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Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

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Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#321

Post by Cthulhu_ »

bamboozled wrote: post #190
rollingpebbles wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There should be vinyl wrap for bikes that provides a paintable, duct-tapeable substrain for camo tape and radioactive fuchsia and orange also camo ejaculation. Flat (no shine) paint makes a bike even less attractive. PS: I had a old/ugly bike that I had for 16 years in Davis, CA that I still locked and it was stolen from an apt complex the one and only time I forgot to lock it. There are thieves whom ride around in c…

The idea for Amsterdam is to make the bike look unique, not always unnatractive, the more homogenous looking and mechanically sound, the more attractive to thieves. Amsterdam is a smalll place so having a fluro green bike with a number plate of your name welded to the frame is a good deterrent.

There's a specific brand of bikes that does just that (welding plates with an ID to it) from production, like https://www.fietsenwinkel.nl/bsp-bold-2016-heren-sale and https://www.fietsenwinkel.nl/batavus-quip-heren

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#322

Post by Cthulhu_ »

agumonkey wrote: post #229
dtech wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a fellow dutchman, duct-tape the shit out of everything on your new bike. If you're really brave even partially paint it in a hideous color (purple or something). You'll still have a bad looking bike, but at least it will be mechanically much nicer than your fifth-hand rusting omafiets. Since I started doing that I never had a bike stolen in 15 years, despite living in Rotterdam and Utrecht (big cities) and buying…

I used to believe my ugly old cheap bike would never be stolen. I was wrong.

There's the other part of theft; if someone got their bike stolen or lost, some people just steal another.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#323

Post by Cthulhu_ »

honestoHeminway wrote: post #297
mercer wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had three bikes stolen in about three months time. Each time, I used what was considered a high-end lock. I was usually more bummed out at losing the lock because they cost me more than the bike. The best strategy, I find, is to avoid leaving the bike in theft 'hot spots', especially in the weekend. If that can't be avoided, make sure to put the bike behind another bike, preferable a fancy one or one with a shit…

Create bike Safezones, by adding a small plasti foil bag with fish-oil beneath the saddle, which rips if not removed at ride-start. Even bike-thiefs do not want to stink.

Reminds me of that 'prank' video where they left a bike on a steel cable, which the thieves found out the hard way (e.g. after leaving). Oh and another one where they put a tazer in the saddle.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#324

Post by Cthulhu_ »

collyw wrote: post #180
gozur88 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My sister locked her bike to a pole through the frame in San Diego. When she came back literally every other part was gone, and the frame remained locked to the pole. They even took the cranks, the forks, and the brake cables. Who steals brake cables?

I had the quick release clamp stolen on mine (after taking the seat off). Twice in one week, because i happened to have a spare. And the window wipers from my car one time.

I saw a bike chained to something once, little foldable bike, with the saddle missing. It dawned on me later that the owner probably took it with him, to make it less attractive to be stolen.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#325

Post by Cthulhu_ »

misja111 wrote: post #308
TeeWEE wrote: post #293

Its a combination of reasons: - Netherlands is compact (10km from town to town, bikable) - Netherlands is flat - Cities are old, and are not easy to navigate with cars - Cars are expensive - Infrastructure is in place (everywhere!) - Bikes are cheap - Biking is healthy - Biking is often faster in cities for Note: If you want bikelanes in your city/country: Just start biking, the more and more people are biking, the m…

The climate is pretty convenient as well. No snow storms or heat waves, you only need a good rain suit :)

There's a heat wave happening right now though, 30 degrees+ (celsius) and damp, really not pleasant weather to go cycling.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#326

Post by teekert »

dtech wrote: post #73
avar wrote: post #47

> If anything, having a tatty, battered old > bike affords more status as it attests to > a long and lasting love. As an Amsterdam resident: What a romantic characterization of our high crime rates! Yes, the reason I still ride a shitty old beater of a bike is definitely my long lasting love for that piece of shit, it's not because I know that if I buy anything fancy I'm going to have to never take my eyes off of it,…

As a fellow dutchman, duct-tape the shit out of everything on your new bike. If you're really brave even partially paint it in a hideous color (purple or something). You'll still have a bad looking bike, but at least it will be mechanically much nicer than your fifth-hand rusting omafiets. Since I started doing that I never had a bike stolen in 15 years, despite living in Rotterdam and Utrecht (big cities) and buying…

I think it still is most important to make sure you can't carry the locked bike away. It's mostly tool-less homeless people roaming the streets at night looking for an opportunity imo. Only bikes I got stole were not locked to a pole because I forgot or assumed I would be back in a minute and wasn't.

I agree about the shitty-ness, it is less likely to attract attention and you feel less bad leaving it out on the streets but I think most people would prefer to ride a nicer bike if only people with keep their hands off your property.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#327

Post by teekert »

I recently bought an electric "bakfiets" [0], While in the city I never use the car anymore, the bakfiets is faster (24 kph + bike routes are always shorter in the city), can carry all groceries and 2 kids (1 in a Maxi Cosi) and I'm outside getting some exercise. It gets about 100 km on 1 charge (the less lazy you are the more km you get) and I can park it anywhere for free. It also lets me bike with my 4 y/o anywhere, when he gets tired he and his bike go into the bakfiets easily. These things are getting insanely popular nowadays, for good reasons. Now if only I would pay car taxes based on my mileage (kilometerage) instead of the weight of the car it would be a nice financial solution as well.

[0] https://www.keilerfietsen.nl/product/keiler-bambini/

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#328

Post by dmichulke »

scardine wrote: post #62
jmcphers wrote: post #8

One thing the article doesn't mention is how long the bicycle trips are. Surely the relative compactness of their cities are a major contributing factor! I live in America and commute on my bicycle almost every day. For me the biggest obstacle isn't the hills (which there are plenty of) or even sharing the road with cars (which is admittedly extremely unpleasant) but the fact that in the quasi-suburban area in which…

I live in Brazil and commute by bicycle daily, 10.5 km each way (6.5 miles, mostly cycleways). Not without problems however: the air polution in Sao Paulo recommends against physical activities, the cycleways are of very questionable quality and the Pinheiros river stinks as hell. I can spot some capybaras (they are like giant guinea pigs) in the morning, have to dodge their excrement in the cycleway (they shit like…

Kudos, you are a brave man.

From what I know from Florianopolis, moving on less than four wheels (including walking) is just plain dangerous unless you have a physically separated lane. I know several people who got injured and I see many white bikes attached to posts on the road as a sign of "someone on a bike lost his life here".

Of course, the physically separate lane still has many wholes and occasionally a 30cm high "cliff" at its two ends but it shouldn't get you killed.

Florianopolis is made for cars and it feels like all attempts at allowing for bikes are half-assed at best.

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#329

Post by legulere »

avar wrote: post #47

> If anything, having a tatty, battered old > bike affords more status as it attests to > a long and lasting love. As an Amsterdam resident: What a romantic characterization of our high crime rates! Yes, the reason I still ride a shitty old beater of a bike is definitely my long lasting love for that piece of shit, it's not because I know that if I buy anything fancy I'm going to have to never take my eyes off of it,…

It would be so awesome to have a central EU-wide bike number system, like Denmark has nationally: https://secondhandbikes.dk/en/how-to-check-if-the-bicycle-yo...

Re: Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

#330

Post by tinus_hn »

ramy_d wrote: post #156
Nanite wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not competition with unguarded/unlocked bikes. In order to minimize chance of theft you're competing for least desirability and most effort to steal. Most if not all Dutch bikes are by default fitted with an O-lock, which is a good first line of defense, combined with attaching your bike to a railing/bikestand/tree with a decent hardened steel chain lock.

I heard 2 horrible things about O-locks. 1 - Every bike has them in europe, 2 - you can open them by jamming a flathead screw driver through the keyhole and twisting. Any truth to that?

The old models you can just bend open, the material is very weak (just keeps out honest people).

It's not hard to break a modern lock but it requires more than a screwdriver.

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