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| My new sweet ride and some other lovely bikes in the background! |
Here it is, my new bike, it's a Batavus! It's still my favourite colour, has plenty of cargo space and is very comfortable, has a front wheel lock to stop the wheel flopping around, dynamo lights, 3 gears and a wheel lock! I took it to my closest bike shop (there are 3 within about 2 blocks of our apartment), which has a large selection of family bikes and trikes. Before it was even through the door the shop keeper, Lars, said "oh this is one of my favourite bikes", he went on to say they are really well built, are designed in Holland and said he would look it over for me if I left it over night. Lar's also showed a great interest in the cargo bike movement in the United States, you could tell he is passionate about his products and very honest, so we feel fortunate to have him and Thomas Fietsen so close.
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| The bobike from Kyle's bike, fitted on mine- this one also has wheel shields for toddler toe protection! Did you notice my bike is in the kitchen, again? |
We went back to pick it up my bike today and they had been nice enough to adjust the brakes and gears for me, inspect the lights which are on a Dynamo, and get them working for me, all for free! They said it checked out great and would be good to go for a while. I had to get a nicer saddle for it but the shop had a used one they sold me for a cheaper price and I had to buy new grips because the old ones where loose and worn out, but by the time I re-sell the Amsterdam bike, I should easily cover the extra costs and most of the purchase price.
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| Kyle's lovely Pastoorfiets/X frame that was gifted to us, it's a 1970's BSP, made in Holland. |
I've just finished switching out the bobike seats from Kyle's sweet BSP to the bobike that came with mine, I think mine was an older model, so I thought I'd keep the newer one that has a large reflector on the back and wheel skirts. We also fitted our new pannier bags and ring-a-ling bell to mine!
So now we have our transportation and it will save us a lot of money, buses cost about 2 Euro each one way to the station. So every time we head to the station we will save about 8 Euros, which when we start work will most likely be a daily trip, unless we get local jobs and then we'll use our bikes to get to them.Now I just need to secure a decent job, so please send me some work ju ju juice! Thanks for reading, L.
