curt in denver

I was watching this movie last night, and was amazed at the number of bikes in the background in the scenes shot in Amsterdam. Notice the upright position and stem lenth, Must be very comfy.

TRUMPHENT

That's a lot of bicycles. Just think of the number of innertubes!

Az B

There are bicycles everywhere in Amsterdam. When you step off the train, the first thing you see is thousands of bikes locked up in front of the train station.

And they're all black.

Az

curt in denver

Did you find that the number of cyclist made it harder to cummute around? Or was it easier due to the prevalence of bike lanes.

P.S assuming you rode bikes while there.

CBolt

I shot these outside central station in Copenhagen. Yeah, it's amzing what other countires have done with bikes. I hope to see scenes like this in the US someday.

EDIT: wow, why didn't I wait for that lady to move? never even realized it

Az B

I did not ride while we were there. The hotel was less than 2 blocks from the train station, and the public transport was excellent.

I don't remember any problems with bikes as we were getting around. I saw a lot of people riding, a fair number walking, and rarely saw anyone driving. There were more motorcycles than cars, and there really weren't all that many motorcycles.

I was fascinated by the cyclists though, as they would carry all kinds of crap on thier bikes. Many mothers carried thier children on the handlebars in little bike seats. I saw one woman that had 1 small child on the bars and one larger child on the rear rack.

Az

CBolt

I rode a little bit and it's way easier than getting around our cities. The bikes lanes work great. They can quickly and easily take you to a lot of places that cars can't go.

curt in denver

I hope she at least had Bungy cords holding him down

metal_cowboy

The only way that you will see a bicycle scene like this in the U.S. is when gas goes over $10 a gallon.

Mchaz

I always love those shots of Amsterdam.

Here are some vids that let you get a feel of what it is like to ride there:

https://www.bikeforums.net/alt-bike-culture/166311-amsterdam-city-bike.html

There are two vids there, one is later in the thread.

curt in denver

Great vid, thanks.

ItsJustMe

$10/gal gas won't cause people to commute by bicycle. They'll carpool to the capitol and hold million-gas-guzzler protests, or impeach the president, overthrow the government, or just about anything else, but they're not going to get on a bike and look like they're homeless or living in some third world country.

Baldanzi

Another funny bike statistic about Amsterdam....apparently more bikes are stolen each year in Amsterdam than there are bikes.....so that means that many bikes are stolen more than once!

CHenry

The Netherlands is a very compact country with a high population density. North American cities are, with few exceptions, too spread out to favor cycling, and our climate extremes make year-round cycling difficult for all but a few. That is a shame.
A lot more could be done by intermodal use, though.

curt in denver

I imagine it would be impossible to ever recover a stolen bike.

Az B

Those are excuses. Amsterdam has a long, cold winter. Urban and suburban sprawl are completely uneccessary and exist only to make money for developers.

Cycling is still very viable in this country, the only real limitations other than the weather is the magnificent car culture we've gloriously manufactured over the last 50 years.

When gas rose to $4 a gallon here briefly after the hurricane, the roads were a real pleasure to ride on. It only lasted a week though...

Az

Sawtooth

So either the owners are reporting-recovereing-losing-and reporting again or the theives are stealing-losing-reporting. That seems odd.

karmadog

A blanket statement "those are excuses" is a bit unfair. Amsterdam is denser and you can get around quicker as a result. North American cities are not set up that way since land is plentiful. For example, why would I purchase an urban shoebox that is maybe 900 Sq Ft for $300,000 plus -- when I can purchase a 3000 sq ft home with a yard for the kids for the same price?

Also, assuming you could change public opinion on urban sprawl overnight ... the infrastructure is already laid, and cities are geographically quite big. Suburbification is already done... to fix this would cost massive amounts of money, and I'd prefer to keep my tax dollars small, like most people.

I agree with a previous poster that intermodal solutions may be the best solution.

As a side point, up where I live it is -46 degrees celsius today (that's minus 50 F) with wind chill figured in. I don't wanna bike commute in those conditions! I'll take my car thank you very much.

jyossarian

When I was in Copenhagen, we rented bikes to get around. I honestly don't remember being hassled while riding. In fact, I barely remember anything at all cuz I was busy looking at the sights.

When I lived in Finland, I rode to work, about 5 miles each way, up and down hills on a 3 speed. The ride was beautiful and peaceful and never hassled by traffic. And where I lived was out in the country so there were fewer cyclists, but still more than you'd normally see here.

Cycling's just part of the culture so cagers aren't aggressive at all.

As for the statement about bike theft, a friend in Finland had his bike stolen. A couple weeks later, he saw his bike and stole it back. Essentially, the bike was stolen twice, therefore, twice as many reported thefts as there are bikes.

gonesh9

Not that it's as common here, but sometimes parking can get a bit packed... (granted this was at a bicycle related event, but it was nice to see!)

lelak

These were some of the bikes at Haarlem Station, in The Netherlands.



And some of the other bikes I saw while I was there.





They're not just single-person vehicles over there.

I-Like-To-Bike

Heidelberg Hbf Main Train station Front; my bike in foreground


Another front view:


Side:


Centraal Station Amsterdam:


Train Station: Leiden, NL:


Also bike parking at James Madison Elementary School, Burlington, IA this fall: