My wife tipped the editor of this weekly item in the Dutch national (but mostly Amsterdam focused) newspaper "Het Parool" about Amsterdammers and their favorite transport, so I had an interview and a photo shoot (in the rain) some two weeks ago. Yesterday it was published.
A translation for those of you that aren't Dutch:
"My old bike made a lot of noise and smelled bad. I felt bad about that more and more. In the Netherlands I was the first buyer of this type electric motorcycle from America, but I wasn't allowed to ride it because the model was not approved yet. I had to arrange that with the dealer at the RDW.
The bike doesn't vibrate. On a smooth road it feels like floating on air. No, it's not completely silent. But not everyone hears you coming, so perhaps I use my horn a bit more. If you need an ego-boost, all you have to do is park it on a square somewhere. For instance, it doesn't have an exhaust. Immediately people approach you with questions.
In the city you can ride 120 kilometers before the batteries are empty, on the highway 80. The maximum speed is limited to 110 kilometers an hour, otherwise the batteries are empty too soon. You can't really charge on the road, because it takes about six hours.
I use the bike to ride to work and back, from IJburg to the Western Gas Factory area. The main advantage for me is that you can ride through the Piet Hein Tunnel, a scooter is forbidden there and you'd have to make a detour.
The startup-problems will be over, I thought. But in the beginning I got errors when starting, like with a computer. It is a riding computer, in fact. When the motor shut down in the tunnel, I thought it was becoming too dangerous. The factory sent people from Germany to fix it. It turned out that the software wasn't calibrated right, now that's settled.
At home I charge once a week, with green electricity. I feel a lot less guilty when I get on the bike."
