I do work for Bobbin Bicycles and I do rate their products. We stock Gazelle, Pashley and Pointer among others and have some sale bikes at the moment...ex-demo end of season and specials ready for x-mas. See our workshop blog for more; http://bobbinbicycleworkshop.wordpress.com/
I can vouch for their quality as I am an experienced mechanic and put most of them together.
If you want a 2nd hand bike for god's sake do the sensible thing and visit Amsterdam (where I used to work with www.workcycles.com) using Stena Lines cheap rail and sail deal and go visit Vitor here: http://www.recycledbicycles.org/ ..he is a great guy and you will get a bargain. If you can't be arsed with Dutch trips then visit Stefan in Brighton; http://www.amsterdammers.co.uk/
One thing you ought to take as gospel is that new bikes priced under 200-250quid really are a false economy. For the main part corners are cut in general build quality and before you know it your shiny sit-up and beg wll be bleeding orange rust from its shitty pressed dropouts, the paint flaking off like a danish pastry, bottom-braket siezures, pedal failure, seatpost/stem will not be greased, don't even think about transporting your dog/girlfriend on the rack dutch stylee and you know that genuine comfy leather saddle will not be a brooks...more likely built in a nasty factory in china with cow hides from Brazil's MC Donalds ranches and it will break spectacularly.
Another suggestion; support local independent bicycle shops not faceless dot.coms. What you gonna do when you realise the wheels are made of tin-foil...send angry emails/hack them? Evans/The Surgery can be pretty un-careful in the set-up and after-sales of dutch/sit up and beg (SUAB) bikes but at least they have a workshop with the tools and staff to fix them.
I see bikes as tools and I have learnt that buying shit tools is dangerous, expensive in the long run. If you want a bike to transport you and your stuff everyday reliably as the Dutch, Danes and Germans do then consider investing in quality. The average spend on a Workcycles bike would be 900 euro or so and for that you get a quality product that you can pass to your kids.
If you are using a dutch or SUAB bike every day then you need gears really at least 3, ideally Shimano Nexus, SRAM T3 or Sturmey Archer. Then just change your rear sprocket size to suit your needs (44;17 is workable for most who are used to biking).
In summary, that Hollander looks bad meaning bad. Don't waste your dorra!
I do work for Bobbin Bicycles and I do rate their products. We stock Gazelle, Pashley and Pointer among others and have some sale bikes at the moment...ex-demo end of season and specials ready for x-mas. See our workshop blog for more; http://bobbinbicycleworkshop.wordpress.com/
I can vouch for their quality as I am an experienced mechanic and put most of them together.
If you want a 2nd hand bike for god's sake do the sensible thing and visit Amsterdam (where I used to work with www.workcycles.com) using Stena Lines cheap rail and sail deal and go visit Vitor here: http://www.recycledbicycles.org/ ..he is a great guy and you will get a bargain. If you can't be arsed with Dutch trips then visit Stefan in Brighton; http://www.amsterdammers.co.uk/
One thing you ought to take as gospel is that new bikes priced under 200-250quid really are a false economy. For the main part corners are cut in general build quality and before you know it your shiny sit-up and beg wll be bleeding orange rust from its shitty pressed dropouts, the paint flaking off like a danish pastry, bottom-braket siezures, pedal failure, seatpost/stem will not be greased, don't even think about transporting your dog/girlfriend on the rack dutch stylee and you know that genuine comfy leather saddle will not be a brooks...more likely built in a nasty factory in china with cow hides from Brazil's MC Donalds ranches and it will break spectacularly.
Another suggestion; support local independent bicycle shops not faceless dot.coms. What you gonna do when you realise the wheels are made of tin-foil...send angry emails/hack them? Evans/The Surgery can be pretty un-careful in the set-up and after-sales of dutch/sit up and beg (SUAB) bikes but at least they have a workshop with the tools and staff to fix them.
I see bikes as tools and I have learnt that buying shit tools is dangerous, expensive in the long run. If you want a bike to transport you and your stuff everyday reliably as the Dutch, Danes and Germans do then consider investing in quality. The average spend on a Workcycles bike would be 900 euro or so and for that you get a quality product that you can pass to your kids.
If you are using a dutch or SUAB bike every day then you need gears really at least 3, ideally Shimano Nexus, SRAM T3 or Sturmey Archer. Then just change your rear sprocket size to suit your needs (44;17 is workable for most who are used to biking).
In summary, that Hollander looks bad meaning bad. Don't waste your dorra!
A Workcycles Oma (Granny). QUALITY!!