Bicycle = Fiets

We got bikes finally.  Here are the quick stats http://www.ibike.org/library/statistics-data.htm

16 million people in the Netherlands and 20 million bikes!  A million new bikes are bought and 800,000 bikes are stolen every year!  Excluding people that are too young, too old, too incapable, or too lazy, that’s nearly 2 bikes per person.  I hear many people have a nice bike for Sunday rides or to commute to work.  They also have a second bike that’s a P.O.S. to run errands and ride drunkenly between bars. 

One of our friends that’s lived here all his life (~30 years old) has said he’s on his 33^rd bike!  He said he gets one stolen once every 9 months on average.  These stats convinced us to buy clunkers on the Netherland version of craigslist, http://www.marktplaats.nl/.  

The bikes we got seemed good during the test ride.  As the days went by, we found out otherwise.  One bike has been working out great except that the front tire goes flat daily.  Pump it up once in the morning and it’s good for the day.  Not too much of a problem considering how cheap we got it. 

I had to bring the bike home somehow!  This was a lot harder than it looked.

The other bike is a road bike, 21 speeds, adult size, probably about 10-15 years old.   This is the interesting one.  I’ve never owned anything with more problems.  I didn’t realize how bad it was until I let a friend borrow it.  I had to give him a list of warnings:  Don’t change the front gears.   Don't be surprised if the gears change by themselves, it does that.  Take it easy when changing the rear gears.  Don’t torque the pedals too much, especially up hills, the chain skips or may come off.  Give yourself plenty of braking distance, the brakes are poor, especially when wet, which is all the time.  If the chain pops off the sprockets, it’s pretty easy to put back on.  I almost felt compelled to call him to make sure he got to his destination safely and without incident! 

How to carry a passenger (Wim) by Allen Grabo.  

Twice while Hanson was riding, the back wheel came off.  I can’t even count how many times the chain has popped off.  Another new phenomenon started one week into ownership, sometimes when I’m pedaling, the rear sprocket gets disconnected from the rear wheel and it does not go anywhere.  Shifting gears fixes it, for whatever reason.  The other day the kick stand just broke off the bike. 

The straw that broke this bike’s back was caused by easy pedaling out of our neighborhood.  Less than 20 ft from my building, I thought the chain had popped off again.  No biggie, except my brother was laughing way too hard.  The chain hadn’t just popped off.  It had broke in half and the chain was laying on my street.  Bikes were returned to my apartment and we resumed commuting on foot.  I’ll look into replacing it, but I’m betting the repair may cost more than the bike did! 

A bike is definitely the best way to get around in Amsterdam.  For the two weeks the bikes worked, we were able to get across town in 10 minutes.  The other day we were riding down a street and got stopped by a cop.  We were on retail street that we’ve rode on dozens of times.  The cop walked up to us and politely told us we couldn’t ride our bikes on that street.  That was the end of the story.  How amazing is that?!  In the US, we may have been detained, ID’d, checked on terrorist lists, potentially beaten up and our bikes confiscated.  The cops here have all been super friendly.  We never get stressed about seeing one because: 1) They’re cool 2) There’s very little that’s illegal here so we never stress about getting caught in the act of breaking a law! 

Having a beer while riding may be illegal, but only if you get caught!  This is the bike that works.  

Next trip: Hamburg and Frankfurt Germany.  Add "er" to the cities' names and you know our meal plan.  There’s four of us going in a rented car, should be a great road trip . . .