Role call for Dutch riders

Cloggy

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Tell us a little about yourself :thumbup:

I know we also have a thread in the NL & B social group but as we now have our own forum here I thought I would use it :thumbup:

My Name is Martin and I live in Alkmaar, I'm a Brit (by birth) but I've also become a Dutch national :thumbup: I'm married and I have 2 daughters (one's 9 & the other 11).
I bought my bike new back in 2007, and I've now got 75,000 km's on it.
I generally use my bike to commute to Den Helder, but also take a ride out every now and then, In June I'm planning on going to the Vosges region in France.
 

Yasko

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I'm from Texas, but Mastrick is one of my favorite cities in all the world. :cheer: Does that count to be Dutch at hart?:thumbup:

I love the women also.:spank: There's something about a healthy girl ridding a bike that does it for me.:cheer:
 

BamBam

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I was born in USA and moved to the Netherlands when I was 12. I lived in Wassenaar, ZH until I was 18. I left at 18 and returned to the states to go to university.

I learned Dutch when I was there and still speak it fluently. Although that doesn't help me much here.

I consider myself somewhat Dutch cause I grew up there during some formidable years.

It has been almost 2 years since I've been back and 6 years since I've lived there.
 

Cloggy

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I'm from Texas, but Mastrick is one of my favorite cities in all the world. :cheer: Does that count to be Dutch at hart?:thumbup:

I love the women also.:spank: There's something about a healthy girl ridding a bike that does it for me.:cheer:

Maastricht is a beautiful city, it's one of my favourite cities in Holland as well :thumbup:

I was born in USA and moved to the Netherlands when I was 12. I lived in Wassenaar, ZH until I was 18. I left at 18 and returned to the states to go to university.

I learned Dutch when I was there and still speak it fluently. Although that doesn't help me much here.

I consider myself somewhat Dutch cause I grew up there during some formidable years.

It has been almost 2 years since I've been back and 6 years since I've lived there.

I guess this makes you an honourary Dutch rider :thumbup:
Learning Dutch is not easy, even after 18 years here I still make mistakes :spank:
I used to live near Wassenaar (in Leiden) and my wife works in the Hague.
 

BamBam

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I loved biking around Leiden. Great city.

My Dutch is slowly waning....hopefully I can keep it up. Unfortunately not much excuse to use it here in PA.
 

Cloggy

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I loved biking around Leiden. Great city.

My Dutch is slowly waning....hopefully I can keep it up. Unfortunately not much excuse to use it here in PA.

Well maybe we can meet up if you come over again :thumbup:

Well I guess there are not many places that speak Dutch, apart from Belgium, Aruba, Curaçao, Suriname and of course South Africa (even though Afrikaans is different it's still pretty understandable).

Hope you can keep up your Dutch :thumbup:
 

IndyFZ6

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I am an American now living in Wassenaar. Plan to be here 3-6 years for work. I have a 2008 FZ6 which I bought in late 2010. I speak some Dutch but I find it hard to practice here. As soon as I start speaking Dutch, you can tell I am American so folks tend to revert to English. All Dutch people seem to speak such good english. So far we love it here. Beautiful country and very nice people.
 

BamBam

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I am an American now living in Wassenaar. Plan to be here 3-6 years for work. I have a 2008 FZ6 which I bought in late 2010. I speak some Dutch but I find it hard to practice here. As soon as I start speaking Dutch, you can tell I am American so folks tend to revert to English. All Dutch people seem to speak such good english. So far we love it here. Beautiful country and very nice people.

Do you have any children? Do they go to ASH?
 

CountryBoy

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I live in Groningen having moved over from the UK. I lived in Holland previously (Utrecht), so my Dutch is up to scratch (for a foreigner). I have an 07 S2 which I brought with me from the UK. At some point, it will have to be swapped to a dutch reg.

Today I fixed a Givi monorack to host a Trekker 52 top case. (Something possessed me to try and make my bike a "Fazer Adventure" I don't know why, but it did.

I ride down to see my girlfriend in Wageningen on an almost weekly basis. All I can say is that the price of fuel in this country is crippling my student budget (but I knew it would).

CB
 

Cloggy

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I live in Groningen having moved over from the UK. I lived in Holland previously (Utrecht), so my Dutch is up to scratch (for a foreigner). I have an 07 S2 which I brought with me from the UK. At some point, it will have to be swapped to a dutch reg.

Today I fixed a Givi monorack to host a Trekker 52 top case. (Something possessed me to try and make my bike a "Fazer Adventure" I don't know why, but it did.

I ride down to see my girlfriend in Wageningen on an almost weekly basis. All I can say is that the price of fuel in this country is crippling my student budget (but I knew it would).

CB

:welcome: to the Netherlands, again :rockon:

I'm not sure how you can register your bike in the Netherlands, I'm not sure if the (UK) headlight might be an issue?

I have a rack and Yamaha luggage, which is definately handy at times :thumbup:

As for the fuel prices in the Netherlands, generally they're about the same as prices in the UK (well last time I was in the UK anyways), but I guess it's difficult on a student budget anyway :eek:.

We could possibly meet up some time for a ride :thumbup:
 

greg

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i worked there for a year and a half, that must count for some sort of honourary citizenship :)

going back to amsterdam in a couple of weeks to see some friends
 

Cloggy

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i worked there for a year and a half, that must count for some sort of honourary citizenship :)

going back to amsterdam in a couple of weeks to see some friends

Yup, guess you're in the club, but can you say say Scheveningen ;)

So are you bringing your bike over this time Greg?
 
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CountryBoy

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:welcome: to the Netherlands, again :rockon:

I'm not sure how you can register your bike in the Netherlands, I'm not sure if the (UK) headlight might be an issue?

I have a rack and Yamaha luggage, which is definately handy at times :thumbup:

As for the fuel prices in the Netherlands, generally they're about the same as prices in the UK (well last time I was in the UK anyways), but I guess it's difficult on a student budget anyway :eek:.

We could possibly meet up some time for a ride :thumbup:

To my current belief (after endlessly navigating dutch websites) I would need to change the headlight for it to pass APK, and obviously I would need to pay the bijtelling and wegensbelasting. However, bike prices in the NL are higher than in the UK, so the "value" of my bike would increase enough to cover these costs if I were to sell it in a couple of years. It's food for thought.

I gave the topbox it's maiden voyage today, handles great, didn't really notice it was there.

You're probably right about the price of fuel. But I guess seeing €30 on the receipt every time feels steeper than £25!

I would definitely be interested in a ride sometime. I already saw the rides you organise. Might be a bit far for me for a week evening, but I'll keep my eyes peeled and try to come along at some point. :D

I also tried to introduce myself in the NL & B part of the forum, is it invite only?

Best,

CB
 

Cloggy

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To my current belief (after endlessly navigating dutch websites) I would need to change the headlight for it to pass APK, and obviously I would need to pay the bijtelling and wegensbelasting. However, bike prices in the NL are higher than in the UK, so the "value" of my bike would increase enough to cover these costs if I were to sell it in a couple of years. It's food for thought.

This thread might help in some way CB:
http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-mods/34103-head-light-uk-vs-europe-models.html

I gave the topbox it's maiden voyage today, handles great, didn't really notice it was there.

You're probably right about the price of fuel. But I guess seeing €30 on the receipt every time feels steeper than £25!

I would definitely be interested in a ride sometime. I already saw the rides you organise. Might be a bit far for me for a week evening, but I'll keep my eyes peeled and try to come along at some point. :D

Yeah I love my top box :thumbup:, I see what you mean about the prices, I tend to do it the other way around and think things are cheaper in the UK, until you actually convert it :eek: Well I could organise a ride sometime (on neutral territory ;)) but the riding season is unfortunately drawing to a close (although I ride the whole year around).

I also tried to introduce myself in the NL & B part of the forum, is it invite only?

Best,

CB

Yeah sorry I forgot to invite you :eek: but to be honest it hardly gets used these days now we have our own corner of the forum, but I think it's handy to see which other riders are from the Netherlands/Belgium.

Invite sent :thumbup:
 

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The reading season is almost over? What's a season?

Jking, I fully agree about long ride-outs in winter....brrrr. But there are a few lovely days left! Like Tuesday was nice, and today looks sunny enough.....
 

CountryBoy

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So for anyone who might be interested and/or may need to import a vehicle in the future, here are the steps (and a brief update of how things are going).

1. Ensure the vehicle matches EU-type approval. (In my case, changing the headlamps from LHD to RHD).

2. Go to the RDW (Rijkdienst voor wegverkeer), and hand over a seemingly large sum of money for not much "inspection". €130 for me, though a little bit cheaper if you don't need to do the headlight beam check.

3. With the report from the RDW you need to submit yourself to the weird and wonderful gods of BPM. It's some weird tax where there are three calculations, but you can choose the one which comes out cheapest. Luckily for me, I was granted exemption as the bike was part of my "inboedel" (belongings), and considered part of my move to the NL.

4. Send off the Berekening-BPM and aangifte BPM (and in my case my BPM exemption, even though I still needed to do the BPM calculation).

I'm currently at this stage and waiting for a reply from them, but in theory the next steps are:

5. Receive kentekensbewijs from the tax authority with which I can go have a number plate made.

6. Mount number plate and pay road tax.

7. Get insurance

8. After 2 months off the road, finally ride the 2km to uni and back and celebrate the new found freedom.


On a separate note, a little update.

I managed to get the headlamp off a chap in Berlin through eBay for a good price. A keen biker friend of mine (who's going through the same procedure but with two american bikes) helped me route the cables and take the bike apart in his living room (his wife was not pleased :roll eyes: ).

Otherwise not a lot new. We are riding to the UK for Easter (because flights are too expensive) and I need to do some heavy maintenance on the bike, as I noticed 28,000km have crept up on me and I haven't done anything in about 15,000! The spark plugs need changing, the oil needs changing. Basically the whole instruction manual is my to do list.

My appeal to you: If anyone is up for getting their hands dirty sometime and has a (heated ;) ) garage they would be willing to share (and maybe some tools and expertise), I would be happy to provide them with many, many beers! (I live literally in the city centre of Groningen, and the local council has already told me I "shouldn't really use the street as my workshop"..... :( ) Otherwise, I'll have to go to Yamaha/my local bike guy, any idea what they charge for a full service?

Till next time!

CB
 

Cloggy

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Thanks for the info CB, it could be very usefull to other members in the future :thumbup:

I'm in the same boat as you with my bike in front of the house :(

FYI the Dutch Fazer club is holding a technical day on Saturday 12 April in Nijmegen. I went last year and did some basic maintenance (oil, filters & brakes). If you have any special requests they can sometimes do these as well. You do have to become a member and the day costs approx €50 (excluding petrol money).

Here's the thread

it would be easier if you can get it done near you for beer money of course, Good luck:thumbup:
 
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