How we roll in Amsterdam - A method of transportation you should use too

http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/

by eisokant • 18 years ago

80 94 18 years ago

ski-epic.com

speek• 18 years ago

This is just too great.

I think more people should bike, but helmets are important.

markessien2• 18 years ago

Helmets are not important. If you can't take a little more risk, then drive a car. If you want to be completely safe, you could wear a big padded suit and ride with that, what do you think of that suggestion?

mattmaroon10• 18 years ago

Why can't you ride a bike and reduce your risk? How hard is it to put on a helmet?

This logic is like people who drive without their seat belts saying "if you can't take a little more risk, then drive an armored Humvee."

Hates_• 18 years ago

I'd say they are pretty important when it comes to protecting one's own noggin'. I was knocked off my bike twice last year (once by a careless pedestrian and the other by a careless cyclist) and both times my helmet prevented me from suffering potentially bad blows to the head.

fallentimes• 18 years ago

I think it's Sumo Suit time!

SwellJoe• 18 years ago

On the helmet issue I'm ambivalent. There was a study a while back that indicated that drivers drive more aggressively around cyclists wearing helmets...giving them 6 inches to a foot less space on the road. I imagine this is probably less pronounced in places where there are lots of cyclists, as I suspect the brain finds a regular niche for them rather than analyzing each cyclist as a new event. I would think it would take more brain power to make the "Wearing a helmet?" assessment each time and that it would eventually be optimized away by drivers that deal with cyclists every day. In SF, for example, I've found that drivers have no hesitation in driving 6 inches away from me and my bike...so I think they're only giving me the "wearing a helmet" margin, no matter what. I'd obviously rather the niche go the other direction, and drivers would give every cyclist a reasonable amount of space on the road, but that doesn't seem to be what happens. I'm probably not going to convince drivers in Mountain View to respect pedestrians in cross-walks either.

jules5• 18 years ago

OTOH suppose a driver has a cyclist on his right and another cyclist on his left, and only the right one is wearing a helmet...better not to wear a helmet in that case I think.

menloparkbum• 18 years ago

The type of bicycles most popular in America all have a very forward-leaning riding position, compared to Dutch bikes. If you get into a crash at speed there is a good chance you are going to be pitched over the handlebars. A good friend of my brother was in a coma for 3 months after crashing into another bicyclist, flying over the handlebars and landing on his head. An ex girlfriend had the same sort of crash, but she had a helmet on and managed to avoid brain damage.

On a Dutch style bicycle, a headfirst over the handlebars crash is nearly impossible because the riding position is completely upright, and laid back over the rear wheel.

Helmet necessity seems like more of a factor for the type of bike you are riding vs. cars. In all the cases where I've seen bike/car accidents, the person was wearing a helmet, and they were dead anyway.

laut2• 18 years ago

I don't think helmets are important enough for me to wear one. Luckily I don't live in the "land of the free" (lol) so I can ride a bicycle without a helmet without the police punishing me for it.

Why is it anyones business if you wear a helmet except for the cyclist him/herself?

I come from Denmark and used to live there. The traffic culture is better for biking there. I live in South America now and only feel comfortable biking on the few dedicated bike lanes, that are separated from car/motorcycle traffic. I also lived in Portland, OR, USA for a while, but the traffic culture and the roads aren't as good for biking there either. If I think the conditions are dangerous I'd rather not ride a bike at all than wear a helmet and pretend it makes me safe.

A UK study suggest drivers are less careful about not hitting cyclists with helmets. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1528621/Wearing-a-helmet-put...

kragen2• 18 years ago

What part of South America do you live in? Your description could fit biking here in Buenos Aires.

zaius• 18 years ago

I rode in Denmark and never wore a helmet. I now ride in SF and always wear a helmet. My justification is that I'm shit scared of being hit by a car here - a problem I didn't have there.

Once cyclists reach a critical mass, I imagine that motorists become accustomed to it and accidents with cars becomes less of a problem.

Whether a helmet actually helps in those cases is another issue, but at least it makes my mom happy :)

fizx• 18 years ago

Helmets are important in certain contexts. I always wear a helmet when riding my road bike. I'm going between 15-40 mph, and in the higher half of the range, I'd really appreciate the helmet in the crash. If I'm being passed by cars going 40+, I assume I'll also appreciate the helmet if one of them hits me.

In the city, when I know that my max speed will be ~17mph and a cars max speed will be ~25mph, I consider helmets optional.

dan_sim• 18 years ago

I surely like the way they're bicycling in Amsterdam.

I don't wear a helmet. What I'd like to see is proofs about its efficiency. I never found them (though I didn't search that hard, I admit). Anyone got them?

wmli• 18 years ago

A very high percentage of cyclists' brain injuries can be prevented by a helmet, estimated at anywhere from 45 to 88 per cent. http://www.bhsi.org/stats.htm

mattmaroon10• 18 years ago

If you're not smart enough to wear a helmet, chances are it isn't changing much.

Prrometheus3• 18 years ago

That's not the answer to the question. That's "government statistics". It's meaningless to refer to a safety statistic like "45 to 88 percent of brain injury can be prevented by a helmet" without understanding how frequent brain injury is in the overall population of bicycle riders.

According to that site, having everyone wear a helmet could prevent 250 to 500 deaths each year out of 80 million bicycle riders (700 deaths, two-thirds with brain injury, 45 to 88 percent prevention with helmets, 80 million riders). So if you wear a helmet, there is a half of a thousandth of a percent chance that you will benefit from it.

When you look at it THAT way, the safety improvement sounds trivial, nowhere near the size of the benefit from wearing a seatbelt. It gives a whole different perspective than "45 to 88 percent of brain injury can be prevented by a helmet".

And, that site pulls data from "multiple sources", not all of which may be legitimate, and appears to be a pro-helmet propaganda site.

arien3• 18 years ago

Nice article :)

My boyfriend lives there so I go often to Amsterdam, and even though biking is becoming "fashionable" where I live (Barcelona, Spain), the difference in the amount of bikes between both cities is abysmal, they are way way ahead.

The Netherlands is a super flat country though, so biking there is really easy compared to my city. I use our public bike system and there are some parts of the city that are way too steep if you are not used to it.

dcminter2• 18 years ago

Absolutely. Not to be an ass about it, but Amsterdam is flat as a pancake and San Francisco (which he compares it with) is definitively not.

Bikes are often very practical in cities but not when it's raining and not when the gradients are significant. Despite the rain and minor inclines I have a Brompton http://www.brompton.co.uk/ here in London and adore it.

ichverstehe• 18 years ago

Denmark is at least as crazy about biking as Amsterdam. In Copenhagen it's a major advantage to be on bicycle, specially in rush hour where you easily get from A to B 2-3-4 times faster than cars.

Rain is not really a factor, Copenhagen is rainy all the fucking time. Steep roads definitely is. But it isn't all. In Buenos Aires, which is relatively flat, I saw maybe 3-4 bikes in as many weeks. The major factor, IMO, is presence of bicycle paths and the fact that bicycles are actually a part of the design of the 'traffic flow', which means that bikers are first class citizen in Danish cities, while I would never even fuckin' dare to ride a bike in Buenos Aires - it's simply not safe.

arien3• 18 years ago

I've seen them biking when it's raining as well, but I think their roads and paths are prepared for it. As in, the surface isn't as polished as the streets here, so it's much harder to slip, unless you're as clumsy as... me :(

Oh and, you should have seen my dutchie friends biking on ice this winter, absolutely impressive.

potatolicious3• 18 years ago

Weather also counts. I don't think Amsterdam ever gets quite as warm as San Francisco, where I wouldn't want to be caught riding a bike on a warm day in a suit.

When I was in Seattle, though, plenty of people biked to work. Yeah, we didn't have bikes all over the streets, but it was a refreshingly good start.

jules5• 18 years ago

I lived in a not very flat part of the Netherlands and most children went to school by bike (also if you had to travel >20km/day). Now I live further north (flat) and I can certainly say that I prefer biking uphill to biking against the wind (flat => more wind).

anthonyrubin• 18 years ago

People bike in the winter here in Chicago. I can't imagine breathing in the car fumes every day though.

bprater• 18 years ago

I lived in Amsterdam for 3 months last year and one of the lesson I learned was this: Watch out for the trams. More important than that: watch out for the native bicyclers.

The folks in Amsterdam are pros on bikes. They've been riding on a daily basis since they were just wee lads. I couldn't believe the things I saw them do on bikes. (Talking on a cell, carrying an umbrella, multiple people on one bike, dresses, suits.)

So if you are heading to Amsterdam, remember this: if you see a bicycle rapidly approaching, do not alter your motion in any way. Ever. Don't dodge left or right, don't slow down or run ahead. Don't be creative. They see you and don't want to hit you.

Several times early on, I nearly got creamed. Eventually, you'll resist the urge to "get the hell out of the way" and realize they will always work around you.

djm• 18 years ago

I'll second that - France is another place where people seem to be born with bicycle attached. I spent two months last year cycling around France and was constantly amazed at the skills employed by cyclists I saw.

You see groups of cyclists whizzing along chatting as they go, effortlessly maneuvering around traffic (including you or me). It was incredible.

One time I was tiring near the summit of a mountain in the pyrenees and an old man reached into the back pocket of his cycle top and handed me a sugar cube whilst overtaking me on the way around a bend. The gradient we were on was about 10-15% I think. I nearly went over the edge trying to take the cube from him.

tel• 18 years ago

As a frequent biker in Atlanta: that is exactly the advice people walking need to learn.

It is so difficult to avoid people when they keep jumping.

(The second most critical bit is to not walk on a handicapped sidewalk ramp if a biker is coming)

patio11• 18 years ago

(Talking on a cell, carrying an umbrella, multiple people on one bike, dresses, suits.)

Sign #458 you have been in Japan to long: you had to read this sentence six times to realize it was not ironically listing "things regular people do on bikes every day".

jim-greer2• 18 years ago

My dog and I bike to Kongregate most days. Sometimes the weather gets us but not too often - http://flickr.com/photos/jimgreer/1602052240/

albertcardona• 18 years ago

"Small Wheels, Tall Seat Bicycles"

The reason is these bicycles can be folded and carried upstairs to your apartment.

jeroen• 18 years ago

Probably more important is that they can be taken on the train for free. That makes it useful on both ends of a commute.

mdemare4• 18 years ago

And you can keep an eye on them in the train. Actually, most of the strangeness in this article can be explained by the pervasive fear of bike theft.

Luc• 18 years ago

More likely, it's because they can be taken on public transport without paying extra. In Belgium trains have a special compartment for bicycles, but during rush hour they sometimes fill up quickly, so you can't be sure you'll be able to take your bike with you. So these small bikes are cheaper to take on the train, and more convenient.

critic• 18 years ago

It was interesting when I saw if for the first time. How is this Hacker News (serious question)? I'm trying to understand what's supposed to be on- and off-topic, so I can flag/post accordingly.

arien3• 18 years ago

It's not really code related, but it's maybe interesting for those who spend 3/4 of the day in front of a PC as an idea to do some exercise. It's my transport method to go back home from work and it keeps me from getting rusy now that I don't have time for the gym.

Mens sana in corpore sano :)

Shamiq2• 18 years ago

Flag stuff that seems like spam, let the voting take care of the rest.

If it shouldn't be here, it'll go away eventually.

noonespecial• 18 years ago

I really miss those dynamo generator things. One thing I really liked about growing up in Germany was that whenever I had a wacky "green power" device I wanted to try to build, I always knew exactly where to get a little generator.

jonasvp• 18 years ago

The big difference in Amsterdam is how cars are not really welcome in the city center - and the drivers feel it. Access to many roads is restricted for private cars, almost every street is one-way, and practically everyone regularly rides a bike or walks.

This makes drivers respect the non-armored road users (pedestrians and cyclists) and streets are actually pleasant places to spend time in. Almost everywhere else city planners have basically said: "let's just turn this city into a giant racetrack slash parking lot".

Things are only slowly starting to change but at least some people are actually thinking about giving cities back to the people that live there: http://www.carfree.com

LeChuck• 18 years ago

That and lots of Amserdam's inner city predates motorized traffic. It's much, much easier to bike through Amsterdam than to ride a car.

jules5• 18 years ago

> There was one particular type of bicycle I'm not sure I understood why it was so popular, but really stood out as a trend.

(talking about bicycles with small wheels)

You can fold them and take them with your on the train for free (you have to pay for big bikes). Some of these bikes can fit in a bag.

puzzle-out• 18 years ago

The great things about bicycles is that it doesn't matter if you've got a 2grand plus bike, and then go on a spin on a crappy 30 year old bike its still great fun.

sh1mmer• 18 years ago

I'm curious if Amsterdam is missing the deadly car drivers that we have in San Francisco. I haven't been riding a bike in SF long but it feels a lot like London for the hate-hate relationship between cyclists and drivers.

mdemare4• 18 years ago

There's a hate-hate relationship, but in the Netherlands we do a good job of keeping motorized traffic and bike separated.

rjprins• 17 years ago

I disagree, there is definately no hate-hate relationship here in the Netherlands. Everybody who drives also cycles, so they are aware of the fear cyclists have for cars and are always give cyclists space. This respect is then usually abused by the cyclists so they tend to demand right of way, making driving even more precarious.

mtrimpe• 18 years ago

I think we do have less of them. I guess it's because the law favors bicyclists so that virtually always the car is found to be at fault. It provides a good balance.

I think the hate-hate relationship is probably just meant to keep each other sharp as in: always make sure you pay attention 'because the other guys are bastards'.

babul• 18 years ago

6. Spectacular Gigantic Unbreakable Security Chains

It reminds me of when I used to work in Holland and would cycle to the train station to commute to the office.

The train stations in most large cities have HUGE bicycle-carparks, literally bikes as far as the eye could see, so people would generally get in the habit of parking in the same spots.

Anyway, I had a fairly decent bike compared to most others around i.e. I bought it new from a shop so it had yet to get beatup and was given a huge cycle lock like this.

My colleagues used to say there was little chance of the bike being stolen.

One day I came back from work and returned to my bike only to find someone had broken the padlock (and it was a tough padlock) and stole the security chain leaving the bike.

I told my colleagues the next day and they laughed saying this was not unusual, often the chains are desired more than the bikes.

I didn't know how to feel as I kinda thought it was bad my bike was not stolen, given it was a decent new bike (and worth more than the security chain). I was told there is a certain etiquette where it is ok to "borrow" old, beatup bikes (especially if it is a cold night and you need to get home and live far away) and many people do it, but taking a new bike would be "stealing", the thief however probably "needed" and nice big chain for his new bike.

I like to think there is a certain truth to that (atleast for the place and time I was there) and to this day it is one of my favourite memories of that country.

Anyway, remember having a big chain is useless without a very good lock!

mattjaynes• 18 years ago

It's funny to see the perspective a first time visitor to Europe has. I was looking through the pictures and trying hard to see anything unusual. Once I really put myself in the author's shoes as having been raised solely in North America, I could start to see the novelty.

Those raised in Europe look at these pictures and it's probably the same feeling Americans get looking at a blog about old dumpy cars http://www.losercars.com/ .

If you're european what do you find most novel about north america?

If you're american what do you find most novel about europe?

How we roll in Amsterdam - A method of transportation you should use too

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