Impressions of Amsterdam
Judith
there and the cyclists & bicycles were definitely the thing that I
noticed most.
There were bikes chained up EVERYWHERE. There seemed to be so many
bikes chained up but, at the same time, so many cyclists pedalling
round, that there must be a lot more bikes than people. It seemed
that way, anyway.
I thought it was funny to see a multi-storey bike-park. Just like a
car-park but full of bikes.
Lots of the chained up bikes seemed to be in a poor state of repair eg
broken lights, flat tyres, buckled wheels. I wonder if the city
authorities do a clear-up every so often?
Most of the bikes were sit-up-and-beg types and seemed to have neither
gears nor brakes.
My main impression was that cycling is "normal". You want to get
around town? Go by bike. The only cyclists wearing h*lmets were a
few groups of lycra-clad roadies. Everyone else was wearing normal
clothes; not even bike clips as most bikes had chain guards.
Judith
Peter Clinch
> Most of the bikes were sit-up-and-beg types and seemed to have neither
> gears nor brakes.
Single speed, yes, but a back pedal brake. If you hire one note
the basic model will be just that, and they take a little getting
used to. Hand operated brakes available for extra, as are gears.
Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.c...@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
colin...@eggconnect.net
to be the world's most cycle-friendly city. Multi-storey bike racks at
the station and bikes locked to anything fixed (even strangers' bikes).
Cars always gave way to bikes. Police enforced lights on bikes - most
have bottle dynamos). Most had front brake lever and rear hub brakes
(pedal back to break).
Bikes cheap to buy second hand but locals recommended buying a good
lock as lots get pinched.
Jon McD
balancing side-saddle on the rear pannier. Probably illegal in the UK,
but seems common enough in Amsterdam. Don't suppose my bike would
survive that treatment!
Jon McD
Roos Eisma
>Lots of the chained up bikes seemed to be in a poor state of repair eg
>broken lights, flat tyres, buckled wheels. I wonder if the city
>authorities do a clear-up every so often?
Yes they do - they put a sticker on bikes they intend to remove a couple
of days beforehand, in case the owner disagrees about their definition of
'wreck' :)
I have adopted bikes like that if they weren't locked. I think that people
just dump bikes with a problem, especially if it's a stolen bike to start
with.
Roos
brigodon
best mate was one of a small group selected to join a NATO exercise
near Amsterdam.
When he came back he was poggle-eyed and still in an unusual state of
excited about something......
Bicycles in their millions and girls of all ages rode them everywhere,
but the thing that destroyed Gus's brain was that as they cycled past
these RAF studs their skirts woud frequently be blown up around their
waists by the wind. These Dutch teasers did nothing to lessen the
visual impact of this and just laughed without the slightest hint of a
blush at the reaction this brought from the guys. Gus still talks about
his 3 weeks in Amsterdam.
Now, you being a girl Judith might not have paid much attention to such
phenomena, being more attuned to the technical aspects of your sport
while in Amsterdam, but I wonder if any male readers can testify as to
the pesent day prevalence of this highly provocative practice.
Tim Hall
I think it still goes on. The must have accessory when I've been
there seems to be a leggy blonde seated side saddle on the rack.
Tim
Tony W
"brigodon" <dim...@fencepost.com> wrote in message
news:1143943225....@t31g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> 50 odd years ago while doing my 2years national service in the RAF my
> best mate was one of a small group selected to join a NATO exercise
> near Amsterdam.
>
> When he came back he was poggle-eyed and still in an unusual state of
> excited about something......
>
> Bicycles in their millions and girls of all ages rode them everywhere,
> but the thing that destroyed Gus's brain was that as they cycled past
> these RAF studs their skirts woud frequently be blown up around their
> waists by the wind. These Dutch teasers did nothing to lessen the
> visual impact of this and just laughed without the slightest hint of a
> blush at the reaction this brought from the guys. Gus still talks about
> his 3 weeks in Amsterdam.
Very similar has been sighted in Oxford. Most stimulating.
:~)
T
Judith
>Bicycles in their millions and girls of all ages rode them everywhere,
>but the thing that destroyed Gus's brain was that as they cycled past
>these RAF studs their skirts woud frequently be blown up around their
>waists by the wind. These Dutch teasers did nothing to lessen the
>visual impact of this and just laughed without the slightest hint of a
>blush at the reaction this brought from the guys. Gus still talks about
>his 3 weeks in Amsterdam.
>
>Now, you being a girl Judith might not have paid much attention to such
>phenomena, being more attuned to the technical aspects of your sport
>while in Amsterdam, but I wonder if any male readers can testify as to
>the pesent day prevalence of this highly provocative practice.
No, I didn't notice this but I can vouch for the continuing practice
of passengers perching sideways on the rear luggage rack.
Judith
POHB
http://www.terena.nl/%7Edick/cam2.asx
Dull view of a ped crossing, but you can see lots of cyclists going past
Dave Larrington
(tim...@nospamtoday.clara.co.uk) wrote:
> I think it still goes on. The must have accessory when I've been
> there seems to be a leggy blonde seated side saddle on the rack.
Can you get 'em in Dutch bike shops, then? If so I probably will go to
Cyclevision after all...
--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
Mushroom! Mushroom!
Phil Cook
I've just watched a bit and it is chaos! They are as bad there as we
are in the UK. Bikes weaving between pedestians and generally going
where they like. The cars aren't much better either trying to go when
there are pedestrians crossing.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"
Clive George
news:d7a2329bogae7aec9...@4ax.com...
> POHB wrote:
>
>>See for yourself here
>>
>>http://www.terena.nl/%7Edick/cam2.asx
>>
>>Dull view of a ped crossing, but you can see lots of cyclists going past
>
> I've just watched a bit and it is chaos! They are as bad there as we
> are in the UK. Bikes weaving between pedestians and generally going
> where they like. The cars aren't much better either trying to go when
> there are pedestrians crossing.
Great isn't it. This IMO is how these things should be - people seem to cope
quite happily with the mix of modes. Probably requires a certain belief that
it's going to work though - if somebody panicked and suddenly changed
direction, I imagine things could go wrong. (though only in a minor sense)
cheers,
clive
Call me Bob
<ph...@p-t-cook.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>>http://www.terena.nl/%7Edick/cam2.asx
>>
>>Dull view of a ped crossing, but you can see lots of cyclists going past
>
>I've just watched a bit and it is chaos! They are as bad there as we
>are in the UK. Bikes weaving between pedestians and generally going
>where they like. The cars aren't much better either trying to go when
>there are pedestrians crossing.
I agree it *looks* chaotic, but is this a bad thing? The cars and
bikes and pedestrians all seem well behaved and aware of each other.
The crossing is busy but no one seems to be treating it as THEIR
DOMAIN and bullying others out of the way.
It occurs to me that as it's a busy interchange, everyone knows they
need to be look around properly, and that's the key. We can all judge
speed and direction pretty well, and so weaving and merging with the
traffic coming from all directions isn't a problem. The nasty,
crunchy, squishy stuff happens when people just don't LOOK.
I notice there's no real kerb, no disticntion between road and
pavement and cyclepath, which presumably discourages any notion of
"this is my space, fuck off out of my way!" - similar to the "naked
road" type experiments.
Looks to me like it works extremely well.
"Bob"
--
Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.
Phil Cook
>On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:56:56 +0100, Phil Cook
><ph...@p-t-cook.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>>http://www.terena.nl/%7Edick/cam2.asx
>>>
>>>Dull view of a ped crossing, but you can see lots of cyclists going past
>>
>>I've just watched a bit and it is chaos! They are as bad there as we
>>are in the UK. Bikes weaving between pedestians and generally going
>>where they like. The cars aren't much better either trying to go when
>>there are pedestrians crossing.
>
>I agree it *looks* chaotic, but is this a bad thing?
>I notice there's no real kerb, no disticntion between road and
>pavement and cyclepath, which presumably discourages any notion of
>"this is my space, fuck off out of my way!" - similar to the "naked
>road" type experiments.
>
>Looks to me like it works extremely well.
Yes it's all low speed with give and take. No leggy blondes sitting
side saddle on the bike racks though :-(
brigodon
>Date: Mon, Apr 3 2006 8:33 pm
>Email: "POHB" <newswithnos...@hayward.u........
>
.>Reply | Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | >Report Abuse | Find messages by this author
>See for yourself here
>http://www.terena.nl/%7Edick/cam2.asx
>Dull view of a ped crossing, but you can see lots of cyclists going past
I can see what's happened....all trousers now, skirts and bikes are no
longer fashionable.
Poor Gus, I hope he isn't planning on a return trip to Nederlands.
Better I keep this to myself I think :-((
Mike Causer
>> The must have accessory when I've been there
>> seems to be a leggy blonde seated side saddle on the rack.
> Can you get 'em in Dutch bike shops, then? If so I probably will go to
> Cyclevision after all...
Leggy "blondes" can be seen in many well-lit shop-fronts in Amsterdam,
however on closer view the words "global village bike" spring to mind
-- or so I have been told.
Mike
LaidBack
second year of this recumbent event. My daughter and I enjoyed a short
tour through part of the city before cycling beside the Amstel. Great
to see not just the many well designed Dutch style bikes (they're not
all rusty you know!) but lots of different ages on non-standard bikes
like recumbents. Add in fast roadies racing along and you really see a
lot of different ways to enjoy being 'self-propelled'. A day we'll
remember.
LaidBack
Marc Brett
wrote:
>Lots of the chained up bikes seemed to be in a poor state of repair eg
>broken lights, flat tyres, buckled wheels. I wonder if the city
>authorities do a clear-up every so often?
Yup. They occasionally cruise the canals in a barge with a grabber crane and
fill it up with a small mountain of dripping cycles.
M-gineering
Some time ago a lockkeeper messed up his lock keeping with the result
that the canals in Groningen lost most of their water. Which made al
those bikes and shoppingtrolleys easy to spot. An advantage not lost on
the authorities who responded with some impromptu canalcleaning.
--
---
Marten Gerritsen
INFOapestaartjeM-GINEERINGpuntNL
www.m-gineering.nl
DavidR
>I spent last weekend in Amsterdam. It's the first time I have been
> there and the cyclists & bicycles were definitely the thing that I
> noticed most.
>
> There were bikes chained up EVERYWHERE. There seemed to be so many
> bikes chained up but, at the same time, so many cyclists pedalling
> round, that there must be a lot more bikes than people. It seemed
> that way, anyway.
Yes, I was fascinated by all this too. The thing that amazed me was the
peace & calm it brings the city; hotel windows open 8.00 am on a weekday
morning and just rustling and bird song to be heard..
sothach
DavidR wrote:
> Yes, I was fascinated by all this too. The thing that amazed me was the
> peace & calm it brings the city; hotel windows open 8.00 am on a weekday
> morning and just rustling and bird song to be heard..
It's brilliant, especially of warm evening, sitting in town centre caff
with a glass of Heineken "uit het vat". How can anyone who has
experienced that come home and accept the noise, dirt and vehiclular
violence of our city centres?
Marz
I do miss living in Holland, I spent a couple of years in The Hague.
Cycled to work everyday, to the pub most evenings, 'up' to the beach at
weekends. It was almost nice to be stuck in bike traffic waiting for
the lights to change, you can turn and say Hi to your fellow commuters
and pull faces at the kids hanging of bikes on their way to school (I
remember seeing some parents with three small children on one bike).
Something you can't do from your car.
Laters,
Marz
paul
mi...@firstnamelastname.com.invalid says...
Certainly while sitting in a bar oposit one of this vending machine like establoishments,
that seeemed to be the case, if judging on by the number of people going throught he same
door over the space of a couple of beers.
John Rowland
"Jon McD" <nos...@please.com> wrote in message
news:aZedneF7Jcx0TbPZ...@bt.com...
>
> As well as riding in Amsterdam I’ve many times been
> a passenger, balancing side-saddle on the rear pannier.
It is too hard to start the bike with a passenger, so the passenger jumps on
when the bike is already moving.
Many years ago, I asked a young cyclist for directions in Amsterdam. He said
he was going that way, and suggested that I ride on the back of his bike.
After three attempts to jump onto his moving bike, and three falls on the
wet road, he suggested that I ride the bike and he would jump on the back. I
didn't notice that it lacked anything I could recognise as a brake until I
reached the first red light...