This Dutch woodworker crafts picture-perfect bench seats for cargo bikes

As we know, cargo bikes are incredibly versatile. They can be used to schlep all manner of materials to and fro, but they can also serve as the family station wagon taking the brood to school, or on trips to the beach or grocery store. Of course, they don’t always provide the best seating for little ones, and that got Piet Jacobsen thinking.

Jacobsen lives in Heerenveen, the Netherlands, and when his old Johnny Loco cargo bike hammock bench wore out, he learned a new one was pricey and decided to make his own.

After working much of his adult life in a diner, he had recently shifted to woodworking, the skills for which he developed as a hobbyist.

“I thought, I can make that too,” he said, and set to work.

The result is impressive, to say the least. A beautiful wooden bench seat crafted of outdoor-grade Baltic birch and mahogany complete with little seat belts. We love.

“The first bench I made was for my own Johnny Loco cargo bike and I put it on Marktplaats (sort of dutch eBay) to see if there were more people with the Johnny loco bench issues (wearing out and mold, you know when you leave canvas out in the elements),” he explained. “And there were. I started making them one-and-a-half years ago and I ask 150 euros for them, this includes shipping within the Netherlands.”

Jacobsen said he would happily ship overseas, but the shipping costs would need to be covered by the purchaser.

If interested, Jacobsen asks for parties to contact him via a DM on his Facebook or Instagram although he has a website on the way.