Meet Daniela. Daniela is Italian, but really a global citizen, having worked in different cities around Europe. Recently she moved from London to Amsterdam and one important piece missing in her daily routines was a bicycle. She’d done without one in London (“Cycling there is crazy.”), so she couldn’t wait getting her hands on one in Amsterdam, she felt imcomplete. What else is new, right? :)

I promised I’d help her find a good, reasonably priced second-hand one, so I did. We set out to find a sturdy, reliable and elegant Omafiets.

Of course there are many, many shops to choose from, you’d have a field day going by them all. In our case, she was referred to a particular one in her neighborhood and I knew of another one not far from there.

The conceptual power of a chain lock

The first shop was entirely sold out, no more Omafietsen, except for one light purple Batavus, less than 2 years old. It looked solid, the ride was nice, but Daniela wasn’t swept off her feet. Worth the price, sure, but this called for more bicycle shop browsing.

Dr. Beyk [pronounce: Bike] on Overtoom was next. 2nd hand and new bikes, all low-end pricing. Generic stuff, Azors, but basically packed with the type of bike that would suit her needs.

Daniela was instantly drawn by a black Omafiets that was parked out front, among two dozens more. Old, but all the parts that are to be expected to be on there, were there. Just the front and rear light were new and battery-powered. She wanted to have it, this gracious piece of pedalmotive brilliance. She walked into the shop to quickly glance at other ones, but she wasn’t fooling me, she’d already made up her mind.

Two minutes later she talked price with the owner, I made sure that he’d tighten the spokes and she got the right chain lock to accompany the standard issue wheel lock. That in itself already had Daniela jumping for joy.

10 minutes later the bicycle was all ready to go, released to the care (with 3 months warranty and maintenance) of her new owner, who by that time couldn’t help but shriek and clap her hands in excitement..;).

We quickly rode off into Vondelpark for Camilla’s maiden voyage…the rest is now part of Amsterdamize Bicycle TV history.

Camilla from Amsterdamize on Vimeo.