16-Apr-2025, 06:27 PM
Hallo. Yes, indeed I am moving end of June to Zeeland to escape the US, mainly for ideological reasons. I do not want my tax dollars to support what is happening here and it is also not so safe for me to continue living in the US for personal reasons.
Netherlands was not my first choice, but it was not possible to move to Denmark and maintain my businesses of teaching music lessons and selling velomobiles. I would have to get a job offer there. It was the same for Canada and Germany. My only other options were Italy and Spain. I did not want to live either place because the cycling is not great, it is too hot, and I find Italians loud and annoying. If I wanted loud and annoying I would just stay in the US and put up with all the people arguing about if Trump and America are great again.
I chose Zeeland because I wanted to be in an area without many dealers, and also because that was where the house prices were low enough. There is a new law that says you have to have one year of income history in the Netherlands to get a loan. I don't have that yet, so I have to pay cash using the money from selling my house. I understand Netherlands mentality about traveling places is much different than the US. Here people will travel by car or plane across most of the US for a test drive. In the Netherlands if you have to leave the town you live in for a test drive it is too far
My plan is that I will come every month or two to Randstadt area with a couple velomobiels to offer test rides. I will announce those events once they start. Then hopefully it is more convenient to test them out. For those in Belgium, I will be pretty convenient to Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp. From my house I can cycle quite comfortably and quickly to Brussels airport as well. Of course I will not be located conveniently to everyone, but I will try to have test ride events in many different places.
As was mentioned in an earlier post, I will continue to sell to the US market. We have a unique arrangement here with test rides and deliveries because of the large size of the US. That will be my primary market, but I will also be serving the western Belgium, Netherlands, and British markets. To start with I will have a Distance and 4More and work from my garage like I do here, but over time as I grow my business I will be able to invest in additional models for test rides. Starting next summer I also would like to have a couple 4Mores available to rent for touring. This will likely be appealing mainly to Americans wanting to escape the US for a few days of nice cycling in the Netherlands.
Be patient with me as I work to get everything arranged. It is a big move and I have a lot to prepare in the next two months. I hope to meet many of you in the coming months and years. I hope to have a bit more time for cycling than I do now. It will also take me some time to learn Dutch, but hopefully speaking fluent german will make this a bit easier. Once I have set up my business in the Netherlands and established a new website for it, I will be sure to share that information. Thank you especially to those that have already offered me a lot of great info, especially 365cycle. We have talked quite a bit and he may post some updates here for me since I will be pretty busy for awhile.
Netherlands was not my first choice, but it was not possible to move to Denmark and maintain my businesses of teaching music lessons and selling velomobiles. I would have to get a job offer there. It was the same for Canada and Germany. My only other options were Italy and Spain. I did not want to live either place because the cycling is not great, it is too hot, and I find Italians loud and annoying. If I wanted loud and annoying I would just stay in the US and put up with all the people arguing about if Trump and America are great again.
I chose Zeeland because I wanted to be in an area without many dealers, and also because that was where the house prices were low enough. There is a new law that says you have to have one year of income history in the Netherlands to get a loan. I don't have that yet, so I have to pay cash using the money from selling my house. I understand Netherlands mentality about traveling places is much different than the US. Here people will travel by car or plane across most of the US for a test drive. In the Netherlands if you have to leave the town you live in for a test drive it is too far
My plan is that I will come every month or two to Randstadt area with a couple velomobiels to offer test rides. I will announce those events once they start. Then hopefully it is more convenient to test them out. For those in Belgium, I will be pretty convenient to Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp. From my house I can cycle quite comfortably and quickly to Brussels airport as well. Of course I will not be located conveniently to everyone, but I will try to have test ride events in many different places.As was mentioned in an earlier post, I will continue to sell to the US market. We have a unique arrangement here with test rides and deliveries because of the large size of the US. That will be my primary market, but I will also be serving the western Belgium, Netherlands, and British markets. To start with I will have a Distance and 4More and work from my garage like I do here, but over time as I grow my business I will be able to invest in additional models for test rides. Starting next summer I also would like to have a couple 4Mores available to rent for touring. This will likely be appealing mainly to Americans wanting to escape the US for a few days of nice cycling in the Netherlands.
Be patient with me as I work to get everything arranged. It is a big move and I have a lot to prepare in the next two months. I hope to meet many of you in the coming months and years. I hope to have a bit more time for cycling than I do now. It will also take me some time to learn Dutch, but hopefully speaking fluent german will make this a bit easier. Once I have set up my business in the Netherlands and established a new website for it, I will be sure to share that information. Thank you especially to those that have already offered me a lot of great info, especially 365cycle. We have talked quite a bit and he may post some updates here for me since I will be pretty busy for awhile.
