[QUOTE 4908977, member: 45"]Dutch bikes require a different riding attitude. Once you acquire that, they're a fantastic way to get around. I'd like to add one to my shed.[/QUOTE]
Not sure it's really an attitude as much as an awareness: you have to spin the crank pretty fast before changing up and if you've mainly only got a coaster brake with possibly a nearly-cosmetic minimal-rule-meeting front brake (as many Dutch bikes seem to) then you really need to coast up to and be cautious about junctions. I think Dutch bikes also used to be relatively long for their frame heights and wheel sizes, but the general trend towards 700c wheels (slightly larger than many old 650a Dutch bikes, but slightly smaller than old road bikes) has reduced that difference.
I hired a gazelle in York last time we were there and loved it, but the slightest of incline had my thighs burning! I'd hate one for my daily commute.
I wonder what the gearing was? Sadly, there's still a tendency to supply Dutch bikes with eye-popping superman gears with the high gear nearly matching 1960s/1970s drug-fuelled road-bike gears, which leaves a three-speed with the most efficient middle-gear for flat riding, but a top-gear that's useless except for tailwinds and downhills and no gear for more than a very slight uphill. Almost the first act IMO should be to replace the rear sprocket with something larger and fit a longer chain
One of the things that Boris Bikes get right is to set the gearing so that a reasonably-fit rider can honk the bottom gear up the few cobbled climbs in central London even on such a heavy bike. Another is the study sideless front carrier that I wish was available seperately.
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