It’s clearly red. Yet so many bicycle campaigns try to convince me otherwise it’s disturbing.

What it really is, is the best way to get from A to B. It is so for many reasons, not least because Amsterdam has made a big effort in making it convenient. Using a bike for getting around also happens to be green, economical, chic, fun, healthy, practical… you name it. Yet, as Marco quite brilliantly says over at Münchenierung, it can never be only marketing.

Take for instance the bicycle parking at train station in Amsterdam Zuid (WTC). You go, get a ticket, lock your bike, and off you go. Your bike will be there when you get back, safe and dry. It’s even free for the first 24 hours! After that it’s only 50 cents a day, so I tend to leave my bike there when I go to the airport.

You will have a hard time convincing people to ride a bike because it’s green -or economical, or chic, or fun or healthy, if they don’t find it convenient and safe. At the end of the day, most people will simply do what it’s easier for them to do. Nothing wrong with that, life’s hard enough as it is.

Amsterdam loves it’s bikes, no matter what colour they are.

I enjoy the little details and extraordinary ordinary elements of life. Such as watching Lauren leave the house to go out on the town. By bike, of course.

Bag in basket, undo the chain lock, take out the bag & put the lock in the basket.

Put the bag right back in the basket.

Conveniently just walk the 50 meters to the bridge.

And off she goes.

She will also tell you it’s much easier to cycle than to walk in those heels. ;)

Recently the Dutch government went down over the Afghanistan military mission, in a way only a Dutch cabinet can. Fingers were pointed, responsibilities were shunned, opportunism mixed up with historical revisionism, ‘lessons were learned’, the dust seemed to settle a bit, but stirred up again in light of the upcoming municipal elections and…not long after some back room tap dancing it has become crystal clear that the status quo will be restored between now and the new general elections in June.

However, there was one little, and dare I say it, revolutionary storm whirling around the Dutch Parliament building in The Hague…shaking things up, knocking a different kind of status quo….of course, I’m just kidding! We’re still talking about the Netherlands! Jeeeezzz…

Then again, it was a national news item (video):

Minister Donner (Social Affairs & Labor) was handed a new 3-speed bicycle as a gift last week. Now, don’t think that would instantly replace his trusty black old (some would say ‘vintage’), mint condition one-speed Gazelle bicycle. Like many of his colleagues and his predecessors he rides to work every day, and he doesn’t stop when he has to consult with the Queen at her palace.

“This is my first bike with gears. These days, with so much work to do, they will come in handy.” Acting-minister Piet Hein Donner happily accepted his new bike. “A new bicycle, a new beginning”, he stated optimistically.

The two-wheeler is a gift from the Employee Organization VNO-NCW. Chairman Bert van de Haar handed the bicycle to ‘the role model of Dutch cycling’. Donner always cycles to work from his home in Statenkwartier [neighborhood in The Hague]. The Christian Democrat does so on a very reliable model, the type of bicycle that people once called ‘the steel stallion’. “I keep it for my commute. It’s so old that it won’t get stolen’, the minister says.

He’d like to use his new bicycle (“Blimey, lights without dynamo”) for his rides between the House of Parliament and his ministry. He can’t keep the bicycle. “It probably costs more than €50. I will have to put it in the locker with all the other gifts for officials….or use it as an official departmental bicycle.” [which is most likely, as each department has a bike garage full of them]

There are 18 million bicycles in the Netherlands, says Donner’s colleague Joop Atsma. “In 2006 765.000 bicycles were stolen. It looks like that number has been going down by 100.000 each year. The next government needs to bring that number below 500.000. All new bicycles need to be registered and have chips installed. Police and parking facilitators need to be equipped with readers to track down stolen bicycles.”

So there you have it.

Often enough our leaders piss us off, disappoint us and we wish they’d just go away. But touch on a subject like this and for a brief moment they suddenly makes sense again.

Staying ahead of a serious snow storm, Lauren arrived in Amsterdam one day early to spend a short week with me…in a city that had just welcomed a new white coating.

Leading up to this, she was very excited about the prospect of riding her new bicycle around. Not the omafiets I had bought her around the holidays, but a different one, the very special Workcycles Secret Service I had won in the BicycleMania photo contest. All that was left for her to do, was hop on the back of my bike and ride with me to the place where the small prize ceremony would unfold.

We were welcomed by Eduard Planting of ‘Fine Art Photographs‘, Bert van Essen of The Expat Journal, the publisher of BicycleMania and Henry Cutler of Workcycles, who sponsored the first prize.

I can safely say this bicycle found its rightful owner.

Meeting up with Daniela and her Camilla

This stylish and dependent new friend will be waiting for Lauren when she returns in May, this time to stay.

You could say I know a thing or two about that. But this post is not about me. What I want you to see is something Lauren sent me a while back. She loves fashion and since some time now she also appreciates chic on two wheels, or better, just the act of moving on two wheels.

The lead story: Catharine Baba. A stylist from Paris. Apparently so famous the fashion blog Jak & Jil ’stalked’ her and caught her on camera. Nothing new under the sun in that regard.

But here’s the twist:

Baba loading up

Baba speeding up

Baba casually riding to her next destination

Yup, Baba rides a (late 70’s/early 80’s) Dutch Sparta bicycle. In highest of heels and haut couture frog. With panniers. To Dutch eyes this is all too familiar and I feel confident assuming she’s visited Amsterdam many, many times.

The final judgement on Cycle Chic. Anyone can.

PS: you should really, really read all the comments of that post, it’s a good giggle.

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.

My good friend Jan-Eric browsed bikes for months on end, trying to find a proper bike for him and his 2 year old son. New, second-hand (if you include 1930’s Gazelle transport bikes) and he was recently handed-down a 35-year-old Gazelle gents bike by a friend to tie him over.

This weekend he visited me for my house warming party and as he rode with me on the back of my bike on Friday afternoon, we figured we might as well get him a good rental bike. So we oozed over to Workcycles.

The rental part quickly faded when he entered the shop. He talked to mechanic Tom about his needs:

• a proper bike that will last forever
• room for his son, aka his Bo-Bike seat needed to fit
• sufficient gearing for the steep hill up to his house (in Arnhem)

His eyes zoned in on one that matched all the criteria…a black Fr8, the cross-frame model with white fat tires. Yeah, one of Mr Freight’s brothers.

They talked details a bit and Jan-Eric went for a test ride. Fast forward 5 minutes. “Wow…”, “Smooth…”, “Beautiful…”. “Ok, how much is it?”, “…oh, really.” “You can deduct it from your business account through the national Fietsenplan.”. Fast forward another 5 minutes: “Tom, how quickly can you get it ready for me?” “One hour.” “Ok, please do, I’ll take it.”

Obviously, Jan-Eric had fallen in love with it. It was sort of at ’second sight’, as he was very familiar with my bike, but I’m sure this black steed appeared all new to him.

We watched as Tom made the adjustments Jan-Eric wanted. Handlebars like mine (wider, more comfortable), coat guards to ensure that his son won’t hurt himself when he takes his feet out of the fitted foot rests), test-fitting a Bo-Bike seat, attaching a steel cable to secure his Brooks saddle, and last but not least, ‘No Fr8 without a crate‘.

All done, we rode off, two FR8’s side by side, as it seems it was meant to be. One owner totally amused, another completely smitten.

Double Fr8 Parking

His maiden ride that evening was quite interesting, as it couldn’t be more Amsterdamish; one big string of downpours would follow us through the night when we went bar/club-hopping.

“At least we’ve got the water baptism over and done with”.

Parking them in the bike garage next to club Paradiso prompted another shot…but the moment that really iced the cake was when we exited the supermarket the next day. Tens of kilos worth of food but mostly beverages needed to be hauled back home. Perfect job for the Freight Brothers. No sweat, either.

Stay tuned for the video of Jan-Eric leaving the shop and venturing into town on his first real ride.

[Update] Meanwhile, check out this visual of Jan-Eric’s son, checking out the Fr8. You can hear him think “Now this is the perfect ring side seat for me…”. :)

I could not wait to share this with you….my absolute favorite blog out there combining beautiful style and the street with a witty and cheeky spin on it all and guess what the latest post was all about…well yes you guessed it…enjoy!

What follows is one of the cutest things I’ve read from anyone having visited Amsterdam, aka a good case of ‘Amsterdam Through Strangers’ Eyes’, by Garance Doré.

So, obviously, the photo above here isn’t me, nor is it my bike. But just to show you the coolitude of biking in Amsterdam, you needed to see at least one real Dutch girl on a real Dutch bike.

Aha. It’s still not fair.

Ramona was my guardian angel during these few wonderful days in Amsterdam. She was the one who glued me to my bike for the first half hour. She was also the one that taught me these :

- You have to give a name to your bike. It’s essential and that’s just how it is. When I asked what Ramona had named hers, she couldn’t tell me. But I really wanted to believe this whole name thing… like really… Check out this photo below and you’ll see, see what I’m saying?

There he was, lost in a sea of others. When I saw him, I knew he was mine. My bike, my ally, my companion. I couldn’t not give him a name.

Chuck Bass. Yep. What better name could define the mix of purebred elegance and risqué style? Because I’m telling you, with Chuck Bass, I promise you that no matter where you go, you’ll never go unnoticed. Aaaah, yep, it’s gotta be the stretch limo.

Yours truly looking ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS with my little red and white sign that said, “Hey there, I’m a tourist. So whenever you feel like cutting me off and being all pissy and irritated, go right ahead my dear ladies and gentlemen of Amsterdam.”

Translation : Tim Sullivan

All true. Hands down.

Update: I went to a club downtown not so long ago and actually saw the girl from the top photo. I approached her and said I recognized her from this photo. She was quite stunned.