Thursday 14 June 2012

Tweeling

Here's something you don't see here every day - a pair of his and hers Dutch bikes parked together. They were outside the Supreme Court building on Gouger Street.



The one behind is a Lekker. Lekker is apparently a Dutch word meaning hot, cool or damn tasty. Yes indeed. I have seen that bike parked there a few times and lusted after it.

The one in front is a Batavus something or other. It's unusual for a Dutch bike in that it has an external gear hub. The heavy duty rack on the front looks pretty impressive and I'm sure could comfortably carry a bag of cement - if you ever chose to carry one. Batavus have started selling a few of their bikes in Australia, including a children's version of their Omafiets.

Dutch twins in Adelaide. Awesome.

2 comments:

  1. Well, not quite "twins" unless you believe that Arnoldt Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito were also. For real twins check out the gorgeous Adelaide-based couple (of bikes, but the people are cute too) at http://thedesignfiles.net/2011/11/adelaide-home-daniel-to-and-emma-aiston/.

    There is also a couple of twin Gazelles (I believe) ridden by another cool duo who play in the ASO that were featured in Treadlie magazine a few issues back. I saw them one day not long after reading the magazine article, riding along the River Torrens Linear Park to orchestra practice, or it could have been a preforemance. Of course they had to ride single file due to the narrow width of the path, which sort of spoiled the visual effect. It also made me feel sad that there are so few places in Adelaide where you can comfortably travel abreast and have a normal social interaction, like you can on any other vehicle in this State, including motorbikes.

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  2. Great to see Dutch bikes in Australia! Now if only all Dutch bicycle companies followed Gazelle and offered extra gears for the Australian market I'm sure we'd see a lot more on the streets. I look forward to a day when they're not so remarkable.

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