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ORBIS February 2015February 2015 ORBIS

Build it yourself, make it your own. Many coffee shops have followed this motto for years to attract customers with their customised meals at lunchtime. This old concept has arrived to the cycling world.

The coolest sandwich on the road

Above: The five fundamental steps to build your sandwich. Below: The ready to use bike. (Courtesy of Sandwickes)

It’s expensive, rigid, heavy and

overrated”

It’s called the Sandwich bike. And it’s an eye-catcher. It’s a jumble between customised snacks and the furniture giant Ikea.

Riders will decide the colour, design and materials, it’s as easy as choosing the toppings. Then, you will receive a box full of piec-es for you to assemble. And it’s easier to build than Ikea, you won’t have extra parts left, jokes the communication manager Irene Van As.

The Dutch designer Basten Leijh of Bleijh, who was inspired to truly do something it hadn’t been done before, has been working on this idea since 2006. Leijh was seeking for a new idea with three common elements: flat packing, home assembly and easy shipping, explain to us Van As. She said: “This is the first bike that changes everything in this industry and It is recogniz-able from 100 meters.”

However, it took him seven years to shape and polish the prototype, and it was not until last year the bike was launched to the market. The spokeswom-an of Sandwich Bikes assures that “making your own product, besides we promise you’ll have fun for around an hour, creates a personal connection.”

“Nowadays, bike manufac-turing is anonymous and it will finally end up in a ‘not-caring product’.

“Of course, our customer would receive a pedal bike made with love and that it’s nice to look at it.”, adds.

The bicycle has proven its un-

contested success. In less than a year, it won three design awards, it launched four different mod-els, it has distribution partners in twenty-seven countries and it collaborated in a project with Van Gogh Museum, in Amsterdam.

“We look back and we very proud of all we have achieved.

“But most of all we are proud of trust from our customers.”, sentences.

Total score: 4/10

It could be one of the most pointless bikes I’ve ever seen. Although it’s meant to be a road bike, it does still have main disadvan-tages. First of all it’s a very rigid bike, as it has no suspen-sion at all, plus it made out of wood. This can make your ride uncomfortable.

Secondly, there are missing gear and a hand brake. It only brings a coaster brake in the rear wheel, which it might be not enough for an emergency stop.

Finally, the material and de-sign make this bike unique. However, I do not think it’s worthy. It is a quite ex-pensive cycle (around €1,000) and it weights over 15 kg, mak-ing its transportation impossible.

Overall, this cycle it’s the point where styling and cycling world meet. Nevertheless, fash-ion trends cannot prevail over commodity and service.

Total score: 9/10

The Sandwich bike is the most popular cycle in our showroom.

For cycling geeks, like us, is mag-nificent.

It suits p e r f e c t l y your needs of a second bike. You de-

sign and customise yourself so that you don’t have to waste your time, scrolling down the websites looking for a good model.

Then, it arrives at your home as inside a box. It’s the time to

a s s e m b l e all the piec-es together and in less than an hour, you’ll have it constructed.

E x a c t l y like Ikea, it’s having great suc-

cess among young people who are looking for a different cycle, not juts a normal one. We have only received positive feedback from our customers.

They mutually agree is very cool, and it provides a very easy and smooth ride.

“ The Sandwich bike is the most

popular cycle in our showroom”

Special guest’s review

Daniel LopezProfessional cyclist in the Caja Rural team

AlineSales manager at Nasmaak store, Netherlands1 2

34

5

[Manuel R. Marti ]

“This is the first bike that changes everything in this industry and its

recognizable from 100 meters”

VERSUS

Daniel Lopez

Aline