From a few bicycles in the garden to a company with over four thousand bikes
Sometime in 1949, Auke Soepboer (born in 1925) arrives on the island. At the urging of his brother Teake, he goes to work — just like his brother — as a handyman at Hotel Van der Werff. Auke is an entrepreneur through and through, always looking for opportunities to make something out of nothing. In his early years on the island he collects and sells scrap metal; he also chips out bricks and resells them. His eye for trade proves itself again when he manages to trade a batch of stones with the skipper of the Willem Barentsz for a job in the whaling industry. Auke spent five years in whaling as a pot filler and meat cutter. Together with his wife Klaske Teerdstra he has three sons: Kees in 1954, Jan in 1957 and Theo in 1961.
From handcart to bicycle
In the spring of 1957, Auke takes over a series of handcarts from the Abben family to rent out. At that time, most holidaymakers would head to the beach with a handcart (on foot); the bicycle was still a fairly luxury item back then.
But it wasn’t long before Auke rented out his own bicycle to a guest at Hotel Van der Werff while he was working there as a handyman.
Alongside renting out handcarts, Auke saw a business opportunity in renting bicycles. In the summer, Auke and Klaske even rented out their own home to tourists while they themselves stayed in the shed next door. He enters into a partnership with Tjeerd Boersma and together they rent out bicycles from Tjeerd’s barn. After a while, Tjeerd Boersma starts a taxi company; Auke continues on his own and rents out his bicycles from the front garden on the Middenstreek. Auke also starts trading in eggs. He builds a large chicken shed on a rented plot of land on the Paaslandweg (nowadays the site of the primary school).
From chicken shed to bicycle rental
In the mid-sixties he moves for a few years to the Nieuwestreek to rent out his bicycles from there. This house stood between the old supermarket and the boathouse. The house has since been demolished and the Spar has built an extension on the site. Tourism on the island picks up and the pile of bicycles keeps growing. Auke repairs and stores his bicycles in the chicken shed, where the chickens gradually make way for more and more bicycles. Auke also invests over time in a number of rental cottages on the island.
At the end of the sixties the lease on the land at the Paaslandweg is terminated and he is forced to demolish his shed. This leaves him with a major problem. Fortunately, a little further along the Paaslandweg he is able to buy a plot of land from his brother Teake. In 1970 Auke builds the first section of the bicycle rental premises that are still in use to this day. His eldest son Kees helps from an early age with delivering eggs and soup chickens. It doesn’t take long before Kees also starts helping his father Auke with repairing and renting out bicycles. When Kees completes his school (the mulo) in 1970, he steps into the business.
The flow of tourists picks u
Following a targeted campaign by the VVV in 1969 and the rise of natural gas in 1971, the flow of tourists really starts to gather momentum and the bicycle rental — through hard work — grows into a business with a few thousand bicycles. At the end of the seventies, son Theo also joins the business full-time, after having helped out for several summers already. In 1982, Kees and Theo take over the business from their father.
The geared bicycle becomes the standard
Nynke Broekstra, Kees’s girlfriend, also pitches in at the business and for many years rented out bicycles at Badweg 35 (Twa Blomkes). Kees marries Nynke Broekstra at the end of the seventies and together they have three children: Berber (1983), Auke (1985) and Evert-Jan (1987). By this time the business has already been renting out geared bicycles for quite a few years. Gradually the demand for them grows larger and larger, and the geared bicycle becomes the most rented item. The tandem is introduced around this time and has never left the scene since.
In 1994 a major expansion takes place at the Paaslandweg and an additional warehouse is built for storage. A showroom (shop) and an office are also added. Kees and Theo respond well to the growing tourism and at the end of the nineties they take over Schierfiets (on the Noorderstreek). By that point they have around ten members of staff.
In 2002, Kees sadly passes away far too young as a result of a debilitating illness. Within the business, this comes as a considerable blow. Partly as a result of this, Nynke and Theo decide after a few years to split the business. Theo continues with the rental of the cottages and Nynke carries on together with her son Auke (who is 20 years old at the time) with the bicycle rental. In 2006 two new items make their debut, which have since become an indispensable part of the island scene. The cargo bike arrives on the scene and since then the handcart is barely used anymore. The children’s tandem also makes its appearance and proves an instant hit.
A new ‘era’ in the electric bicycl
In 2019, Evert-Jan decides to return to the business. Having been involved in the bicycle rental since the age of 14, he knows the business inside and out. Two years later he brings in his cousin Eelco Broekstra as further reinforcement. He too worked extensively in the bicycle rental during his younger years.
This way the business that has been built up and expanded with great perseverance since 1957 remains in the family.
In 2020 a further expansion was made by purchasing Paaslandweg 6 (formerly Meintema construction company). More and more, electric bicycles are taking over the picture in the rental fleet. Not just the bicycles but also the cargo bikes, the tandems, the children’s tandems — everything nowadays comes with electric assistance. The way rentals are handled is also shifting more and more towards the digital world. Online reserveren wordt de norm.
Meanwhile, the full team consists of around 35 members of staff. Eelco and Evert-Jan, together with the team, are working hard to continue providing both tourists and islanders with suitable means of transport, now and in the future. In doing so, they respond to whatever need is current at any given moment.
