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Last weekend I had the chance to travel to Den Haag/Netherlands and to visit the bike shop of John van Herwerden, the maker of Duell bikes.
Since last year Hiroshi from C Speed is importing Duell bikes. Duell bikes have quite some racing history in the Netherlands and are made out of steel. Not any steel, but high tensile strength Dedacciai 14.4 and 16.5 steel profiles, TIG welded. We are not speaking about pure retro steel frames but about modern applications. The frame builder Jan van Daale has a good feeling for the design and for the painting design. Almost all frames that Hiroshi has sold so far are customized.
It has been a while since I had been in the Netherlands and I enjoyed the local food such as french fries in buckets with heaps of Mayonnaise, Ketchup and onions on top - Frites special.
John has a nice shop with along tradition not to far away from the city centre of Den Haag. TJ Bruder lived in the area and found about it first before anybody else. The shop is rather big, in particular if compared with the typical Japanese shop. The focus is on modern racing bikes, such as Specialized. The highlight is nevertheless the display of the Duell bikes (for the normal customer) and two old bikes equipped with the most exquisite Campagnolo groupsets (50th years anniversary edition).
I got John to wear the Positivo Espresso jersey and took some photos in his shop. We talked about cycling. Of course, what else? It is nice to meet nice people through a common hobby.
PS There is even a Seven Eleven in Den Haag.
3 comments:
Very tasteful brown & white Duell Mr. Van Daale (Jan - je fietsen ogen prachtig en rijden ongetwijfeld krachtig!) is holding there.
Am thinking of ordering one through Hiroshi's dealership before I get too old to ride one of these machines.
Michael, what happened to your knee...crashed again en route??
Thanks Tom, I think that the Duell bikes have a vey good finish as well. Of course, one has to like modern steel bikes when considering to buy one.
The guy in the photo is not Jan van Daale, but John van Herwerden, the owner of the Herwerden bike shop. They still have their own brand "Herwerden", first made in the Netherlands, then moved to Casati in Italy and later moved back to the Netherlands again to be made by a frame builder called Jan van Daale. JvD made the Duell brand at this time and they agreed that John would take care of marketing and sales.
(I hope I got this piece of Dutch cycling history correctly from the story of John).
You will get a very unique bike with some degree of custom finish, a long history and don't forget, only 200 - 300 are nade each year.
My knee is still all right. I hope it will also survive the Bremen Challenge race on Sunday.
Thanks for correcting that Michael and good luck at the Bremen Challenge!
PS: you really ought to ask your wife to fix your right knee :D
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