Bring home a piece of everyday bike culture.
Bring plain old Dutch bicycles to Canada.
Fall in love with yours.
Spread everyday bike culture.
The goal of the Plain Bicycle project is cities full of people full of joy. Our specific area of focus is a type of bicycle used by the majority of 4M Dutch people who cycle on any given day. We demonstrate that the same appetite for cycling exists here. We demonstrate that people can ride regular bikes in regular clothes on streets redesigned to make cycling safer. We help grow the market for this type of bicycle in Winnipeg and in North America. We hope to dismantle barriers and spread this secret to a sustainable transportation culture everywhere
What makes the project unique is the shipping containers filled with well-used and well-loved bicycles sent from the Netherlands to Winnipeg, that have been repaired and distributed to new owners. We have now done two shipments, bringing a total of 447 bicycles over, most of which are now on the road somewhere.
If you are in Winnipeg, you too can be part of the project. Keep reading.
Summer 2019 Shipment #2 status:
August 15: Pickup party success. 95% of the bikes available are in the hands of their new owners. Look for them on the streets of Winnipeg. What a wonderful night it was! Were you on vacation or missed the emails? No worries, additional info regarding alternate pickup arrangements is coming. @everyone: The shipment of ring locks that is overdue has been further delayed due to Customs inspection in Montreal. When it arrives we’ll send an email with instructions to pickup from Joe and Lily’s coffee shop.
Want a bike?
Once all bikes are delivered to the ~160 people who signed up to make it happen this year, more may become available and/or we may do it again. To get notified, please sign up to our waiting list:
Other ways to try one out or get involved…
Interested in renting Dutch bikes for a business, a wedding, a conference or other special event?
Wonderful. We’d love to work with you. Contact us.
Interested in a new bike? Talk to your local bike shop or… we may be able to help you. It depends. We brought in a few new bicycles from our parts supplier on special request and may have one or two left. Super limited supply. More info here. Or send us an email and let us know what you’re after. We may be able to help.
Interested in a small fleet of new Dutch bikes for a business (think ducking out to that meeting in a hurry or making it to that sweet coffee shop that’s just a little too far away)? We can make that happen.
Are you a non-profit working to foster access to a cycling? we are interested in working with you. For example, rental dutch bikes may be available for programming (like bike skills training) for minimal fee to groups working with newcomers. We may also be able to help you develop a fleet of low We also should have some exciting news to share about a specific project slated to begin in the spring 2020. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, get in touch.
Interested in starting a business/legacy project? Winnipeg needs 600000+ of these to come close to Amsterdam. We can’t keep shipping omafiets bikes here, indefinitely. Maybe we need to think about making stuff here. Maybe you are one of those “angel investors” or a reclusive uncle with $2M under your mattress and you are trying to decide between investing in a gold mine or something better… If so, well, let’s chat. There could be rewarding jobs to be created and local opportunities to pounce on. We aren’t actively pursuing it right now, but we are interested in sparking the development of Dutch-style manufacturing locally in whatever way we can. You too? Let’s chat.
2019 project timeline:
August 7: OK! We’re ready. Check your email August 7th for pickup info.
Late July: We are repairing bikes as fast as humanly possible.
Early July: As part of a work trade with Natural Cycle, (and the project mandate of sharing the mantra of every day biking with as many people as possible) a few dozen of the first bicycles to be repaired will be available for rent at Winnipeg Folk Fest (don’t worry, your “baby” has already spent decades on the streets of Utrecht . . . another ride with a stranger won’t hurt)
Late-June: Winnipeg Trails staff return from Europe and begin repairing. The 2019 shipment of USED bikes is sold out.
Mid-June: Container of un-repaired bicycle arrives on a train in Winnipeg, clears customs and is delivered by truck a few days later!!! Unloaded in “secret” warehouse. A parts order is placed.
Late-June – Lock out at the Port of Vancouver causes delay but settles quickly.
Mid-May – Due to a backlog in Montreal, the ship is routed through the Panama Canal and the Port of Vancouver (?!)
May – Shipping container departs Utrecht for Rotterdam harbour.
Mid-April +100 people have put down a deposit and signed up.
April – We’re doing it again! This time its happening MUCH faster! Ordering opened. Winnipeg Trails staff teaching in Europe (Dan and Jenny) volunteer to make it happen. Shipping container packed and closed. Paperwork complete. Now we wait.
Read about the 2019 shipment and plan.
Read more about round one and the whole entire history of the project that kicked this all off.stuff
Follow the progress on social media
Thankyous from round 1 (2016/2017). Made possible thanks to Winnipeg Trails (Canada) and the Give a Bike Foundation (Rotterdam). Huge thank you to Danny, Mikael, Mendert, and Torrin without whose help this would not have been possible. Also thanks to Erwin, Michel and Lenard, the friendly community at Keilewerf, and to Fritz, and Herbert, and Jan for coming out from Alberta to help and the team at the Forks especially Dave and Kristen and the folks at the WRENCH. We are very grateful to Bob and the folks at Leon A. Brown for amazing donated storage and work space to deal with the aftermath. Lastly, thank you the people of the Netherlands for their warmth, hospitality and love of cycling. And thanks to everyone in Winnipeg who bought a bike, signed up, ran out of time, hung in there, spread the word made it possible, etc…
