Originally Posted by
bonjourpanda
My bike need is not immediate. I likely won't be getting one until next year, I'm investigating options.
I've seen teenage girls in the Netherlands riding with friends on the front or back, some of them must be riding the Miss Grace. That's actually why I'm interested in one: I'm a little under 5'2 and many Dutch upright bikes feel large on me. I was looking at the Heavy Duty and the Miss Grace, and I like the colours Miss Grace comes in. And I know it's kinda cheesy, but I like the little badge on it that says sparkly things. It has a rear coaster brake as well, which I like so I have one hand free for signalling or eating ice cream.
Don't forget Dutch teenage girls don't really care about their bikes, a tradtional rear rack is not a problem, but a front rack will suffer from more than doubling the specified load. It won't just snap but it will wear out and get wobbly that way. But 30 kg should be no problem for a Gazelle front rack if that is the axl mounted and sturdy version. You might want to check
Azor, they are more reliable, durable and tend to be more sturdy than modern Gazelles, since they overengineer and hand build like Gazelle used to do. They're roughly in the same price range, but you can basically pick a frame and put on or leave off anything that fits, and have any colour(s) you want. They have the old fashioned style rear racks which will hold an adult Dutch male, front racks are often frame mounted and not to the axle so I guess you have to stay closer to the max load specified. They still do steel too.
But modern Gazelles like the heavy duty or miss grace aren't flimsy or unreliable, they just won't last a 100 years anymore. Nor is the 'classic', which is a typical oma in the ladies version. That's what I don't like about it, the 'classic' hasn't got the classic build quality and is therefore overpriced.