December 11, 2011

Battery pack disguised as classic Dutch bicycle repair kit

Filed under: Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 1:04 pm

Leiden-based American blogger Alicia likes long bike trips (50+ km), and the batteries of her smart phone tend to run out on these day-long rides, so her boyfriend made her a battery pack that can charge her phone twice. For the casing he used the box of a Simson cycling patch repair kit. These kits have been around as long as I can remember.

Simson was a brand of glue founded in 1881 in Groningen by Jehuda Levi Wijnberg (Wikipedia dixit). In 1989 the company was sold to German competitor Stahlgruber. Simson repair kits are sold almost exclusively in the Netherlands.

(Photos by Alicia, used with permission. Disclaimer: although I still have a Simson box, I refill it with the contents of the competing Hema kit. Orangemaster is a Brompton folding bike rider, and its anybody’s guess really how these people fix their flat tires.)

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November 26, 2011

Twisted bicycle bridge across the Vlaardingervaart

Filed under: Architecture,Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 11:58 am

Gizmodo writes:

At first glance it looks like this bridge in the Netherlands was an engineering failure […]. But this is how the architects designed and built it to look, and it works just fine.

It’s a [42 metre] pedestrian and bicycle bridge that connects the Holy-Zuid district with the Broekpolder, in the city of Vlaardingen. It was designed by the architects at West 8 and […] built by the metal workers at ABT.

Vlaardingen is a city near Rotterdam. Locals call the bridge The Wokkel, after a similarly shaped snack.

(Photo: ABT. More photos at Gizmodo and on Flickr show you how it works)

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September 26, 2011

How red asphalt is laid for bicycle riders

Filed under: Automobiles,Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 9:14 am

Mark Wagenbuur published this video of road workers resurfacing Parklaan in Den Bosch back in May, but I felt it was still interesting enough to share with the one or two of you who don’t already religiously follow his work. He wrote an accompanying piece at the A View from the Cycle Path blog.

Note that alongside the regular black asphalt for cars, two strips of red asphalt are laid. These will become the bike lanes. Two workers are continuously measuring the width of the prospective bike lines. I am not sure, but I assume this is to make sure the bike lanes have a minimum width. Remarkable, as there is no legal requirement to do so.

I don’t know why they use red for bike lanes. According to a 2002 article called Fietsvoorzieningen brengen kleur op straat by Fietsberaad, the decision is mainly a political one. It highlights that politicians supposedly care. Fietsberaad said in 2002 that red asphalt is three times more expensive to make.

Note that the famous Dutch Tiger Stone automatic road paver can also do bike paths by simply putting in the right coloured bricks.

(Video: Youtube / Markenlei)

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September 23, 2011

Amsterdam out-Copenhagenizes Copenhagen as the best major city to cycle

Filed under: Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 6:37 pm

A list by Copenhagenize Consulting puts Amsterdam straight at the top of 80 major cities world-wide as the most bike-friendly place to be.

The city scored high in almost every of the thirteen categories that the candidates were judged on: “The cycling atmosphere is relaxed, enjoyable, and as mainstream as you can get. This is the one place on the planet where fear-mongering about cycling is non-existent and it shows.”

Numbers two and three were Copenhagen and Barcelona, Montreal came in eighth as the best of the Americas.

Copenhagenize Consulting is run by Mikael Colville-Andersen who started the Copenhagenize blog—extolling the virtues of bicycling—after he had noticed that an ordinary photo of an ordinary woman riding an ordinary bike could draw an extraordinary response from a global audience. There but for the grace of god was the world spared the term Assenize. (Disclaimer: I am not dissing David Hembrow, just mocking the phrase.)

(Photo by Facemepls, some rights reserved)

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September 21, 2011

Germany family hiding and living in Dutch woods

Filed under: Animals,Bicycles,Weird by Orangemaster @ 6:46 pm

A German family of two parents in their thirties and four children (11, 5, 4 and 3 months) is said to be hiding in the woods near Sibculo, Overijssel, just a few kilometres from the German border. They are hiding from the German authorities, as the court ruled that the kids had to be taken away from their parents for reasons the press doesn’t mention. They also own three dogs. The family is originally from Warendorf, East of Münster, much further away, but in a relative beeline from where they are now.

They have been moving around by bike with a trailer hitched to it since September, and the Germans want the Dutch to help them find the family, as they are worried about the children’s well-being. I still would like to know why.

If we can find terrorists, we can find a big family that can’t run, with kids and a baby, and three possibly barking dogs, right? OK, they are pretty cool travelling by bike.

(Link: binnenland.nieuws.nl)

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September 18, 2011

Illegally fast mopeds sold everywhere

Filed under: Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 10:32 am

Last week consumer watchdog show Kassa sent reporters with hidden cameras to 10 moped shops, and found out that all of them sell mopeds with illegally tuned up engines. Some of the sales people even volunteered to tune up the engines.

The Dutch traffic code defines two different types of mopeds, the bromfietsen which may go as fast as 45 kilometres per hour in built up areas, and the snorfietsen, which can only go 25. Bromfietsen are not considered cool though, because their drivers are obliged to wear helmets and must mix it with the cars.

Besides the maximum speed there is no technical difference between a bromfiets and a snorfiets. The speed is limited by a chip that either the shop attendant or the owners can swap out.

Although moped riders only make up one to two percent of road users, they are responsible for 10 to 20 percent of all accidents in the Netherlands. According to cyclists union Fietsersbond, 2,000 cyclists had to visit the emergency room after a collision with a moped last year. Snorfietsen are allowed to use bike paths, where some of them terrorize cyclists.

Dealer association BOVAG played a nifty game of pass the buck during the show, claiming that if shop keepers do not volunteer to swap out speed limiters, customers will take their business elsewhere. The association feels the ball is in the politicians’ court now.

(Photo by the inestimable Facemepls, some rights reserved)

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September 6, 2011

A big bike full of kids back from school

Filed under: Bicycles by Orangemaster @ 12:37 pm

De Cafe Racer has launched this 10-seater school bus which comes equipped with pedals for “most of its occupants.” I think this means some kids just sit there, but I don’t quite get that.

This eco-friendly vehicle is powered entirely by pedalling kids, although the driver can switch on an actual motor if they want to get going.

The company also makes bikes with a bar like the beer bikes we posted about. Then, there’s also cargo bikes for 8 kids, with an adult peddling along.

The cities and towns in the Netherlands have a very well divided space for cyclists and drivers. When I used to work as a bike courier, before bike paths in Montréal, Canada, you had to cycle on the right-hand side of the road and be very aware of fast traffic around you that may even hit you (happened at least three times, once even caught on film). Cars hit your handle bars and send you flying (BTW I wore a bike helmet). Or there’s that time someone opened a car door on a fellow bike courier roommate and the pointy end of the door ended up in his chest, sending him to the hospital.

In the Netherlands you can bike without fear of cars on the bigger bike paths, although racing scooters are the new danger. However, it is relatively safe for these kinds of bigger bikes, even on busy streets since so many people cycle in general and cars are more aware of cyclists. And traffic is much slower, too.

(Link: thenextweb.com, Photo: De Cafe Racer)

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August 5, 2011

‘Four nights in the slammer for no bike lights’

Filed under: Bicycles,Weird by Orangemaster @ 12:16 pm

A man who spent four nights in jail after failing to pay a € 40 fine for not having lights on his bike has been given € 345 in compensation. I thought the fine was € 25, but OK, it must have gone up. And having learnt how to drive in Amsterdam, those lights on bikes are very important since there are so many cyclists.

The police discovered the man still owed fines after giving him one. They took him down to a police station, but when a friend came later to pay the fine, the friend was told to go away. That part I do not get at all.

The next day, the man was moved to Almere from wherever he was stopped because it was the weekend and apparently, the police there have a serious 9 to 5 mentality and don’t deal with fines on weekends. A cell mate even offered to pay the fine in cash, but this was not accepted either. I just don’t get it.

I guess the police were out for bad publicity and they got it: the man spent four nights in jail before he was released and the cops had to fork out more money that it was worth, courtesy of the national ombudsman (!).

(Link: www.dutchnews.nl, Photo by Flickr user heliosphan, some rights reserved)

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August 2, 2011

iPhone app for dog pooh and bike carcasses

Filed under: Animals,Bicycles,General,IT by Orangemaster @ 12:03 pm

The iPhone app ‘Opgeruimd’ (‘Cleaned up’) being tested in Amsterdam West, where my personal experience says many users still don’t have smart phones as the population is kinda poor, lets people tell the district where annoying dog pooh and old bike carcasses can be found. Instead of calling or commenting on a website to complain, now the rich can use their iPhones, while anybody else can’t. You see where I am going with this.

You can even send in pics and the exact location of the annoyance until 1 November 2011. If all goes well, the rest of iPhone using Amsterdam can vent their grievances, while all us non smart phone, HTC, or other users will continue to be ignored by the city.

(Link: www.dutchnews.nl, via www.west.amsterdam.nl)

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July 30, 2011

Apple shaped multi-story bike park in Alphen aan de Rijn

Filed under: Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 5:09 pm

This apple shaped multi-story bike park was commissioned by the municipality of Alphen aan de Rijn near Leiden, and installed in 2010. It holds a maximum of 970 bicycles, and is located right next to the town’s railway station.

The Bike Apple, sensibly named so by its creators, was designed by Rotterdam-based architects KuiperCompagnons. The butterfly shaped filigree covering the garage is a type of fabric called Lace Fence and was conceived by Dutch design house Demakersvan. The architect’s website has much more photos.

(Photos: KuiperCompagnons)

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