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Why Dutch Bikes are Better (and why you should want one)

Not Just Bikes1 HN recommenders · 2021–2023
7.2M views · explainer · evergreen · Uploaded 2021-02-08

Not Just Bikes explains why upright Dutch-style bicycles are comfortable and practical, and why they are rare outside the Netherlands.

Cited in cycling and helmet discussions as the standard explanation of the Dutch bike and its safety benefits.

Transit, cities & urban planningCars, EVs & motorcycles

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4 comments from Hacker News

@guerby2021 · in “Amsterdam displaces London as Europe's top stocks centre after Brexit”

Bike power :) [VIDEO] "Why Dutch Bikes are Better (and why you should want one)" By "Not Just bikes" (excellent as usual).

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@black_puppydog2022 · in “Shimano Forces Hammerhead to Remove All Di2 Related Functionality From Karoo”

Yeah reading some of your sibling replies also made me think of Not Just Bikes. But rather the "Why Dutch Bikes are Better (and why you should want one)" video: [VIDEO] Note the timestamp. :P This was literally the only time I had heard the word "hybrid" when discussing bikes. And it's not like I'm a stranger to bikes; I've done virtually all possible repairs one can do on a fully mechanical one at some point.

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@mytherin2022 · in “Forcing Helmets on Cyclists Would Crush Bicycle Use, Says UK Transport Minister”

As a Dutch person hearing people talk about mandatory helmet laws for bikes sounds very strange. Nobody in the Netherlands bikes with a helmet, and it is incredibly safe to bike here (around 10X fewer fatalities per KM ridden than in the US). If you want evidence that biking without a helmet is perfectly safe - there you go. A case study done by an entire country with 18 million inhabitants for a period of 100+ years. Bike safety is an infrastructure problem. Nothing else. Wearing a helmet will not make up for bad infrastructure - biking with bad infrastructure and a helmet is still incredibly dangerous. After you have good infrastructure, biking is already safe, especially when you use a Dutch bike that forces you to sit upright [1] making it far less likely you will fall on your head. Wearing a helmet might improve safety by a marginal amount beyond that - but so would wearing a helmet while walking, or wearing a helmet while in a car. Comparing helmets to seat belts is nonsensical. A seat belt is attached to your car. A helmet has to be carried with you after you leave your bike. Once you use a bike for everything that means you must carry a large helmet with you everywhere you go. It is very inconvenient for people that actually use bikes as their daily mode of transportation, from going to work to going grocery shopping to going to the gym. [1] [VIDEO]

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@Kim_Bruning2023 · in “Bike helmets: what the science says about an American safety obsession”

I think it depends on the type of bike and how you ride it. As far as I'm aware most dutch people consider riding a "normal"[1] dutch bike to be inherently safe. If you're riding a fast racing bike or a mountain bike, you're probably engaged in slightly more risky activity, and people do wear helmets on those bikes. [1] [VIDEO]

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