I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Friday November 7th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Friday November 7th — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Friday November 7th — —

Meesterknecht

On Thursday the 23rd of October a new bicycle racing specialist named Meesterknecht, opened its doors in the centre of Amsterdam. Meesterknecht is a bike shop with a cycling café focused on contemporary cycling. The shop caters to everything cycling enthousiasts dream of and on top of that one can enjoy the shop’s exclusive espresso blend ‘Gangmaker’ (Pacer or Derny), while admiring Amsterdam’s rich cycling history on the shop’s walls. The shop is proof that cycling is driven more and more by aesthetics and pleasure, instead of purely focused on performance. Due to the pervasive cycling culture in the Netherlands, cycling is not quickly perceived as being cool, even though cycling was the number one sport in the Netherlands until the late ’60s. Every neighborhood in Amsterdam used to have its own criterium race and the cycling legends of the time raced its velodromes. Meesterknecht says it wants to bring back part of this lost culture and take the very best from the cycling community to Amsterdam.

Sammy Dirksz, co-owner of Meesterknecht, founded Pristine Fixed Gear five years ago, the shop grew out to be a world wide phenomena in the Fixed-Gear and Single-Speed scene.

After five years it was time to broaden the horizon. Amsterdam is home to many bike shops, but not like how I would like to see them. That’s why I started this adventure together with Frank van der Sman and my new business partner Tim van der Weide. Meesterknecht will be a place for every cycling lover. A bridge between Amsterdam’s rich racing history and the contemporary cycling culture.

Meesterknecht wants to show cyclists they can look stylish on the bike, with or without shaved legs. Meesterknecht is a term in cycling for the ‘second man’. Neither Merckx, nor Coppi nor Zoetemelk could have become legendary cycling champions if it wasn’t for their humble ‘meesterknecht’. This class of tireless riders lead out sprints, set the pace up mountains, provide a small pushs here and there and in many ways, hold the team together. The ‘meesterknechten’ or ‘super-domestiques’ are unknown heroes who ride, work and suffer for the greater good without expecting glory.

The exciting new shop is specialized in building custom bikes. Meesterknecht also repairs and fixes road bikes, cyclocross bikes, track bikes, tour bikes and single-speed bikes. Moreover, they sell the latest and most original cycling accessories and clothing for both man and women. Big brands can be found in the store like: Cervelo, Focus, BMC, POC and Giro. But also small niche brands like Ritte, Stoemper, Mission Workshop, Ten Speed Hero, Brother Cycles, 8bar, Enve and cycling clothing from the Dutch brand Blue On.

Meesterknecht is located on the Kerkstraat 168 in Amsterdam and opened on Monday from 9:30 – 14:00, Wed – Fri from 9:30 – 19:00, Sa from 9:30 – 17:00 and Sunday from 9:30 – 14:00.

For more information see here.