OK, I first thought I should hold off with writing about this topic because it’s really so un-originally DUTCH, but hey – we do live in Amsterdam now, and it’s truly quite impossible to avoid it: The Bike.

I do have to give you girls some background information. After 7 years of cycling to High School, ‘through weather and wind’, as we say here in the Low Lands (meaning rain or shine), 9 kilometers to and 9 kilometers back (about 35 minutes each way – and that’s riding fast!) and 8 years of cycling to university (less far but with hangover – that’s equally bad), I thought I had had my fair share of cycling.
So. No cycling in New York. No cycling in Brussels. And No cycling in London. Seven years of no cycling, and no plans to change that situation. I actually quite liked our lil’ old Saab 93 that we had in London, combined with the occasional taxi!

Sigh.

Back in Amsterdam, things are different. I forgot. Everybody cycles. So, after the initial shock, I started to get used to the idea of cycling again. Especially when I saw these cool ‘transport bikes’ everybody has nowadays:

Not bad, I thought. And so practical! With a crate in the front (handbag) – brilliant, and so cool!

So, I decided that for now, I wanted a bike with a crate. Maybe after a while, when the children are a bit bigger, I would convert to a ‘bakfiets’:

You can easily fit 3 children in the front as you can see, and maybe even 4! All of the SATC mums in Amsterdam have one similar to this one, so it must be ingeniously practical!

After browsing the Internet, I found out that the best-tested ‘bakfiets’ in the Netherlands (by Dutch cyclers club ‘fietsenbond’) is ironically this one, the ‘Nihola’ from Denmark:

(see also http://nihola.info/).

So, I sent my husband en route (he studied industrial design engineering so he must be an expert) with the assignment to find me a cool bike with a crate, if not a bakfiets, preferably the cute one from Denmark.

Of course, I neglected to look at prices. How much could a bike be? (I have never paid more than 50 euros for a bike).

Prices:

Transport bike, as in picture: from €1145,-

Bakfiets, as in picture: from €1579,-

Nihola, as in picture: from €2195,-

End of story: after two hours of anxiously waiting for my cool bike to arrive, my husband called to say he got me a decent second-hand Gazelle bike, (€200), which would be fitted with 2 children’s seats and a basket on the front.

Please don’t tell anyone.

♥

-Esther