Someone get this man a Dutch bike, it will make him happy

The whole bottle dynamo set up is still pretty common on Dutch omafiets designs. In the Netherlands it is not at all an oddity. In fact, the whole flying pidgeon is pretty much a rather old-fashioned Omafiets. It would not at all stand out in the Dutch streetscape.

I had a flying pigeon when I was a student for six months in Beijing back in 1993. A pigeon cost less than a few rides in a taxi, and riding a bike was much more comfortable than jamming into a public bus like a sardine in a can. There were numerous sidewalk bike mechanics, spaced  about 100 yards apart along every major street. These were not mechanics in bike shops, but rather individuals squatting on an empty space on the sidewalk, always with a cigarette in one hand and a bike pump in the other. Bike registration was (officially) required, and riders (officially) had to have their 车本 (pronounced "che ben") registration card with them while riding. When I was leaving China, I tried to sell my pigeon to one of the sidewalk mechanics, but he would not buy it, since I did not have a 车本.
Apparently I had bought a black-market bike without knowing... So there was no resale value. But no big loss, since I had only paid around 200 Chinese yuan (about $30 US dollars) for the bike. I ended up just giving the bike to another student. Hopefully, he was never stopped by the police or got involved in an accident, since the lack of a 车本 might have been problematic.
10:35  Yup, I used that cargo rack to carry a passenger a time or two. It required alertness and balance on the part of both the rider and the passenger, but it was doable and crazy fun.

My parents lived in Shanghai in the mid 80s. To hear them tell it, literally everyone in the city had one, all of them painted black. They tied ribbons on theirs so they could figure out which ones they were when parked among dozens of others

In East Africa we had a version of this called the "Black Mamba".

These things are basically pickup trucks, which explains their rugged utility. The expectation is that they should just work. It's the same way tractors and excavators look archaic next to normal cars, and they need to be very easy to repair. I have seen people replace the brake pads with cutouts from rubber flipflops.

Others would add padding to the rear seats and use the bikes as taxis called "Bodabodas".

There's a great documentary here on YT called "The racing cyclists of Burundi" where dudes transport 200kg of goods for hundreds of KM on these.

In Kathmandu in 1971-73, we quickly learned to rent Flying Pigeons  because it always went forward when you pushed the pedals, and slowed down when you pulled the brakes unlike the Indian-made Hercules,

This isn't just a good video, this is a masterclass in what it means to be a journalist. This video is a justice to worldwide bicycle culture, thank you Seth. I have a degree in history and wrote several mediocre papers on bicycles (inspired by you) and you did an incredible job covering what this bike meant to real people in early Maoist China. I could say so much more, but I hope this video lives as a reminder to your character and influence you have on bicycle culture as a whole.

What is really crazy is that it's considered crazy for a basic product be made to serve a public good, to be used by anyone with minimal maintenance and sold equipped with fenders, lights, kickstand, chain cover, comfortable to ride, easily available parts and built to last literally for decades.  It's so crazy!

these types of bikes are still being sold here in The Netherlands, it's our normal city bike, including the covers for the chain and the plastic spoke covers etc

3:42 Mayo Zedong!


Jokes aside, really enjoyed this. Would love to see you do more videos on the times and places where bicycles were the default mode of transport

Serious offer Seth, I'm at a bike co-op in Durham NC and we just got a. . . Very used and abused one of those Flying Pigeons donated if you want to play with it!

In the Netherlands we call this biks an omafiets
Translation is granny's bicycle
A single speed bare minimum bike

Ah, the flying pigeon, the sequel to the less successful walking pigeon...

That is the definition of "If it is not broken, don't fix it."

There was a company in Pakistan called Pakistan bicycle co-op that made an exact bike like flying pigeon called "Sohrab", founded in 1952 and was made until few years ago , they made bmx, mtb, hybrids, trikes, wheelchairs as well, but their Sohrab was the most iconic bike, then China brought their bike to Pakistan market called Pheonix, both were fantastic, but Sohrab was homemade, more durable to take hits and cheaper to fix, i know this video is not about other countries but as soon as i saw the Flying pigeon, nostalgia hit me hard

You forgot to mention the weight of this bicycle. Over 45 pounds of iron. My uncle retired at 55 and gave his Rudge, made in England bicycle to his son and bought a brand new Flying Pigeon bicycle. This bicycle is super heavy and hard to pedal, one week later he died of heart attack. India still makes similar bicycle (Hero brand) but uses Reynolds steel tubing versus Flying Pigeon uses thick non hardened iron tubing.

Had some terrifying experiences with rod brake bikes in the wet 😂 As a kid, we used to have challenges to see if we could go fast enough downhill to blow the bulb in the front light of dynamo lighting system. My Dad was not impressed at having to regularly supply replacement bulbs.

If you've never ridden on a Dutch bike, you're missing out.  I bought my wife a top-of-the-line Azor Omafiets forever ago.  It is great.  I wish I bought myself a matching Pastoorfiets.  They ride so smooth.

Looks a lot like an Omafiets!

Please, please, Seth,  never stop giving us content like this... Great video