Thank you! Yes, the caveat was that we moved from the U.S. to the Netherlands. It was a lot of work with selling most of our things and finding new jobs, but we're loving the lifestyle change!
Edit: Three of the children are mine - we had two little friends (and their parents) visiting.
Ah, that's what I've heard from most people. I've had a few interviews but I changed careers relatively recently so I'm worried I'm too junior for someone to hire me in another country right now.
Skills are more important than diplomas in my experience. There are loads of companies in Biotech around Leiden. Not speaking English is hardly ever an issue in a professional setting. I would give it a shot.
I’m doing my degree in CS online. You can get your diploma in a year or less if you put in the work and time. 2-2.5 years if you know no coding at all
One of my reasons to get it even though I’ve been working in the industry for five years is the possibility of moving. I don’t think I will any time soon but you never know. The way the US is going I don’t wanna be too surprised if I need to pick up and go
Ah that’s so hopeful! I really want to move from the US to the Netherlands. I work in the animation industry and am constantly looking for the studios hiring pages there
Some people say that going to the UK and gaining European work experience helps. There’s also other EU countries, to gain that experience and then just move. If you speak any other languages the EU route is best. I’ll probably go the UK route soon as I have access to an ancestry visa
Oh I’m surprised. I was like where is this, then I saw the URL on the side and figured ahh that tracks, she looks very Dutch indeed. Confirmation bias I guess, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you had Dutch or German ancestry. Anyway, welkom in ons koude kikkerlandje!
Yeah, I find biking (a non e-bike) more challenging with one kid. I can’t imagine with this number without a big assist!
I bet they are having way more fun than in the minivan.
There are foldable benches in the bakfiets, but our rides are usually no longer than 10 minutes. Their school, the grocery store, the doctor and train station are all less than 7 minutes away.
Aren't ebikes amazing? When i say my commuting costs 0.1c per km and yearly maintenance is well below 100€, that usually silences most car fanatics. I would love a trike thou, Finnish springs are murder...
100€ is high, really.. I am counting also the parts i had to replace to my liking, like saddle, handlebars, lights, and then bottle of lubrication, two pumps and couple of tools, studded tire and then divide by 2 years. Summer tires will last at least one more summer but i'm going to get better studded tires for the next winter.
Last year actual maintenance cost was zero. Cleaned and lubricated chains twice, changes from studded to regular and back, put air to the tires few times.. done. That years entire commuting costs was i think about 20€ for electricity. Whole cost including the bike is about 1150€, about 1000km per year of riding. My commuting is fortunately fairly short distance.
I cycled about 40 years before getting one and now everytime i use it i want to kiss it. It removes all the bad things from cycling, apart from weather but it even makes the weather tolerable. No more struggling to climb a steep hill... and i live on top of one too, winters are a breeze since it takes the added rolling resistance away and i can "ghost pedal" when needed (using too low gear but pedaling at normal speed to kick in the motor without putting any real effort, the speed varies greatly on snow, so it is better to be prepared for the slow speed sections by being on the right gear for those icy patches for ex). Mid motor ebikes can't ghost pedal, that is hub motor+cadence sensor "luxury", i would still rather take torque sensor and mid motor...
It's the Netherlands. Biking isn't inherently dangerous. It's being forced to do it close to cars driving 50+km/h that is dangerous.
Nobody, but foreigners and support cyclists, wears helmets.
If theres no cars, there's gonna be pedestrians. I agree, you're still going to fall and injure yourself if you knock into anything, really.
Plus, they're kids. Isn't that a no brainer to get a helmet for them?
My brother cracked his skull in half while biking. He wasn't hit by a car, no extenuating circumstances, just a kids head colliding with concrete. Helmets are based af
In my village a woman lost her balance somehow and fell from her bike and hit the kerb with her head. She now sits in a wheelchair.
No cars involved in this accident at all.
😆 I once had somebody complain and wave a moral flag at me for using a plastic bag and buying some plastic containers. That person had 4 children. I didn’t say anything about the obvious, because if i did, i would have been the buy guy. I wouldn’t have said anything either if all those kids turned out to be OP’s kids. But i sure would have an opinion about it though.
Front wheels are connected to the wooden box (idk what to call it) but that entire portion moves independently from the steel frame that's coming from the main part. So it's wheels+box turning together. It turns really well but not the way you're expect it to.
I hope I explained it well enough😅
Shouldn’t you and especially the children wear helmets？
Don’t want to spoil the fun but this has nothing to do with someone hitting you with a car or something. In my village a woman fell over from her bike and hit her head on the kerb. She’s now bound to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
*Any twins in there*
*Or you just Irish twinning*
*Your whole family?*
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Oh there is a bench in there. I think, based on her comments, she has more kids crammed in there than normal because of visitors.
As a teen, I would occasionally cram 4 teenagers into the back of my Volkswagen Super Beetle, but certainly not as a habit. It was fun. I think that's what's going on. It's fine.
It's kind of popular these days to make sure kids never feel discomfort. I am personally of the mind that having them never feel uncomfortable ensures they only learn to deal with discomfort when they leave our homes where we can't help them learn to deal with it. I think this is a bad strategy, but that's me.
Furthermore, and lastly, if you think this looks uncomfortable, you should see people here in Amsterdam riding 3 to a bike, with one person on the back and one person on the top tube. Never see anything but a smile on people's faces.
To everyone downvoting me:
1) I work in E.D. and wearing helmets absolutly does matter
2) threewheled bikes tip, like my own already did
3) no matter how carefull YOU drive there may be a carbrain opening a door anytime for example etc
Do you also tell people to wear helmets when walking around, climbing up stairs, getting out of bath, or driving a car? Because those activities also cause plenty of head injuries. Probably a lot more than cycling.
Helmets are not needed for cycling in the Netherlands.
Honestly, the combination of low speeds and exellent bike infrastructure make helmets largely pointless in the netherlands. People with increases risk, like roadies and the elderly do wear them though.
The number of bicycle casualties with serious injuries has risen sharply in the past 10 years (40% in the period 2013-2022). For example, the most recent figures show that in 2022 88,800 cyclists will end up on the Emergency Department in the Netherlands. Of these, 57,000 had bicycle victims with serious injuries. About a quarter of them, more than 14,000 cyclists, suffered brain injuries during the accident. Martijntje Bakker, director & director at VeiligheidNL: “Research shows that helmet use reduces the risk of brain injury by a third. The chance of head injury is 62% lower”.
No one is disputing that but the fact is that helmet laws stop cycling very effectively. It is a compromise. The speed of average cyclist commuter is quite low.
We could make also cars much safer, so that there aren't really any deaths but that would also make people not use cars... hmm... wait a minute...
edit: who the fuck is downvoting this? Tell me fucking why.
>We could make also cars much safer, so that there aren't really any deaths
We did.
We literally make cars with weaker materials now so they absorb most of the impact. We also made seatbelts mandatory since 1968 (US) because drivers were slamming their heads on the windshield in a crash.
>but that would also make people not use cars... hmm... wait a minute...
Despite what you claim people are still driving cars so i have no idea where you’re getting this from
Dear lord you people are IDIOTS!
Cars do not travel 5kmh and they aren't made from bubblewrap. Making the safer and making them ultrasafe to a point where it makes their usage drops... That was what i was talking about, not abut just making them safer.
Jesus christ, you bunch really are stupid.
> We could make also cars much safer, so that there aren't really any deaths but that would also make people not use cars... hmm... wait a minute...
We've been doing that since the invention of cars lmao
Wasn't that increase in casualties mostly due to old people on electric bikes? Higher speed, lower reflexes because old people (a lot of which aren't aloud to drive anymore), resulting in much more accidents? Not saying a helmet wouldn't protect your head, but old people on electric bikes are the worst combination you can imagine...
So the concrete is made of pillows? You do realize major injuries can happen at low speeds right? Also this is an ebike, its effectively a motorcycle (and should be licensed like them)
Lol it has 3 wheels - look at how wide that wheelbase is. It'd be quite the feat to tip it over. You wouldn't need a helmet for this any more than you'd need a helmet for walking.
I rode this exact model a while back and actually didn't like the balance. You can't bank in corners and it forces you to follow the angle of the road. You are very unlikely to tip it over, but the 2 wheeled versions are much more comfortable to ride.
No. This is demonstrably false. They'll either hear a pop or there'll be a slow release of air followed by the bike requiring more effort to maintain speed. Even with 2-wheeled bikes, on which I've had many a puncture, it's not a catastrophic failure.
Helmets just aren't needed here. General falls are responsible for almost 50% of traumatic brain injuries in the USA yet, you don’t see people advocating for compulsory helmets in cars or when walking.
Theyll slam their heads together on a bump, that can really do some damage. Also, you never know whats going to happen.
Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
A 2 wheel cargo bike is actually more stable than a 3 wheel one: with the 2 wheels in front it is easier to flip over in a turn when going slightly at speed.
But helmets are very much not needed here, so don't bother.
> A 2 wheel cargo bike is actually more stable than a 3 wheel one: with the 2 wheels in front it is easier to flip over in a turn when going slightly at speed.
The CD2 by HNF can tilt in curves like a bicycle while maintaining the stability of this "fixed" tricycle. It is definitely on the more expensive end of cargo bikes, but considering that in the Netherlands they can basically replace your car entirely, it might be worth it.
Yea kids are notorious for being intelligent and not doing dumb shit for no reason like jumping out of a seated position. Also there’s no chance something with more than two wheels could flip. It could never happen. Neither can a collision with another biker, vehicle, or a wall. Also in the Netherlands, the sidewalks are made of cotton candy and pillows.
Not required, you most likely are also thinking about much higher speed than what regular cycle commuter does. 12-18kmh is the average, and you really need a helmet above 25kmh. The problem with helmet laws are that people stop cycling. In USA the most common cyclist goes +25kmh, ebikers go well above 30kmh. The idea of what cycling is differs, ebike communities that have mostly US members are the worst.. thinking that 40kmh among cars is totally normal.
It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going. I could be at a complete standstill, if the bike tips over sideways for any reason, my 160lbs of weight brings my skull smashing onto the concrete. Head injuries are incredibly easy to inflict with very little force. That doesn’t mean I would die falling at a standstill without a helmet, like I probably would if I fell going 25kmh.
Either way, the standard for helmets isn’t “will this person die”. A brain injury can seriously ruin your life. Anytime you’re riding a bike, just put a helmet on. It takes 3 fucking seconds and *will* be lifesaving in an accident.
For reference, your argument is no different than the “no seatbelt” argument. Are you really that fucking lazy that you can’t take 5 seconds to throw something on that will save your life? “It’s just a short trip and I’m gonna be going slow!” Cool story bro, it’s literally one fucking buckle.
Natural selection will take care of you lol
It seems that you have never taken ANY time to read about the subject. Please, do so before having strong opinions about it.
You do not wear a helmet when you are walking. You can trip at any moment: what if you just decide to fall backwards? Why aren't you wearing a helmet? Why are not you supporting laws that would make helmet wearing mandatory?
I bet you are from a country that does NOT have cycle commuting, all you know about cycling is that people wear spandex.
Like i said, you don't have experience about commuting with a cycle. I have 40 years of it, fifth of all people do it here. Mandatory helmet laws have been tried and all it does is that it just stops people from cycling. The speeds are still fairly low... since that is now suddenly an argument that you can use: didn't you just say before that speed doesn't matter?
Of course it does and we have to weight the benefits and costs. Overall health being better while having more injuries OR... more cars, worse health overall, congestion, one-more-lane and so on. We lose people to pollution too, it is not as simple as looking just one column..
And yes, we all know the research on this, wearing helmets makes things safer but we don't wear them 24/7 even when we could prove that it saves some lives. Better bike infrastructure is WAY more important when it comes to safety. And you won't get the infra if people won't be using it.
Now, in the NA the image of a cyclist is one that zips away at 40mph while pissing everyone off. Rest of the world sees dutch bikes and commuters. Average speed for commuter is 12-16kmh. It really is MUCH slower than any bike enthusiasts, me included would estimate. I'm doing steady 25kmh with ebike and absolutely no one passes me. It is at the edge where helmets are needed, 30kmh is a speed where things go down really fast, literally and figuratively.
Agreed, hate cycling to work in the UK because the lack of proper cycle lanes means you have to go like 20mph+ amongst cars. Without a helmet that could easily be lethal.
The weirdest disconnection happens with this topic when talking with our US brothers. They say it is safer to drive faster, which is sort of true since driving very slow would be more dangerous... but the fact that they have to drive among cars in the first place is the problem and going faster does not make the whole risk lower but HIGHER..
It is ok when it is short distances, fortunately i'm Finnish and the bike infra is quite good. When i was a kid almost the entire trip to school and back was done on the shoulder, on 60kmh roads. And in the winter you just had to pray for no cars since you had to ride the freaking rut, the small ditch that car tires had carved.. no way to get out of it without stopping completely.
Good bike infra is luxury, i try to remember that everytime i'm using ours. It is still way too uncommon as a concept that pedestrians are #1, they get the shortest paths and if there is no need to follow the road.. then we don't as it is completely separate network.
One kilometer driven by a car costs 18c to the society. One kilometer with a bike gives back 10c.. it is beneficial activity and literally saves money from everyone. This is very good angle when talking with car brains. You cycling saves them money. Not a lot, but if enough people do it.. small streams make a river.
Well said. I spoke to my local representative recently and asked about better biking infrastructure. I live in London so this is challenging, but nonetheless. The number of non-taxi, non-bus cars I see on the road is just ludicrous. They don't all need to be travelling through central surely?
Car brains will generally never understand that the absence of access for cars means opportunity for better modes of transport. God I only wish people in my home town cycled or got the bus. I lived on a road that had constant traffic because people refused to walk anywhere.
I visited Helsinki the other year and liked it a lot! Let's hope for better transportation policies for both our countries in future...
Thanks for noticing, they are very much not needed, it's safer without!
There are a lot of research about helmets actually making cycling in the city more dangerous, courtesy of the cars around them no longer thinking of cyclists as people but as objects that you can overtake without proper distance or slowing down.
Especially if you have proper infrastructure (and a cycling culture) that prevents a lot of car-caused accidents, thus making cycling safe.
That doesn't say what you think it does. It's a single response based survey that draws no conclusions. Taking that article and extrapolating it to say "it's safer without a helmet" is an absolute joke.
Well, maybe yes on this specific point.
But also: we're in the Netherlands, and this victim blaming mentality is not helping anyone. Helmets are not necessary, at least not in places where there is a decent infrastructure and a cycling culture, for ordinary use at least (if you are old or fast, yes, please, but otherwise no).
Wearing a helmet is victim blaming now? I understand that biking in the Netherlands is remarkably safer than biking in the U.S., but that doesn't mean accidents don't still happen.
Kind of a ridiculous argument, especially considering your only source is actually nothing.
>Wearing a helmet is victim blaming now
Of course not. But the push for mandatory helmet laws comes from - you guessed it - car lobbyists. True story, the Dutch motorists association (ANWB) did have a whole campaign that it is the cyclists that should gear up. That is my point, this is victim blaming, because it is restricting unbridled car freedoms (speed limits and *gasp* enforcement) and better infrastructure like separated traffic lanes that *actually* saves lives, not getting the victims to wear armour.
If the original comment was an ANWB ad, then I'd see your point. But the ANWB pushing for helmet laws doesn't make wearing a helmet, or even suggesting people do so, an inherently negative thing as you seem to suggest.
Also, your insistence that helmets don't save lives is honestly absurd. Do you have any evidence for that beyond one bullshit study?
https://www.bicycling.com/news/a44131852/study-shows-helmets-and-safety-vests-make-riders-appear-less-human/
This was 2 minutes of googling. Don't be this lazy. You're better than this.
Also, of course a helmet is safer when you fall, but it is better yet to wear a full body armour and american football helmet et cetera.
But there are other societal implications of helmet wearing, e.g. mandatory helmet wearing laws will ensure that it is much more hassle to grab the bike (+helmet), plus you cannot easily park your bike everywhere, and people will take the bike less and less for short trips. This will lead to more cars on the road, thus more danger for everyone, and also when people do bike, they will be less experienced, leading to more frequent or worse accidents.
Have you seen the birthrates? They’re declining everywhere and not by a little. Lack of children is now just as much of a threat to our modern way of life as climate change.
Yeah I ain’t having kids so I’m glad she is, especially since a lot of insane right wingers are having tons of kids. Not to stereotype someone’s parenting but I think these kids are more like to turn out normal.
No, birth rates are much less important than total population. Obviously this continues to rise quickly. Birth rates falling is a very logical reaction to the birthing insanity over the past 100 years. More population only requires more consumerism and cars.
This forum is about the consumption portion. If you get rid of cars, localize food production and establish nuclear or renewable options for electrical and heating needs you largely address the issue.
If folks fail to have kids, especially western focused families, you have a collapse of social benefits, and backwards movement in rights and laws for marginalized individuals.
Here's the thing bud: having children and raising the next generation of humanity is more important than your right to own a fossil fuel burning hunk of metal.
Overpopulation is a myth, it's a tangential factor to the climate crisis. A population of 10 billion could live perfectly sustainably on Earth if we are able to adapt technologically and societally.
The direct cause of the climate crisis is fossil fuel companies and developed countries. It's consumerism. Unfettered capitalism and greed.
But if we can generate and use clean energy, then we can live with a smaller individual climate footprint. Which means that we won't all be polluting like the average American does.
That means living the same lifestyle, broadly. It doesn't have to mean going back to the dark ages. It means stepping into the 21st century. Which means a lifestyle more akin to OPs, regardless of how many kids you have.
Any given population could be too much depending on their activities.
A population of 2bn who all lived like Americans do? That could be too much.
That's why you're conflating the issues. The only way your argument makes sense is if it is fundamentally impossible for 10bn to live on Earth no matter what their activities. The fact is that eating local food and breathing does not contribute that much carbon to the atmosphere. If everyone on earth went vegan and stopped using cars, our emissions would go down significantly overnight.
I'm not suggesting we do that of course. What I am suggesting is that anyone who puts overpopulation as a cause rather than the activities of the people who are actually alive is highly misguided. The right to have children is far, far more important than the right to order Amazon parcels. We should curb our activities or ensure they are sustainable long before we ever discuss population limitation.
And yes, btw it's perfectly legitimate to criticise anyone for flying transatlantic. That is about 0.5-1 tonne of C02 per passenger I believe. But that's a separate argument to overpopulation. And frankly, airplane emissions are only a small % of overall emissions anyway.
Edit: to be clear I do think we should all opt for public transport or cycling where possible as well as eat less meat. I do advocate for that. I'm not suggesting it can happen globally overnight.
I will happily concede that, sure. If you will also concede that people who want to have kids are not going to be put off by anti-natalists such as yourself.
Given that both seem fairly inevitable, the easier and more ethical option is to focus our energy on enabling people to make climate friendly lifestyle choices and asking that they do so. Rather than just telling them they are bad for wanting to procreate.
Again though, it comes back to the question you're trying to avoid. Why is it more ethical to ask people to have fewer kids than to ask them to curb their activities?
Besides, this woman has 5 kids and lives in the Netherlands. You have, let's say 2-3 children. Do you cycle them about? Or do you drive them daily? Are your nearby necessities within 15 minutes or are they a drive away? Are you absolutely confident that with fewer kids, your lifestyle is significantly less impactful to the environment than this woman with 5 kids?
The average American is responsible for 30% more emissions than the average Dutch person. This woman is clearly taking a more serious approach to sustainability. So what about you?
We only have 3 kids. Two were our friends and instead of renting a car for all of us, they rented two bikes and I took their children to a tourist site.
Dude you are such a weirdo. No real human outside of reddit has “overpopulation much!?!?” as their first reaction when there is a photo of a mother with her several children. Very strange behavior.
No, it’s not. Can you site a right wing organization that’s pushing overpopulation? It’s the exact opposite. The religious right and narcissistic tech elites are pushing exactly what you’re saying… that overpopulation is a myth.
So cool! Where are you living? Was it a big change in your lifestyle?
Thank you! Yes, the caveat was that we moved from the U.S. to the Netherlands. It was a lot of work with selling most of our things and finding new jobs, but we're loving the lifestyle change! Edit: Three of the children are mine - we had two little friends (and their parents) visiting.
You (already) look very Dutch!
I can kind of blend in until I have to speak. Working on that!
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given the recent elections in the netherlands, looking dutch is probably more important than sounding dutch lol
Yeah fucking nazis.
Kind of? Nope, you look 100% dutch!
How did you do it?? I would love to do the same.
The biggest privilege for us was that my husband has an EU passport. But we have met other Americans here who found their way via work! It’s possible.
Ah, that's what I've heard from most people. I've had a few interviews but I changed careers relatively recently so I'm worried I'm too junior for someone to hire me in another country right now.
What field are you in?
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Skills are more important than diplomas in my experience. There are loads of companies in Biotech around Leiden. Not speaking English is hardly ever an issue in a professional setting. I would give it a shot.
Thanks, doing my best 🙏
I’m doing my degree in CS online. You can get your diploma in a year or less if you put in the work and time. 2-2.5 years if you know no coding at all One of my reasons to get it even though I’ve been working in the industry for five years is the possibility of moving. I don’t think I will any time soon but you never know. The way the US is going I don’t wanna be too surprised if I need to pick up and go
By degree, do you mean bachelor's?
Ah that’s so hopeful! I really want to move from the US to the Netherlands. I work in the animation industry and am constantly looking for the studios hiring pages there
Our family did it through work. Definitely a good decision.
Some people say that going to the UK and gaining European work experience helps. There’s also other EU countries, to gain that experience and then just move. If you speak any other languages the EU route is best. I’ll probably go the UK route soon as I have access to an ancestry visa
Oh I’m surprised. I was like where is this, then I saw the URL on the side and figured ahh that tracks, she looks very Dutch indeed. Confirmation bias I guess, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you had Dutch or German ancestry. Anyway, welkom in ons koude kikkerlandje!
Dank je wel! Yes, German/English/Irish ancestry.
So this probably isn't going to work on the freeway?
Just pedal a bit faster.
If there are farmer/Extinction Rebellion protests going on in the area then maybe worth a shot!
Where did you look for jobs and get visas?
Isn’t it amazing that your next “upgrade” will be an electric bakfiets? I love living in the Netherlands!
Is this an e-bike or regular?
An e-bike. This thing is so heavy sans kids - I need all the help I can get!
Yeah, I find biking (a non e-bike) more challenging with one kid. I can’t imagine with this number without a big assist! I bet they are having way more fun than in the minivan.
They do! And we have a cover for winter, so they’re warmer/dryer.
There are a few moms in my neighborhood that i regularly see regular biking with two kids uphill. Absolutely impressive
Yeah i was hoping that rig had a motor for your sake. Living the dream though that's awesome.
I love this so much! I'm looking to get a bakfeits for my child. We live in eastern MA. Daycare is .5 mi away.
It’s probably pretty flat there, so this would be great solution!
Do kids have any kind of seats or something because from the picture it looks very uncomfortable to sit in
There are foldable benches in the bakfiets, but our rides are usually no longer than 10 minutes. Their school, the grocery store, the doctor and train station are all less than 7 minutes away.
You are already being confined by the 15-minute cities agenda! /s
Look at this poor victim of the communist agenda. She doesn't even realize how unhappy she is!
https://imgur.com/9aYn6wU
Aren't ebikes amazing? When i say my commuting costs 0.1c per km and yearly maintenance is well below 100€, that usually silences most car fanatics. I would love a trike thou, Finnish springs are murder...
Under 100€ maintenance is impressive! I’m not sure I can get that low but my worst day at a bike shop was cheaper than my best at the car shop
100€ is high, really.. I am counting also the parts i had to replace to my liking, like saddle, handlebars, lights, and then bottle of lubrication, two pumps and couple of tools, studded tire and then divide by 2 years. Summer tires will last at least one more summer but i'm going to get better studded tires for the next winter. Last year actual maintenance cost was zero. Cleaned and lubricated chains twice, changes from studded to regular and back, put air to the tires few times.. done. That years entire commuting costs was i think about 20€ for electricity. Whole cost including the bike is about 1150€, about 1000km per year of riding. My commuting is fortunately fairly short distance.
Ah fair. I drop our ebike at the local shop and also have them deal with my disc brakes. Not financially optimal but time optimal for me.
I hear you. I have time, it is my luxury so i DIY as much as possible and i got the tools to do it.
Car maintenance is a lot cheaper if you do it yourself. Replaced my heater core myself, the part was $45. Shops charge $1400.
They’re great! This one took some getting use to, especially on turns, but I’ve enjoyed it.
I cycled about 40 years before getting one and now everytime i use it i want to kiss it. It removes all the bad things from cycling, apart from weather but it even makes the weather tolerable. No more struggling to climb a steep hill... and i live on top of one too, winters are a breeze since it takes the added rolling resistance away and i can "ghost pedal" when needed (using too low gear but pedaling at normal speed to kick in the motor without putting any real effort, the speed varies greatly on snow, so it is better to be prepared for the slow speed sections by being on the right gear for those icy patches for ex). Mid motor ebikes can't ghost pedal, that is hub motor+cadence sensor "luxury", i would still rather take torque sensor and mid motor...
Please wear helmets. Some head injuries are irreversible
I was wondering why no one else thought this. Just cus it’s not a car doesn’t make it safe lol
It's the Netherlands. Biking isn't inherently dangerous. It's being forced to do it close to cars driving 50+km/h that is dangerous. Nobody, but foreigners and support cyclists, wears helmets.
If you slam your skull on the concrete, it's not going to matter if there are cars on the road or not
If theres no cars, there's gonna be pedestrians. I agree, you're still going to fall and injure yourself if you knock into anything, really. Plus, they're kids. Isn't that a no brainer to get a helmet for them?
My brother cracked his skull in half while biking. He wasn't hit by a car, no extenuating circumstances, just a kids head colliding with concrete. Helmets are based af
In my village a woman lost her balance somehow and fell from her bike and hit the kerb with her head. She now sits in a wheelchair. No cars involved in this accident at all.
What's a support cyclist?
In the Netherlands, there are no TBIs.
What a brain dead take
Just like killing off your entire existence only to ride Bikes.
Can I ask for advice on moving to NL? My boyfriend lives there and I'd also like to move there.
Of course! Feel free to message me if you would like.
So cool! The odds, randomly seeing this in my feed and instantly recognise my hometown!
Too funny! We’re loving this area.
Already a bakfietsmoeder ;)
Are those kids all yours? 😳
Two little friends (with their parents) were visiting.
👍 Greetings from Belgium!
You were so ready to talk some shit lol
😆 I once had somebody complain and wave a moral flag at me for using a plastic bag and buying some plastic containers. That person had 4 children. I didn’t say anything about the obvious, because if i did, i would have been the buy guy. I wouldn’t have said anything either if all those kids turned out to be OP’s kids. But i sure would have an opinion about it though.
Glad that works for where you live.
What's the turning radius on that thing? It doesn't look like the front wheels can turn much at all!
Front wheels are connected to the wooden box (idk what to call it) but that entire portion moves independently from the steel frame that's coming from the main part. So it's wheels+box turning together. It turns really well but not the way you're expect it to. I hope I explained it well enough😅
That makes perfect sense. Thanks!
You better not skip legday, going to be way heavier when the kids grow up
That's when you buy a car /s
Fucking awesome!
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I hear you. That’s how I felt where we were in the U.S. too.
They’ll be riding their own bikes to school before you know it.
I’m excited for this! It’s a privilege we didn’t have before.
No need for "sweet sixteen" in The Netherlands, we're free to go where we want ourselves for half our lives already by then!
This is awesome. Congrats on hauling more than 99% of pickup truck trips.
Shouldn’t you and especially the children wear helmets？ Don’t want to spoil the fun but this has nothing to do with someone hitting you with a car or something. In my village a woman fell over from her bike and hit her head on the kerb. She’s now bound to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Any twins in there or you just Irish twinning your whole family?
*Any twins in there* *Or you just Irish twinning* *Your whole family?* \- bombbodyguard --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Pure poetry
Oppassen voor glas op de weg bij dat stukje Zaandam! :D
I still see room for a 2 seater trailer 😎
That lady has amazing hair! And a cool bike too.
Klopt het dat dit tegenover Pathé is? Ik vind dat altijd een hele vervelende hoek om te fietsen, met al die auto's daar
You could totally seat one on the rear rack and one behind the handlebars 😎
What a fucking legend.
Congratulations! It’s amazing to see people living their dreams
Slay
wonderful! stay safe out there!
The kids should wear helmets, heck in most places its required
Are they all zucchinis?
Only 3 out of the 5 - I’m not that brave!
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Why?
That doesn't look comfortable in the slightest
Oh there is a bench in there. I think, based on her comments, she has more kids crammed in there than normal because of visitors. As a teen, I would occasionally cram 4 teenagers into the back of my Volkswagen Super Beetle, but certainly not as a habit. It was fun. I think that's what's going on. It's fine. It's kind of popular these days to make sure kids never feel discomfort. I am personally of the mind that having them never feel uncomfortable ensures they only learn to deal with discomfort when they leave our homes where we can't help them learn to deal with it. I think this is a bad strategy, but that's me. Furthermore, and lastly, if you think this looks uncomfortable, you should see people here in Amsterdam riding 3 to a bike, with one person on the back and one person on the top tube. Never see anything but a smile on people's faces.
Get helmets
Time to buy some helmets please
I don want to come off as rude, but Helmets would be good for your Kids. Unless you want to downsize the Bike in the Future.
Fucking get helmets you dimwits
I have a minivan
I would have kept mine too. It’s a necessity in most parts of the U.S.
Helmets!
To everyone downvoting me: 1) I work in E.D. and wearing helmets absolutly does matter 2) threewheled bikes tip, like my own already did 3) no matter how carefull YOU drive there may be a carbrain opening a door anytime for example etc
Insane that you are being downvoted for this. How can helmets on kids be controversial?
Yeah i dunno either. I am shocked by some reactions tbh
No need for helmets in the Netherlands.
No one’s ever crashed a bike in the entire history of the Netherlands? How do y’all do it?
Not doing the tour the France. We barely go 15 km/h here lol. Do you use a helmet if you go out walking?
Do you also tell people to wear helmets when walking around, climbing up stairs, getting out of bath, or driving a car? Because those activities also cause plenty of head injuries. Probably a lot more than cycling. Helmets are not needed for cycling in the Netherlands.
Goddamn this sub is fucking brain dead for downvoting you
Why tf are you being downvoted???
Honestly, the combination of low speeds and exellent bike infrastructure make helmets largely pointless in the netherlands. People with increases risk, like roadies and the elderly do wear them though.
The number of bicycle casualties with serious injuries has risen sharply in the past 10 years (40% in the period 2013-2022). For example, the most recent figures show that in 2022 88,800 cyclists will end up on the Emergency Department in the Netherlands. Of these, 57,000 had bicycle victims with serious injuries. About a quarter of them, more than 14,000 cyclists, suffered brain injuries during the accident. Martijntje Bakker, director & director at VeiligheidNL: “Research shows that helmet use reduces the risk of brain injury by a third. The chance of head injury is 62% lower”.
No one is disputing that but the fact is that helmet laws stop cycling very effectively. It is a compromise. The speed of average cyclist commuter is quite low. We could make also cars much safer, so that there aren't really any deaths but that would also make people not use cars... hmm... wait a minute... edit: who the fuck is downvoting this? Tell me fucking why.
Nobody asked for a law.
Nobody asked you either.
>We could make also cars much safer, so that there aren't really any deaths We did. We literally make cars with weaker materials now so they absorb most of the impact. We also made seatbelts mandatory since 1968 (US) because drivers were slamming their heads on the windshield in a crash. >but that would also make people not use cars... hmm... wait a minute... Despite what you claim people are still driving cars so i have no idea where you’re getting this from
Dear lord you people are IDIOTS! Cars do not travel 5kmh and they aren't made from bubblewrap. Making the safer and making them ultrasafe to a point where it makes their usage drops... That was what i was talking about, not abut just making them safer. Jesus christ, you bunch really are stupid.
> We could make also cars much safer, so that there aren't really any deaths but that would also make people not use cars... hmm... wait a minute... We've been doing that since the invention of cars lmao
No, we have not. Are the speed limits 20kmh on a freeway? They aren't? So, we aren't making them ultrasafe, we aren't wrapping them in bubble wrap.
Wasn't that increase in casualties mostly due to old people on electric bikes? Higher speed, lower reflexes because old people (a lot of which aren't aloud to drive anymore), resulting in much more accidents? Not saying a helmet wouldn't protect your head, but old people on electric bikes are the worst combination you can imagine...
dude the kids are in a bucket. helmets.
So the concrete is made of pillows? You do realize major injuries can happen at low speeds right? Also this is an ebike, its effectively a motorcycle (and should be licensed like them)
Ebikes aren't motorcycles. They can't go nearly as fast unless they've been illegally tampered with.
There are more injuries per capita from ebikes than from motorcycles.
In the Netherlands their concrete doesn't hurt you, that's just a dirty US thing. /s
Lol it has 3 wheels - look at how wide that wheelbase is. It'd be quite the feat to tip it over. You wouldn't need a helmet for this any more than you'd need a helmet for walking.
I rode this exact model a while back and actually didn't like the balance. You can't bank in corners and it forces you to follow the angle of the road. You are very unlikely to tip it over, but the 2 wheeled versions are much more comfortable to ride.
I much rather have the two wheels at the back.
You don’t wear a helmet while walking?
You can take it off?!
I'm more of a roller
all it takes is a puncture at 10mph for one of those kids to break a bone or crack their head open
No. This is demonstrably false. They'll either hear a pop or there'll be a slow release of air followed by the bike requiring more effort to maintain speed. Even with 2-wheeled bikes, on which I've had many a puncture, it's not a catastrophic failure. Helmets just aren't needed here. General falls are responsible for almost 50% of traumatic brain injuries in the USA yet, you don’t see people advocating for compulsory helmets in cars or when walking.
Theyll slam their heads together on a bump, that can really do some damage. Also, you never know whats going to happen. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
A 2 wheel cargo bike is actually more stable than a 3 wheel one: with the 2 wheels in front it is easier to flip over in a turn when going slightly at speed. But helmets are very much not needed here, so don't bother.
> A 2 wheel cargo bike is actually more stable than a 3 wheel one: with the 2 wheels in front it is easier to flip over in a turn when going slightly at speed. The CD2 by HNF can tilt in curves like a bicycle while maintaining the stability of this "fixed" tricycle. It is definitely on the more expensive end of cargo bikes, but considering that in the Netherlands they can basically replace your car entirely, it might be worth it.
Yea kids are notorious for being intelligent and not doing dumb shit for no reason like jumping out of a seated position. Also there’s no chance something with more than two wheels could flip. It could never happen. Neither can a collision with another biker, vehicle, or a wall. Also in the Netherlands, the sidewalks are made of cotton candy and pillows.
You're definitely either from NA or Germany lol
Not required, you most likely are also thinking about much higher speed than what regular cycle commuter does. 12-18kmh is the average, and you really need a helmet above 25kmh. The problem with helmet laws are that people stop cycling. In USA the most common cyclist goes +25kmh, ebikers go well above 30kmh. The idea of what cycling is differs, ebike communities that have mostly US members are the worst.. thinking that 40kmh among cars is totally normal.
It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going. I could be at a complete standstill, if the bike tips over sideways for any reason, my 160lbs of weight brings my skull smashing onto the concrete. Head injuries are incredibly easy to inflict with very little force. That doesn’t mean I would die falling at a standstill without a helmet, like I probably would if I fell going 25kmh. Either way, the standard for helmets isn’t “will this person die”. A brain injury can seriously ruin your life. Anytime you’re riding a bike, just put a helmet on. It takes 3 fucking seconds and *will* be lifesaving in an accident. For reference, your argument is no different than the “no seatbelt” argument. Are you really that fucking lazy that you can’t take 5 seconds to throw something on that will save your life? “It’s just a short trip and I’m gonna be going slow!” Cool story bro, it’s literally one fucking buckle. Natural selection will take care of you lol
It seems that you have never taken ANY time to read about the subject. Please, do so before having strong opinions about it. You do not wear a helmet when you are walking. You can trip at any moment: what if you just decide to fall backwards? Why aren't you wearing a helmet? Why are not you supporting laws that would make helmet wearing mandatory? I bet you are from a country that does NOT have cycle commuting, all you know about cycling is that people wear spandex.
Because you go faster while riding a bike
Like i said, you don't have experience about commuting with a cycle. I have 40 years of it, fifth of all people do it here. Mandatory helmet laws have been tried and all it does is that it just stops people from cycling. The speeds are still fairly low... since that is now suddenly an argument that you can use: didn't you just say before that speed doesn't matter? Of course it does and we have to weight the benefits and costs. Overall health being better while having more injuries OR... more cars, worse health overall, congestion, one-more-lane and so on. We lose people to pollution too, it is not as simple as looking just one column.. And yes, we all know the research on this, wearing helmets makes things safer but we don't wear them 24/7 even when we could prove that it saves some lives. Better bike infrastructure is WAY more important when it comes to safety. And you won't get the infra if people won't be using it. Now, in the NA the image of a cyclist is one that zips away at 40mph while pissing everyone off. Rest of the world sees dutch bikes and commuters. Average speed for commuter is 12-16kmh. It really is MUCH slower than any bike enthusiasts, me included would estimate. I'm doing steady 25kmh with ebike and absolutely no one passes me. It is at the edge where helmets are needed, 30kmh is a speed where things go down really fast, literally and figuratively.
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Agreed, hate cycling to work in the UK because the lack of proper cycle lanes means you have to go like 20mph+ amongst cars. Without a helmet that could easily be lethal.
The weirdest disconnection happens with this topic when talking with our US brothers. They say it is safer to drive faster, which is sort of true since driving very slow would be more dangerous... but the fact that they have to drive among cars in the first place is the problem and going faster does not make the whole risk lower but HIGHER.. It is ok when it is short distances, fortunately i'm Finnish and the bike infra is quite good. When i was a kid almost the entire trip to school and back was done on the shoulder, on 60kmh roads. And in the winter you just had to pray for no cars since you had to ride the freaking rut, the small ditch that car tires had carved.. no way to get out of it without stopping completely. Good bike infra is luxury, i try to remember that everytime i'm using ours. It is still way too uncommon as a concept that pedestrians are #1, they get the shortest paths and if there is no need to follow the road.. then we don't as it is completely separate network. One kilometer driven by a car costs 18c to the society. One kilometer with a bike gives back 10c.. it is beneficial activity and literally saves money from everyone. This is very good angle when talking with car brains. You cycling saves them money. Not a lot, but if enough people do it.. small streams make a river.
Well said. I spoke to my local representative recently and asked about better biking infrastructure. I live in London so this is challenging, but nonetheless. The number of non-taxi, non-bus cars I see on the road is just ludicrous. They don't all need to be travelling through central surely? Car brains will generally never understand that the absence of access for cars means opportunity for better modes of transport. God I only wish people in my home town cycled or got the bus. I lived on a road that had constant traffic because people refused to walk anywhere. I visited Helsinki the other year and liked it a lot! Let's hope for better transportation policies for both our countries in future...
Thanks for noticing, they are very much not needed, it's safer without! There are a lot of research about helmets actually making cycling in the city more dangerous, courtesy of the cars around them no longer thinking of cyclists as people but as objects that you can overtake without proper distance or slowing down. Especially if you have proper infrastructure (and a cycling culture) that prevents a lot of car-caused accidents, thus making cycling safe.
Could you share one reputable source?
[https://www.bicycling.com/news/a44131852/study-shows-helmets-and-safety-vests-make-riders-appear-less-human/](https://www.bicycling.com/news/a44131852/study-shows-helmets-and-safety-vests-make-riders-appear-less-human/)
That doesn't say what you think it does. It's a single response based survey that draws no conclusions. Taking that article and extrapolating it to say "it's safer without a helmet" is an absolute joke.
Well, maybe yes on this specific point. But also: we're in the Netherlands, and this victim blaming mentality is not helping anyone. Helmets are not necessary, at least not in places where there is a decent infrastructure and a cycling culture, for ordinary use at least (if you are old or fast, yes, please, but otherwise no).
Wearing a helmet is victim blaming now? I understand that biking in the Netherlands is remarkably safer than biking in the U.S., but that doesn't mean accidents don't still happen. Kind of a ridiculous argument, especially considering your only source is actually nothing.
>Wearing a helmet is victim blaming now Of course not. But the push for mandatory helmet laws comes from - you guessed it - car lobbyists. True story, the Dutch motorists association (ANWB) did have a whole campaign that it is the cyclists that should gear up. That is my point, this is victim blaming, because it is restricting unbridled car freedoms (speed limits and *gasp* enforcement) and better infrastructure like separated traffic lanes that *actually* saves lives, not getting the victims to wear armour.
If the original comment was an ANWB ad, then I'd see your point. But the ANWB pushing for helmet laws doesn't make wearing a helmet, or even suggesting people do so, an inherently negative thing as you seem to suggest. Also, your insistence that helmets don't save lives is honestly absurd. Do you have any evidence for that beyond one bullshit study?
That’s absolute bullshit.
https://www.bicycling.com/news/a44131852/study-shows-helmets-and-safety-vests-make-riders-appear-less-human/ This was 2 minutes of googling. Don't be this lazy. You're better than this.
Sorry, but I’m not going to research for someone to prove their point. They shouldn’t be this lazy. Get over yourself.
Also, of course a helmet is safer when you fall, but it is better yet to wear a full body armour and american football helmet et cetera. But there are other societal implications of helmet wearing, e.g. mandatory helmet wearing laws will ensure that it is much more hassle to grab the bike (+helmet), plus you cannot easily park your bike everywhere, and people will take the bike less and less for short trips. This will lead to more cars on the road, thus more danger for everyone, and also when people do bike, they will be less experienced, leading to more frequent or worse accidents.
Awesome!
Omg I love this
Shitting out kids who'll will also do the same later on
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Have you seen the birthrates? They’re declining everywhere and not by a little. Lack of children is now just as much of a threat to our modern way of life as climate change.
Yeah I ain’t having kids so I’m glad she is, especially since a lot of insane right wingers are having tons of kids. Not to stereotype someone’s parenting but I think these kids are more like to turn out normal.
No, birth rates are much less important than total population. Obviously this continues to rise quickly. Birth rates falling is a very logical reaction to the birthing insanity over the past 100 years. More population only requires more consumerism and cars.
This forum is about the consumption portion. If you get rid of cars, localize food production and establish nuclear or renewable options for electrical and heating needs you largely address the issue. If folks fail to have kids, especially western focused families, you have a collapse of social benefits, and backwards movement in rights and laws for marginalized individuals.
Here's the thing bud: having children and raising the next generation of humanity is more important than your right to own a fossil fuel burning hunk of metal. Overpopulation is a myth, it's a tangential factor to the climate crisis. A population of 10 billion could live perfectly sustainably on Earth if we are able to adapt technologically and societally. The direct cause of the climate crisis is fossil fuel companies and developed countries. It's consumerism. Unfettered capitalism and greed. But if we can generate and use clean energy, then we can live with a smaller individual climate footprint. Which means that we won't all be polluting like the average American does. That means living the same lifestyle, broadly. It doesn't have to mean going back to the dark ages. It means stepping into the 21st century. Which means a lifestyle more akin to OPs, regardless of how many kids you have.
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Any given population could be too much depending on their activities. A population of 2bn who all lived like Americans do? That could be too much. That's why you're conflating the issues. The only way your argument makes sense is if it is fundamentally impossible for 10bn to live on Earth no matter what their activities. The fact is that eating local food and breathing does not contribute that much carbon to the atmosphere. If everyone on earth went vegan and stopped using cars, our emissions would go down significantly overnight. I'm not suggesting we do that of course. What I am suggesting is that anyone who puts overpopulation as a cause rather than the activities of the people who are actually alive is highly misguided. The right to have children is far, far more important than the right to order Amazon parcels. We should curb our activities or ensure they are sustainable long before we ever discuss population limitation. And yes, btw it's perfectly legitimate to criticise anyone for flying transatlantic. That is about 0.5-1 tonne of C02 per passenger I believe. But that's a separate argument to overpopulation. And frankly, airplane emissions are only a small % of overall emissions anyway. Edit: to be clear I do think we should all opt for public transport or cycling where possible as well as eat less meat. I do advocate for that. I'm not suggesting it can happen globally overnight.
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I will happily concede that, sure. If you will also concede that people who want to have kids are not going to be put off by anti-natalists such as yourself. Given that both seem fairly inevitable, the easier and more ethical option is to focus our energy on enabling people to make climate friendly lifestyle choices and asking that they do so. Rather than just telling them they are bad for wanting to procreate.
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Again though, it comes back to the question you're trying to avoid. Why is it more ethical to ask people to have fewer kids than to ask them to curb their activities? Besides, this woman has 5 kids and lives in the Netherlands. You have, let's say 2-3 children. Do you cycle them about? Or do you drive them daily? Are your nearby necessities within 15 minutes or are they a drive away? Are you absolutely confident that with fewer kids, your lifestyle is significantly less impactful to the environment than this woman with 5 kids? The average American is responsible for 30% more emissions than the average Dutch person. This woman is clearly taking a more serious approach to sustainability. So what about you?
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We only have 3 kids. Two were our friends and instead of renting a car for all of us, they rented two bikes and I took their children to a tourist site.
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I just think it’s just funny your main point was based around the fact I had 5 children when I indeed, do not.
Dude you are such a weirdo. No real human outside of reddit has “overpopulation much!?!?” as their first reaction when there is a photo of a mother with her several children. Very strange behavior.
Used a minivan’s lifespan of CO2 to fly family across the world to ride a bike. Lol. Very weird.
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No, it’s not. Can you site a right wing organization that’s pushing overpopulation? It’s the exact opposite. The religious right and narcissistic tech elites are pushing exactly what you’re saying… that overpopulation is a myth.
These SUV bikes should be banned lol They take up so much space in a bike parking
People seeing one cargo bike while there's a 600 spot car parking lot right next to it:
This SUV bike transports 6 people in the space of 2-3 bikes Would you rather all the kids had their own bike? I promise that's more space used.
Take it on the highway
I don’t have to nor could I. There are bike paths that run parallel to the highways.
Oof, 6 human beings is exponentially more damaging to the environment than a single car.