Originally Posted by Stadjer

It's etymology is from licking, but now it's about anything good to the senses and not just taste and smell, any or all of the senses including the eyes. The weather can be lekker, just as it's seperate elements like the sun, the wind and even the rain, often sarcastic or ironic due to the local climate, but not necessarily and 'lekker weer' as in 'nice weather' is very common. A chair or a couch can be lekker as in comfortable, and clothes can fit lekker, but you can also sit or be seated lekker, and to sleep lekker means having a good sleep.. Other tyical activities in the bed are certainly supposed to be lekker and that's probably why lekker as a description of attractiveness is easily quite rude or a bit too direct. A guitar or bass riff or a beat can be lekker, just like a whole song and a voice can be lekker too, allthough that might also have a meaning that gets closer to the sensuality/sexuality in a voice. You can dance lekker as in enjoying yourself, but someone can also dance in way it looks lekker, and then it means 'hot'. A swim can be lekker, a shower usually is, a bath, but a car can drive lekker too, as in good sensory feedback or it revs lekker, has a lekker lot of torque or corners lekker. You can play a match lekker, even if you lost but not when you have been strugglling with your own technique or timing, a hit, a pass, a catch, a tackle, a shot, a touch can be lekker, if you hit a baseball lekker you know and everybody knows immediately because it sounds lekker. Things can run lekker as in smooth, basically anything mechanical, but also work and you can have worked lekker. This is also when it's often used sarcastically or ironically, often as an adverbium as in lekker important (sarcastic) or lekker crowded. So basically it means all kinds of good but directly or indirectly related to the personal experience through the senses and is often associated with comfort, ease and relaxation. Come to think of it, every language should have it's own word for lekker.

So a bikeride can be lekker, like in nice weather and a smooth ride, but if you go 'lekker fietsen' it's usually a recreational ride and not a commute. A bike itself can be lekker too, as in the ride position feels comfortable, it runs nice and light or the handling feels good. So it's understandable why they chose lekker as brand name. But the problem is that it's probably the most used word in Dutch, so when I tried to search for Dutch reviews or tests of these bikes, the query 'lekker' and 'fietsen' (bicycles or the verb riding a bike) I got the homepage of the brand and an awful lot of hits about a nice bikeride through nice weather on nice roads on any nice bike, or a bikeride to anything that is nice like a meal in a restaurant. The brand is not very searchable in Dutch.

Clearly it's not aimed at the Dutch market and the bikes aren't very Dutch. They are made in Australia, they are build light, they are not very upright, they don't have a full chaincase, they don't have drum or coaster brakes, they don't all have full fenders, racks and lighting. They are probably not build for Dutch (ab)use either. I don't see them around much either, I see about a 1000 bikes every day and don't notice all brands of course, but I can only remember having seen a Lekker once. If you want a real Dutch bike with old fashioned durability buy an Azor, it will last, if you want a less durable but certainly sturdy and still very Dutch bike Gazelle, Batavus and Sparta are good options too. If it's just about the geometry look for something cheaper from American or English brands who use 'Dutch bike' for the upright geometry, but Lekker seems reasonably priced too. Gazelle is usually marketed in the US as high end, which is not entirely justified anymore. A normal 3-speed Gazelle costs about 650 euro's here including VAT, so with customs and shipping (and with VAT deducted?) it should be well under a 1000 dollars. Sparta is a bit cheaper, Azor not much more expensive but a lot better, lekker durable and lekker sturdy as the Dutch would say.