Where can one buy Dutch / European bikes online?

[LemonGuy]

Hi, As a tall 6'6 rider, I've been looking for big bikes for quite a while now, and discovered that European bike companies, especially Dutch ones like Batavus (also Gazelle and the expensive Koga) offer commuting and touring bikes as tall as 65cm and 66cm. I've been looking for reputable online sites who carry either of these brands (not necessarily located in the US) and can ship bikes internationally. However I couldn't find any. Anyone knows of such places?

 

[CommanderFokker]

Shipping a bike from Europe will cost a **** ton of money. Back in 2007 I ordered a Grundig Beezz RCD 6800 DEC(Mp3 player boombox from Germany that takes usb and SD cards, which I am selling btw for those in North NJ) from Germany.

This is the cost:
Product Value 66,30 Euros
plus Shipping/Handling 52,94 Euros (The weight was 3.32 kg)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Value 119,24 Euros

I also ordered alot of Greek books from Greece and shipping also almost doubles the price on books too. Alot of times my grandmother ships huge vats of Greek olive oil through some Greek shipping company in Pireaus, Athens and pick it up in New York City. I think that is much more affordable then using postal service, but I don't know the details about how to do that, or if it could be done without knowing people locally.

So a high end Dutch bike might cost so much with the shipping that would double or almost double the price that you could maybe even get a custom bike frame. There has to be something on the American market for bigger people. Or maybe you can just import the frame/fork from Europe.

 

[CommanderFokker]

Actually I found this: Fourth Floor Distribution : Canadian and United States Distribution Partner of Dutch and European Bicycles
They are a distributor for Batavus and other European city bike makers in North America. At first I thought the European bikes were all ****, they probably are for speed, but I read a little of the above website ( ..:: Fourth Floor Distribution ::.. ) and they say that European city bikes that are made to store outside year round without rusting. But in North America, you cannot do that anyway without it getting stolen after a while.

 

[rschleicher]

I used to travel to the Netherlands a lot on business, and the thing that I always thought was cool about a lot of Dutch commuter bikes was the completely enclosed chain. (Basically they used chain guards that covered the whole chain and chainring.) This was really nice for riding in your business clothes (or other "regular" clothes), especially in the rain. (These bikes also had full fenders.)

The vast majority of Dutch people seemed to own commuter bikes - and then a fair subset owned road bikes for recreational/sport use.

Unless you WANT to ride hills (the vast majority of the country is very flat), it's a great country to ride in.

 

[CommanderFokker]

Another forum has a "Clydesdales/Tall Riders" section.

That may be a place to check out, too.

 

[gordonharris912]

Are you aware of how heavy the Gazelle and other Dutch bikes are? They're fine for short flat rides, and in Holland a third of the population commutes on these bikes. But they will definitely slow you down if you are trying to do distance or speed. That said, a friend of mine rode across the country with me, and she was on a Gazelle. She never used her "granny gear" even on the steepest hills.

I have some interesting photos of people riding in Amsterdam at www.bikenewengland.com/amsterdam.html.

Gordon Harris
Bike New England

 

[garage sale GT]

You could get an Indian made Raleigh DL-1 replica from yellowjersey.com. Those come in a 24" size.