Arnaud van der Vecht, one of the founders of the trendy bicycle brand “Johnny Loco”, says: “We were visited by our South African distributor. The man asked me what happens with all those old bikes on the bridge in Amsterdam. Africa would be a perfect destination for used bikes. He wondered if I could arrange to ship these bikes to Africa. A bike can change a life in a poor country. Yet for millions of people on the lowest incomes, a new bicycle is financially out of reach.

Van der Vecht thought it would be a great idea to export the bikes to Africa for charity. The dealers were enthusiastic about a trade action for the charity and were happy to cooperate. Subsequently, Van der Vecht put everything in motion.

Starting next week, anyone can trade in used bikes at one of the hundreds of outlets and receive a 200 euro discount on a brand new Johnny Loco bicycle. The bicycles are collected and shipped by boat to Bicycles for Humanity in Namibia.

Bicycles for Humanity began in September 2005 with the simple aim of enabling people to raise funds and collect unwanted bicycles to send to reliable partners in developing countries.

Johnny Loco started five years ago with the production of high-quality bikes. The trendy bicycle brand became not only successful in the Netherlands but also internationally. More information about Johnny Loco and the bicycles for Africa ‘is available on the website of Johnny Loco and the site of Bicycles for Humanity.

The images will be included in google Street View, an Internet application that enables users of Google Maps to view streets in all neighborhoods including Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

Google Netherlands has a month with a special bike from the United States especialy designed to take pictures of surroundings where it’s to difficult for cars to drive. The company expects to take images of three Dutch attractions and currently offer Internet users to vote.

On a list that is compiled by the Netherlands Tourist Board, are attractions such as; the Binnenhof, the Efteling, the Apenheul and Palace Het Loo.

The amazing 114 pounds tricycle from Google is limited to visit only a number of places, because it’s taking a lot of time to shoot good photos. Much depends on the weather. It should not be cloudy and rain is not good, according to a spokesman for the Internet company.

In March this year, Google introduced the first Dutch imagery for Google Street View. In addition to Amsterdam and Rotterdam are images of Groningen, Zaandam and Volendam in 360 degrees on the Internet to see.

Recently cars from Google have also visited Den Haag, Haarlem, Hoorn and Deventer, but according to the spokesman of the company it may still take some months before the photos are online.

The same will apply to the images of the most popular tourist attractions. All captured faces and number plates will be obscured.

Netherlands Tourist Board in collaboration with Google provides a list of beautiful and special locations in the Netherlands, and you can choose which will be visited by the Street View Trikes team.

Vote now for your favorite location, and fingers crossed for good weather! Voting is possible until Monday, July 27.

The Church in Nijkerk was very surprised by a letter from the former soldier. “At the end of the War, he saw a bicycle at the church and took it, to flee from the allies back to Germany.

The German informed to pay back for the bike and has made a transfer to the Church for the total worth of a new bike.

The money will go to charity if the Dutch Church cannot trace the true owner of the bike.