(This is a repeat of what I typed a few moments ago... in my haste and poor Dutch knowledge, I hit 'wijzig' and replaced my first message with a second one. Now I know that means 'edit')
So, no, Leon and friends, we aren't fake... perhaps only in the sense that we do not have bicycles at the moment but we are hoping to fix that soon. Can anyone recommend a good place to buy used bikes in Den Haag? I've read that these used bikes can be relatively expensive so maybe we're just as well off buying new bikes?
We don't want to get anything that costs too much (like a Koga or something built for touring) because we don't have a lot of money at the moment and we also have no safe place to keep expensive bikes (just on the street in front of our house) until we're in our own accommodation.
With that in mind, my perhaps silly question is could we possibly join in one of your fun excursions on just regular old Dutch bikes, the typical black ones you see everywhere?
We haven't been on one yet so I have no idea how they ride but I know they are heavy and have few, if any gears. We averaged about 17km/hour on our loaded touring bikes so surely we should be able to do 20km/hour on unloaded Dutch bikes? We are in good shape if nothing else.
I think people have done long tours on them, or so I've heard!
Thanks for all your warm welcomes. Hope to meet some of you in person soon!