* cababarant *

Monday, September 18, 2006

NY Times discovers that the Dutch ride bicycles

The most obvious story ever appeared in the Times the other day: Newsflash-- the Dutch ride bicycles! The article is all about how in the Netherlands, there are more bikes than people, that people ride their bikes everywhere and that they often times spend lots of money on bikes. I was looking for the actual piece of news, like "a new innovative type of bike takes Holland by storm", or "Dutch are putting motors on their bikes", but there was nothing like that in the article. Anyone who's ever been to Holland-- okay, anyone who's ever heard of Holland-- knows this already, NY Times! They also tried to make it newsworthy by saying bike sales are up because of the increase of leisure time and sensitivity toward the environment. However, there are no actual statistics in the article to back this up-- just a quote from some guy who spent $3000 to buy his daughter a bakfiets (basically a bike to haul your kids around in-- and that can be purchased for cheaper than that). Personally, I'm guessing that bike usage and purchase in the Netherlands has probably been consistently popular since, oh, bikes have been invented.

I think there are actually a couple of more interesting stories here. One, is that our friend Isaac told us that the weird thing is that suddenly everyone he knows back in New York is riding a bike. The other potential story I think, is the Dutch attitude toward bikes. We were leaving for school this morning and noticed all the teenagers headed to school on their bikes. The more perceptive observation is that no matter how cool, or stylish, the Dutch still all drive crappy-looking bikes. And are okay with it. I still haven't totally figured it out-- I know it has to do with practicality, as well as the alarming rate of bike theft in this country-- but it doesn't totally explain why even teenagers aren't driving hot trendy bikes and scooters. But, on the other hand, I have to really admire the attitude. There is something universal about a crappy bike: you can be rich or poor in this country, but the crappy bike is the Great Equalizer.

Row upon row of crappy bikes outside the Leiden train station

A reminder of what my own busted down bike looks like (albeit, a British bike)

NY Times: In the Netherlands, Life Runs on 2 Wheels (Sometimes 3)

posted by sheryl | 12:14 PM |

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