Zoom!…just when I had focussed on the Volvo-Pacton couple and clicked, a lady on her bicycle crossed the street. Then again, she’s clearly also transporting goods, just like the combination in the background.
It’s quite common that big rigs drive all the way into a town center, especially for delivering all kinds of building materials. The Volvo driver had just finished unloading at a jobsite and was all set and ready for backing up to get out of town, on his way to the main road again.
The 2015 Volvo FH 4×2 tractor was towing (pushing here, actually) a 2018 Pacton tridem axle curtainsider with a Terberg truck semi-trailer mounted forklift. Meanwhile, the driver had lifted the Pacton’s first axle.
I didn’t pay attention to the semi-trailer’s axle set-up, but I’d say the second and third axle are steering axles. The rig’s axle loads add up to a GVM-rating of 46.5 metric tons (102,515 lbs).
Looking through the windshield, we clearly see an aftermarket, old school steering wheel. Given its sweet, six-cylinder turbodiesel roar (to my ears, anyway) I bet the tractor has a straight exhaust.
We’ve got clearance! A cakewalk from here on. Certainly for this trucker.
Watching these guys break hard in heavy Copenhagen traffic and then slam it in reverse down a narrow street while navigating rush hour traffic is a sight to behold. Fearless!
Auto shift transmission lets you do that,
Cruising around in rush hour traffic in a 25metre long vehicle does take a little practice,
Even the colors match. Black trailer, beige cab, yellow triangles, red decorative stripes.
Now that you mention it…
A not so young woman riding a bike to get groceries. A common sight in the Netherlands, but extremely rare here.
Yeah, that bike is a typical daily rider/grocery getter. A firm luggage rack, full fenders, a front mudguard, coat protectors (rear wheel), head- and taillight and a chain casing. The practical type of bike.
Lights on bikes! Now, there’s an idea whose time has come!
Currently, bikes mostly have a battery and/or hub dynamo for the lights.
Below an old school, front wheel (tire)-driven type of dynamo, as it has been around for ages. Click it against the tire and the lights are on automatically, when cycling. Click it back, and the lights are out. (photo courtesy of Wikipedia/Huub van Hughten)
We have similar Teledyne and Yale forklifts in the US, primarily for delivering pallets of building materials. Groceries are generally done with a loading dock at the store, or a hydraulic liftgate on the truck and a pallet jack.
The omafiets has a following in the Pacific Northwest but the grocery haulers generally favor a bakfiets or long tail cargo bike with lots of gears for the hills. The heavy Dutch bikes do better on flat terrain so coty bikes in the Portland area are more German style with aluminum frames and many gears.
I didn’t expect to read omafiets and bakfiets here…
Funny is that the omafiets (granny bike) is especially popular among young girls. These days, the bakfiets is often used to transport kids to daycare/school.
Actually, I find most interesting is the Terberg KingLifter Fork Lift on the back.
Offset mast and the steer wheel next to the Driver must take some getting used to.
Here’s a Terberg Kinglifter “unfolded”. Seems perfectly fine to me (photo courtesy of De Kruif Machines).
That dynamo takes quite a bit of extra leg muscles for a 10-12 year old boy with a full load of papers on his paper route….. did I mention wind??? Yup I did that. I suppose my clothes would fit differently if were still doing that…. I’m over it haha