mikeybikes

Excellent DIY city style bike squirtdad!

wunderkind

That rear derailleur looked tormented. Poor thing.

My memories and experience with these upright English/Dutch black beasts was a long time ago. It was horrid. Slow, heavy and ungainly. It is great as a ramming bike. Will certainly put a hurt on them new AL and CF bikes. I voted for "not wasting $ on these". I like efficiency more than fad.

coffeecake

This bike is defective. I will gladly take it off your hands and spare you the trouble of driving it to the dump. :grin:

I would consider Dutch bikes to be as close as you can get to the comfort and convenience of a personal vehicle and still be on a bike. It's a great bike for people who hate to bike, because it eliminates the usual complaints: no special outfit, no extra lights to fuss with, everything's integrated and very low maintenance. However, some of the people here on BF are analagous to the sports-car crowd: they like to go fast, they like modifications, low curb weight, and don't mind wearing special clothing. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but that's your reason why most BF'ers don't own a Dutch bike: they consider themselves cyclists.

squirtdad

I know, I know, I know on the derailleur......but it works fine and despite the abuse when i post the picture I havn't gotten arround to adding some links.

this is pretty efficient, but not like the road bike.

CitiZen

macteacher, give it time. The USA is behind the curve on this one; the workhorse bike is the bicycle of the future, and many more bike shops are stocking them. If anecdotal evidence is worth anything to you, they comprise about a third of the bikes I see on a daily basis here in (moderately hilly) western Michigan.

rajman

I think people in North America ride in order to go fast - I think Europeans and Asians (especially Asians) ride to save calories over walking/carrying stuff (think of the Indians hauling coal on bikes).

If your goal is comfort/style then the dutch bike is pretty darn good. If you want speed or the ability to hop curbs or do dirt/rock trails, or fight a headwind (which are fairly common in a lot of cities) the dutch style bike is problematic.

kire

That is a pretty insightful thought. Most Americans see a bike as a step down from their cars. In many other countries, bikes are a step up from feet. I won't claim I am any less stereotypical though, I want to go fast