amsterdam biking experience amsterdam cycling Bicycling Biking biking in amsterdam biking in europe biking in Germany biking in munich biking in netherlands Cycling Cycling Netherlands germany vs netherlands biking is biking in netherlands that good Netherlands not just bikes not just bikes reaction notjustbikes
32 Comments
I think Amsterdam is chaotic haha. I live in the Hague and its less chaotic here were I live. That's why I never could live in Amsterdam city. I love biking.
This video is basically a showcase of the worst places to cycle in Amsterdam. People who live here know how to avoid those streets.
You can easily cycle from the Airport to Amsterdam. Now try the same thing in Germany.
Why do you ring? Does it make any difference when you overtake someone with ringing or without it? I hate when people do tha. It's so annoying.
If all of those bikeriders were on car, the trafficjam would be insane
Yeah the hype is real. I grew up in the Midlands in the UK where there was no such thing as a bike lane, I first saw these on an exchange visit to W. Germany in the 80s (Lippstadt) and went on bike rides out into the country as well as around the town and I was amazed at how much freedom this gave me.
Later I lived 11 years in the Netherlands. The bike lanes are such that even as a novice rider you are safe on segregated bike lanes. Amsterdam city centre is a different story as there are many tourists who are ignorant of the existence of bike lanes and even walk in the road where this is a shared car/bike lane. But in the suburbs this isn't an issue and you can often have wide well made bike lanes pretty much to yourself. Btw even though you guys aren't on rental bikes it's obvious to the Amsterdammers that you are visitors, just from the way you sit on and ride your bikes. Your friend was riding on the pavement a bit at the beginning which was funny (typical tourist) but even after that it's clear she's a visitor from her sitting position on the bike, with the saddle very low. Most Dutch despite being the tallest people in the world tend to put the saddle up so high that their feet can't reach the ground, and try to avoid stopping as this means effectively getting down from the saddle.
I went to Amsterdam recently and it seems like traffic rules simply don't exist for 75% of the people bicycling there lol, incredibly impatient and some where even driving on the wrong side of the bike paths (they blamed us for it while we were on the right side lmao)
Utrecht is way better
Italy is way better than the Netherlands if you want to live in a country where the town and city layouts aren't dominated by cars.
2:40 on a zebra path in the netherlands the pedestrians always have priority even over bikes, but a lot of cyclists are quite egocentric, and bike like jezus is watching of them.
one of the reasons i moved to Amsterdam was because of the Not Just Bikes' videos and my experience after a couple of months is: cycling here can be a pain, for example, in the city centre or along s100 in some places or wherever they decide to start a road work next. but still much better than in Berlin, for example
Not Just Bikes tends not to address the issue that overpopulation/too much traffic will eventually make even the best cycling/public transportation system feel crowded and claustrophobic and lead to jams. Car-centric design needs to die, but we also need to face up to the capacity limitations of our cities, as well as the limitations that come with fighting urban sprawl. Limiting the ability to build on virgin land ultimately leads to having denser cities and towns, but on the other hand it's necessary if we want to preserve what's left of the environment.
Damn it I accidentally subscribed when you said to. Welp, there’s no going back
Yeah I live in Amsterdam and the city center is super over crowded and chaotic. I try to avoid it usually.
Netherlands has experienced the true nature of induced demand with how much bike traffic there is. At least that's less space than cars would take
As others have mentioned, Amsterdam isn't even a great place to do biking. Other cities are much better.
I've frequently holidayed in the Netherlands; sometimes with my cycle, sometimes using train and walking. Personally, I wouldn't want to cycle in Amsterdam, much as I love the city. I have cycled from Hoek van Holland to Leiden, and from Hoek to Den Bosch, and from Hoek to Etten-Leur as well as doing side trips from those three destinations to places like Breda, Baarle-Nassau, Bergen op Zoom, Katwijk aan Zee. Cycling from town to town is great and you never know what surprised you're going to encounter on the way.
The Amsterdam city center may be the worst place to cycle in the entire Netherlands
people have priority on pedestrian crossings but with bikes you just kinda have to go for people to stop or go around you
I'm a Not Just Bikes subscriber and this video popped up in my feed. Great to see this alternate perspective.
My recommendation would have been to research the rules of the road before going. And like other commenters have posted, other areas of the Netherlands are easier to ride because less tourists that don’t follow the rules.
I go by bike through amsterdam almost everyday, and it can be horribly frustrating. People randomly standing in the middle of the road, some people just deciding it's the UK now and riding on the left side and passing on the right. Tourists here really look like they forgot their brain and are deciding to end their life. Others really look like they think they are massacred and screech almost fall over from the sidewalk while you pass by. Biking in Berlin; while the roads were big and sometimes you suddenly hit the actual car road, seems very organised compared to Amsterdam, definitely not as many bikelanes and it seems scarier, but the organisation and 'logistics' of people who stop at traffic lights and don't randomly run on a death mission is sometimes fantastic. I miss berlin lol. In munich I never had the chance to ride a bike, but I can imagine from seeing some bicyles there it's fairly chill.
To be fair outside of Amsterdam biking in the Netherlands is very organised aswell and there are spaceous bikelanes everywhere, the buildings are boring and lots of it is hideous but the bikelanes are nice.
There's still some pretty old infrastructure (painted bike lanes), but that's slowly disappearing.
The main reason Amsterdam is 'terrible' to bike is the sheer amount of people.
Amsterdam is like one of the worst cities in The Netherlands when it comes to cycling, so not really a good idea to compare that one unless that was your explicit intention.
Especially if you are just ging to cycle in the busy full of tourists city centre lol
Biking is amazing but, for working? In a rainy city? I don't think so. Cars are expensive and nasty, but they are so versatile for carrying stuff, setting your own travel times, etc.
Biking feels more like a hobby and exercise, which is great but not if you are going to office.
Biking in Amsterdam isn't all it's cracked up to be because of the sheer amount of bikes, clueless tourists and aggressive locals.
Same for the centre of The Hague. And Rotterdam might be the worst cause the drivers are such dicks. But the rest of the country is amazing.
I have cycled in Munich and other german cities, and have cycled in Rotterdam and Groningen. And it's not that German's Infrastructure is really bad, but I do not think the infrastructure in Munich is "great" (though I think Munich is quite good for german standards). I think there is a lot of room to improve for german cities until they reach dutch greatness.
on regular roads in the netherlands, right has right of way. Not sure its different in america, but to answer your question.
What a stupid video man fr, didn't understand your point with this video.
You have to stop at the zebra crossings as a driver of a vehicle, including bikes. But people on bikes ignore all rules for some reason. The cyclist here really aren't that good.
I doubt Amsterdam is the best city for biking. The amount of people makes a lot of people intimidated and it can get very chaotic. However, if you want to compare it with any city outside of Netherlands it would be very difficult find any that would come close.
If i got an traffic accident, i would prefer got hit by bicycle rather than car or motorcycle. So, even in the chaotic, i could feel much safer than walks in my country stroad
cyclist still cant stop XD