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World’s Best
Cycling Cities
24 Hours in the City: Amsterdam. In this new series we check out the cities with the most vibrant cycling cultures, starting with one of the most famous, where bikes even outnumber people
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Words & pictures Phil Gale
ention to anyone that you are heading to Amsterdam and a smirk immediately crosses their face. As with any known location, it is the stereotypical view that first springs to mind. For the capital city of the Netherlands that image includes red lights, brown cafes and sex shops. Narrowed-minded as all stereotypes are, this is a small but highly publicised portion of a diverse, cultured, hip and cycling-dominated city.
a city on wheels We’re stood outside Amsterdam’s central train station at 9am and the rush hour traffic is dying down. Unlike the majority of Britain’s larger
cities, London especially, there are fewer traffic jams here, no double decker buses and few people walking. That makes it sound like a very quiet city yet there is a constant flow of people everywhere you look – they’re all on bikes. The sheer number of bikes is what strikes you most vividly when you arrive in Amsterdam, like the slot machines in Las Vegas and red buses in London, bikes are everywhere you look. Bikes parked, bikes being pushed and, most of all, bikes being ridden. It seems as though everyone of any age is out on their bikes, riding on the multitude of bike paths, casually dodging the trams and completely outnumbering the cars. This first observation is soon overtaken by another realisation: For a city so in love with cycling, where are all the cool bikes? It’s ironic that although Amsterdam is full of bikes – city authorities estimate that there are around 881,000 bicycles for a population of
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Worlds Best
Cycling Cities
Worlds Best
Cycling Cities
D u tc h P h ra s e b o o k Ga toch fietsen! = Why don’t you go ride your bike! Meaning: Go to hell Op een oude fiets moet je het leren = You have to learn on an old bike. This has a sexual connotation: when you are young and inexperienced and you are sleeping/have slept with someone older and therefore likely more experienced than you, that person can teach you a thing or two Right Sometimes it looks like chaos but everyone filters together with ease
Above Looking over Amsterdam’s Central Station from the free bike ferry
Below Inside the coolest bike shop in Amsterdam, Pristine Fixed Gear
820,654 – there are surprisingly very few that turn your head. Sure, the sight of an adult with their small children in tow, or a young lady riding in high heels, might catch the eye, but this is people-watching rather than bike appreciation. The bikes ridden by the vast majority in central Amsterdam are all in the Dutch style. With three gears, full mudguards, high handlebars and a riding position that is exactly upright, little if any thought has gone into the appearance of each rider’s bike. There are some that are painted or wrapped in tape to stand out in the massed ranks of parked bikes but that is pretty much the limit of customisation that you’ll see.
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A little sad at the bike we were riding but ready to see what this ‘city of the bike’ had to offer, we jumped onto our borrowed Dutch bike and set off, our 24 hours already counting down. Our first stop was top bike shop, Pristine Fixed Gear. Situated just past Amsterdam’s coolest shopping district, Nine Streets, it seemed the perfect place to get an answer to our burning question while allowing us a fix of top-end bikes in this sea of ordinary. In the UK and further afield, urban cycling is a sub-culture, a group outside of the mainstream who take pride in their bikes. As urban cyclists we express ourselves through the bikes that we ride. Fixies, town bikes, singlespeed road bikes, the rim and frame colour, components and wheel choice, all taken into consideration so that our rides are unique to us; an expression of our personalities. In Amsterdam the cycling culture is vastly different. Resident Keng Pereira of Pristine, looking the part with his tattoos and piercings, explains: “It’s funny, Dutch people have a very different relationship with bikes compared to other countries. For the majority of Dutch it is just a tool, like a vacuum cleaner. So when they find out how much money we have spent making our bikes ‘cool’, they raise their eyebrows and reply incredulously ‘You spent that on a bike?’.” When put into this perspective it soon becomes clear that it is a matter of perception and culture. Could you imagine hearing about people who customise their washing machines? An interesting notion but for someone who just
uses a bike as a cheap and practical form of transport, it’s exactly the same. It is this utilitarian mentality that also leads those with bikes that they prize to keep them at home. Pereira explains: “I think that everyone in Amsterdam who is into cycling has several bikes. First and foremost they have their cheap Dutch town bike, which they use every day. Then they will have a cool town bike for special occasions, when they are not in the centre. Finally, they will have a road bike, because Amsterdam is very small and easy to get out of.” But why ride a utilitarian, dull town bike if you have something better? Pereira elaborates: “One reason why you don’t see good bikes in the centre of Amsterdam is because they get trashed. Not by thugs but by other cyclists. You could take a lot of time finding a nice, safe place to lock up your pride and joy but when you come back someone would have dropped their monster-heavy town bike against it and thrown a rough chain around it, damaging your ride. So a cheap town bike means that you can leave it anywhere and not worry.”
swarming like birds After a brief coffee stop at Lot Sixty One just down the road from Pristine, where they roast their own blend on site, we headed deeper into Amsterdam’s cycling history. Once you understand the lack of nice bikes in Amsterdam and view a bike as an appliance like the locals do, you can get on and enjoy the riding. Sat up tall, cruising around, this is a great city to ride in. The endless cycle lanes (513km in total) keep you away from the traffic and trams, priority is given to the cyclist, and the feeling of not being in the minority makes it a great experience. A word of warning: just because you are on cycle lanes doesn’t mean you can relax and switch off. With so many cyclists around, these are the busiest roads in Amsterdam.
Wat heb ik nu aan mijn fiets hangen? What’s hanging from my bike? Meaning: What just happened to me? Mijn ... is fietsen: My (eg phone) went for a bike ride. Meaning: My phone is gone/missing/has disappeared, when you’ve lost something Een fietsenrek hebben = to have a... Meaning: A ‘fietsenrek’ is a bike rack so if you say that a person has a ‘fietsenrek’ it means their teeth are wide apart (so wide that you can park your bike there) Ah, op die fiets! = Ah, on that bike! Meaning: Ah, is that what you mean, now I get it
Common bike path phrases:
Let eens op! = Watch out, would you!
Kijk voor je! = Watch where you’re going! Literally: ‘Look in front of you’ Dit is een fietspad! = This is a cycle path! Loop eens op de stoep, daar is ie voor! = Why don’t you walk on the pavement, that’s what it’s for! Groener wordt ie niet. = It’s not getting any greener (said when someone in front of you hasn’t noticed the light has turned green) Klotetoeristen... = F*cking tourists...
Dutch frustrations with tourists:
• Tourists that do not know cycle paths and pavements are not the same thing
• Tourists that do not know a ringing bell (the bell is a ‘fietsbel’) is the sound of a cyclist trying to pass or warn them that they are coming. That sound usually means: get out of the way! ‘Aan de kant’ in Dutch) • Tourists that cross the road/cycle path without looking to their left/right
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Left RIH Sport at work in Amsterdam’s northern neighbourhood
It isn’t stressful, though. Within minutes you realise that Amsterdammers are all skilled and attentive riders. Having grown up on bikes, on the back of a parent’s bike since they could sit, they know how to ride and have excellent awareness. The most dangerous riders are the tourists who don’t know the system of subtle hand signals, similar to a simple point, used by locals to let you know when they are changing direction. It’s in stark contrast to the over-acted arm-waving used in the UK, which is more akin to someone guiding an aircraft to its gate but necessary to tell fast-moving car drivers of your intentions. Our route skirts around the city centre. It’s beautiful but too touristy for us today. Besides, we had an appointment with iconic Dutch frame builder RIH Sport at their small workshop north of the train station and across the river Ij (on a free ferry). Though busy at work and closed to the public when we arrived, they welcomed Urban Cyclist with a fresh coffee. RIH Sport, one of the most significant names in Dutch cycling, started in 1928 and has had over 60 world champions. Their frame builder, 76-year-old Wim Van Der Kaaij, who has been creating frames since 1948, tells us about cycling in the city without pausing his work on a custom build: “Riding in Amsterdam is second nature, the way we get around. We don’t make bikes for town riders but bikes to race on. We stick to traditional materials such as steel and stainless, so we could make a fixed gear if requested. One of the projects
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Above 60 world titles won on their frames makes RIH Sport the most important builder in Holland
we are working on the moment is a 650-wheel bike for an old gentleman who wants to ride the local track. That is a big part of the local riding scene.” We watch the bustling workshop for a while and then, as master Van Der Kaaij and his apprentice start to braze a fork together, the metal glowing under the heat of the two torches, we take our leave. Keen to see more of Amsterdam’s culture, our route then headed south of the centre to one of the hippest districts, De Pijp. This is the area where all the fresh thinkers and creatives tend to base themselves. Riding there we stayed off the busy streets, skirting along the canal edges. The car drivers are really cautious of the bikers here and although they sometimes
Worlds Best
Cycling Cities
E s s e n t ia l s Travel – Flights to Amsterdam airport or Eurostar to the city’s main station Where to stay – Stout & Co Design hotel, above a design studio and perfectly located. www.stout-co.com Where to eat – Venkel: An amazing salad bar in the De Pijp area. www.venkelsalades.nl Where to shop – The Hutspot: www.hutspotamsterdam.com Not to miss – Pristine Fixed Gear: pristine.cc/sitex/ RIH Sport: www.rihsportamsterdam.nl
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Right The sound of rubbing mudguards and ticking chains is the backing track to Amsterdam Below One of the many micro-roasters supplying great coffee to Amsterdammers
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Right Part of hip Amsterdam, the HutSpot is one of the places you should make time to visit Far right Home workshops take on a new meaning when bikes a part of daily life for everyone
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pass you closely it is clear that they have seen you. They’re almost certainly also riders themselves and they don’t forget it just because today they need their car. This route takes us through the real Amsterdam, with houses fronting this canal side road, looking onto the many houseboats, each one unique in its design. Outside of the centre, Amsterdam is an ideal city to ride around. Open roads, relaxed and full of interesting places to see. Once in the De Pijp we stopped at Hutspot, a concept store that combines a shop with a café and a barbershop. De Pijp and Hutspot are interesting because they also link to cycling culture – rare in the rest of the city; Hutspot sell bikes made out of bamboo. After yet another coffee, and declining the wet shave, we head out into the evening. The stereotypical view of Amsterdam lies broken beneath a million tyre tracks; we’ve discovered a creative, busy and passionate city. With the streetlights now lit and giving the streets a tungsten glow, we head off. Even at this time there is a constant stream of riders. This city really is for cycling and once you get on the quieter roads bikes surround you. The humble bicycle really is the mode of transport of choice here, with endless lines of bikes parked, and even people repairing their own bikes in their houses. Amsterdam is a cycling city but a cycling city that is hugely different to what we have seen elsewhere. The bike is merely a utility here, a platform for getting from A to B simply and quickly. Initially it’s dispiriting to see riders so unenthusiastic about their bikes because for many of us, myself included, the bicycle itself is a source of much of the joy we find in cycling. Yet this stoical approach is also refreshing – there’s
no pretense or snobbery. Nor is there animosity between cyclists and drivers, which is incredible after riding in many other major cities. And even though you’ll see very few aero wheels or classic steel frames, the riders here are some of the most stylish, well dressed for their life in the city. Amsterdam is a city with far more to offer than just red lights and brown cafés, and there’s no better way to discover this for yourself than on a bike, allowing you to feel part of this very dynamic metropolis without a single high-vis jacket or helmet to be seen. Pereira sums up the difference, scratching his tattooed arm and smiling broadly: “It’s funny you guys coming here to look at riding in Amsterdam. We are all so matter of fact about it but I guess after wrestling with traffic in the UK it is something different. I would just recommend that you ride a Dutch bike in the centre, otherwise your cool town bike is sure to leave with a few scratch marks as a souvenir from the other riders here!”