The Adventures of Lorie and Brian Groth

There are many bikes in Amsterdam that are a bit unique, and many I don’t see too often. The 4-wheeled bike has a disabled person sticker on it. Some bikes are like rolling billboards. There are many food delivery guys here, but that’s true in many large cities these days. I’ve never seen a unicycle being used here, but there was one chained to a tree one day. And notice the tricycle has no seat.

While there are bikes in all colors in Amsterdam, or multiple colors, or even covered in flowers, most are black.

Where to lock up your bike is an important issue in the Netherlands. I’ve read that there are about 14-16 million people in the country, but around 18 million bicycles. At the Amsterdam Zuid train station, there is a big underground bike parking facility that you can see people lining up for. But it fills up quickly. People quickly use all of the bike racks, and there are many, so then lamp posts, drain pipes, trees and anything else works as a thing to lock your bike to. Some people just lock bikes to each other and take over the sidewalk.

Most bikes have headlights in Amsterdam, I’m not sure how many of them work. The new ones look like they do, but the normal ones are usually not pointing forward or just plain broken.

I have not taken any shots of kids in bikes, or standing on the rear bike rack. Yes, kids will stand on the rack with their hands on their parent’s shoulders. Notice some kids only get a seat that’s mounted in front of the handle bars, but others get a nice recliner. Many of the cargo bikes are used for carting kids around too.

These are some of my favorite styles of bicycles that we see in Amsterdam, probably because they’re so utilitarian and unlike anything I’m used to seeing in the US.