and apologies to Mr Fleming...
Got back Sat arvo, but sitting here at 5am still unable to convince body it's sleep time...
Observations/comments of cycling liff in Amsterdam in no particular order/preference
99% of bikes are black
0.5% are red
90% are steel
9.99% are Alu. Saw one CF and one Ti roady out in countryside
80% are 700c
other 15% made up (fietsbikes of these differing shapes and sizes so differing wheels sizes. I probably spotted a dozen mtb's in 2 weeks. no sh1t.
5-10% were folding bikes. Lots. They have recently introduced rebates for commuters on both PT tickets and folders to encourage more use of both.
They had a fleet of them modern rickshaw thingies that have recently been launched in Melb.
Saw 4 fixies. 3 of em couriers (of course). They were the only ones riding tyres narrower than the standard 38mm tyres. Whilst 99% of surfaces are really good, the inner, inner areas are cobbled AND there are [censored] of tramtracks!
Quite a few 'Swiss army bikes'. never black. red, orange, blue, yellow. noice.
Only saw roadies out in country (more on that later)
SS rules! probably 90% are SS.
The fietsbikes and 'modern' or upmarket bikes may include Sachs 5or7 or Shimano NexusInter8 hubs.
Bikes are cheap!
200euro gets you a fully recoe'd 2ndhand
300euro gets you a '[/URL] basic' bike
300-500 gets you a retro 'grandma bike' with glossy black paint, gold and red pinstriping/decals, basket, rack, guards, lights and bonus style points
500-1000 gets you 'modern' city bike complete with as above but also hub gears, hub dynamo, Alu framehere
99% bikes have guards, lights, dynamo, enclosed chain/running mech
springy seats, and laid back angles angles to make JKennedy swoon
99% of bikes are VERY upright. Way comfy and you can really sightee on these things. slow speed stability is awesome. Everybody rides and uses phones, smokes or rides no handed to keep hands warm in pockets.
Bike handling skills would put the best roady to shame. watching a 70+ yr-old woman do a trackstand at lights is common
During the day (at a guess) 95 of bikes ar parked on the street. to anything. Poles, canal fences, trees, fences or the vast supply of bike racks. Dedicated bikeparking stations are common place. i saw only 4 underground/large car parking places, even out in the business district/s.
7,500 bikes are parked every day in front of Grand Centraal Station on the 'bike island'. Possibly half of these arrive by train or Ferry. This facility is free.
Next to this is a OV-fietsbike station, a secure valet service bike parking facility that can house approx 2000? This costs 2.75euro/day and includes security/creditcard, fulltime staff, repairs available and 3monthly bike-service. They also provide a bikehire service that is self serve and at over 100 railways stations (in only 3 years). SMS or creditcard access to bikes stored in lockers.
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Locking your bike is mandatory. 80,000 bikes are stolen annually.
Many are sold at 'the bike bridge' for as little as 5euro by junkies. The rest get dumped in the canals. There is a special bike-barge with a huge mechanical arms to clear al lthe bikes. I watched as it lifted up approx 8 bikes with one lift and plonked em on the bank.
The locks used in Oz would be (mainly) laughed at in Holland.
99% of bikes have O-Locks
90% also use a D-Lock or muvva-fecking huge chain lock (I'm talking links made of 10mm steel here folks! probably weighs more than the bike).
Didnt see one Kryptonite.
Saw quite a few of these. wicked. the handlebars can be removed to become one huge folding-D-lock.
[URL=http://www.sharedutchdesign.nl/images/milan/2005/d14.jpg]GIANT 'lock-bike'.
Most people seemed to keep bikes indoors after hours, or had lockers/sheds at apartments or used a low-quality bike and locked the bejeezus out of it! (see swiss bike locking up technique above).
Riding Environment. Wow!
Am awaiting figures ( i met Fietsersbond (Cyclists Union) whilst there)
on what % and kms are 'Copenhagen' style paths or onroad.
In Inner Amsterdam The impression was 50-50 split.
The further out this figure actually went further toward more offroad paths!!! Further out the rural network is staggering. Something like 1500km (this is in a country approx 50% of Tassie) of dedicated bike 'roads', mainly along the top of the river/sea/polder(reclaimed lands)-hugging dykes. Their version of Beach Rd is 'The Waal trail'. Basically one continuous road/path along the dyke-top next to the Waal river which goes from Rotterdam on the coast to the German Border; 200km long and chokkers with roadies.
I am a cautious conver to the 'CH' lanes. can they be 'retrofitted' to Melbourne tho? Well they were in far less space in Amsterdam...
The network actually IS a network; not poor' patronising version aka Oz, but bits connect. They go thru intersections. In many cases they actually command intersections!
Cars MUST giveway to bike on the obigatory red lanes/paths. AND THEY DO!!! Took me 3 days to get used to this. freaky.
If on the main road of a Tintersection the CH lanes go 'over' the sidestreet, are clearly marked with their own white lines and i many cases are raised, like ped crossings.
There are bikelights. Next to all/most car traffic lights and repeated on post at waist height. Many have buttons to push however these are largely irrelevant bcos all light phases are influenced by bikes.
At crossings there are sensor wires in the surface to acivate lights. On outer are straight/faster flowing lane sthese sensors are 25-50m before the intersection so much of the time the lights are already green by the time you get there. It took me a week to figure out it wasnt my pychic powers but these triggers doing this! Absolutely amazing! Have i mentioned i love this place?
Many of the larger intersections also have 'countdown' lights, with a visible descending number telling you how much longer till green (30 or 10sec). ONLY peds and bikes get these 😄
Road rules, lights, peds etc are all treated with an 'organic' respect.
People dont yell, i heard probably one horn in 2 weeks!, and ped's dont wander about on the bikelanes.
Police presence is amazingly low. they are 90% 0n bikes when they are out but the camera system is monitored centrally and mounted cops are dispatched quickly.
Confession time! Dutchy got fined. For riding a bike in Amsterdam!!
Actually it was on one of the few ped-only (read commercial-[censored]-tourist-'ghettos'😉 streets about. 30euro. I managed to get it cancelled when i complained to their superior dude the next day, suggesting it wasnt a great bit of advertising to tourists.
PS Fri-Sunday avoid. the place is flooded with brain-dead pommie bogans who come over on cheap travel and dont bother with accomodation but lurk in the same 8 block area in coffee shops and the redlight district. Usually best avoided anyhow due to too rubber necking going on 🙄
PS their tax rate is lower than ours. Their NAtional health bill is approx 1/3rd of ours yet their pubic services and welfare system makes us look like barbarians. Petrol costs the equivalent of $2oz/litre. Small cars are de rigeur.
I'm sure there's a zillion things i have forgotten, due to info-overload and jetlag. Lots of pix and video shot which hopefully you all may get an opp to see in nearish future (more on that later...) Did i mention i love this place?
"Sick of flying"Dutch