Tony Raven said:Don't most Dutch pick one up at the local train station?
Nearby, in Amsterdam. Walk around at the right place and someone will
probably offer you one. As a young naive student I actually did buy once,
as it came with keys to the lock, so it couldn't be stolen! The keys
didn't actually fit that well and only worked once before jamming...
Luckily it was an old fashioned comedy lock so it was easy enough to open.
One step up from that is the adverts in the local newspaper. Bought a bike
from an older guy, who said he was selling the bike as his daughter had
moved out and wasn't using it anymore. Nice bike, got stolen. Couple of
months later saw an ad from same address, same man, same story. When I
asked him about it he said he bought bikes from the police and restored
them before selling them on. Can be true, the police regularly removes
bicycles that have been left on the streets for a while, and if the
original owner doesn't show up they auction them off.
And there's 'adopt-a-bike'. If you find a bike which is unlocked, usually
with some small damage like a broken chain or a flat tire, it is supposed
to be abandoned so you bring it home and restore it.
This is all about cheap utility bikes btw, nothing fancy, just old heavy
roadsters.
Roos
