By borrowing from the other members of the ‘r8’ family of bikes, the Kr8 is able to draw on many years of research and development in the child-transport business, and thus make use of almost the entire range of WorkCycles accessories.

The Kr8’s designer is obviously a parent, as they have included some really thoughtful features into the bike’s design. For instance, do you see the small gap at the bottom of the wooden side-panel? That’s there to give a child a place to put their foot when climbing into the box. The seatbelts are also 3-point harnesses instead of 2-point, as they are easier to put on when children are wearing helmets. The Kr8 is full of smart little details like this, and these are what set WorkCycles bikes apart, especially in the field of family transport.

Additionally, nifty features such as the patented ‘Escape Hatch’ make it easy to replace things like the rear tyre, inner tube, or rollerbrake without opening the chaincase or having to adjusting any of the more fiddly parts. Moreover, the enclosed gears, brakes, and drivetrain keep all of the bike’s more sensitive components well protected from the weather, meaning that you can more or less forget about maintenance and just enjoy years of reliable service.

 

Load Capacity

• 100kg (or four kids) in the crate
• In the region of 50kg (or two kids) on the rear rack
  (not necessarily recommended all at once though…)

Technical Advantages

• Adaptive seat tube adjustable for all riders 160-200cm
• Ultra strong 26” and 20” wheels with 2.3mm thick spokes
• Tough powdercoat on the frame ensures protection from rust
• Schwalbe Marathon or Big Ben tyres
• Weatherproof marine plywood box
• Easy to use and stable spring-loaded parking stand
• B&M LED lighting system powered by hub dynamo
• Full chaincase to protect the drivetrain for minimal maintenance
• ABUS wheel lock
• Bench with two child harnesses
• Stainless steel hardware