Dutch bike are different, more sturdy, built for bad weather, built for being outside in rain and wind and cold all day and night. Most of the time they are parked outdoors because there is no room to park them inside the house, especially in the bigger cities. They are relatively heavy, but simple and can easily survive twenty years outside. They will look horrible, dirty, old, broken, and they are.

Many bikes here have wheels that are not straight anymore. But still they are used daily. Tires are soft, chain is worn out, and still it works. They not only carry the cyclist but also his or her friend on the bagage holder on the back, which is probably wobbly.

OK, what I'm describing here is the typical student bicycle. It may not be efficient, but it is cheap and it works and it gets you there. We don't use these bicycles for long distances, but for short onces, going from home to the supermarket or school.

In Amsterdam and Utrecht at Central Station they have bicycle parking lots for about 20.000 bikes. And many times you have to search and search to find an empty spot. When you park your bike here, anyone can throw his or her bike against it, or pull another bike out of it with force, damaging your bike. Not everyone acts like this, but it happens now and then.

So bikes are efficient in a different way than the bikes I see on pictures in NYC.