Holland Bicycle Review

I recently bought a 'new' bike and thought I would tell you lucky folks all about it...

In short? Highly recommended.

You have surely seen these bikes cruising the streets and bike paths of our fair city. Yes, they are far too often ridden by the 'chici michi' set - women who exchange their brand new 911 for one of these Holland bikes to go and meet muffy and buffy for a caffy on Maximilianstrassy. In spite of that, and because they look so comfy, I knew I had to have one. (shrug)

After Timmeh was good enough to relieve me of my old mountain bike, I bought one of these beasts on Ebay for (gulp) €350. Since they sell for almost €700 new, I figured I was not so far off the mark. It arrived courtesy of Hermes courier and I immediately set off for a spin. After 20+ years of mountain biking... what a difference. If you compare a Mercedes E class to a Jeep CJ7 you will have some idea of my experience.

The bike is very well built and weighs over 20kg. I won't go into details about brakes and gears, but it has both and they work very well and demand less service than a 'normal' bike. The seat is one of those fancy leather things with lots of springs underneath. I rode for 90 minutes the first day I had the bike with no bum problems. The bike has a very long wheel base and a very large turning radius so, like the aforementioned Mercedes, it is great for riding but a little tough to manoeuver (I think you get used to it).

What else? I suppose it was easy to justify the price of this bike given that, like any quality name brand in these days of eBay, it will be easy to resell if I don't like it or stop using it. Heck, it might even go up in price as I don't think they are making this 'classic' model anymore.

Do I feel a sudden urge to go cruising down Maximilianstrasse in search of fellow chici bike owners? No, but I do look for places to go on my bike and excuses to just go for a quick ride... something I never remember doing in Munich with a mountain bike.

Lots of these on Ebay under 'Gazelle' for between €100 and €400!

As Dutchman, I am really proud after reading your review! And I agree with you completely: the bikes you show on the pictures, are the best there are. Especially the one on the right, the model originally designed for women, but the one and only cool Holand bike to be honest! Really comfortable, something like the Dutch equivalent of the Cruiser bikes, you also see a lot in Munich these days.

But nothing compares to a real Holland bike. The Dutch name for it is "Oma fiets". Fiets is Dutch for bike, and Oma is Dutch for Grandma. I suppose the name comes from the fact that the design for this bike is so old, your grandma already had one.

I have a Gazelle, which was given to me by my granny when my grandfather died, complete with Oldskool sidebags! I have it for at least 4 years now, and the bike was a present my grandfather was given when he retired. Given the fact that he retired when he was 65, and died at the age of 86, that means that my bike is 25 years old! It looks like the picture on the left.

My wife has the original Oma fiets. The moment my bike breaks down, I want one too.

Go Ebay!

I thought about getting the girls model but am already getting enough shite from by GF with the Opa model.

Now that she has seen me on it a few times, she says I look 'kool'

BTW, the above pics are both Gazelle 'a touren' models - men's and women's versions.

One of my good memories of the "Nederlands" is the pro-bicycle atmosphere that seems to be more prevalent there than anywhere else I´ve been - even when compared to Germany! Combine this with beautiful cities and culture and gedoogbeleid and well...dat ist prima!

I am wondering how many people can pronounce gedoogbeleid. But hey, that doesn't matter, as long as you can enjoy its consequences!

I like muffy , what the fuck is wrong with muffy ?

My No 2 mountainbike is currently on sale in Ebay, because I want to buy a hollandbike. So hurry up and get my bike bought folks

I have to agree with Viktor, after almost five years in Amsterdam, and three bikes, my last (and current) bike is my oma fiets. My boyfriend has the matching opa fiets and we have some impressive locks to keep the junkies away... although there doesn't seem to be any here. The other difference is that our bikes do not have gears (no hills in Amsterdam and going over the canal bridges does not count) or hand brakes, we've got back pedal brakes. I also have to say that I miss my fietsfixer as he regularly (all due to fault of my own) fixed my bike for free and it didn't cost that much to begin with (brand new with trade in for 80 euros). First fix job we needed down here cost 80 euros and attitude from the guy as we had old Dutch bikes. Sad.

The biking culture itself is different here though and I'm still trying to get used to it. Cars don't realize that you are there, people ride on the sidewalks and sometimes trams even give the right of way... Shocking!

Rant over.