Bicycles of Amsterdam
By Village Mayor • Oct 9th, 2008 • Category: Latest Post, Miscellaneous
Amsterdam… Probably first thing that comes to your mind when you are asked what Amsterdam is famous for is either Red Light District or Marijuana. But this post is not about sex nor drugs. It’s all about bicycles.
Yes, I did know that people love bikes in Holland just never thought they love them THAT much. It doesn’t matter if it rains or snows, people ride bikes. And you have to see it to believe it. First time in my life I saw so many bikes in one city…
There are 750 000 people living in Amsterdam and more importantly there are 1 000 000 bicycles in the streets. It is said that around 30 000 bikes end up in canals every year. Teenagers think it’s quite funny to take tourist’s bike and throw it into the water. So next time you are in Amsterdam keep a good eye on your ride.
I have no idea why most of the bicycles look all the same. Maybe there is no point getting yourself a nice and expensive bike because it will end up stolen anyway. However, as you will see, there are many bikes that look quite strange. Bicycle with wind shield doesn’t look weird at all when you had seen a bike with wooden box for kids in between the wheels. Or bike decorated with flowers. Or a bike-cab…
Some photos are mine, some are from flickr. All the bikes are from Netherlands the vast majority captured in Amsterdam. So there you go, the Strange Bicycles of Amsterdam.
Image credits: roland
Image credits: FaceMePLS
Image credits: jared
Image credits: nicolasnova
Image credits: Alicia Yeah
Image credits: joguldi
Image credits: celesteh
Image credits: nicolasnova
Image credits: gen gibson
Image credits: Zoonie
Image credits: Neil Rickards
Image credits: JOE M500
Image credits: barrio dude
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October 3rd, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Brings back memories,
I worked over there for a couple months and remember waking up one or two Sunday mornings trying to remember where I left my bike.
September 26th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
De gott verdammte fiets !! :=
September 10th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Aye, we really like our bikes, in a distanced kind of fashion, it’s just a tool after all. Amsterdam is quite a small city compared to cities like London, New York or Tokyo. It makes sense for us to take the bike because you can get from the northern most part to the souther districts in ~45 minutes if you know a decent route. Other cities in the Netherlands know a lot less bicycles because there is a better infrastructure for automobiles (there is really no way you can get through Amsterdam faster by car than cycling or by scooter or something), this is because Amsterdam wasn’t bombed to the ground by the Germans in WWII, and Rotterdam, for example, was. That’s usually the basic distiction, with a few exceptions, was it a big city before WWII? You’ll find a lot of bikes there, otherwise it’ll have been rebuilt to accomodate more cars and such. ‘t was the hip thing to do back then, little did they know
September 9th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
For me (as a Dutchman) this isn’t special. We grow up with bikes, the pictures are from Amsterdam but that makes no difference. In every city big or small there are bikes. Just like on the pictures. It’s really the way of transportation. People bike 20-30 km everyday to go to there work, do the groceries and to go out at night. You don’t need a drivers license to ride a bike when you’re drunk
I wouldn’t trade my bike for public transportation. That’s for sure.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:05 am
Honey, do you remember where we park the bike?
January 30th, 2009 at 10:46 am
lol.. wow…\
they like their bikes over there huh?