The Netherlands has a lot of bicycles, and as a result also a lot of cycle theft. However, most theft is in the bigger cities. Assen is a very safe place to park your bicycle. The insurance companies know about this stuff, and cycle insurance costs half as much here as in Amsterdam.
Here, you’ll find [...]
Another view of cycle parking
Racks Are For Parking
In August I already posted something about this, but I was merely touching on the subject, really.
It’s all true, there are more bikes than people in Amsterdam. The same goes for the whole country. When so many people use their bikes on a daily basis, there’s a great need for facilities. One of which [...]
Amsterdam Through Strangers’ Eyes, Part 4
Glenn Billingham, a UK expatriate living in Amsterdam, eloquently and entertainingly writes:
Powered By Our Own Shapely Thighs
The morning gathering took place again.
A Dutch rush-hour is a little different to the other global scenes of 9am and 5pm chaos. New Yorkers hustle and bustle accompanied by a take-out coffee amidst a sea of yellow cabs. City [...]
Bring Your Umbrella…Or Not
Today, the ‘Research Trailer Park’ blog posted an article from ‘The State’ newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina:
Bicycle Friendly press conference canceled
A press conference to talk about the city of Columbia’s new designation as a Bicycle Friendly Community has been canceled because of forecasted bad weather this afternoon.
The press conference has been rescheduled for 3 p.m. [...]
Put Your Hat On
Days and nights are getting crispy, leafs are falling and people one bikes in Amsterdam are transforming similarly.
This afternoon I took advantage of a nice enough day and sat down for lunch outside on the curb of Runstraat, smack in the middle of the famous Nine Little Streets. Slowly digesting my Club Chicken sandwich [...]
100% Friendly
One way to ‘measure’ a city or country’s bicycle-friendliness is to observe children on bicycles in their natural habitat…which is everywhere. Around the block, going to school, playgrounds and most importantly the roads they share with everybody else to get to their destination. Or at least, it should be everywhere. Is it safe, or is [...]
Bike Love
“The Dutch can do everything on a bicycle”
What else?
Move furniture, kids, plants, dogs, instruments, shopping bags, tv’s, refrigerators, other bikes, police the streets, sell hot dogs, coffee, supply information, deliver parcels, go to work, go to school, visit family…without so much as breaking a sweat.
Final Touches
This is the last post about Mr Freight, for now. You’ll just have to forgive me my childish enthusiasm for my new sturdy steed.
First I had to go to Workcycles shop in the east of town to have the rear rack removed and the smaller front rack put in place, then back downtown to the [...]
Beautiful Fall
Today I took Mr Freight for a spin, running errands. Well, not that many. Coffee and groceries.
It looked gloomy outside, dark clouds, wind, but I figured (as always): it comes and it goes, who cares. So I got on…leaving my umbrella at home. I needed that hand for something more important.
Mr Freight makes even more [...]
Courier This
Amsterdam is a very dense city, you know that by now. Narrow streets, lots and different modes of traffic and its configuration is a delicate mix of urban and commercial life, with quite a large chunk of leisure purposes.
A highly developed network of public transportation in the form of trams and buses is therefor a [...]
Dutch Cycling Expert Rolls Into Burlington
More good news, this time from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada:
Rob Faulkner
The Hamilton Spectator
BURLINGTON (Oct 16, 2008)
In the shadow of Burlington City Hall, the tall, lanky Dutchman Wim Mulder looks down at the bike helmet as if he doesn’t often wear one or hasn’t even seen one before.
Yet, the traffic engineer visiting from Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, is [...]
Snippet
When you are like me, sitting on the couch all day…in other words, The Office, you frequently remind yourself it’s always healthy to find an excuse to go outside. In my particular case, that scenario always involves hopping on my bike.
I figured I could run an errand. Step one is making one up. Step two [...]
Multi-Task
Like thousands and thousand of others on the streets/bike lanes of Amsterdam, she talked on her cell phone from start to finish, in between stopping at intersections.
You know, those moments when you can really concentrate on important stuff.
Bridging The Gaps
We all (at least you and I) like to see more people moving around on bicycles. All around the world the best invention on wheels of the century is experiencing an unprecedented come-back. ‘Normal cycling’ is gaining lots of traction, Northern-European bike manufacturers can hardly handle demand from overseas, local dealers are struggling to keep [...]
Seize The Bridge
Blabla, the Dutch have it easy, blabla, the country is flat, blabla, no hurricanes, blabla, small place, blabla, bike lanes, blabla, more bikes than people, blabla, bikes rule the road, blabla, etc.
Not entirely true. We, the Dutch, normal people in normal clothes on normal bikes, we have to endure some rough elements during our daily [...]
Jammin’ On My Opafiets
You remember/heard of Les & Helen from Ottawa, Canada, right? No? Ok, a short recap of what I posted before is in order then.
Les & Helen decided on spending their 2 weeks vacation cycling the Netherlands. In good spirits, and inspired by yours truly, they opted to leave their helmets, gear and mountain bikes at [...]
Somebody Flipped A Switch
Remember all those nice, sunny pictures of normal people in normal clothes on normal bikes on this website? Especially those from last weekend? Yeah? Keep ‘m close, for reference, ’cause it will be long before you’ll see those again. Well…the sunny part, that is.
Today the fall finally got to wash away any hopes for [...]
Saturday Transit
You can imagine all the things you need to do, or want to do on a Saturday. No need to spell that out. Translate all of that to a place called Amsterdam and you know you’re in for a treat. Well, if you’re into bicycles, that is.
View Larger Map
I literally sat my ass down, curb [...]
Cyclemania’s Dutch Cycle Zen Ends [Update]
All good things come to an end, even Cyclemania’s cycling vacation in the Netherlands. We just had a last drink/toast at Cafe ‘t Smalle, after enjoying a beautiful day, zigzagging our way to Workcycles to have their Dutch bikes boxed up for the flight back to Ottawa.
See a few of today’s highlights in the slideshow:
It [...]
Take It From Doc
Amsterdamize reader/faithful Alan ventured into the realm of medicine & cycling and found this Guardian article by Jonathan Sale, called ‘Two Wheels‘, dealing with his physical misgivings on a bicycle. In short: it will enlighten you about the best and most healthy posture for cycling. Some excerpts:
Two Wheels
“If God wanted us to ride bicycles, babies [...]
Car(e)-Free Sunday
I know, I know, posting about Car-Free Sunday in Amsterdam has now officially gone past trilogy status. But hey, by now you know what to expect from me and there was just too much footage to ignore and not share with you.
So without further ado, here are my visualizations of all my impressions that day. [...]
Whike’d [Update]
Whike is a new company that introduces the Whike 1.0, a tricycle recumbent bike with a 1.6m2 sail. This recumbent bike can take advantage of the wind to propel itself, while still allowing cycling (if there’s no wind).
It’s a new concept combining 2 sports (cycling and sailing). Besides being a very green way of transport, [...]
Autumn Cycle
Today gave me another opportunity to take some photos. My second journey across town took me to that enormous new office building to the east of the city, called INIT, to meet with a client. It was around 11:30, not too much traffic, so even easier than usual to whip out my phone camera along [...]
Status Quo For How Much Longer? [Update]
In the Netherlands the car remains by far the most popular means of transportation to go to work. Last year, three out of the five trips were by car.
This share has been constant for many years. This is evident from statistics published by the Central Bureau of Statistics today.
Cycling to work over short distances remains [...]
Where The Hell Is My Bike!@#!
I’ve mentioned a few times that bicycle theft is quite a problem in the Netherlands, certainly in Amsterdam. The Dutch c.q. Amsterdammers (young and old) have grown accustomed to this pesky ‘little’ problem that has steadily planted itself in the Dutch cyclists’ conscience & social fabric over the last, say, 50 years:
Using beater bikes for [...]
Sandwich Bike By Bleijh
As found on Treehugger:
The Sandwich Bike, designed by Pieter Janssen and Basten Leijh of Bleijh Concepts and Designs of Amsterdam, was such a hit at the Salone de Mobile in Milan that someone broke in and stole the prototype.
From the designers: The design
“Inspired by the concept of flat packing and home assembly made popular by [...]
Cyclemania & Amsterdamize [Video Update]
The pouring rain this morning sure got us fooled. By ‘us’ I mean, Helen & Les (read about how they experienced the first day of cycling) and I. Not that a little bit of rain could really spoil anything, but it wasn’t looking very promising. Besides that, I felt like waking up from a coma [...]
The Village
After dropping Les & Helen off at their hotel in the Jordaan neighborhood, I pedaled over to my friend Mark’s house to catch up on the latest and ‘watch him eat and fix his toilet’ (sounds like an insider’s joke, but it’s actually true).
His house is basically one big social hub, many people walking in [...]
Why Not In America?
A lack of infrastructure — not sprawl — hinders the adoption of bicycles.
by Adam Stein
The recent surge in gas prices and growing concern over carbon emissions have goosed efforts to increase bicycle ridership in metropolitan areas, but the U.S. still lags far behind Europe and Asia. A recent survey of worldwide trends in the Washington [...]
More Dutch Fuel
High Petrol Prices See Bikes Gain Ground In The Netherlands
THE HAGUE (AFP)
The Dutch rely ever more on the humble bike for transport as pollution concerns and high petrol prices give new impetus to traditional pedal power in the only country with more bicycles than people.
The average Dutchman cycled 902 kilometres in 2006, up 16 kilometres [...]
