I finally found a true Dutch bike in North America. Here's what you need to know

As a Dutchy, 500 bucks for a used bike feels criminal

One thing you missed about the rack on the back is that it is very often used to carry people. When youre with a group of people and a few ppl aren't on a bike, or when youre on a date and one person came by public transport, someone will be going on the back of a bike.

Fun fact, you mentioned how bikes transformed like Copenhagen, Madrid, and Paris, but in fact they changed Dutch cities as well. In the 60's the Dutch cities went in the direction of being built for cars. We're still undoing some of the "damage" from that era to this day.

As an Amsterdammer (owning 3 bikes:classic, sports and cargo) you forgot to mention the bell. It’s very helpful when cycling in a touristic place with tourists not minding others 😜

To really make it the classic Dutch bike, there's one piece of essential stuff missing on your bike. It's a "jasbeschermer", litterally translated: a coat-protector. Two plastic sheets covering the top part of each side of the rear wheel, which ensures that nothing can get stuck between the spokes of the wheel, like indeed the tips of a long coat if you're wearing one while riding. Or - as in your case - the straps of your heavy bag flapping in the wind (or even the feet of a toddler when you carry it on a special seat that can be attached on the rack).

As a Dutch guy I find it funny you find our bikes weird. It's my car my gym and my recreational vehicle all in one. No fuel no insurance and maintenance is almost non existent. A secondhand one will cost you about $100 and it will do a couple of years if not more. And the best part is... I'm never stuck in traffic. Only when I move house or have to pick something up I rent a car for the task at hand.

I just love the fact that such a “basic” dutch item can be so succesfull and remarkable in other countries 😀

pro tip: your tires (rear tire especially) are a little underpressured by the looks of it. More pressure equals easier riding and keeps your tires better protected from punctures

😊

What’s wild to me is this is how bikes in the US used to be. My grandmother’s bike from the 50’s was upright, had swept-back handle bars, had a chain guard, had coaster breaks, had a rear rack and a front basket, and had lights powered by a dynamo. I’m sad that we got rid of it 😢

We're recently back from a two week cycle vacation in south Holland. We rented 3-speed Omafiets for 10 days in order to ride like the locals, and covered a couple of hundred kms during our cycle tour. We appreciated the many features that Shifter points out in the video (fenders, rear wheel lock etc etc.) Our rentals had front hub generators (way better than dynamos rubbing on the tire) and a front rim brake to augment the rear coaster brake. On a couple of days (before renting our own bikes) we rode with my aunt on borrowed neighbour bikes, that had 7-speed hub gears - so much nicer to have the additional gears for headwinds or occasional rises - in otherwise flat terrain. Sadly, living in the Okanagan in mountainous BC, we won't be buying or riding Omafiets. we both have eBikes to get back up the hill to the ridge we live on. The most common brand is Gazelle, a rather ironic naming. perhaps your bike frame had been painted over? Not mentioned is the fact that virtually no one wears helmets (only the "spandex" racers do). My aunt recommended we bring/wear our helmets, so other cyclists knew we were tourists and give us some slack. after a couple of days we stopped wearing our helmets, and one day I got scolded (by a local riding by) for not being far enough off the cycle path while consulting my map. Which made me smile despite her stern words.... We can only dream of Canada becoming a bike culture like Holland.

I have just returned home to Texas after a week in Haarlem and Amsterdam. I am in awe of the extent that bicycles matter in day to day life there. It is truly inspiring!

It was so fun to view Dutch bikes from an outsiders perspective cause they are so normal me as a born and raised Dutch person. When you said “this bike looks weird” I was like hold up how do American bikes look ??!?

Little anecdote about their durability: my dad has a bike like this, which he found as it was going to a landfill. He fixed it up, and fifty years later he still rides that bike. It's not his main bike, but whenever he goes somewhere bikes might get stolen he brings this one and uses just the single frame lock. It never gets stolen because it looks so old.

Really cool to see that the bikes everyone gets here as a teenager (because they’re really sturdy) and cheap (20 years ago probably 50 euros a bike) are that much appreciated overseas. Still remember my first omafiets and I also got it from my “oma” (grandma). First thing I did was spray-painting it bright blue and my twin brother painted his one red so we could keep them apart.

This bike has a lot of the same features as the mamachari bike used in Japan. Everyone from high school students going to school, to parents dropping their kids off at daycare, to businessmen going to work in a suit, to old folks going to buy groceries uses a bike very similar to that dutch bike.

As a Dutch person (owning 3 bikes, and 0 cars, haha) it's so cool seeing someone appreciate something that we consider so normal. If I ever move to Canada, I now know where I can get a bike :). Thanks for the great video!

I am from Denmark and I never would have imagined someone get this excited and puzzled about a regular town bike. To me (I am from denmark), this is the original bicycle. My parents (and grandparents) had them while I grew up and they are still in sale. The ringlock is the go to lock for this type of bikes and back in the day, these locks were the norm if you wanted insurance to cover biketheft.

As a true dutchy I can tell the sound your bicycle bell makes just by seeing it.

I bought a Dutch bike from Plain bicycle, in Winnipeg, at the end of June and took it back with me to Alberta. It’s the best daily bike I’ve owned. Well worth the money. I’m riding in the rain now. Something I wouldn’t do before. Just throw on a rain coat and ride. I’m hoping for 12 months of riding this year. Anders is a legend. I was lucky enough to have him sell me my bike the day we went in. Thank you, Anders. You set me up with the perfect bike