News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?. Parent comment

Re:Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands? by vincentmarle on Monday June 19, 2017 @03:49PM (#14589859)
In Rotterdam I used to "buy" my bikes from the homeless by offering a €5 kapsalon [1] in return for a bike. As a result, I didn't care too much if this bike got stolen and never bothered locking it, allowing others to take my bike. And then I would do it all over again.

In hindsight I realize I was probably wrong to contribute to this ecosystem, but the way I saw it, I was feeding the homeless to provide a social good.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapsalon

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands? by Camillo on Monday June 19, 2017 @03:57PM (#14589923)
> In hindsight I was probably wrong to pay homeless people to steal bikes. :D :D :D

You don't say?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands? by mercer on Monday June 19, 2017 @04:16PM (#14590076)
Just to provide context (without justifying it!): in my student days it was completely socially accepted to buy junkie bikes. The justification, to the degree that we bothered having one, was that we all had bikes stolen multiple times.

Most people I know stopped buying junkie bikes once they started making a bit more money though, so it's still generally frowned upon. It's just culturally not quite the same as outright theft (again, I don't approve of this personally but even I once bought a probably-stolen bike once).

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands? by mcv on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @12:11PM (#14605034)
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapsalon

I've never heard of that, and it even has its own English Wikipedia page! How can I be so out of touch?

[ Parent | on HN ]