Hans Groen's Bicycle Pages

I bought my first ten-speed in 1980. The year before I had made a biking holiday to England -- the first holiday I spend on my own -- and I wanted to have something smarter than the average Dutch bike. I bought a black RIH (still made in the Westerstraat, Amsterdam), a Dutch brand which is famous for the indoor bikes they make. I still have this bike. I had it repainted and almost completely rebuild -- only the handlebars and the seatpost are now original, and the frame of course.

In the mean time, I also bought a mountain bike, first an American Eagle (now disappeared in the company which owns the brand, Concorde) and later on a Presto (it seems they don't make their own bikes anymore), partly because I did not really enjoy using the American Eagel (without being able to say why; I think the frame is a bit too long), but now we have at least two good bikes to go on a bike trip together.

Most of my advise is based on my trips with the RIH, but I did do some good trips on the American Eagle as well. The Presto has not beenn on a long distance adventure yet. Travelling on the RIH has always been a pleasure, though it had some problems with a rim which led to frequent broken spokes in the beginning. I learned how to repair the bike while on the trip, with the result that I never bring my bike in for repair.