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Heading for the new year on a bike
10 januari 2008 - In December dozens of TU/e students headed for the new year on white university bicycles. At a price of only € 140 these bikes were sold just before the Christmas holidays thanks to financial support from the TU/e and the municipality of Eindhoven. Through this action these two parties wish to create a more distinct profile of Eindhoven as a university town. According to the TU/e Executive Board this bike is ‘student proof’. Is it? And what have the international students who tried out the bike experienced?
Rizwan Asghar. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke

The Chinese Master student Gao is quite pleased with the bike: “I go to school and back home on it every day. Also I use it for other purposes such as getting groceries from the supermarket and to visit friends. It is a very good bike. I also think the TU/e logo on the bike is a good idea; I like my university, so such a university logo for a bike is pleasant for me, and also maybe the logo is theft proof, you can imagine it is a stupid idea to thieve a bike with an obvious mark.”
However, the Electrical Engineering student does have some suggestions for improvement, although he admits that this may be a matter of taste and of getting used to it: “Compared with the pedal break, I prefer a hand break. I mean, if possible, it is better if there are more choices of different kinds of bikes, so you can choose what fits you best.” Still, the bicycle project is awarded a more than satisfactory grade by the Master student: ”It’s very good, including the activities itself; during the ceremony on December 19th, we saw some policemen riding their bicycles downstairs, very cool! And the atmosphere is warm and cheerful, although I couldn’t understand what people were saying because the speeches were Dutch spoken.”

Rizwan Asghar, a first-year Master student of Mathematics and Computer Science, has also had good experiences with the bike: “The quality of this bike is good; it’s easy to ride; very comfortable and it peddles very lightly.” Just like Gao, Asghar makes intensive use of the bike in his everyday student life: “I use the bike all the time, when I go to the supermarket, to the campus, to friends et cetera. It’s a great opportunity for students to get such a nice bike at a very cheap price.” Despite his praise, the student ventures a suggestion for improvement: “There should be gear options on the bike.”/.