Jan 30, 2010
b2O ‘bakfiets 2 Obama’
///BREAKING NEWS
Picture this: President Barack Obama joyfully biking along the streets on this typically Dutch carrier bike. On his way to do some groceries and promoting this alternative way of shopping. Take a bike instead of your car!
(In this clip singer Wende Snijders on a De Fietsfabriek bike, singing this ‘Yes we can’ song. In Dutch we call this carrier bike a ‘bakfiets’, and De Fietsfabriek means: the bike factory)
The ‘b2O- bakfiets 2 Obama’ project is initiated by the owners of Dutch bike store De Fietsfabriek, Yalçin Cihangir and Dave Deutsch. Aim is to encourage Obama to improve his sustainability program.
To get publicity, an ambitious and enthusiastic documentary team is planning to make a bike tour on a special Obama ‘bakfiets’. Starting in the Turkish village Buyukcamili where owner Yalçin Cihangir was born and the factory of De Fietsfabriek is based. Biking towards Rotterdam harbor via Amsterdam, crossing the Atlantic Ocean by ship. At the USA coast, the American media circus can get crazy and follow this theatrical parade towards the White House in Washington D.C. Hopefully with a warm applause of Obama himself!
In 2004 Yalçin Cihangir (picture above) and Dave Deutsch started De Fietsfabriek in Amsterdam. Since than, all different kind of bikes produced by De Fietsfabriek are dominating the corners of the city. Besides other Dutch cities like Rotterdam and the Hague, De Fietsfabriek owns stores in Berlin, Chicago, Tokyo and Copenhagen. In a couple of months even the New York City families can start driving the ‘bakfiets’ packed with kids and groceries. De Fietsfabriek will open it’s doors in Brooklyn!
This is such a great idea, i think the Fietsfabriek is a great example of the ‘American Dream’ (if that concept still exists) Obama and his wife are enthusiastic runners, so I am sure they will love this healthy and environmentally friendly idea too.