Dutch Bikes
Following is an article by Quad Cities legend Chuck Oestrich. It is from The Quad City Bicycle Club…
Pushing for Pedaling
Promoting Bicycling Advocacy
Dutch Upright Bicycles By Chuck Oestreich
Every so often something comes along that makes you take a good long look at established norms. Case in point: a recent You Tube video produced by Not Just Bikes. Its subtitle is “Why Dutch Bikes are Better (and why you should want one).” I watched it around the time the Biden administration was first proposing an infrastructure bill for something around 2.3 trillion dollars. That’s trillion, not million or billion. All for decaying amenities for transportation vehicles, both personal and commercial. But wait a minute. Where do bikes fit in? The quick answer is they don’t – except for some quick throw-away bucks. However, let’s face it, bikes are not transportation – at least in America. Our biking is about sport and exercise – and sometimes a bit of family fun. But the Dutch, they go differently. They do a little of what we do with bikes, but mainly they use bicycles for transportation. They get around their cities – and even between cities – by bicycle. To be sure, they spend their Euros on roadways and bridges, but they also build all kinds of bicycle infrastructure compatible with their usual motor vehicle needs. But one of the major differences between the Dutch and Americans is their bicycles. They use Dutch upright bikes, almost universally. These are bikes that are just about the reverse of everything we have known and loved here in America in relation to bicycles. First off, as their name says, they are upright. It’s not just the bike that’s upright; it’s the user as well. No need to spread yourself out almost horizontally. With one of these you are on top of the world around you. You can see most possible safety threats easily. And you are not in an unnatural position leaning forward. You’re standing tall surveying the world in all its glory as you travel through it – and also seeing possible threats to your safety. Oh, and guess what? These bikes are unisex. There are no separate men’s and women’s bikes. No top tube. Just step over the wheel/crank base and you’re set to go. No need to swing that leg over the seat. That’s especially important if you’re wearing a skirt. But it helps with baggy pants also. The bikes are heavy vehicles. No fancy (and expensive) light weight permeation here. With no need for speed, sturdy steel is the name of the game. That and permanence. These bikes last. You buy one and it’s yours forever – or at least until the dike breaks. Transportation: Everything is geared for that. Speaking of gears, they’re hidden using internal gears within the back hub. No unprotected stack of gears exposed to the rain and dust. No fussy derailleurs. Do you really need 21 different gears for transportation – even on our Mississippi bluffs? As for brakes, they’re invisible – along with all the cables which make our brakes work. Everything isencased in a hub and operated with just a bit of backward cranking. These take one back to those first bikes in almost everyone’s memory – just about foolproof, with no need for worries about water on the cables or brake pads. These bikes are accessorized for transportation: shopping, work, school, even nighttime entertainment. One doesn’t need or want closets full of bike shorts, jerseys and clip-on shoes. To allow for normal urban clothing, the bikes all have chain guards, fenders (Holland does get some good rain.), and racks with panniers. Bike locks are interesting. In Holland big, heavy chain or cable locks are difficult to use, simply because there are so many bikes there’s no way to attach them to a permanent facility. Consequential almost all bikes have built-in locks which incapacitate the back wheels. Sure, a thief could wheel a bike away, but with the ubiquitous onlookers, he’d stand out like a buffalo in a field of tulips. One would think that with a nation’s citizens going about their everyday pursuits on bikes in great numbers, that safety would be a problem. Just the opposite. The people are on bikes and not in cars. And there are so many bikes being used that they take over the transportation facilities – effectively making car driving a slow enervating experience (except on their thruways, that is). You’ve heard the cliché: “There’s safety in numbers.” In Holland on Dutch bikes that’s a cliché that is getting to be uunique.