My observations on immigrants and Dutch bikes:

 

Dutch people are the tallest on average, in Europe.  The smallest adult womens' bike I have seen parked on the street in Amsterdam, is 50 cm.

There is much unspoken peer pressure to ride these archetypical 45-lb. black 1- or 3-speed bikes.  I am guessing that immigrants wishing to integrate will try extra-hard to conform by trying to ride these bikes.. which I suspect is a lousy experience for them.... no wonder they prefer to take the bus!

Moroccan immigrants are about my size, 5' 1".  They are hard-put to even reach the pedals on these black bohemoths.

So, they find themselves either stretching ridiculously far to ride a 50 cm. woman's black bohemoth... or riding kids' bikes with 20" or 24" wheels.

Furthermore:  I have been tasked with adjusting the entire fleet of childrens' bikes that the Moroccan immigrant women are riding in their bike lessons...

NO one was doing this, before I came along, apparently... they had been learning to ride on bikes with squishy tires and rubbing brakes, in some cases...

They have also been learning to ride on bikes with rock-hard €3 narrow plastic saddles, and ( typically)  about 10 lbs. of tire pressure.  No doubt they have been wondering how anyone could possibly enjoy such an experience as bike riding... if only I could communicate easily with them...!

My Dutch is not that great yet, and a lot of the Moroccan immigrants in our neighborhood are still learning to speak Dutch themselves...

so most of my insights  on bike riding among immigrants come from riding with my Moroccan friend Mina Menaffi, ( whom I met in Dutch Language class) and who speaks English..

I built up a cute little one-speed bike with 20" wheels, a comfortable womens' saddle,  and a coaster brake for Mina.  

We went out riding in Amsterdam... at every intersection she would be very nervous, and tell me that it was very dangerous.  

Now, I know Mina is a smart person.... I explained that the mortality rates for cyclists in the Netherlands are the lowest of any nation in the world... and point out that the system of parellel bike roads in Amsterdam insures ultra-safety for cyclists, at least compared to what I was used to in California... Hell, even that Auto drivers in Amsterdam are deathly afraid to hit cyclists, as the accident is automatically their fault unless they can prove otherwise, according to Dutch law.

None of these arguments helped her feel more safe, however.  So whenever we got to an intersection where cars were present, we walked our bikes across.  And we made sure to ride in some of the big parks in Amsterdam, such as the Amsterdamse Bos, and Vondelpark.  And we had a lot of fun.  As far as I could tell, the idea of being hit by a car, is what keeps her from riding her bike to ..Centraal Station from her apartment.  There are a lot of intersections to walk one's bike across... better to take the tram.

There is the whole learning-to-balance aspect of why immigrants are reluctant to ride bikes, but that is something that once overcome, is not a problem ever again.  (right?)

The bike lessons are taught out of the neighborhood community centers... every neighborhood has one, and where women congregate there for a lot of other activities.. get-togethers, lessons of various types... even an Obama Election party.. which I happened upon, in which the Turkish and Moroccan women were celebrating by making Turkish Pizzas and dancing to Rai Music!

...  bike lessons are presented as just another fun activity....  

About coming to visit us in Amsterdam... It appears that my Dutch consultant and I  have found a neighborhood shop space for the bike center.. it is still tentative at this point... but I am hoping it would be possible for you and your wife to crash there, if worst comes to worst... By the time the weather turns warm, we would have a lot more information...

We're invited streams of friends and relatives to visit us from the U.S., and some of them are actually coming... but not sure exactly when... etc. so I can't extend any promises on space in our apartment... more info coming soon, hopefully, on shop space an availability...

As to whether we are permanent here... 

I am writing a business plan to show to Dutch Immigration... if they approve it we get to stay for another year.  Meanwhile I am laying the groundwork for setting up a Dutch non-profit corporation... which is unspeakably complicated, compared to doing the same thing in California... there is no Nolo Press book to guide a person with that here. 

Short answer... we are doing our damndest to stay here long-term.  However Dutch immigration policy may be affected by the so-called 'Krediet Crisis'... we will have to see how bad it gets.

Regards,

Wendy

Op Mar 10, 2009, om 6:33 AM heeft Rigel Christian het volgende geschreven:

I think that the mobility thing is precisely what the religio-cultural
proscriptions are trying to avoid. kind of like japanese foot-binding.
its not particularly logical, i guess, but there are certain barriers
to entry for both driving an automobile as well as use of public
transportation, that a bike just doesnt have. this makes the latter
form the most difficult to control.

i'm at a disadvantage here without knowing the lay of the cultural
land, but i think that if you could find a major women-only cultural
activity to hawk your bike wares to, so to speak, then that might be a
better sell. the american analog of what im trying to get at would be
going to the sewing circle and saying "hey, we have bikes for you to
use if you'd like." maybe that's been tried, but i tend to think that
ethnic woman-specific cultural activities dont have a whole lot of
visibility in the broader culture.

incidentally, regarding your earlier invite to show us around, the
wife and i were talking about our trip tonight and we really dont have
the money to do the trip we'd like. if you have some crash space,
where we could sleep in a garage or something (we have air mattresses,
sleeping bags, etc) for four or five days, we might be able to
actually do a ten day europe trip. the cost of housing being what it
is, even hostels, its otherwise pretty untenable for us at this point.
we might still pull something off, but its gonna take a lot of charity
and couches.

do you  two plan on coming back stateside anytime soon? i mean, is
this location temporary for you or permanent?

On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 9:25 PM, Wendy Monroe <wendy.monroe@usermail.com> wrote:

HI Christine,

Thanks for the links... they are certainly food for thought.  Would it show

cultural insensitivity on my part to try to win the immigrant population of

Amsterdam Noord over to the cycling lifestyle?

One thing I have personally observed... the women who show up at the bicycle

lessons are not really enthused about the cycling itself.  It is more that

they get a chance to hang out and mingle together outside their homes.

This research result ( In the German study) does not surprise me:

'Even after comprehensive training and instruction, cycling is for many of

them an “uncanny,” “dangerous,” and also “weird” activity predominantly

reserved for the ethnic Dutch'

Yup, that would explain a few things...

I used to think that, given the vast sums of money spent by the Dutch

government .. tens of millions of euros each year!!... to encourage

immigrant women to ride bikes, a more effective campaign might be to instead

send teams of cyclists to rove around major cities in Holland, handing out

20 euro notes, to each woman seen riding along with a head scarf on...every

single day.

I am also wondering how well an earn-a-bike program might go over in a youth

population of  Moroccans,... ' where the bicycle has a bad image and little

status value..'

Would they even show up for such a program?

I'm thinking an earn-a-bike program might be a tough sell, unless it is

marketed as job-training of sorts, for a future career of repairing scooters

and cars.  It is a sorry state of affairs, to those of us who came from a

California-style bike culture.  But it may be the social reality here.

Oh Noooo... I just started reading the second article...( thanks, Google

Translate!)

"The latest controversy reported by the website Elaph.com "(29/12/207) is a

sad illustration, verging on the ridiculous, as was the fatwa on" nursing

major. "Indeed, the last discovery of a fatwa that forbids Muslim women to

practice cycling, because according to the religion that spread, "straddle

the saddle of the bicycle engender women as sexual arousal, and the bike

becomes this point of view, a prohibited object. "

My first reaction being, ' Oh damn, now Men know our Secret!!'

 (Just kidding.)

I don't even know what to say, after reading THAT.  I guess I will sign off

and read the rest of that article...

cheers,

Wendy

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