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Comment by mdekkers | Hacker News Reader

So this huge rant is essentially “Don’t buy a Dutch bike because they are heavy and don’t have gears” both of which are not true. Most Dutch bikes have gears, and most Dutch bikes are light weight.

Source: I’m Dutch, bought many bikes in the Netherlands, had to ride my bike 15 miles daily to get to school and back (which is the normal thing to do), and my ass has never complained.

You are also conflating a type of machine (Dutch bike) with many random US issues, such as legal protection and theft. On the theft part, LMFAO - bike theft is insanely prevalent in NL, I suspect more bikes get stolen instead of sold annually, and you are randomly throwing in issues such as lighting and “look how much money I spent on my bike”. I’m happy for you that your identity is so tied up to your biking hobby, but your insight into Dutch bikes is deeply flawed.

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I used to live in the Netherlands, now in a major US city. Always biked to everywhere.

Dutch bikes (price/use vs price/use) are absolutely heavier, noticeably so.

I spend about 1500 on my daily bike. The average Dutch Bike in the Netherlands is ~12-14kg. My bike here in the US right now is 9.6kg. My nicer bike is 7.8kg.

Like others have mentioned, _it matters_. My ride has significant uphill portions both ways (due to one way streets). It sucks on a heavy bike, and it sucks on a bike without fairly aggressive gearing. Carrying the bike up 8 flights of stairs is not fun, and throwing on an extra 3kg after a long ride is... ick. Not to mention the top tube design on some of them makes carrying a Dutch Bike more difficult.

It wasn't mentioned in other posts, but riding upright going uphill is rather unpleasant as well. Trying to overcome that discomfort with a lean on a "Dutch Bike" just compounds the discomfort.

To the other points - Streets in the Netherlands were flatter. Bike theft was MUCH less problematic. Climbing stairs to get to your home was less common.

None of these things are a knock on Dutch Bikes. It's a different tool for a different place.

Maybe if you're commuting in Kansas, Texas or Florida then a Dutch Bike makes sense. If you're in a major American coastal city then it's unequivocally the wrong choice.

The OP's point stands IMO: buy the right tool for the right job.

I agree with your assessment. A common miss conception I’ve seen visiting foreigners have about Dutch bikes are because they used bad rental bikes while visiting. Most of the rental bikes are quite bad; lack of gears, awkward dimensions and incredibly heavy.

The video we're discussing extolls the virtues of a heavy, gearless, coaster-brake bike.

I am Dutch, also owned (and still own) multiple bikes.

Theft is a big problem in The Netherlands, and some police districts are overburdened. If it happens, report the frame number as stolen to police.

All of my bikes except the ones for my young kids have gears. Even the cargo bike...

The third bike I owned (at around age 12) was a MTB made of aluminium frame. It was noticeably lighter. It was quite a bit more expensive, too. Oh, and it got stolen somewhere in my 20s. I had to buy a new bicycle while on a tighter budget, so no aluminum.

However the point that US is not made for biking I have heard before. Almost nobody here uses helmets. Smartphone usage on bicycle gets you a 100 EUR fine, its a recent law and it is a serious problem. But at least car driver is by default to blame if accident occurs. That and dedicated lanes helps with security. And since all kids go to school via bicycle this helps keeping them in shape, plus there is community interest in secure, safe roads.

The importance of weight depends on the geography. I cycle 3 miles to the office each way but there are a couple of steep hills on the route, and I would dread it if my bike weighed much more than 10kg. Some of the bikes shown in the video look like they could weigh twice as much.

> You are also conflating a type of machine (Dutch bike) with many random US issues, such as legal protection and theft.

No, I explained how an coaster brake is a very poor idea in a country with a radically different attitude toward cyclists and a heavy bike you can't bring inside easily will get stolen almost immediately.

> you are randomly throwing in issues such as lighting

I didn't "randomly" throw that in. It was part of my discussion about how Americans are hyper-price conscious and do not value bicycles, so features the rest of the world considers standard on a bicycle can't be found on most bikes sold in shops because they have to be as cheap as humanly possible.

Not my problem you speed-read my comment and then arrogantly felt entitled to critique it

> I’m happy for you that your identity is so tied up to your biking hobby

...Who hurt you? TIL riding for transportation is a "biking hobby" and because after almost two decades of transportation riding in a country incredibly hostile to such things, my "identity" is "tied" to it. Christ, it's like I'm talking to a republican who lives in Idaho. "nice biking hobby"

Who hurt you? Go ignore your country's century of brutal colonialism and slavery profiteering or something.

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