Why Dutch Bikes are Better (and why you should want one)
&gt; The reason you don&#x27;t see good all-inclusive transportation bikes in US bike shops is because most shoppers in the US look at bicycles as toys, not transportation or utility items. And they are extremely &quot;price conscious&quot;, which is a polite way of saying &quot;people in the US are cheap as fuck when it comes to bicycles&quot;, so the pricetag on the bike has to be as low as humanly possible.<p>Old bikes here in NL cost nothing. I just dispose of 10 donor bikes and have 8 or so semi functional ones for sale. Ill sell you one without brakes stuck in the 3rd gear for 5 euro.<p>If you leave your 1000 euro bike chained to someones fence for more than a month it will be removed by the city and sold for something like 50 euro. (if someone else doesn&#x27;t take it)<p>&gt; they expect to pay more like $5&#x2F;hour at the local bike shop and are incensed if charged more.<p>I don&#x27;t know of any atm but we use to have old guys around cities who would fix peoples bikes also for next to nothing.<p>&gt; Upright seating position is &quot;more comfortable&quot;...but only for a fairly limited amount of time<p>Well, I&#x27;m used to it, everyone here is used to it. Its comfortable for much longer than people can keep the pedals moving.<p>1% of the trips on bikes in NL is over 15 km (9.3 mph)<p>&gt; typical urban cycling speeds (ie about 10-15mph.)<p>I think there are 3 groups. (this is not research data) The slow group rarely goes faster than 4 mph, they don&#x27;t really enjoy it and with lack of circulation they cant regulate their body temperature. The fast group does around 22 mph on various upright bikes new ones and old clunkers or using electrical assist. And the 3rd are people on expensive bikes and aerodynamic recumbents who do around 29-31 mph.<p>It ofc increasingly depends on traffic and the amount of corners if you get to that speed.<p>What is far more significant to the result over short distances is how fast you can get the vehicle onto the road after leaving the house. i.e. If you car is parked on the driveway next to your front door and traffic allows you to get onto the main road without issues it takes a lot less time than walking 2 blocks to a car park.<p>woman on average cycle 1.73 mile per day over 0.8 trips, men 1.86 mile over 0.8 trips. 12 to 18 year olds do 3.86 miles in 1.6 trips. Over 75 people do 1.18 mile per day in 0.4 trips.<p>70% of all trips is under 2.3 miles. On my old rusty bike I should be able to do that distance in 6 min. People on fancy bikes in 4.5 and slow people 35 min but if you account for time lost, there are corners to take, traffic lights, cars etc, it takes time to get back up to speed. You have to get the fancy bike out of the garage and elaborately chain it to a fence.<p>It is indeed as you note the road that makes all of the difference. I would plan 15 min per 1.2 mile in the city and outside 15 min for every 6 mile.<p>&gt; Don&#x27;t buy a dutch bike if you ever want to ride it more than about half an hour. Your ass will be very unhappy with you.<p>If you are still sitting you are doing it wrong :)<p>&gt; if you live anywhere that isn&#x27;t as flat as the Netherlands, that weight is going to mean going up hills is murderous, especially since most Dutch bikes are lacking in gearing<p>We have wind to make up for it.<p>&gt; Seriously, the Netherlands is so flat, they used to transport a significant amount of goods on huge trikes with a single gear.<p>Those are just very slow, if you had that gearing on a normal bike you would tip over. I spend days cycling from A to B and back with 100-300 kg loads. It takes way more time than effort. Most was 5 guys around 90 kg and a crate of beer. At that point it was indeed a bit to much but entirely worth the laugh.<p>&gt; The next problem with being so heavy is that you can&#x27;t easily bring the bike in at night unless you have a garage (unlikely in most metropolitan areas) or ground-floor apartment. Why do you need to bring bikes in? Because of systemic problems that lead to massive rates of theft.<p>True but for me it&#x27;s like, oh they took my 30 euro bike? How brave that someone would dare to do that. If it means I&#x27;m late for something people will just have to put up with that. I&#x27;m not about to be blamed for something I have no control over.<p>Security cameras are slowly solving the problem.<p>&gt;And no, having a &quot;crappy&quot; bike &quot;nobody would want to steal&quot; works, because...guess what people want to buy when they move to a new city and are looking for a used bike online?<p>Ah, the problem is its own solution.&lt;&#x2F;sarcasm&gt;<p>&gt; the city removed several on sidewalk parking posts<p>We have the opposite, the cities cant seem to figure out how to create parking spaces for cars even where it is extremely obvious. They much rather build houses in existing parking space and kill off the stores around it. Most spots allow you to park for 1 hour afterwhich you get a 100 euro fine. Its hell for small shops.<p>&gt; If you made it to the end, thanks for sticking around. Please support legislative protection for PEOPLE on bicycles, and actively support bicycling infrastructure, because there is a VERY loud minority that hyper-aggressively fights this stuff. It&#x27;s incredibly cheap for its benefits and we will not save the planet putting everyone in an electric car, especially in urbanized areas.<p>It was a fun read, thanks.<p>&gt; PS: before you comment in reply, see cyclingfallacies<p>If you insist...<p>It seems to lack a chapter something like: &quot;You don&#x27;t need physical activity&quot; There it should be explained how corona is just one out of hundreds of terrible things that can happen if you are [shall we say] 100% out of shape. If we can do forced experimental medication we can certainly do forced scientific exercise. You have no further questions!<p>lol