We recently bought an "e-bakfiets" and have been getting good use out of it. With fall weather it came time to assemble the Clarijs canopy we bought as an add-on. Clarijs is another Dutch company that makes various bike products. I decided to document the process since it's a bit involved in the current instructions leave something to be desired. I got some help from this article by Bicycle Belle out of Boston. And Urkai staff also provided some much needed instructions, especially since Clarijs recently changed the canopy to use a rigid centre pole but didn't update the instructions.

It's a bit intimidating to install since it involves making holes in the brand new box. You'll want to make sure you've marked where you're going to drill or screw and drape the canopy over so you can see if it'll fit. I found that if I could start over fresh I would have moved some of the holes I made but they do the job.

Urkai also sent along another pre-drilled block since they found the Clarijs bracket alone didn't hold the pole in place very well.

The centre pole slips into the pockets through the middle and at the ends. I found the pole is too big to go in entirely but it is pretty secure.

Next is sliding in the fibre rail perpendicular to the pole. The fibre rail was delivered with a warning that it can unwind with a lot of force so be careful that you don't whip anything or anyone. Once the fibre rail is installed then you push the cut pieces of hose over the end. This will provide a base that will rest on the inside of the box.

Next is screwing in the square blocks. This requires measuring and doing it twice to make sure you've done it right. I should have put them higher since Urkai's instructions suggest keeping the bracket at 15mm from the box edge but I put the top of the blocks 15mm from the box edge. Not a huge deal.

You can pre-drill the holes in the box with a tiny drill bit to help start the screw. Make sure the drill does not go all the way through. The screws only go in a tiny bit. The final product should look sort of like this:

The hard bracket jutting out isn't optimum, but at least a kid wouldn't normally have their head on that side. You can rub off your measuring marks with a bit of soap. Next, rest the canopy pole on the bracket and start to drape the canopy over the front.

Then put the fibre rail on the inside resting on the bench:

Now we're ready to decide where to put the snaps on the front. Pull the canopy between the box and the front post of the bike. Pull it down so the canopy corners are neatly over the corners of the box. Use a marker to put a mark for the screw. Then screw in the snaps.

Likewise on the back put the rubber bands through the grommets and pull the flaps down so you can approximate where the rubber bands will be somewhat tight enough to keep the flaps in place. In retrospect I should have put mine more vertical and further down since the canopy redesign means there's now a velcro tab where there wasn't before. So the old instructions from Clarijs are misleading here too.

Luckily, the canopy is a bit forgiving and the end product looked okay. You can roll up the back window and even roll up the side windows too to let some air in. It looked pretty comfortable in there. The toddler and I had a snack in the rain where I ducked my head in. Too bad no one has invented a full bike cover for the rain, which would clearly be a big pain in the ass; answering my own question on why no one has done this yet.

If you don't like the feeling of being a sail you might want to close this back flap in a strong tail wind. I learned first hand that a tail wind can really push the bike along, but unpredictably. Not enough room on the street to navigate like a proper boat.