Who does not remember the first months of opening of cities after confinement when we were still reluctant to closed public transport and taking the car - for those who had it - was an odyssey almost unthinkable in large cities? The bike appeared like a breath of fresh air running as a healthy, sustainable environment and the most practical to reach everyday addresses such as work, university, the gym, the supermarket...
The boom was such that during some moments of the pandemic get a bike at an affordable price at different points of Spain it was almost an impossible task . And that's when the project 'I want a bike' came into play.
But, what translates into this initiative that has already managed to bring from the Netherlands to our country a total of 600 bikes, And if everything goes according to plan, will they add 200 more before the end of the year? Ana Castán and David Sáiz, founders of the project, remember their first 'pedals' and tell Condé Nast Traveler how their Dutch bikes are now protagonists on the streets of Madrid, Valencia, Cádiz, Logroño, Burgos or Palencia. And adding!
Valencia is one of the cities where 'I want a bike' works.
THE PANDEMIC, THE ORIGIN OF EVERYTHING
The pandemic meant for the protagonists of this story, Ana Castán and David Sáiz (she, founder of the tour company 'Amsterdam by bike' and he, professor of Philosophy in Madrid) a break with which they had not foreseen. For Ana it was the non-existence of tourist life and the temporary disappearance of tours, while for David it meant starting to teach online from home.
Both with the word volunteering running through their veins, they became friends through Instagram four years ago due to their common interest in cycling and sharing Burgos as their place of origin even though they resided in two different countries. After that initial friendship they have been building this project that arises with the purpose of achieving more humane cities.
“The pandemic has changed our lives and our daily routine quite a bit. In May we decided that we wanted to create something together and thinking about it one day David told me: “Can you believe that there is a lack of bicycles in Spain?”. People wanted to move on it because they were afraid of public transport closed due to the coronavirus, there were no cheap bicycles anywhere, ”says Ana Castán.
It was then that she settled in her head the idea that started this adventure. On the streets I kept seeing tow trucks all over the city picking up abandoned bikes. According to official data, up to 15,000 units are withdrawn by the City Council each year only in amsterdam . The main reason? Liberate the public space of the bicycle parking to make room for the rest that are to come.
“After collecting them, they pile them up and create auctions. That is when the workshops buy them in large quantities, for very cheap prices, in batches that one does not even know what one is going to find and they give them a second life, fix them and return them to the market. This is totally linked with the goal of circular economy that the city of Amsterdam has for 2030, which is quite ambitious but knowing the Dutch it seems that they will achieve it”, comment the founders of the project ‘I want a bike’.
“This is how this came about, two friends who wanted people in Spain to ride a bicycle and it was the moment because everyone was seeing this type of transport as something healthy and safe. We thought that this was our opportunity, so we took from where it was left over and took it to where it was missing”, they add.
See photos: These are the most 'bike-friendly' cities in the world
Do you want a bike?
DO YOU WANT A DUTCH BIKE? FOLLOW THESE STEPS!
This project was born –and survives– thanks to a system similar to crowdfunding. The first truck was filled with requests from friends, relatives or acquaintances of Ana and David who in the end got a total of 130 people interested in bringing Dutch bikes to Spain . Once the bicycles were bought in one of those workshops, it was the turn of logistics.
"We are very aware of the climate crisis and we always look for a truck that goes up from Spain to bring things and comes down empty because that trip is going to be done yes or yes. It was then that we got a company from Irun that takes crystals to a company from Holland and come back with our bicycles”, say the creators of the project.
That first truck arrived in Burgos, Valladolid, Madrid and Valencia. And from there, thanks to the media and word of mouth, a second truck was obtained that also reached other destinations such as Palencia and Logroño. And the third, it was already the real boom with reservations from all over Spain.
The reservation procedure is very simple . Anyone who wants to sign up must put themselves on the waiting list to get their future Dutch bike and have to make a payment of 30 euros. "When we see that there are at least 100 people from the same city to be able to get cheap bikes in this workshop, then we focus on them and begin to get more visibility to be able to charter that truck."
Once the reservation has been made, and when Ana and David have been able to prepare the distribution plan, they notify the buyers that they are going to pass through a certain city. If circumstances have changed for any reason, from 'I want a bike' They guarantee a full refund of the reservation, even once the bicycle has been delivered. “If the customer is not satisfied, they get their money back. We want it to be a relationship of trust and happiness on both sides”.
What if they don't pass through your city? Do not panic! Seeing that there were people who were left without their bicycles, they looked for an alternative transport company that does Spain-Holland every week at a fairly affordable price. The best? They transport them without disassembling , so that when they arrive at their destination they are easily used by their new owners. In less than seven days the order arrives at home.
If you too are wondering what is so special about a dutch bike, Ana and David are the ones who give us the answer: “ Mainly because they have zero maintenance . They are products that last generation after generation and that normally do not need to go through the workshop. That this has a lot to do with the concept of bicycle that we want to bring to Spain, because we want to move away from the link with cycling as a sport and bring it closer to the concept of a means of transport for day to day”, they comment.
Factors like the coaster brake that frees the hands, the position as it is a straight bicycle and the rest of the accessories that can be added to it to deposit packages without generating instability, are some of the benefits that make this means of transport the quintessential means of transport. base of two wheels and pedaling.
“Holland is another planet is a matter of mobility . Why not take the best of them and install it in Spain? The time has come to change the mentality of Spanish society and use bicycles far beyond the term mountain bike”, they sentence. Our body and the entire planet will thank us forever!
A PROJECT WITH A GREAT JOURNEY
If you are looking for a completely new state-of-the-art bicycle, you can already look elsewhere, but if, on the contrary, your thing is parts with history, beautiful, functional and the words 'second hand' are in your day to day, the Project 'I want a bike' bear your name
At the moment, a total of 600 units have already crossed Europe to reach different points on our borders, and counting! “It is a project that is having a lot of repercussions and we are very happy about it because we are both very activists and we advocate for sustainable mobility. In addition, the affection and good faith that we receive is wonderful. All that trust placed by the future owners fills our soul. There are even Dutch people who have donated their own bikes to us! ”, they comment excitedly.
Among their medium-term plans, they plan to charter a truck in October bound for Madrid and Barcelona. For later cities like Seville, Murcia or Cádiz are also on the list for December.
And in the long term? “We would love to be able to buy unrepaired bicycles to bring them to Spain and here have a small workshop with people who are at risk of exclusion to offer them a job opportunity. This would give greater freedom to move more bicycles and go at a different pace that we cannot carry right now”, they underline.
In the absence of this moment... we start by reserving our dutch bike? The trip promises to be wonderful!
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