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Fourth Floor News
Happy Birthday NYC! - From Batavus.
It’s the 400th birthday of Nieuw Amsterdam - that is, New York City - and to celebrate our friends at Batavus are giving NYC the most iconic symbol of all things Dutch, the bicycle. And not just one bicycle, but two hundred bicycles! Here’s what Radio Netherlands had to say:
“Dutch bicycle manufacturer Batavus is giving 200 bright orange bicycles to New York as a birthday present. In 1609, the first trading post was set up by the Dutch East India Company on the island of Manhattan. It was the beginning of 400 years of cultural, political and economic cooperation between the Netherlands and America.
The bikes will be shipped from Rotterdam and will be used during the festivities to mark New York’s 400th anniversary. Between May and November, they will be used for several events, including the opening of a cycle bridge over the Hudson river and a cycle path around the city. It’s hoped dignitaries such as President Barack Obama, Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander and Princess Maxima will try a “Dutch ride” on the traditional style bikes. Afterwards they will be passed on to the city’s run-down neighbourhoods to be used in community projects, including cycling proficiency exams for children.”
Obama? Really? But, as GM crumbles and North American bike companies scramble to build their first-ever city bike it appears that the tried and true European city bike is finally getting its rightful due. Batavus is one of the oldest, and certainly the most representative bike company in Holland, if not Europe. The gift will be Batavus’ ultra durable Personal Bike model - delivered by none other than the Royal Dutch Airforce. The bike will feature a royal Dutch orange (oranje) paintjob and the Netherlands and USA flags interlinked. Car-mad NYC could probably use a reminder of its more-civilized ancestry, and as bikes and bike lanes rapidly fill up the streets of NYC the timing is near-perfect. By the time the summer is over, NYC might look like Nieuw Amsterdam after all. Read all about the Netherlands/USA events in NYC at NY400.org
Batavus visits Toronto
We’re pretty used to heading out to Europe for our business trips, and it was a nice surprise when Ralph Prins, export manager of Batavus told us he was coming to town to see what we were up to. He couldn’t have picked a worse time for weather. Nonetheless, we thought it would be perfectly civilized to welcome Ralph with a slushy bike ride through Toronto. Ralph is used to riding through the highly organized, near-utopic infastructure of Amsterdam but seemed undaunted by Toronto’s very cold, chaotic and sloppy streets. As a bike industry professional in a country that understands city bikes and city biking perfectly, we thought Ralph might have some interesting things to say about city cycling in North America. In exchange for this ‘travelogue’ we let him keep the bright blue toque (that’s a beanie to all you American readers!).
We meet up at Curbside Cycle to gather a couple of Batavi to ride, read about it here
New Catalog Up
The new Fourth Floor 2009 catalog is up in our downloads section. Check out new bikes from Batavus and our lastest offering, Abici. While we have most of Canada mapped with some very sophisticated (and successful!) bicycle retailers, we are looking for retailers in the USA. If you are interested, just drop us a line. We're nice folks and we pick up the phone (well, most of the time).