Netherlands: best place (police auction..) to buy cheap bike

[Enora & Giom]

Hallo,

We are a french couple visiting the Netherlands (starting tomorrow) by bike. We have few questions:

- are there specific places / towns where we have better chances to find cheap bikes ? (except amsterdam, since without bike it will be too big to start with).

- we heard about police bike auction but according to some website it seems reserved to the community or people whose bike was stollen, at least in Amsterdam and Hardenberg (which is understandable). Do you know if they is a website listing all the police auction dates (we can go anywhere in the Netherlands to buy the bikes)? We did try googleing this "Fietsenverkoop bij politie + town-name" (translate with google translate) but we didn't find any info except for the auction in Amsterdam, Hardenberg (where being french resident we can't go), and Groningen (the next auction is too late for us)? Are there other keywords we could use?

- what should we do if we find a good bike (not suspiciously cheap and from a private person : we found out about marktplaatz) without any serial number on it (in France there is no identification number on bike so we don't do if it's mandatory in netherlands to have a serial number, or if all the bikes have one). Is there a way to ensure it's not stolen? Would a photo of the ID card + the address of the seller will be enough?

- also : are bikes cheaper in Belgium ?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[Leon]

quote="Enora & Giom"
> are there specific places / towns where we have better chances to find
> cheap bikes ?

Depends 100% on what kind and size of bike you want to buy.
So: what kind kind and size of bike do you want to buy?

> we heard about police bike auction

I've been on police auctions. Most bikes there were of low quality or even almost wrecks.

> Do you know if they is a website listing all the police auction
Don't think so.

> identification number mandatory in netherlands ?
No. But if any number on a bike is filed off you know it's wrong.

> Would a photo of the ID card + the address of the seller will be enough?
That would be convincing. Moste people selling stolen stuff don't like camera's.
Ask them on the phone if they will allow taking pictures.

> - also : are bikes cheaper in Belgium ?
No. But in Belgium there are more "off factory" (NOT) sales points selling bikes with old parts.

[Travelmaster]

And what do you consider as a cheap bike...?

[Enora & Giom]

Thanks so much Ave Gone this very quick reply and all the precisions.

Well we won't go to police auctions then.

> what kind kind and size of bike do you want to buy?

We are looking for the cheapest bikes possible, nothing fancy.
Adult size, but wheel size doesn't matter much.
We heard that omafiets are the cheapest ones, simply, heavy but reliable.
- What are the better place to buy them?
- Will small towns or small cities,suburbs or downtown be cheaper?
- Maybe north or south Netherlands is cheaper?

> And what do you consider as a cheap bike...?

cheap for us means between 30€ and 50€

Your help is very precious to us, thanks a lot!

[M&A]

The second hand shop (kringloopwinkel) in my home town of Leiden sells second hand bikes starting from 59 euro. There's also a lease program. The lease program is mainly aimed at students needing a bike for going around town. Don't know if the bikes are any good for futher trips.

http://www.kringloopwarenhuis.nl/index. ... tsenwinkel

The shop is a kind of charity and recycling project. The main source is bikes taken away by the police at the train station. The best bikes are repaired and sold.
Don't expect anything fancy but they won't sell you a complete wreck either.

[M&A]

50 euros is probably the minimum for a simple bike which needs some repairs.
If you find a decent bike for 30-50 euro it is probably stolen.

Lots of omafietsen are produced really cheap in China
Absolutely no guarantee of quality.

[Leon]

cheap for us means between 30€ and 50€

I bought a bike for €60 I've been using for years now. But I spent a further €60, some parts of my older bike and a lot of work on it before being able to use it.

€50,- is the very low end in price and quality. Give it a shot at Marktplaats or any bike shop exept downtown larger cities. Of course you cannot travel far without spending the 30 euo's one forehand...

[Travelmaster]

This makes me whonder... why exactly are you looking for these bikes... you already have bikes, you say? Are you looking for spare parts:)?

[Enora & Giom]

We want these bikes to ride across Netherlands during our holidays. We already have bikes but they are in France, so we aren't looking for bike for parts but for bikes ready to be used.

I will look more into the Kringloopwinkel and Marktplaats. Thanks to all of you for your help.

P.S: I wonder: why bikes are so expensive, while there are so many of them in used in the NL? Whensomething is so common, price goes down... but yet, it seems it's not the case. Does anyone know why?

[Leon]

P.S: I wonder: why bikes are so expensive

A regular bicycle consists of about a 1000 parts, most of which made especially for bicycles.
Look at some of these video's: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... le+is+made.
Imagine what work has been done to come from a pile of iron ore, oil, coal and some other stuff to a complete bicycle.
Consider €50 will only get you a poor dinner for two in Amsterdam and nothing very much either anywhere else in the Netherlands.

[Travelmaster]

There are also a lot of phones, televisions, computers and cars in use. None of those are cheap. Why should bikes be:)?

But are you sure you want to ride across Holland on a 30-euro-bike?

[M276]

If you just want a bike that rids and is not expensive.
Try marktplaats.nl.
There are people who just want to sell there bikes really quick.
And don't ask that much for it.
A little trust. Not al cheap bikes are stolen.

[aardvark]

P.S: I wonder: why bikes are so expensive, while there are so many of them in used in the NL? Whensomething is so common, price goes down... but yet, it seems it's not the case. Does anyone know why?

A bicycle that is in good working order has at least 2 decent tires & wheels (spokes, rims, hubs). On the second hand market these could fetch more than €30. A cheap new outer tire at HEMA or a DIY-shop will set you back around €10. If the bicycle still has a working lock ('ringslot' attached to rear seat stays that wraps around the rear wheel) that is another €8 - €15.

But your best chance for a good deal might be Marktplaats (as stated by yourselves). As the population gets older there is a trend towards electric assisted bikes and people sometimes just want to offload their older still functioning bicycles that are taking up space in their garages ('fietsenberging' in Dutch).

I suppose you should increase your budget to a healthier 80 - 100 EUR per bicycle (in good working order). The bicycles at the very low end of your price interval will probably need some maintenance. Unles you bring (or borrow) some tools and can do repairs yourselves, a cheap bicycle that needs assistance from a local bike shop will quickly become an expensive bike. Current rates for repair manhours are around €21 - €25 per half hour.

[captain_fabulous]

30-50 euro's will not get you a bike that you want to use outside the city. It will be in a very bad state, bad tires, weels and brakes, or it would not be so cheap. Inside the city, you will be able to switch to public transport, or be close to a repair shop. Forget about that on the country side.
So if you want to ride across the country, be prepared to spend more. Or be prepared to fix a lot of punctures, drive without brakes, and generally, have a lousy time...
Sorry if this sounds to direct, but I bought several cheap bikes for myself or my family, and in all cases started changing parts the moment I got home, cause they were crap. Good enough for a 15 minute ride to school or the shop, but not more.

[Dreelien]

Why not bring your own bycicles?

Than you do not have to spend time looking for a new bike and it will save you the money.

[Enora & Giom]

Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to reply. We will try then on Martkplaats.nl.

We can't bring our own bikes as we will come by hitchhiking (we can't afford other means of transportation and coming (and returning) by bike with take too much days -if not all- out of our vacations - we live all the way down in French Brittany).

Thanks again for your kindness!

[Eric Schuijt]

In India I bought a brandnew Hero Bike for 40 dollar. With this bike I cycled about 2500 (two and a half thousand) kilometers through India.

So it is possible to travel on a cheap bike. But you have to do many repairs on the road and should not be in a hurry.

[captain_fabulous]

I saw that (very entertaining) lecture...if my memory is correct, the first thing you did was tightening up the spokes, change the chain and do some other changes to make sure the bike would not kill you
Looked like you had fun in that project, absolutely, but not sure how handy our French friends are with the tools.

[Henk_B]

There is a website where you can check if a bike is reported stolen:
https://fdr.rdw.nl/

[aardvark]

I'm wondering whether you, Enora & Giom, were succesful in your hunt for a decent low budget secondhand bicycle to tour the Netherlands. Of course we are curious about the price paid and what quality bike you acquired. Do you have any pictures or perhaps gruesome, greasy repair stories to share with us? Actually I'm hoping that you had no flats and smooth travels throughout.