A Canadian gentleman wondered what it would be like to ride an 'omafiets', literally 'a grandma bike'. It's the kind of bicycle that one commonly sees on Dutch bikelanes. Check out his video:
Everyone interested in bikes, Dutch culture and expecially both know the famous YouTube Channel Not Just Bikes. Informative, funny, nice to watch...a really good channel. Especially in this niche.
Here's an American dad reacting to a Not Just Bikes video concerning another popular Dutch bike, the 'bakfiets' ('container bike'):
Here's how The Netherlands became one (another one is Denmark, mainly Copenhagen) of the most bike friendly countries in the world:
'Yeah, sounds nice, better health, less impact on the environment, less deaths in traffic, working closer to home and all that but it would never work in the United States!'
Not Just Bikes reveals why that is nonsense.
Not Just Bikes reveals why that is nonsense.
The only thing that is really needed is the political will. Just like in Amsterdam in the seventies. The capital of The Netherlands was extremely car centric and moving towards the future. The future of cars, following America's lead. Amsterdam - and many other cities in The Netherland - would today look a lot similar to US (and Canadian) cities. With suburbs and all, the 'ideal' of urban planning.
But one young girl changed the course of history. Like hundreds of children yearly, six years old Simone got killed by a car on her way to school. Her father, Vic Langenhoff, rounded up some activists, started the movement 'Stop de kindermoord' ('Stop child murder'). They petitoned, blocked streets with protests and the government conceded: from the mid seventies on, emphasis in The Netherlands shifted from 'freedom for cars' to 'freedom from cars'. Saving thousands of lives in the process and having a more healthy population.
Who else helped were the nazis. 'What!?' Yes, because in World War II they 'conviscated' (ie stole) some 100,000 Dutch bikes and the Dutch started to revolt and come to see the bike as a symbol of 'resistance against the system'. Leading a nazi to exclaim: 'The Dutch are a very easy going and accomodating people. But don't touch their bikes.'
Thus the bike became a Dutch symbol for hope and freedom. You can call the Dutch cowards for never taking sides in international conflicts; you can tell them their national football team sucks, take forcibly control of their country and they won't even blink an eye when you kiss their partner in a bar. But don't touch their bikes.
Do you have a bike? A bakfiets maybe even? And do you use it often?
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