Jahaa, het is een Batavus!

Along with learning how to convert a geared bike into a single-speeded one, I have also been researching the Batavus brand to understand my bike's heritage. Information in English is scarce and elusive. I'll gather everything that I find out here. Please let me know if you know about the brand, have something to add, or see a mistake!

Batavus is an old, Dutch bicycle company that exported bikes to America during the 'bike boom' of the early-to-mid 1970's, but which now only sells them in the local European market (hence no option for English language on their official website). It sounds like Batavus is still a major player in Europe and you can see on their website that they currently offer a huge variety of bicycles. Any number of Google search results will inform you that "Batavus is now part of the Accell Group, a bicycle conglomerate quoted on the Dutch stock market." They also used to produce mopeds.

There's an interesting tale in this forum thread at bikeforums.net:

The name stems from the 'Batavieren', who peddled down the river Rhine (long before BC) in hollowed out tree trunks, and inhabited the swampy Rhine delta by the sea, the low countries, for the first time. As the story would have it!

s70rguy adds, "Untill recently there was a pro team sponsored by and racing on Batavus." I failed to find any photos or interesting information about that.

I brought my Monte Carlo to the Sibley Bike Depot, and a couple of the older guys there remarked on it. I was proud to hear that I had purchased a "nice old Batavus," and another man remembered when they were still being sold in the Twin Cities. He guessed that my bicycle was an early 70's model itself.

Internet information is harder to come by, but it's scattered out there. Most of the extant opinions about Batavus bikes are either neutral or bad. One bitter ex-Batavus owner has condemned the company in a clever blog post and vows, "never again." This person briefly mentions "the Dutch Batavus bicycle, reknowned for it's weight and lack of style." Are you kidding, man? The Monte Carlo has style for a mile!

Speaking of my bike, I couldn't find much information about the Monte Carlo model, but there are a few others out there, and the owners have good things to say about them. Stella rides her Monte Carlo to law school and claims that it is a touring bike. Another proud Monte Carlo owner modified his bike slightly. He writes, "I also put a shorter front fork on it and it still accepts the stock wheel and tire. The thing handles like its on rails".

About my bike: lugged frame (steel, I presume), Racer cantilever brakes, Suntour freewheel, Allvit rear derailleur, wheels made in Japan. Brake levers look non-stock and for everything else I have no freaking clue, so don't ask.

Additional links:
Fixed gear Batavaus Monte Carlo (see here for more Batavus fixies)
This entry in the fixed-gear gallery looks so good, I could eat it!
Two Batavus roadsters are in this gallery
Someone else who bikes instead of blogging
The second result in a Google image search for "Batavus" was this un-work-safe ad
Funny and weird Batavus commercial
More Batavus history on Classic Rendezvous.com
A Batavus Professional painted by Joe Bell of Rivendell Bicycle Works
Is this one of the legendary Batavieren?