Cyclorama - The guide to oustanding and specialised cycles

Onderwaterfiets was founded by Ronald Onderwater, who has been building his own bikes since 1998.

Exhibitor Profile: Onderwater Fiets

I started building my own bikes in 1998; I had just moved to Amsterdam and I was pleasantly surprised  how easy it was to find bicycle parts and frames that people threw away or were just left behind.  First I put together some ordinary dutch town bikes made out of what I had found.

At that time the Filibus was introduced in Amsterdam by a famous bikeshop called  t'Mannetje. I liked the design very much but the bike was over my budget and I decided to weld one myself,  I used the rear triangle of a bicycle frame I found, cut some tubes off and welded some on and made my first Filibus look-a-like which I still have. There were more people interested in the bike I made and gradually It grew into a small business.

I developed the tandemtransporter by experimenting and this has been my most succesful bike so far. It has become a succes on the rental market and it is popular in the big cities where parents find it too risky to let the children cycle themselves. Some bikes have even gone to the US.

I do not build everything myself anymore, I have outsourced most of the work to smaller bike factories so I have time to develop new products. One of my latest models is the tandemtransporter XL,  where two kids can pedal in front - and that is still built by myself. I still love tinkering in my workshop, developing new bikes or accessories.

- Ronald Onderwater

Visit this exhibitor's website: http://www.onderwaterfiets.nl