# Cycling in Amsterdam



## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

I came across a link to this web site at another cycling forum. It has all sorts of photos and commentary about cycling in Amsterdam. Very eye opening and worth a look if you want to see a culture that does not revolve around automobiles. Also interesting to see bicycles viewed primarily as transportation than tools for fitness racer wannabees.

http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/


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## davidspearritt (May 9, 2007)

Wonderful stuff. The dutch are a very civilized country. This is my favorite shot. LOL!


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## boltzmann (Sep 26, 2005)

*Reminds me of Cambridge, U.K.*

I have been traveling back and forth between Cambridge, U.K. and the U.S. lately and the pictures of utility cycling could have been taken in Cambridge. It's amazing how different the mind set is from the states.

You mentioned that most of the bikes were beaters. I found that there are two schools of thought on chain maintenance on these beaters - 1) Let it rust, 2) Let years of oil sludge build up to the point that you can't see the links. The only clean chains may be behind the full covers on the Pashley's.


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## Spongedog (Aug 6, 2005)

As a regular traveler to Amsterdam, I think that website did a great job of capturing everyday bike life in the city. My favorite is the always the Dutch mom. 1 mother, 2-3 kids, 1 cell phone, and the groceries. 1 kid standing up in the back, 1 kid in front of the handlebars, and one behind the bars. Usually a hot mom to boot!

The best way for the tourist to see Amsterdam is to just rent a bike and go. You have to get an old Dutch beater.


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## botto (Jul 22, 2005)

the guy who's site that is needs to learn the difference between bricks and cobblestones.

it would have also been a little more interesting if there were pics from other parts of the city (almost all of his were taken in the nieuwmarkt).


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## davidspearritt (May 9, 2007)

botto said:


> it would have also been a little more interesting if there were pics from other parts of the city (almost all of his were taken in the nieuwmarkt).


I dunno. He achieved great variety and color in that one location.


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## botto (Jul 22, 2005)

davidspearritt said:


> I dunno. He achieved great variety and color in that one location.


true, but i suppose my point was that he covered only a sliver of life on a bike in mokum.


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## Doggity (Mar 10, 2006)

Note how almost ALL the bikes are lugged steel, with crowned forks, and fendered. Grant Peterson would feel very vindicated, were he to peruse this website! Thanks for sharing; I'd quite forgotten the good ol' dynamo that my 10 speed had (I was 19, so never gave it a thought). Maybe when gas hits $8.00-10.00 a gallon, we'll start seeing a lot more of this here, but I'm not holding my breath. We've become a very, very stupid and entitled people, as a culture..


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## filtersweep (Feb 4, 2004)

Those "beaters" (as he calls them) are not exactly cheap. They are surprisingly expensive when new.


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## botto (Jul 22, 2005)

Doggity said:


> Note how almost ALL the bikes are lugged steel, with crowned forks, and fendered. Grant Peterson would feel very vindicated, were he to peruse this website! Thanks for sharing; I'd quite forgotten the good ol' dynamo that my 10 speed had (I was 19, so never gave it a thought). Maybe when gas hits $8.00-10.00 a gallon, we'll start seeing a lot more of this here, but I'm not holding my breath. We've become a very, very stupid and entitled people, as a culture..


i say the same thing about the dutch almost every day. :wink:


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## botto (Jul 22, 2005)

filtersweep said:


> Those "beaters" (as he calls them) are not exactly cheap. They are surprisingly expensive when new.


they're not exactly cheap when they're used either (unless you buy hem from junkies).


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## PJay (May 28, 2004)

*and not a single obese person to be seen. Hmm....*

and not a single obese person to be seen. Hmm....

seriously- peruse the photos again. How far do you have to look in San Francisco, or anywhere else in the U.S., before you see someone with a body mass index above 35? But, in these Amsterdam photos, sure, a few pot bellies, but nary a person in the 'obese' range.


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## wasfast (Feb 3, 2004)

Certainly the utility use is great there. I notice though that the terrain (what you can see of it) is dead flat and there's no rain/snow/ice to deal with. What happens in the other seasons? Regarding SF, it certainly has it's terrain and weather to deal with.


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## botto (Jul 22, 2005)

PJay said:


> and not a single obese person to be seen. Hmm....
> 
> seriously- peruse the photos again. How far do you have to look in San Francisco, or anywhere else in the U.S., before you see someone with a body mass index above 35? But, in these Amsterdam photos, sure, a few pot bellies, but nary a person in the 'obese' range.


the grass is always greener. 

trust me, there's plenty of fatties in a'dam. in fact, that make monuments to them.


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## oarsman (Nov 6, 2005)

*Bikes as transportation*

I have been to Amsterdam several times and it really is amazing. The number of bicycles parked at the Centraal Station is astonishing. There even is a multi-level parking garage which must hold better than 5000 bikes. Copenhagen is similar. In both places there is a lot of infra-structure for bikes. There are separated bike lanes everywhere. On one in Copenhagen, I saw a left turn only lane, with its own light! And the drivers...they ALWAYS look for bikes when they turn right. 

It is not surprising that the bikes are mostly big, sturdy affairs. In central Amsterdam in particular the streets are brick [not, I repeat, not, cobblestones] and criss-crossed with tram lines. And both Amsterdam and Copenhagen are dead flat. The biggest hills are bridges over canals. It also rains a lot, so galvanized steel bikes with fenders and chainguards are the order of the day.

While I don't think we will ever see the same sort of bike use in North America, I have noticed way more bikes being used as transportation where I live - Vancouver - but we have a long, long way to go.


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## botto (Jul 22, 2005)

wasfast said:


> Certainly the utility use is great there. I notice though that the terrain (what you can see of it) is dead flat and there's no rain/snow/ice to deal with. What happens in the other seasons? Regarding SF, it certainly has it's terrain and weather to deal with.


Oh, trust me on this - there's plenty, and I mean PLENTY of rain to deal with, along with tons of wind, and some ice, and even snow every now and then.


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## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

*fatties*



PJay said:


> and not a single obese person to be seen. Hmm.... seriously- peruse the photos again. How far do you have to look in San Francisco, or anywhere else in the U.S., before you see someone with a body mass index above 35? But, in these Amsterdam photos, sure, a few pot bellies, but nary a person in the 'obese' range.


I noticed the same thing traveling in Ireland recently. Although I didn't see many cyclists there, everyone walks just about everywhere. We probably walked at least 3-4 miles daily just going about our business -- shopping, eating out, going to pubs. It is difficult to drive in Ireland because of the narrow streets, lack of parking, etc., so more people just walk to get around. People walk very fast in Ireland as well. Even when I was going on walks for the expressed purpose of getting exercise, I would get passed by lots of people who seemed to be just going about their business. It was really striking how few really fat people we saw over there. Sure, you would see occasional heavy-set persons (probably tourists from the US), but most people were very trim.

In contrast to the Amsterdam photos, we didn't see a lot of cyclists in Ireland. Saw plenty of beaters (mostly mountain bikes) in bike racks, but not a lot of people actually riding. The roads in general didn't seem very safe for cycling in my view. Again, the streets are just too narrow and winding with no shoulders.


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## botto (Jul 22, 2005)

oarsman said:


> I have been to Amsterdam several times and it really is amazing. The number of bicycles parked at the Centraal Station is astonishing. There even is a multi-level parking garage which must hold better than 5000 bikes. Copenhagen is similar. In both places there is a lot of infra-structure for bikes. There are separated bike lanes everywhere. On one in Copenhagen, I saw a left turn only lane, with its own light! And the drivers...they ALWAYS look for bikes when they turn right.
> 
> It is not surprising that the bikes are mostly big, sturdy affairs. In central Amsterdam in particular the streets are cobbled and criss-crossed with tram lines. And both Amsterdam and Copenhagen are dead flat. The biggest hills are bridges over canals. It also rains a lot, so galvanized steel bikes with fenders and chainguards are the order of the day.
> 
> While I don't think we will ever see the same sort of bike use in North America, I have noticed way more bikes being used as transportation where I live - Vancouver - but we have a long, long way to go.


at risk of sounding repetitive - difference between bricks and cobblestones. the streets in amsterdam are primarily made from brick. 

the only cobbled area that i can think of, off the top of my head, is Dam Plein.


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

botto said:


> at risk of sounding repetitive - difference between bricks and cobblestones. the streets in amsterdam are primarily made from brick.
> 
> the only cobbled area that i can think of, off the top of my head, is Dam Plein.


And on the Dam they're not even proper cobbles...


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

botto said:


> i say the same thing about the dutch almost every day. :wink:


Say it louder, dammit!


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

botto said:


> the grass is always greener.
> 
> trust me, there's plenty of fatties in a'dam. in fact, that make monuments to them.


Yeah, but he breakfasted with a can of Heineken and had to use the rijmwoordenboek to write his crappy lyrics. Pillar of the community and an example for the kids he was. Well, at least they're trying to outdrink even him nowadays..


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

PJay said:


> and not a single obese person to be seen. Hmm....
> 
> seriously- peruse the photos again. How far do you have to look in San Francisco, or anywhere else in the U.S., before you see someone with a body mass index above 35? But, in these Amsterdam photos, sure, a few pot bellies, but nary a person in the 'obese' range.


We're lagging, but we're catching up. :mad2: Fifteen years ago obesitas in children was practically unheard of, now one in seven kids is overweight and the figure is rising _fast_. The generation growing up now has a shorter life expectancy than their parents. We are doing things wrong here in Holland.


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## Doug8002 (Aug 14, 2006)

PJay said:


> and not a single obese person to be seen. Hmm....


The bicycling _probably_ isn't the cause of that. 

There used to be a page up on bicyclinglife.com that talked about bike paths; it went into the Denmark use patterns of cyclists and had studies that showed that the average daily mileage and trip distances was really rather small, about two miles a day. Trips over 4.5 miles one-way were fairly rare. Casually pedaling a bicycle for <10 miles a day isn't going to burn all _that_ many calories. 

Additionally--the US isn't hardly the only country in the world with a lot of overfed people. 
Here's a fun experiment--go to Google, and put "obesity crisis", and also put the name of *any* Western country you can think of. 
~


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## oarsman (Nov 6, 2005)

*Alright then, "brick", not cobblestones*

But, still a surface better suited to big tires.


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## PJay (May 28, 2004)

*steady physical activity versus couch potato:*

"The bicycling probably isn't the cause of that. 

There used to be a page up on bicyclinglife.com that talked about bike paths; it went into the Denmark use patterns of cyclists and had studies that showed that the average daily mileage and trip distances was really rather small, about two miles a day. Trips over 4.5 miles one-way were fairly rare. Casually pedaling a bicycle for <10 miles a day isn't going to burn all that many calories. 

Additionally--the US isn't hardly the only country in the world with a lot of overfed people. 
Here's a fun experiment--go to Google, and put "obesity crisis", and also put the name of any Western country you can think of. "

--Cycling is just one aspect of an active, physical life in a lot of parts of Europe, and of very few places in the U.S. I am probably the only adult in my neighborhood that rides my bike to pick up a couple things at the grocery store, to run to the ATM machine, etc.

the story in the media of why the French are not fat is that they walk so much. Also, many cultures physically prepare meals, versus drive-thru or microwave. In my home, we are increasingly preparing meals from scratch - mainly because my wife is cooking more - she used to joke and complain about how many dishes I generated in the kitchen, but now she is figuring out that it is because I am often chopping vegetables, making my own salad dressing, mixing my own spices, etc. Some of my neighbors cut their own lawn and wash their own cars, while some pay for the service.

It is just a more physically active way of life that is different for these cyclists, riding only a few miles per day. Sure, the statue guy has a paunch. But, he might be in the "overweight" range, not the "obese" range, and statistically, being "overweight" does not put you at increased likelihood of early death. A physically active person who is "overweight" is often not in bad health now or in the future. That probably includes a lot of RBR readers.


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## brock (Sep 8, 2005)

Love those Bakfiets... You can get them in Portland now! Expensive tho...


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## botto (Jul 22, 2005)

brock said:


> Love those Bakfiets... You can get them in Portland now! Expensive tho...


expensive here as well.









Shot at 2006-10-20


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## rogger (Aug 19, 2005)

botto said:


> expensive here as well.


At the current exchange rate they're about $1900 here in Holland. If you use it for hauling your kids and shopping around the city the money saved on parking fees makes for a fair return on investment. And it's a great way of avoiding situations as described in "Klem" by De Raggende Manne. :wink:


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