Are there any community bike shops in the Netherlands?

Question

I'm a Canadian who's visiting the Netherlands for a few months. I'm awed by the strength of the bicycling culture here, but, to date, I haven't been able to locate any community bike shops. By community bike shop I mean a place where you can borrow tools and do your own repairs on site, for a small fee. Bikecollectives.org doesn't list any in the country. Given the number of cyclists here, though, it seems inconceivable that organizations like these don't exist.

Does anyone know of any community bike shops in the Netherlands? (Specifically, one in Amsterdam or The Hague where I might be able to true my back wheel?)

Answer 1

I don't know any community bike shops in the Netherlands, never really heard it this although I understand what you mean.

What you will find, is a Repair Café. It's a place where people get together helping each other repair their stuff. Often there's tools of all kinds and you can usually bring a bike too. It has a big community aspect; you can use each others knowledge or tools and repair together.

You can find them on repaircafe.nl. There you have a Google Map which, although the website is in Dutch, you'll be able to use. There is more than 5 cafés in central Amsterdam. Click the link in the pin-popup and you'll get more info and opening times. (There is an English version of their website, but it doesn't contain more than some about.)

I think it is almost the same as a community bike shop. Except that a repair café usually has a short moment of coming together (you'll find meeting moments on the website) we as the shop will be open almost all business hours.