Originally Posted by closetbiker
A store in Vancover sells those "Amsterdam" style bikes and is doing very well.
Jorg & Olif is the only company in North America to sell Dutch city bikes. Their bicycles, sourced from a small traditional factory northeast of Amsterdam, are priced from CAD 875 for a 1-speed Oma (hers) or Opa (his) version. Three and eight speed versions are also available. The company currently only ships within Canada, and operates from a gallery-like lifestyle store in Vancouver. (in downtown Vancouver, about 33 per cent of people travel by foot and bicycle, approximately 28 percent take transit, and 39 per cent drive)
$745usd...that is over a month's take home pay for a minimum wage person in the US. Not affordable in my book. For comparison my dad bought a 1962 Raleigh Sports for $48 in 1962. In 2005 dollars that would be about $295. Which would work out to about 1/3-1/2 the monthly take home pay of someone employed full time at minimum wage. There are bikes for sale in that price range out there but many of these people never consider a bicycle as a viable form of transportation and given our road systems I am not surprised.
Aaron
