There’s nothing like the freedom of having your own bicycle to travel wherever, whenever you like. Where can you purchase your own personal mode of transport and how much will it set you back? Delta’s English Pages cycled around town to find out.
There are several ways to go about finding yourself a bike, ranging from obtaining one illegally to buying an expensive top of the range model. Most likely though you’ll just want a good, safe bike that doesn’t cost too much. Depending on your budget, buying a new bike might be an option. Prices for simple bikes (no gears and back-pedaling brakes) start at 140 euro and are available at most bike shops, including Halfords (169 euro), Opknapper (140 euro) and Fietsenreus (165 euro). Prices for new bikes with gears and hand brakes start at around 400 euro.
Buying a secondhand bicycle is another, perhaps more attractive, option. If you’re lucky, you can find one for as little as 40 euro. Most secondhand bikes however cost between 80 and 250 euro. Knowing where to look is therefore crucial if your budget is low.
The cheapest place without a doubt is Koos Cloosterman’s (Schrobbelaarstraat 34). Situated in a residential area, the back garden of this home-based shop is packed with bicycles of all kinds. For 40 euro, Cloosterman sells what he calls “station bikes”: basic bikes often without lights or chain guards. “Many students come here for cheap bikes to get them from A to B, and at 40 euro, that’s what they’ll get,” he says.
Spend a little more however and this bicycle fixer can sell you a complete bicycle. All his bikes over 50 euro come with three-month guarantees: “This covers mechanical defaults only. Bent front wheels for instance aren’t covered.”
Usually, Cloosterman has around 10 to 15 used bicycles for sale in the 75-100 euro price range. Selling bikes to foreign students does sometimes prove challenging, especially as Asians tend to be quite small. “I often sell them children’s bikes,” Cloosterman says.
Cloosterman has noticed that Dutch and foreign students ask for different types of bikes: “Dutch students usually want back-pedaling brakes and gear-free bikes, as they’re aware of the vulnerability of all these extra cables. Foreign students ask for hand brakes and gears, as that’s usually what they’re used to.”
Gears
Kemal Armagan, owner of the ‘Opknapper’ bike shop (Van Schuijlenburchstraat 62) recommends buying a bike with back-pedaling brakes and three gears: “They’re the best. Twenty-one gears might seem attractive, but those bikes don’t have chain guards and are vulnerable to rust and dirt, which results in higher maintenance costs.” At his shop, secondhand bike prices range from 100 to 250 euro.
Opknapper (‘Restorer’ in English) has been in business for ten years and many of its clients are students. “Dutch students often come here looking for bikes for 50 euro,” Armagan says, smiling. “But I simply tell them to save up a little more and then come back.” Ever the entrepreneur, Armagan is quick to say he’d love to make a deal with the university.
“I’ve got close contacts with a factory in Istanbul that makes quality bikes at affordable prices. If the TU is interested, I can easily arrange to supply foreign students with good, affordable bicycles.” In fact, this year he’s already made a similar deal with the local Rabobank. “Delft students who open a Rabobank account can get a bike free-of-charge,” an enthusiastic Armagan explains. “I bought 300 new bikes in Turkey for this.” Unfortunately, a call to Rabobank revealed that the promotion deal is unlikely to be available to foreign students, as a Dutch social security number is required.
Bright colours
At Brik-Fit, located at De Ruimte (Mercuriusweg 1), eight mentally disabled people build bicycles from a mixture of secondhand and new parts and sell them for 80 to 100 euro. They’re all back-pedaling bikes painted in bright yellow, red, blue or green colors.
Brik-fit is popular with students, and foreign students find their way there as well. But as with Cloosterman, demand outweighs supply. “Some of our people spend a week fixing up one bike,” Richard, from Brik-Fit, explains. “Before the summer holidays it’s usually quiet, so we have been building up a supply. But as soon as we opened again last week, we sold four bikes on the first day alone and it’s been busy with clients ever since.”
Fietsenreus (Vrouw Juttenland 8) sells secondhand bikes as well, but cheap ones appear hard to find. “At the moment, I only have one second hand bicycle at 85 euro,” the owner says. “It’s really difficult to find secondhand bikes that I can fix up and then sell at affordable prices without losing money.” He does have plenty of new bikes for sale however starting at 165 euro.
Bikes are also often offered for sale on shop notice boards and in personal ads in newspapers. Wherever you end up finding your bike, the advice is to ensure there’s no looseness in the crank set (where the pedals attach to the frame) before you buy it, and as a helpful Armagan adds: “Make sure your lights are working, otherwise you’ll risk a 40 euro fine.” (CvdB)
Kemal Armagan, ‘Opknapper’ bike shop.(Photo: Sam Rentmeester/FMAX)
There are several ways to go about finding yourself a bike, ranging from obtaining one illegally to buying an expensive top of the range model. Most likely though you’ll just want a good, safe bike that doesn’t cost too much. Depending on your budget, buying a new bike might be an option. Prices for simple bikes (no gears and back-pedaling brakes) start at 140 euro and are available at most bike shops, including Halfords (169 euro), Opknapper (140 euro) and Fietsenreus (165 euro). Prices for new bikes with gears and hand brakes start at around 400 euro.
Buying a secondhand bicycle is another, perhaps more attractive, option. If you’re lucky, you can find one for as little as 40 euro. Most secondhand bikes however cost between 80 and 250 euro. Knowing where to look is therefore crucial if your budget is low.
The cheapest place without a doubt is Koos Cloosterman’s (Schrobbelaarstraat 34). Situated in a residential area, the back garden of this home-based shop is packed with bicycles of all kinds. For 40 euro, Cloosterman sells what he calls “station bikes”: basic bikes often without lights or chain guards. “Many students come here for cheap bikes to get them from A to B, and at 40 euro, that’s what they’ll get,” he says.
Spend a little more however and this bicycle fixer can sell you a complete bicycle. All his bikes over 50 euro come with three-month guarantees: “This covers mechanical defaults only. Bent front wheels for instance aren’t covered.”
Usually, Cloosterman has around 10 to 15 used bicycles for sale in the 75-100 euro price range. Selling bikes to foreign students does sometimes prove challenging, especially as Asians tend to be quite small. “I often sell them children’s bikes,” Cloosterman says.
Cloosterman has noticed that Dutch and foreign students ask for different types of bikes: “Dutch students usually want back-pedaling brakes and gear-free bikes, as they’re aware of the vulnerability of all these extra cables. Foreign students ask for hand brakes and gears, as that’s usually what they’re used to.”
Gears
Kemal Armagan, owner of the ‘Opknapper’ bike shop (Van Schuijlenburchstraat 62) recommends buying a bike with back-pedaling brakes and three gears: “They’re the best. Twenty-one gears might seem attractive, but those bikes don’t have chain guards and are vulnerable to rust and dirt, which results in higher maintenance costs.” At his shop, secondhand bike prices range from 100 to 250 euro.
Opknapper (‘Restorer’ in English) has been in business for ten years and many of its clients are students. “Dutch students often come here looking for bikes for 50 euro,” Armagan says, smiling. “But I simply tell them to save up a little more and then come back.” Ever the entrepreneur, Armagan is quick to say he’d love to make a deal with the university.
“I’ve got close contacts with a factory in Istanbul that makes quality bikes at affordable prices. If the TU is interested, I can easily arrange to supply foreign students with good, affordable bicycles.” In fact, this year he’s already made a similar deal with the local Rabobank. “Delft students who open a Rabobank account can get a bike free-of-charge,” an enthusiastic Armagan explains. “I bought 300 new bikes in Turkey for this.” Unfortunately, a call to Rabobank revealed that the promotion deal is unlikely to be available to foreign students, as a Dutch social security number is required.
Bright colours
At Brik-Fit, located at De Ruimte (Mercuriusweg 1), eight mentally disabled people build bicycles from a mixture of secondhand and new parts and sell them for 80 to 100 euro. They’re all back-pedaling bikes painted in bright yellow, red, blue or green colors.
Brik-fit is popular with students, and foreign students find their way there as well. But as with Cloosterman, demand outweighs supply. “Some of our people spend a week fixing up one bike,” Richard, from Brik-Fit, explains. “Before the summer holidays it’s usually quiet, so we have been building up a supply. But as soon as we opened again last week, we sold four bikes on the first day alone and it’s been busy with clients ever since.”
Fietsenreus (Vrouw Juttenland 8) sells secondhand bikes as well, but cheap ones appear hard to find. “At the moment, I only have one second hand bicycle at 85 euro,” the owner says. “It’s really difficult to find secondhand bikes that I can fix up and then sell at affordable prices without losing money.” He does have plenty of new bikes for sale however starting at 165 euro.
Bikes are also often offered for sale on shop notice boards and in personal ads in newspapers. Wherever you end up finding your bike, the advice is to ensure there’s no looseness in the crank set (where the pedals attach to the frame) before you buy it, and as a helpful Armagan adds: “Make sure your lights are working, otherwise you’ll risk a 40 euro fine.” (CvdB)
Kemal Armagan, ‘Opknapper’ bike shop.(Photo: Sam Rentmeester/FMAX)
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