Buying a Bicycle in Holland

Sylvia: To bring a bike back would require boxing up the bicycle or having it in a specific bike carrier. Coming up with those size boxes are not easy. And if no one's ever told you, the average bicycle in Amsterdam is stolen an average of 1 time per year. People ride low quality bicycles since they may be stolen any day. There's no better sight than a 6' blonde Amsterdam lady riding down the street with "hands off" the handlebars talking on a cell phone. My daughter's a bicycle racer, and works in a bike store part time. We know bicycles.

I would think you could find someting similar here (well, in Canada) without all of the hassle of bringing it back. Is there are particular reason you want one from the Netherlands?

You should check Canadian customs regulations to see how much you are allowed to bring back duty-free. in the US, we can bring back good up to $800 without paying duty, when we have been out of the country a certain minimum time ( like 48 hours). Is a Dutch grandma bike anything like the bikes I have seen in Denmark? Sturdy commuter bikes with upright sitting position and no gears?

David, I agree that the average Dutch bike is pretty low quality compared to what we have here. I currently have a bike with all the bells & whistles but I never ride it because It's built for speed, not necessarily comfort.I live in the city and so I don't need to travel up hill or long distance. I just want to hop on my bike and (sitting upright, instead of hunched over)ride around the corner to the bakery or a few kilometres to the stores. I love seeing the Dutch riding bikes on rainy days. One does the riding, the other sits on the back holding the umbrella :-) Nancy, Yes, I can find a Dutch bike here, but they are all Top of the Line $600 and up and I really don't want ( or need) fancy. Here you can buy a older Canadian bike thru Kijiji for $50-$100 and I was hoping to do the same there with a Dutch bike. Sasha, Yes, an OmaFeits (Grandma bike) is a basic black, wide seated (comfy, bum sized) upright bike with lots of knee room (low u shaped frame)and room for baskets. The newer ones have gears, but for me, I would be happy with a gearless bike with the old fashioned back peddle to stop kind of brakes.
I was born in Holland and moved to Canada a long time ago, but I think that I am a Dutchman at heart. The simplicity of the bike and maybe the memory of my Opa (grandpa) riding his bike around the streets of Den Haag at 87 is where the appeal is for me. Nostalgia with a Comfy Seat !

I would do it. No problem with US customs as it is inexpensive. Assume the same for Canada. Any good bicycle shop in Holland will provide you with a box and perhaps even help you pack it. The airline will charge an over size/over weight fee but it would be fun bring back a Holland bike. Theft is a problem in Holland so the everyday is pretty plain. Go for it.

Thanks Frank!
I must admit I was a bit thrown when David mentioned boxing up a bike. I hadn't even thought about it. (thank goodness for this site). And then when you mentioned a bike shop might help me pack it. Great Idea!! I'm flying with Icelandair and they quoted me 39 euros to ship in back, so thats about $50. Not excessive.

Boxing will not be the problem. But getting to the airport in a taxi could be the problem. Which is why our bikes now fit in a big, but checkable size suitcase. We can thank Greg LaMond and his tour win in 86 for establishing the idea that the only way to ride a bike is with your butt in the air and your nose on the front wheel with a sixteenth of inch of rubber on the road. The Dutch are way smarter. Also pick up a pair of Dutch saddlebags or panniers to go with your Dutch bike. And then ride down the street in proper style. IMO the average Dutch bike is of good quality and well made. The $50 is a very reasonable fee. Many airlines charge upwards to $100. Which is another reason we went to the suitcases. Only the TSA knows that there is a bicycle inside.

I've taken a bike overseas. A couple things to keep in mind. You need a bike box. You also need to remove the pedals and turn the handlebars sideways to get it in the box. A bike shop should be able to box it for you. It is pretty awkward to move the box. You can't just take a normal taxi. You'll need to get a larger one (like a station wagon or minivan) that can hold the bike in the box. When you get to the airport, you'll need a porter or a luggage cart to get it to check-in. Same thing when you arrive home (although you can take it out of the box then and just wheel it, but you would want tools so you could turn the handlebars normally.

Laura, if it's just a cardboard shipping box, I think I will have the bicycle shop put it back into the box it came in (tires deflated, pedals removes and handlebars turned) once I've checked that all the parts are there.
Frank, I don't mind if its a bit of trouble here in Toronto coming back. It would be awful if it was in the middle of my trip, but it will be in the home stretch and on my own turf so It will be tolerable. I think I will get all the extras in Holland. They probably have all kinds of extras that we can't get here (and I probably don't really need)and like everything, it will be built to last. As my dad is fond of saying "If it ain't Dutch, it aint Much" !

Frank, Thanks for reminding me about the saddlebags and panniers. I was thinking of getting them at home, but its probably going to be much more expensive. I think I will pick those up in Holland too. Laura, I am hoping that the bike shop I buy my OmaFiets at will be able to package it up for me, but a reminder about the land transportation is appreciated. Is a BikeBox just that? A cardboard box, or do I have to have some kind of heavy duty fibreglass or moulded plastic container? I am flying home on Icelandair and change planes in Reykjavik. Except for the bike, I am going carry on. Is the moving of the bike from one plane to the other done by the airline ? What about when I land in Toronto, will I wait for my bike at the luggage caroussel (sp?) or is there a special place to pick up oversized stuff.( I can't really picture all the bikes and kayaks and skiis and other large items hurling down the conveyor belt, but you neve know).

Oversized items are set off to the side in a special location near the carousels..

Sylvia, the box that I had was cardboard. It was large and rectangular, but only about 8 inches wide ... thus the need to remove the pedals and turn the handlebar.

It should be just a card board shipping container. The same thing that they receive their bikes in. Getting the luggage in Toronto could be an ordeal. Just find out where the oversize packages are delivered. And it probably will take longer. The airline will insist that you deflate the tires so they do not explode at altitude but they forget that the tires on the airplane are fully inflated. Just one of those silly, nonsense rules. The panniers in Holland tend to be more practical and less fancy than what you see in the US. Designed more to carry groceries and other bulky items. The ones we purchased were of an oil cloth type of material and brightly color or with flower patterns. Inexpensive, less than 10E. Not a lot of bells and whistles.

I didn't deflate the tires ... the airline wouldn't have known as the box was sealed.

That's a riot. Where's your dad from?

Laura, I know and we don't either. In the old days when bikes flew for free and in a plastic bag provided by the airlines, they would insist on flat tires. Cannot have those things blowing up unexpectedly. The other thing is that you can mount the pedals to the inside so you don/t have to keep track of them. Sylvia, Don't forget the bell.

Bets, my dad's from The Hague (mums from Indonesia) and I was born in Eindhoven. More often than not he will say "If you aint Dutch, you aint Much" but I didn't want to be too rude :-)
Laura and Frank, it is quite silly that they want you to deflate the tires. I think I might just leave them as they are. Oh my, I just went on-line to see what kind of bags and baskets they sell and I felt like a kid in a candy store. Wow. I seem to be more excited about the end of my trip and coming home with my little piece of holland than I am for the rest of my trip. (I'm doing a 3 day stopover in Iceland, then 2 days in Holland, then 2 weeks in Zakynthos,Greece with the worlds best cousin, then back to Holland for 4 days then home)

You might find, if your tyres are left inflated at 3 Bar, that after the aircraft has spent a few hours at 35,000 feet they won't work so well if their inner tubes (and if you are particularly lucky your tyres too) go bang. It is easy to pump tyres up but less easy to replace the tubes and tyres.

Good point Nigel!

I am sorry Nigel but this time you are incorrect and bought into that old wife's tale. First the airplane tires do just fine at 35,000 or what ever it is. Second, the cargo area of the airplane is pressurized to the same altitude as is the passengers which is about 10,000 feet. In fact, the whole plane is pressurized to the same level as the plane is not airtight between cargo and passengers. Could not have any other way. I have ridden bikes at more than 10,000 feet and the tires were just fine. I inflate to about 6 bars with no problems. Don't know where that idea got started but it has been around a long time that bike tires will blow up in airplane belly.

Ron, I have to admit that this morning thinking about the bicycle tire issue and wondering if the reason customs wants the tires flat is so you can't hide stuff in there. That sounds like a plausable reason. Maybe I will take the air out of the tires just in case. Umm, now that I am completely paranoid, how do I prevent someone from trying to smuggle stuff in my bike?

Come on Sylvia - your are over thinking this. Nobody is going to smuggle anything in with your bike. You are going to the bike store, you will watch while they box it up, and you take it home or to the airport. Customs doesn't want or care about flat tires. It is the airline personal that thinks that inflated tires are a problem. Bicycles are shipped all the time. Our bikes are inspected about three our of four times that we ship them. But it is the steel, the cables (wiring?), oil, etc., and we are understanding about it. It happens. Not a big deal.

Thanks Frank for the mental shake. I've always traveled carry-on, and I know that when customs pulls you over the first question is always "who packed your bag for you?" so thinking that I was leaving the bike packing in someone elses hands, and then getting all paranoid (too many movies I think)got my too vivid imagination going.
Deep cleansing breath :-)

Hi Ron, Your response was fine. I had just been thinking about it this morning and got a bit fidgety. I am actually hoping to pick up an old OmaFiets as I don't need the gears etc., But that may require a bit more homework. Maybe I will see if my cousin in Holland can start hunting for me.(maybe she could start in her backyard ?)
The old Dutch bikes are the same as the old Danish bikes I think. Solid, Black and built to last. They're not pretty (I think they are, but most don't) and you see them in all the old movies. I think even a reproduction from the 1990's would be great. I don't need the newest and the greatest, just something serviceable.

Sylvia, I'm not really sure if anyone has touched on this (haven't seen anything) but the reason for deflating the tires is because of air pressure. Though the cargo hold is pressurized there still may be a difference in ground level pressure and the air pressure in the cabin/cargo hold, if the pressure is less the inner tubes will expand and potentially explode at some point.

Frank's an engineer. He almost got the cabin/cargo hold pressure right, the rest of his stuff was as exact as can be. I've been a pilot of all kinds of things for more than fifty years. Here's the full scoop: The whole plane of an air carrier goes to a max of 8,000 feet standard atmospheric pressure - - that's the law. Oxygen is the over-riding concern. The FAA requires suplemental oxygen above 12,500 msl; the military cap is 10,000. Some aircraft have a way to wiggle from the cabin into the cargo area. Some aircraft have a slight pressure differential between the cargo area and the cabin to prevent fume movement in case of a fire, etc - - the difference is miniscule and much less than that noticed going into an air conditiond store. In the freight haulers, you can walk from the cockpit to the cargo bays unhindered. Animals are transported in the cargo area and do just fine. I routinely take unpressurized machines to twenty-five thousand and there's not even the least bit of leak from junk in my shaving kit. Assuming the airplane took off all the way down at sea level, nothing will expand and pop with a change of eight thousand feet. (I suppose that if you got a kid's balloon inflated to just exactly short of the bursting point and reduced the atomospheric pressure it would pop at some point, but I don't know how to figure out what it would be - - somewhere between an inch and a few miles, probably, but who knows. When you start flying high-performance machines they stick you in a hypobaric chamber and zip you up to forty grand plus so you can unmask and experience the idiocy of hypoxia - - there's always a pretty partially-filled balloon in there for a demo and it pops toward the upper limit or at least above the half-way point.) Put the popping tires idea to rest.

The kicker - - airplane tires don't retract into the pressurized portion of the plane and they don't pop at altitude.

Wow, thanks Frank, that was enlightening. You've just made me decide that I'm not going to worry about my tire pressure. If they are pumped when I get the bike I will leave them be and if they are deflated, I will pump them at home. BTW- It's amazing having all of you out there sharing your knowledge.
Thanks !!

Found it. Final post on this subject. To keep this simple I have done some rounding but the general accuracy is there. Sea Level 14.7 psi (1.01 bars - for Nigel) 5000 ft 12.2 (.84)
8000 ft 10.9 (.75) 10,000 ft 10.1 (.69) So at 8,000 ft you have approximately a 20% reduction in atmosphere pressure. So 50 lbs of internal pressure would increase to about 60 lbs. Most tires/tubes will have a safety margin of at least one if not 2. So a tube that has a max inflation rating of 50 psi can be inflated to at least 100 or even 150 psi. Well within any limits incurred at high altitude. There are some other factors in play (and not completely straight line) but just want to show that the change in atmosphere pressure from zero to 8 or 10,000 feet is not that significant.

My head is beginning to hurt from all this technical stuff... anyway, I think it is a wonderfully romantic idea to bring home a bike for you to enjoy it every day (despite the trouble) I have a handmade porcelain sink that I managed to get home, and I am happy I did it.

Uncle arreddy. The kicker kicks. I still don't get why they don't expand. But clearly they don't. Even though they might cheat and use nitrogen, like my car does. Those of you who know me know I'm better at steel wheel on steel rail. Thought I had a better sense of physics though... same pressure inside - less pressure outside - flexible walls - should pop. Like my ears.

Simple Nigel - the mass of the air inside is not sufficient to over ride the resistance of the rubber tube when combine with the strength of the rubber tire containing the tube. It is a system. And the pressure differential between sea level and 8,000 is not that great. Somewhere I will find the formula for calculating pressure differentials. The tires on the space shuttle were never a problem in zero external pressure. I know, I know, they are obviously stronger than bike tire but a bike tire or car tire is more than adequate at handling those pressure changes. We have cars, bikes, trucks, etc. all traveling over mountains passes as high as 14,000 foot (4267 meters). Trust me, no matter how you try to spin it, it is not a problem.

Hi All, I wanted to let you know how the "buy a bike in holland" adventure went. I got back yesterday and no problems at all. I packed it myself in a large bike box (got the box from the bike shop) along with the basket and saddle bags I bought for it and with the sweater I bought in Iceland. I did not deflate the tires. The box itself got pretty mangled in transport, but the contents arrived just fine. As far as customs went, because the box was so mangled, I had taken the bike out of the box and was walking it with the rest of my stuff. The customs guys said "welcome home" and waved me on.
Now, its time to save for my next trip !!!

Sylvia, Glad this all worked out for you and you got your the bike back from the Netherlands with no problems. Thanks for reporting back.

Yes, thanks Sylvia for letting us know! It's so nice to hear "the rest of the story" and I'm glad it all went so well... ;) I would love to do what you did, what a great souvenir.

And the tyres didn't explored. A great accomplishment if we could kill this silly myth but it will be back sometimes.

Frank, the tires definately did Not explode, although if you saw the condition of the box, you might have thought that it had exploded. :-)