Swede Army bike spotted at Nike
Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on September 26th, 2005 at 8:08 am
As some of you may know, I have a sincere infatuation with European city bikes. While lurking around the Nike Campus Sunday I came across this fine specimen. (the photo is dark because the sun hadn’t even come up yet!).
It was being ridden by a gardener who had no idea why I was so fascinated with his bike. It’s from a Swedish company called Kronan. Kronan got their start by building bikes for the Swedish Army 70 years ago and their bikes are made to last. Here’s another shot of it from a different angle.
It had a rod-driven drivetrain (which means it uses solid rods instead of wire cables to shift the gears and brake) and the tires had a serious injection of reflective rubber in the sidewalls.
Now, if only it had BikePortland.org on the downtube…
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September 30th, 2005 16:48
love Kronans! my friend has one and LOVES it. they are as much modern art as transport, like many bikes, of course, but they have that bauhaus simplicity and teutonic solidness... especially those with the ballooon-style tires...
mmm
euro city bikes
mj
September 30th, 2005 20:06
you've nailed it mj. bauhaus and teutonic..modern art. I totally agree!
October 1st, 2005 11:45
Can we post photos in the comments? I'll give it a try.
I saw this bike outside of Whole Foods and loved it. Glad to see there are other fans.
October 1st, 2005 11:46
Nope, didn't post. Here's a link to the photo.
October 3rd, 2005 20:25
First I'd like to say that ALL bikes are good bikes. But that being said, I've got to put in a warning before anybody runs off and buys a Kronan before riding one. They suck. They do look cool. Granted. And I love city bikes (my personal euro favorite is the fast and sporty yet extremely unsexy old Batavus Barcelona).
Kronans are very heavy. Shockingly so. And strangely, they’re not built that well. I have many friends in Amsterdam who were given Kronans (by the company they worked for). Not a-one was happy with it. And Amsterdam is flat.
What Kronans are good for is what they were designed for: strong soldiers carrying very heavy loads is bad weather. If you’re off to fight the Danes, perhaps. But if you’re tooling around the city, no thanks.
May 24th, 2006 07:06
[...] A few days ago I was hanging out on my street talking to a neighbor. Suddenly, riding toward me on a strange bike with a huge grin on his face was a friend of mine, known as West Cougar. When he got closer, I noticed the bike was a green Kronan (a Swedish military bike similar to the ones used out at the Nike Campus) and I instantly realized why he was smiling. [...]