I must have been living in some type of bicycle bubble, because once I started getting in to bicycles, I found out that the Dutch are a major bicycling country. :) It is definitely embarrassing to not know that they have one of the best infrastructures, and that a very high percentage of their commuting is done by bike. Somewhere in the 50% range! [ i think =P ]
Royal Holland / Holland Royal
In the initial days of amassing my current collection I came across a Royal Holland bike a few months back on Craigslist in Northern NJ. I am really not sure what the bike is called, so I will refer to it as a Royal Holland.
My previous bikes were all American made and about 10-15 years older than this one. When i saw this bike online I was a bit torn if I actually wanted it. I was just starting to get in to the collecting/restoring swing of things, but this wasn't a vintage American. This bike however has a great look to it. The red/white color scheme is nice and the front headlamp is really cool and granted at this point in time I had little to none historical bicycle knowledge, but I had never heard/seen one like this before. Funny thing is that I have been looking for information for the past 3 months and I have not found ANY information. Not even a possible lead.
This bike was offered as a pair with a woman's Dutch bike for I think $112 each. It was some weird number that I am assuming meant something to the seller. I should have asked him.
So after a bit of haggling I managed to get this 1957 bike for $60 which I thought was an uber score. As you can see from the pics to the left the white and red are great and the headbadge and decals say Royal Holland.
In terms of the rust factor, it is pretty much ALL removable surface rust. Yes it looks bad in the pics, but from my short experience I am sure I can get 99.9% of it off with minimal issues.
In terms of the overall condition of the bike, i would say is high fair to good. Like I mentioned there is surface rust, it is missing the original chain guard, the pedals are off[one of them is not original ], all wiring has to be redone in terms of electrical and the break and shifter and the paint is faded in spots. Nothing i can't do.
As for the good, it had one owner, the paint is fair, the bike is almost completely whole, the colors are nice and there are no bends in the fork etc. I am excited to get this guy running. Currently 3rd on the project list behind the RoadPuppy and fixing the wiring on the Bianchi
The best part of picking this up was speaking to the seller, who I will rename for protective reasons, lets call him Tom, and he was a 1st generation Dutchman. I didn't ask if he could fly. :P
He told me a story of lost Japanese love when he was a professor in a college I believe out in Colorado. She was about 27 and he had to be in his late 50s to early 60s! He sort of faded into old memories as he was talking about her. It was very sad to be honest. I said "that is just terrible" when he described her family shunning her when they found out and them having to break up. He replied "yes it is terrible. It is terrible." You could really see the heart breaking reality set it. I told him to send her an email, what could it hurt? I believe i have his email, I think in a few months I am going to send him this site so he can see his child hood bike all fixed up.
He also told me the story of how him and his sister got this and another Dutch bike as x-mas presents and how in his youth he "built his body" riding the bike. Was a little creepy, but I could tell he meant it in a sincere way.
Below are many pics of the bike ho I received it for historical record keeping of course. :)
Royal Holland / Holland Royal
In the initial days of amassing my current collection I came across a Royal Holland bike a few months back on Craigslist in Northern NJ. I am really not sure what the bike is called, so I will refer to it as a Royal Holland.
My previous bikes were all American made and about 10-15 years older than this one. When i saw this bike online I was a bit torn if I actually wanted it. I was just starting to get in to the collecting/restoring swing of things, but this wasn't a vintage American. This bike however has a great look to it. The red/white color scheme is nice and the front headlamp is really cool and granted at this point in time I had little to none historical bicycle knowledge, but I had never heard/seen one like this before. Funny thing is that I have been looking for information for the past 3 months and I have not found ANY information. Not even a possible lead.
This bike was offered as a pair with a woman's Dutch bike for I think $112 each. It was some weird number that I am assuming meant something to the seller. I should have asked him.
So after a bit of haggling I managed to get this 1957 bike for $60 which I thought was an uber score. As you can see from the pics to the left the white and red are great and the headbadge and decals say Royal Holland.
In terms of the rust factor, it is pretty much ALL removable surface rust. Yes it looks bad in the pics, but from my short experience I am sure I can get 99.9% of it off with minimal issues.
In terms of the overall condition of the bike, i would say is high fair to good. Like I mentioned there is surface rust, it is missing the original chain guard, the pedals are off[one of them is not original ], all wiring has to be redone in terms of electrical and the break and shifter and the paint is faded in spots. Nothing i can't do.
As for the good, it had one owner, the paint is fair, the bike is almost completely whole, the colors are nice and there are no bends in the fork etc. I am excited to get this guy running. Currently 3rd on the project list behind the RoadPuppy and fixing the wiring on the BianchiThe best part of picking this up was speaking to the seller, who I will rename for protective reasons, lets call him Tom, and he was a 1st generation Dutchman. I didn't ask if he could fly. :P
He told me a story of lost Japanese love when he was a professor in a college I believe out in Colorado. She was about 27 and he had to be in his late 50s to early 60s! He sort of faded into old memories as he was talking about her. It was very sad to be honest. I said "that is just terrible" when he described her family shunning her when they found out and them having to break up. He replied "yes it is terrible. It is terrible." You could really see the heart breaking reality set it. I told him to send her an email, what could it hurt? I believe i have his email, I think in a few months I am going to send him this site so he can see his child hood bike all fixed up.
He also told me the story of how him and his sister got this and another Dutch bike as x-mas presents and how in his youth he "built his body" riding the bike. Was a little creepy, but I could tell he meant it in a sincere way.
Below are many pics of the bike ho I received it for historical record keeping of course. :)
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