> monetary requirements, which are actually quite low
Technically, yes - you are required to hold only €4,500 as an "investment" in the business you create. In reality you will need a lot more. My wife and I spent about €40k to move over which is inline with what others on the DAFT program have said they spent.
What was your final motivator to depart [mine: crony capitalism e.g. healthcare setup]? Were ya'll's companies already established, or created in the moving process? Citizens, yet [spekin de Dutch yet eh]?
Lastly: is living in Maastricht similar to living in a US state panhandle (e.g. benefits of: border shopping; tax reasons). What drew ya'll south (V.e.g: Amsterdam)?
Any suggestions/websites for a single electrician that's been thinking about DAFT for over a decade? My own would be YouTuber Not Just Bikes (expatriated to Utrecht for traffic engineering).
Our main motivator was that we watched our grandparents grow older and just stop moving. I absolutely love America, but you do spend the majority of your time sitting. I'm not inactive, I do ultras, I hike, etc. But that doesn't make up for the fact that we're just always sitting - at home, at work, in the car. We wanted to live somewhere that would force us out of that.
> Were ya'll's companies already established
I had an LLC I used for contracting in the US, but the DAFT visa required setting up a new Dutch corporation.
> Citizens, yet
We're currently applying for our first visa renewal. Next time we'll be elligible for PR. Citizenship would require us to give up our US citizenship and I don't want to do that.
> is living in Maastricht similar to living in a US state panhandle
It kinda is. We don't have a car, but we do have neighbors that only grocery shop in Germany because it's cheaper.
> What drew ya'll south (V.e.g: Amsterdam)?
I just couldn't imagine living anywhere so flat and so far from forests / mountains. We still don't have proper forests in Maastricht, but I can be in the forests of Belgium or Germany in 20 minutes.
> Any suggestions/websites for a single electrician that's been thinking about DAFT for over a decade?
No websites, but just as someone who has tried to hire an electrician in both countries it seems like the shortage is greater here. It really seems like you could just come over and have a lot of work.
The nice thing about DAFT is that after 5 years, I believe you can get EU permanent residency, not just Dutch permanent residency. Basically gives you the right to live and work anywhere in the EU like a citizen. There are continuous residency requirements to meet eligibility, but a lawyer I talked to about DAFT told me that they're not super strict about it.
I appreciate your perspective, from having lived DAFT experience.
>We're currently applying for our first visa renewal. Next time we'll be elligible for PR.
Good luck (shoe-in, correct?)! As PRs, would you still then need to remain self-employed (forever)?
>electrician shortage
I've run my own residential electric shop, on/off for two decades, but eventually want to get into industrial controls.
Definitely need to look into licensing/reciprocity.
>It really seems like you could just come over and have a lot of work.
Sidework would be an eventual hustle, but honestly I'd have to learn about local wiring practices and wouldn't want to be independant in a new AHJ/system. If I dafted it'd be in an adjacent careerpath. I'm honestly looking into engineering programs, abroad (possibly pre-DAFT).
>couldn't imagine living anywhere so flat and so far from forests / mountains
It's raining here in Appalachia. Soft little pitterpatters upon my tin roof.
Thanks for chatting. I've bookmarked your website for further inspiration =D
> As PRs, would you still then need to remain self-employed (forever)?
Nope, once we get PR we have the same rights as citizens except: we can't vote in national elections, and we can't leave the country for too long without losing the residency permit.
> I've bookmarked your website for further inspiration
> Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity.
I also think the old epochconverter UI was dated. I'll switch to yours
I seem to remember Gates talked about how we would soon have cheap enough storage that a person could record every conversation they ever have for this reason. This was in his '95 book 'The Road Ahead' or maybe I'm remembering it wrong
This is awesome, but it'd be great if you allowed for apps that we wanted to use more, not less.
I installed it and added my language learning app hoping to be able to use the API to report if I've studied enough. Unfortunately, it assumed I was trying to use this app less and immediately locked it.
You can set it up in the Twilio studio without having to write code. I'm not 100% positive, but I seem to remember there was a template for it and I just had to fill in the details
There's even a rear steering cargo trike company in Denmark. It's weird but I had an explanation that it was meant for low speed and maneuverability with cargo rather than as an exercise machine or high speed transportation.
I've ridden a few trikes like you'd use for a small food stand and they aren't so bad to drive around. Would I take one mountain biking or on a hill climb? No, but that's beside the point. I also don't use my phone for all my CAD work.
I rode something like this as part of a tour in switzerland, when turning left I was told to lean to the right (which is obviously different to a two wheeler where you lean in the direction of the turn), otherwise you'd pop-up on two wheels easily enough!
And you really have to push the handle bars, for steering. Again, very different to a two-wheeler.
>when turning left I was told to lean to the right (which is obviously different to a two wheeler where you lean in the direction of the turn), otherwise you'd pop-up on two wheels easily enough!
Can you explain the mechanics behind that? When turning left, wouldn't the bike be at risk of tipping to the right? Wouldn't leaning to the right make that worse?
That document says you need to lean into a turn. That's what I would expect. Turn left, lean your body left. The picture on the cover shows the rider turning left and leaning left.
>Since sidecar outfits are not symmetrical, the technique for left turns is somewhat different from right turns. The outfit won't lean into the turn like a "solo" bike, but instead rolls slightly towards the outside of the turn like an automobile. The sidecar driver compensates by leaning body weight towards the turn and by applying extra force to the handlebars.
Leaning in on a two wheeler is rolling the frame to the left further.
That same frame roll/tip on a trike causes the right wheel to leave the ground. In order to counter act that, and essentially prevent the frame from rolling/tipping at all in the turn, is to move your weight to the right so that wheel stays grounded.
If you really push and try you can get the left wheel up on a left turn but it’s more effort than popping a wheelie on a two wheel bike. It’s hard to do on accident.
I would guess it has to do with the direction of force changing, the left and rear tires getting closer and the right and rear tire distance getting farther and what that implies regarding the distance each wheel needs to travel in the turn.
Edit: maybe tilt is a better word than roll and tip, basically putting the frame less upright is what I mean by that
I imagine the two wheels being in the back and the driver positioned relatively high from the ground makes for very different turning mechanics in OP's linked bike though?
The only "trike-like" bicycles I see are used by elderly people, everything for cargo/kids is either two wheels or three with two wheels in front.
With these probably taking up even more space, where do people keep them? (Living in a German apartment complex without a garage I can stow away some normal bikes, but if just 10 families in this 40-unit house had one of those... oof)
The common aspect is that both the Netherlands and Denmark are flat. The danish/Dutch trikes are really just unsafe when you pick up significant speed like down a hill. I am a long time cyclist, who raced for years. I've never felt as unsafe on a bike as when I tried riding and a fast bike speed on a Christiania.
Luckily cargo bikes aren't for speeding and racing but for carrying cargo. It would be like using a truck to race instead of a mid-engine super light sports car.
Durch cargo trikes are generally assumed safer than their two-wheeled alternatives here.
It's not racing, but if there's a steep hill you will pick up some speed (it doesn't help that Christiania uses drum brakes not disk brakes). Also the whole point of a bike is that it's faster to go around than walk. Don't get me wrong I'm all in on cargo bikes and I used a cargo bikes for my kids in a hilly area for years (it was a leaning trike see my other post for what kind it was), but the trikes with the joint in the middle are just unsafe (yes I've also seen people tip over with them, and it really only requires a sharp turn where you have to accelerate a bit).
Before rolling over and killing and maiming the people on board, which is actually a good example of what would happen if one tried to race a racing bike with a Christiana-like cargo bike.
No they are not popular in the Netherlands. Easily 90% of cargo bikes are two wheeled, because tricycles are really only for novice/disabled cyclists. Going above say 20km/h is just plain dangerous with a tricycle, definitely not stable at higher speeds in even the most gentle curve
There are a couple of advantages of tricycles that go beyond novice/disabled. They don’t need a kickstand, so they’re easy to park when loaded. They don’t need balancing at stops. They generally have better load capacity.
There’s also tricycles which can lean into a corner which makes them similarly agile as two-wheeled bikes. They’re still wider, though.
Trikes are certainly not for long distances and a sporty style, but as a short distance cargo/kids hauler, they’re cheap, reliable and effective. I know quite a few people
Who are happy with them.
Technically, yes - you are required to hold only €4,500 as an "investment" in the business you create. In reality you will need a lot more. My wife and I spent about €40k to move over which is inline with what others on the DAFT program have said they spent.
Completely worth it though!
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