http://www.break.com/index/insane-rush-hour-in-netherlands.html
Interesting. Huge bike lanes. No helmets.
slow it down to normal speed and it’s probably pretty boring to watch.
And every damn one of them rides steadier than 90% of the triathletes I see.
Can you imagine if US cities were like that?
Amazing!
No spandex either!
Fred.
The helmet police here would have a field day.
I do a lot of bike tours and last year in Canada, I left my helmet at a campsite and never noticed. Around mid-day I realized I didn’t have one but there was no way I was going to backtrack so continued on. I was passing a group of cyclists and one guy was absolutely flipping out because I wasn’t wearing a helmet. I told him I have toured in over 30 countries and have done well over 20,000 miles while touring and sometimes I don’t feel like wearing a helmet. I once biked across a desert and found the 120 degree heat too much, so I wore a hat with an ice pack in it.
I then told him to mind his own business and worry about himself. Some of these helmet police are like Nazis.
I doubt a good portion of Americans are fit enough to pedal their bike down their driveway let alone across town or even down the street to the store.
Technically in Canada an adult (over 18 yrs) does not have to wear a helmet as far as I know.
He must have thought you had a head worth protecting 
Andrew
I’ve seen enough helmet Nazis to know they are not ready to pounce on the evil no-helmet wearers because of the law, they are out to tell everyone that riding with a helmet is safer. After bike touring for 20,000 miles and doing 3 IM’s, I have figured out that riding with a helmet is smart but it is my choice and when I see someone out for their monthly cruise trying to enforce their rules, I feel like removing their helmet and smacking them on the head with it.
I believe that in some provinces it is illegal to ride without a helmet but that was really beside the point.
I wonder what is more dangerous; not wearing a helmet or walking into the corner store with your cleats on.
In the GWN cycling community we have a name for people who don’t wear helmets - organ donors.
It’s not about the Nazis, its just common sense. Right?
Europe and Asia are so different than the US in transportation. I’ve spent time in Hong Kong and you either walk, take the tube, or taxi. Europe it’s a tube or taxi. The key is a whole lot of walking or bikes. Most people in those countries don’t have a corner lot in a subdivision and need to drive to work. Not sure if America is too big because we do have public transport but most of the country you need a car. Infrastructure and economic size rule as it should.
It’s not about the Nazis, its just common sense. Right?
Of course it’s common sense but the point is the militancy that some exhibit when they see someone without a helmet. I get it, cycling without a helmet is full of danger. So is smoking, drinking, driving without a seatbelt, eating fatty foods, skydiving, riding a bike on the road, driving a car etc., but I don’t go around screaming at people engaging in these activities, I assume they know the danger and accept it.
There is enough government involvement in our lives, we don’t need the helmet Nazis telling us we “have” to wear a helmet because you might get hurt.
Yes, that is how dutch bike. You go to school, supermarket, work and bars at night (the police does not care about drunk cyclists, only about car drivers) on your bike in your normal clothes. And you do NEVER wear a helmet. At my school there were more then 1000 kids coming with the bike. And you would get bullied to death, if you had the insane idea to wear a helmet. I kid you not. It is as ridiculous as wearing a helmet while walking the side walk.
I also really think that it is a much better way to learn to bike. When we fell of our bike at home as kids, we had wounds. So we learned to care
The cycling lanes are cool in the city, but annoying for training as you are forced to use it, and as you can see it is not safe if you travel fast. Then it is much better to be on the road instead. But for commuting, it is very nice.
The whole idea of biking everywhere without a helmet was so normal for me, until i left my country. For the rest of world it is a very special thing to see all those bikes and not a single helmet.
Most athletes on racing bikes wear a helmet though. I biked almost every day of my life since i was 6 or so, but I never wore a helmet until I got a sports bike. Then it is strangely allowed to wear one. Actually there are nice statistics out there that more accidents happen with cyclist using a helmet in the netherlands. Off course because you crash earlier with a sports bike with high speeds. But some people who use the bike for normal travel use the statistics to proof their idea that it is much safer to bike without helmet.
The whole idea of biking everywhere without a helmet was so normal for me, until i left my country. For the rest of world it is a very special thing to see all those bikes and not a single helmet.
I can’ t prove it but my bet is that they have less head injuries per capital too. Part of the reason is that there are so many more bikers and they are well known to motorists but they have also learned to ride safely using biking skills. Here, we slap on a helmet and go thinking that will save our lives and don’t pay a lot of attention to bike handling skills. Of course, we also have motorists who have no desire to share the road.
I just find it a little ironic that I have been all over the world on a bike and only get hassled for not wearing a helmet in the country that has the fewest cyclists. And I do wear a helmet but sometimes, when it’s 90+ degrees with 90% humidity, it’s easier to wear a wide brim hat to keep the sun out. If I do that in America, I’m considered evil with other cyclists outraged and clamoring to tell me what to do.
it is very safe due to the bike lanes. The cyclists are separated from the cars. But if you rides smaller roads outside the city, you still have to assume every car is going to kill you. Dutch usually learn to bike early in life, and bike every day to school. And because you do not wear a helmet, you learn that crashing hurts. In the beginning you fall, and you have your dad beside your bike and despite that you cry he tells you to get up again and keep going. Kids are often too protected. I see it now I do not life in netherlands no more. Kids with helmets not keeping straight lines doing something else on the bike. Way too protected. Let them fall of the bike and get a few wounds and they pay attention. That is how you learn. I hated the bike as a kid. I was scared to death to learn it, because I kept falling off. I had to go through many wounds to learn it.
I remember grandmother and grandfather riding bikes when they were 80. The rode a bike almost every day. Any kind of crash could easily be fatal. Never a helmet. I never see helmets on the heads of older folks. The only crashes I have seen the last years were either people racing or people being drunk. Drunk I fell off too, that happens. But falling of the bike while being sober on the way to work or school is something for countries where people learn to bike late in life with the fake idea that a helmet on your head is enough safety to pass cars lines on the right or cycling fast between pedestrians on sidewalks.
If i race a bike I wear a helmet. And it saved my brains at least once. It was worth it for me. But if someone rides without a helmet I think it is own responsiblity. You can never hurt someone else by not wearing a helmet.
Can you imagine if US cities were like that?
Amazing!
Can you imagine if US cities were like that?
It would be nice. The problem in North America is that the infrastructure of almost the whole continent has been built around the assumption that everyone, will drive a car everywhere, for everything. This may come around and bite us in the ass, and the signs of this happening are starting to appear. It’s going to be a really hard transition to make in North America - $billions of have been invested in this infrastructure( with a lot of it starting to crumble before our eyes), and the default thinking of just about every person is, “No problem. I’ll just drive there”.
Nice video.
Here is an old but still entertaining blog post with some more observations about everyday cyclists in Amsterdam:
http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/
Again, no helmets. It’s not a big deal.
Good to know they have ass holes all over the world…did you see the guy drive up over the curb and cut everyone off?
~Matt