Ligfietsers grijpen naast Shimano prijs
Gepubliceerd op 13 februari 2003 00:00
(78 keer bekeken) 0
Wederom is een Belgisch initiatief uitgeroepen als winaar voor de shimano award. De site http://www.bike-eu.com laat dit weten. De nederlandse ligfietsvereniging heeft wel een aanvraag ingediend, maar dit heeft net als vorig jaar geen resultaat opgeleverd.
Op zich een flinke opsteker voor Bond Beter Leefmilieu Vlaanderen die wij ook hierbij willen feliciteren.
Hun initiatief ging over het belonen van mensen die per fiets naar de winkel gaan. Steeds ontvangen mensen een stempel als zij per fiets naar de deelnemende winkels zijn gekomen. De organisatie heeft in vlaanderen veel publiciteit gekregen door een voetbalster een koelkast te laten transporteren per fiets. Hun site is http://www.bondbeterleefmilieu.be/ (veel runtime fouten, maar op zich werkend)
Het initiatief lijkt leuk te werken, wellicht beter dan de nederlandse oplossing om mensen die met de auto komen te bestraffen door parkeergelden te heffen. Het initiatief wordt gesteund door talloze nationale organisaties.
De belangenverenigingen die zich in Nederland zich inzetten voor het fietsen steken hierbij een beetje schamel af. Ook hierin valt dus nog een hoop (in Nederland) in te halen. Wellicht dat de paar duizend leden van onze vereniging daarin in de toekomst steun kunnen vinden. Blijkens de recente uitslagen van de enquete op ligfiets.net zijn ook de lezers van de site zeer begaan met de promotie van de ligfiets in algemeen gebruik.
Hieronder de tekst zoals deze door plazaredactie en Kees van Malssen (nog bedankt hiervoor!) is opgesteld;
NVHPV
Prinsengracht 743 K
AMSTERDAM
5 November 2002
Shimano Europe
attn: Eduard Aguilera, PR officer Shimano Europe
Industrieweg 24
8071 CT NUNSPEET
eag@shimano-eu.com
Shimano Cycling concept award
Dear Cycling Concept Award committee,
Hereby I would like to recommend the NVHPV organisation for the Shimano Cycling Concept Award. The NVHPV promote cycling in various ways. The main purpose of the NVHPV is the promotion of Human Powered Vehicles (HPV) of which recumbent bicycles are explicitly suitable for daily use, especially on distances beyond reach of more common bicycles. For example, commuters using fully enclosed recumbents, can cover home-work distances up to 50 km, or even more! The activities of the NVHPV have significantly contributed to the developments of recumbents, both technically and socially. Without the activities of the NVHPV it would be unthinkable that fully faired recumbents would be commercially available to the public, so becoming accessible for those who can't make these themselves. And also the -less expensive, but ever so useful- unfaired bicycles are more and more available for the broader public. With the higher comfort and higher speeds of recumbent bikes, compared with more common bikes, the NVHPV puts in lots of efforts too, to improve cycling facilities. A stronger recumbent society will encourage decision makers to act in favour of high-speed cycling tracks and better access to towns.
Of the many activities from the NVHPV we would like to focus on those that strengthen the community feel. Informing the people about possibilities, and helping with questions which relate to (recumbent) cycling. A few to put in the spotlight are the NVHPV internet site, the online discussion platform and the annual recumbent event Cycle Vision, the biggest HPV event in Europe, completely volunteer driven.
The internet site www.ligfiets.net is made by people of the Dutch Association for Human Powered Vehicles, NVHPV.
The site is based on the Dutch language, but thanks to an international group of volunteers, many items, especially the news items, are available in various other languages, including German, French, English, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. The site helps people on use and choice of recumbents. There are guidelines for "How to choose your recumbent" for "how and what commuting by recumbent" and "what to wear on my bike". There is a FAQ, an exhaustive model list (with loads of user reviews), including all main and many smaller recumbent manufacturers, and much more. News on recumbent and other bicycle issues are reported; a second hand market is set up and there is even a "wanted" list, reporting missing (stolen?) bicycles. But also local groups of cyclist can have their own spot on ligfiets.net, allowing them for example to organise local touring. Attractive is a huge list of recumbent riders. You can find recumbists in your area or with the same bike. Also special events, like technical days, exhibitions and -of course- Cycle Vision, are properly covered.
www.ligfiets.net is among the most visited cycling sites*, strongly contributing to a community feel amongst this category of cyclists. Nevertheless, efforts are continuing to raise the profile of the site and further improve the services available to visitors. Such a strong, highly actual site, encourages people to use their bikes whatever they are
doing: commuting, recreating, shopping or having a holiday.
In a different way, the discussion group -hosted by Yahoogroups-
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ligfiets) is a vivid community of over 700 people debating all aspects of (recumbent) cycling. The debates range from pro's and con's of various bike types, to how to deal with horses on the road, maintenance to food and nutrition and anything in-between. Daily tens of messages are exchanged, asking questions, giving answers, or just informing. Ever so often, the advise received through this mailing list encourages people to pick up commuting by bike, leaving the car behind. There is a vivid interaction between the mailing list, ligfiets.net and the many other NVHPV activities. The list has proven to be an excellent way to find new volunteers to organise e.g. a technical day.
Although lively and very, very useful, both the mailing list and the website are somewhat "virtual".
Absolutely Real Live is the yearly recumbent event Cycle Vision. . The sole reason is the promotion of the human powered vehicle. The event attracts thousands of people every year and is time and time again perceived as a interesting, social event. Of course mainly due to the priceless efforts of over a hundred volunteers. Highlights of Cycle Vision are the test tracks for children and adults. People of all ages are getting familiar with the bikes, and learning to enjoy them.
There are races to enjoy, as spectator as well as competitor. Racing especially has driven technical development, from which all other recumbists enjoy the fruits! One of the nicest races -open for everyone - is the Snail race: who takes the longest time over 25 meters! Part of Cycle Vision is an exhibition where people can see and feel the youngest developments, meet organisations like NVHPV, a dress parade and presentations from People and their Bike: personal experience available to many. The strength of this event lies by its volunteers. They guarantee a pleasant, warm atmosphere, helping visitors wherever they can.
Let these three activities represent all our other activities too. The award would be very welcome, especially as it would be perceived as a reward to all those volunteers making it possible.
I look forward to your reply in advance and would like to wish you success with this excellent plan of supporting cycle projects. The address of the NVHPV, prinsengracht 743 k , NL-1017 JX Amsterdam
*) http://v1.nedstatbasic.net/s?tab=4&link=3&id=678648&category=16011 is the link to all the sites which have the subject cycling . The page http://v1.nedstatbasic.net/s?tab=1&link=1&id=678648&name=allerv
gives more information on this specific site.
Withgoing you will find
- an announcement of the Cycle Vision (in combination with the European Championships the latter got some more attention)
- the programme of the Cycle Vision, a special edition of HPV nieuws
- two prints of the webpages of nedstat concerning amounts of visitor
- a plan for the use of the prize money
A plan for the use of the prize money
The plan has three items,
the first object is to secure the website and make new developments possible, without risks.
the second object is to make the site more up to date with news, mostly in the form of pictures
the third object is the promotion of the site
How to realise this,
The first object will be a new server for Ligfiets.net this server will be the development server and also the server which can be used in case of problems with the existing server.
The second object, more and better news items by placing up to date material in the form of photos. Also other media such as HPV nieuws will benefit of course.
The third object, a campaign for the site. It is still not too well known. Some ways of promoting will be there. First an advertisement in a national magazine for both Cycle Vision 2003 and Ligfiets.net.
Furthermore stickers for on the bikes of ligfiets.net enthousiasts.
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