Dutch Bike Co Weblog

I find myself in a quandary. I've had this dilemma for a few years now. It's a thorny one, with which I've found myself wrestling on the bike, on foot, in cafes and bars, or anywhere else bike traffic is visible. This dilemma bears on a sensitive idea; one we frequently debate at the shop but have barely touched in the blog: style.

I will not be pretending an ability to render any sort of objective judgment on bicycle or sartorial elegance in this post, nor will I project my own values onto the simpler question I'll address here. You won't hear me tell you to wear “fashionable-three-quarter-length-pants” and certainly nothing so tired as to stop wearing neon helmet covers (even if I try to avoid them). I won't be debating the stylistic merits – or demerits, depending on your point of view – of colored tires, matching fenders, or ground effect lighting, or telling you to wear jeans on your training ride. Use equipment that works well for what you're doing, and wear what you want to wear.

The basic intersection of style and bicycles has little to do with whether you prefer denim or tweed or linen, and even less to do with what you choose to ride. The crux lies in how your riding influences your style. However you choose to express yourself through your appearance – be it clothing, accessories, hair, or makeup – that expression must necessarily extend to the hours you spend on your bicycle, and if you're reading this blog those hours are likely not few. How do you let your chosen appearance change when you ride? If you commute, do you change your clothes to do so, or do you wear your normal clothing? By extension, do you feel that you look like yourself while you ride, or do you feel like a bike person? How do you feel about that? The answers to these questions can come in many forms, and will be dictated by everything from meteorology and physiology to geography and demography. In fact, what you actually wear matters much less than how you feel about it. Comfort and aesthetics are different for everyone, but the more it rains the more important it becomes to like your raingear.

Back out on the street it's easy to see who's comfortable and who's not. Not the cyclist passing by who wore the clothes most appropriate for the weather, but the one that knows they look good. Whatever “good” may actually mean for that particular rider, it's pretty obvious when someone hasn't compromised their style to ride their bike, or at least feels at home in what they've chosen to wear. Conversely, it's quite painful to see someone living on their bike who obviously doesn't enjoy what they've ended up wearing. There seems to be an industry-wide assumption that when we swing a leg over a top tube we don't get to look like anybody except “bike guy.” Whether you're dressing like a Boeing supercommuter, a couture model, or a (hardcourt bike polo) Guardian, I'm a fan of choices. Anyone that has been able to see past an industry that tells them to wear a uniform is being a vitally important kind of cycling advocate- they're showing everyone one less sacrifice that must be made to ride a bike. When you roll out happy about how you look, you show each person standing on the sidewalk next to their car that they can do the same.

At last this brings me back to my quandary. I feel quite strongly about this subject, to the point that I would love to dispense heartfelt praise and excited high-fives to more than a few strangers on the street. Despite my utter sincerity, our culture isn't very comfortable – especially in Seattle – with that sort of behavior, and honestly there have been awkward moments. I'd love to be able to tell someone that I think they're doing a great job making cycling look stylistically accessible, but I haven't found a way to express it quickly and clearly enough to avoid uncomfortable misunderstandings. Since I really don't want to be “that guy,” can we come up with a nice shorthand for “Hey-I-think-you're-doing-a-great-job-making-cycling-look-good-and-no-I'm-not-being-sarcastic-or-hitting-on-you”? Or maybe a hand signal?  A little help here would be greatly appreciated.

Padraic Swanton of Chicago's Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce sent Stephan these questions in anticipation of publishing a story about the Dutch Bike Co. in The Source summer 2010 edition.

LPCC:  How long has Dutch Bike Co. been in business? Personally, how long have you been working for them?

SS [StephanSchier]:  Dutch Bike Co was founded in Seattle by David Schmidt in the spring of 2007.  I became involved as a partner in October of 2007.  We decided during the Summer of 2008 to open a Chicago store and I moved to Chicago in September 2008.  We opened for business a few weeks later in the middle of October. I am now back in Seattle.

LPCC:  What sets you apart from your competition in Chicago or across the country?

SS:  Right from the start we decided we were going to become the Dutch bike experts – so we import ourselves, directly from Holland and focus on classic utility bikes – the bikes most typical to Amsterdam residents.  Many of us live an everyday bicycling lifestyle, so we understand the needs of families and individuals who might never consider themselves “cyclists” in the sporting sense of the word, but want to ride a bike.  We were the first to set up multiple locations (including warehousing bikes in NY) so that we could serve customers across the nation, and we have customers from coast to coast.  We specialized in shipping fully assembled bikes all over the USA – typically getting to our customers in less than a week.  We also have an online store at which people can purchase bikes and accessories.

Q: I need a bike.  What should I be looking for?

You should look for a bike that is comfortable and meets your goals and  needs.  Are you training or are you commuting; do you want to shop or carry children; will you ride in inclement weather or at night?  Answers to these questions will inform the types of bikes and accessories we would recommend.  From there it's a question of how much money would you like to spend.  We would always recommend buying the highest quality bike you can afford..  Our best WorkCycles bikes will last you a lifetime.

LPCC:  What’s the most common question clients ask you?

SS:  Because of our Dutch bikes' size and heft: “Aren't these hard to ride up hills?”  In Chicago (unlike Seattle) hills are not much of an issue, but our most popular WorkCycles all have the smoothest shifting, 8-speed internally geared hubs which will get most anyone (if they take their time) up most any hill.

LPCC:  Why Chicago?

SS:  Mayor Daley and the high level of cycling advocacy going on in Chicago was and continues to be a big attraction. The hundreds of miles existing bike lanes.  The flat topography and neighborhood oriented lifestyle create a perfect climate for incorporating cycling into our everyday lives.  In example, in Lincoln Park everything is within ten minutes by bike, from Trader Joes, to Whole Foods, to the gym, to the lake, to the post office and bank – there is little need for a car.

LPCC:  How has your company changed over the years? Have you seen changes in the LPCC or the Chicago community?

SS:  We grew quickly, took some early risks (coming to Chicago) and we've consolidated (closing our NY warehouse during the economic downturn) and now we are more cautiously moving our original shop to a new location in Seattle's historic Ballard Ave district which will include a cafe. Chicago continues to be an anchor.  We are happy to have survived a rough period in which it seemed there were far too many empty storefronts in our Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Q:  What are today’s trends in your business?  

SS:  Cycling fashions that look like everyday clothes.  More practical everyday bikes for non-”cyclists”, that come equipped with baskets, racks, fenders and chain guards.  Cargo bikes (which we love), electric assisted bikes and more specialized (and expensive and trendy) bikes for sports and recreation from cyclocross, to downhill, to bmx, to fixed-gear.  Cycling is more hip across a wide range of ages, occupations and lifestyles.  Visit progressive Portland Oregon for a day and you will see the signs of the revolution.

LPCC:   What do you look forward to most on a day-to-day basis?

SS:  In Chicago, a grinning new customer riding away on their new bike.  Seeing customers riding through the neighborhood taking their kids to school, shopping or going to work.  Knowing that a bike can greatly improve the quality of someones life.  In Seattle, I look forward to sunshine.

LPCC:  What’s one thing you’d like everyone to know about Dutch Bike Co. or yourself?

SS:  More than just being technical experts on Dutch and other bikes used for transportation and cargo, we  live with bikes as our primary means of transportation.  We love our bikes, but more importantly, we strive to love our city lives.  Our beautiful and practical Dutch bikes support our view of an urban American utopia, where public transportation, pedestrians and cycle-friendly neighborhoods are king.

Q:  Anything you’d like to add about your experience with the LPCC?

SS:  Thank you for being advocates for our business and those of our peers in the Lincoln Park community.

Here at Dutch Bike Seattle we sell appliances. Most bike shops sell sporting goods. This partially explains our curious look and lack of precise answer when you ask one of us "how much does this bike weigh?" In the world of appliances weight isn't so important. Durability, utility, ease of use and comfort are important. In the world of sporting goods, weight, speed and technology are important. If you are shopping for a city bike, we imagine you are not racing (or racing others) to get to where you're going. I venture to say you wouldn't buy a five pack of beer to save twelve ounces in your panniers to make the ride home faster. It is precisely this "sporting" point of view that keeps many from entering or re-entering the ranks of the everyday cyclists. Many may feel daunted (especially if they are out of shape or practice) by the special uniforms, shoes, computers and technical knowledge which accompany the bicycle sporting goods industry and practice. Now in the appliance world, I don't care much about your uniform, training or technical knowledge. I do care about how the bike fits and feels to you. I want to know that it's going to be useful for its intended purpose, comfortable to ride every day and enjoyable for a long (long) time. Appliances can last a lifetime. Sporting goods sometimes only last as long as the next wave of technology or fad. How many expensive mountain bikes and road bikes sit dusty in peoples' garages and closets because they are seemingly no longer comfortable to ride, or their owners no longer feel like they want to get in shape to ride? The hunched-over, neck craned up, arms extended, position on a sporting bike is not a natural position for the human body. You must adapt to the posture. So, through training and/or habituation the position can feel "normal," but this position was designed to go fast and improve control in competitive circumstances. It was not designed for everyday comfort and utility, yet in the USA it has become the de facto posture for recreational and sporting cyclists alike. In the USA, for those who are "utility" cyclists, those who cycle to simply get around, there have been few alternatives to the "sporting" bikes. Cross bikes and city cruisers are just more upright adaptations of sporting bikes or cheap knock-offs of the Schwinn and Huffy cruisers (which were cheap back then already) of our youth. In Europe the majority of cyclists have been riding bikes designed for utility. There are many reasons we love "utility", European city bikes, from being able to ride upright, spine perfectly straight, with our head at SUV driver-level, to the ability to carry friends, family and groceries, to the ability to ride comfortably all day, running all manner of errands and commuting. These are the bikes we choose to sell — appliances — and it is the reason we may pause before attempting to answer, "how much do they weigh?"