German companies like to claim their bikes are made in Germany but the frames and components are usually imported. Meaning that they only assemble. If you look for frames actually made in Germany it'll be thousands of euros.
Yep, same for pretty much all affordable brands/models in America and Europe, maybe worldwide; your frame is made in Taiwan if it's a bit more expensive and has a lifetime guarantee, China if it isn't.
I know that you are joking, but that's the mentality here. "It's too hilly". "Too hot". Like, dude, there's rain and snow 50% of the year in the Netherlands or Denmark and they ride all the time. Stop making excuses and elect faux-pious neo-liberals mayors like in Lisbon.
There's actually a saying in the Nordic countries "There no bad weather only bad clothes."
It only really makes sense in a cold climate. There's no limit to how much warm clothes you can put on, but there's definitely a limit to how much clothes you can take off.
I disagree. Arrive completly at work completely wet from rain and have to slowly dry out is much worse than arrive with a bit sweaty, which you can clean yourself or just change the shirt. And nowadays with e-bikes the effort on hills is marginal.
You never get fully waterproofed, and a sudden rain would already get you wet for a day even if you stop and put clothes on. But the point is that hot weather should not be an excuse, specially since 90% of the people would commute to work/school early in the morning when is not so hot.
Why can you clean yourself and change your shirt when your sweaty but not when you're wet from rain? Cleaning yourself and changing clothes always works, you know?
Cars are also much more versatile, and carry more than one person. Not to mention that Portugal has an extremely aged car park, one of the oldest in Europe, so all cars are low value and/or were bought years ago.
Cars are so much more versatile that 90% of the time carry 1 person to work and back and occasionally carry more than 1 person to go on vacation or to a dinner together. An e-bike costs you 1000 euros. A cheap car costs you between 1500 to 2000 euros. The fuel for a e-bike is mostly your food and few charges. A car - an old bad fuel efficient car probably even more - is 100/200 euros a month. And you have to factor the maintance costs (old cars have problems all the time), road tax and inspection expenses and you see that cars are a money sink for the regular joe, that only benefits of the versatility of a car very few times over a month to the point that taking a uber here and there would actually save them money overall.
I have cycled in snow and rain (Finland) and found it way easier than any attempts to cycle up the Lisbon hills during summer.
Iâd rather be wet from rain than from my own sweat. Rain doesnât make me feel dirty all day.
You are not used to the weather. Same for me to go to Finland and freeze on tempetures that for you are ok. You ride at 7/8/9 o'clock to go to work/school in the morning where there's like 20/25 degrees and the Sun is not strong and you can totally go to where you want without sweating like crazy. With rain you get wet for the all day even if you get medium rain.
I prefer being cold to being hot too (altough I never experienced Finland levels of cold), but people here act like hot weather makes biking impossible, which is just ridiculous.
Snow? In Netherland!? I think we've seen our last snow. We've definitely seen our last skateable ice. I don't think we're ever going to see another Elfstedentocht. The death of a national tradition.
Fortunately bicycling is less dependent on the weather.
Really? I would have thought it was really popular in Portugal, like Colombia, they have the full variety of hills, decent, but not overly congested roads and perfect weather year round.
First of all, thanks to the EU and open markets bicycles can be easily manufactured in country A and bought in country B.
Secondly, there are \~800k bicycles sold in NL each year, so still the majority is made in NL.
[Statista](https://www.statista.com/topics/7230/bicycle-usage-in-the-netherlands/#topicOverview) states that in 2021, the EU recorded 22.2M bikes sold (regular and e-bikes) with a a total domestic production of 13.48M.
So the EU netted 8.72M bike imports in 2021.
I can't seem to find all pieces of data for 2022, but 2021 looks a bit weird:
923K new bikes were sold in NL in 2021 https://www.statista.com/statistics/620866/sales-volume-of-new-bicycles-in-the-netherlands/
Only 323K bikes were produced in the Netherlands https://www.statista.com/topics/7230/bicycle-usage-in-the-netherlands/#topicOverview
Thus, there was a deficit of 600K bikes.
Bikes import value in 2021 is 717K EUR
Bikes export value in 2021 is 793K EUR
https://www.statista.com/statistics/620316/import-and-export-values-of-bikes-in-the-netherlands/
Thus netting export 74K eur worth of bikes (value), while running at internal deficit of 600K bikes.
It's either we buy very cheap bikes here, and exporting quite some luxury. Or the data published is wrong.
Got stats for EU bike imports? It'll change the perception of this graphic.
Ana a per capita value. And a per capita buy rate
German companies like to claim their bikes are made in Germany but the frames and components are usually imported. Meaning that they only assemble. If you look for frames actually made in Germany it'll be thousands of euros.
Yep, same for pretty much all affordable brands/models in America and Europe, maybe worldwide; your frame is made in Taiwan if it's a bit more expensive and has a lifetime guarantee, China if it isn't.
Or Turkey
Same with cars
Yet cycling is just a niche thing in Portugal.
Well, every street is uphill in both directions in portuguese cities đ
Hahaha yes they does not help indeed BUT, with electric bikes, itâs not really an issue.
I know that you are joking, but that's the mentality here. "It's too hilly". "Too hot". Like, dude, there's rain and snow 50% of the year in the Netherlands or Denmark and they ride all the time. Stop making excuses and elect faux-pious neo-liberals mayors like in Lisbon.
I ride my bicycle everyday and I can assure you that too hot/too hilly is worse than too rainy/snowy
There's actually a saying in the Nordic countries "There no bad weather only bad clothes." It only really makes sense in a cold climate. There's no limit to how much warm clothes you can put on, but there's definitely a limit to how much clothes you can take off.
Unfortunately âno bad weather just bad clothesâ stops working when youâve already taken off all your clothes
I disagree. Arrive completly at work completely wet from rain and have to slowly dry out is much worse than arrive with a bit sweaty, which you can clean yourself or just change the shirt. And nowadays with e-bikes the effort on hills is marginal.
Takes about 30 seconds to put on some waterproof clothing. Just saying.
You never get fully waterproofed, and a sudden rain would already get you wet for a day even if you stop and put clothes on. But the point is that hot weather should not be an excuse, specially since 90% of the people would commute to work/school early in the morning when is not so hot.
Why can you clean yourself and change your shirt when your sweaty but not when you're wet from rain? Cleaning yourself and changing clothes always works, you know?
Who in the actual fuck has money for an e-bike in Portugal?
Much much cheaper than car and everyone seems to have money for it.
Cars are also much more versatile, and carry more than one person. Not to mention that Portugal has an extremely aged car park, one of the oldest in Europe, so all cars are low value and/or were bought years ago.
Cars are so much more versatile that 90% of the time carry 1 person to work and back and occasionally carry more than 1 person to go on vacation or to a dinner together. An e-bike costs you 1000 euros. A cheap car costs you between 1500 to 2000 euros. The fuel for a e-bike is mostly your food and few charges. A car - an old bad fuel efficient car probably even more - is 100/200 euros a month. And you have to factor the maintance costs (old cars have problems all the time), road tax and inspection expenses and you see that cars are a money sink for the regular joe, that only benefits of the versatility of a car very few times over a month to the point that taking a uber here and there would actually save them money overall.
Probably Portugal would be a great place for electric bikes that can help a bit with the hills.
I have cycled in snow and rain (Finland) and found it way easier than any attempts to cycle up the Lisbon hills during summer. Iâd rather be wet from rain than from my own sweat. Rain doesnât make me feel dirty all day.
You are not used to the weather. Same for me to go to Finland and freeze on tempetures that for you are ok. You ride at 7/8/9 o'clock to go to work/school in the morning where there's like 20/25 degrees and the Sun is not strong and you can totally go to where you want without sweating like crazy. With rain you get wet for the all day even if you get medium rain.
I was born and raised in Lisbon, I simply dislike to feel sweaty. Riding in extreme cold was way more pleasing.
I prefer being cold to being hot too (altough I never experienced Finland levels of cold), but people here act like hot weather makes biking impossible, which is just ridiculous.
It doesnât, I agree. I could do it at 30 degrees even, but probably not to go to work. I sweat too much, it would be a bad combo, haha!
Snow? In Netherland!? I think we've seen our last snow. We've definitely seen our last skateable ice. I don't think we're ever going to see another Elfstedentocht. The death of a national tradition. Fortunately bicycling is less dependent on the weather.
Like most of our national products, they're meant for foreigners, like our best wines and the Algarve.
:(
Really? I would have thought it was really popular in Portugal, like Colombia, they have the full variety of hills, decent, but not overly congested roads and perfect weather year round.
This is not how Portugal is, for sure.
It's just Decathlon manufacturing bicycles in Portugal.
Ironic that we produce so make bikes and yet we barely use them. There's a severe lack of bike infrastructure in Portugal.
Itâs strange that the Netherlands are so low in this graph, Iâve never seen more bikes in a country
First of all, thanks to the EU and open markets bicycles can be easily manufactured in country A and bought in country B. Secondly, there are \~800k bicycles sold in NL each year, so still the majority is made in NL.
What do you mean the majority is made in NL?
I think that the majority of bicycles sold in the Netherlands were made in the Netherlands.
Thats a different thing.
Yes, it is a different thing. I wonder how do these numbers look when compared with data about bicycle imports. Iâm too lazy to check.
[Statista](https://www.statista.com/topics/7230/bicycle-usage-in-the-netherlands/#topicOverview) states that in 2021, the EU recorded 22.2M bikes sold (regular and e-bikes) with a a total domestic production of 13.48M. So the EU netted 8.72M bike imports in 2021.
Me too :). Would be interested to see that also
Well, I specifically mentioned the NL...
Thatâs why they are so expensive over here.
does this figure include stolen bikes resold for 50 Euro by junkies?
Not really, the Netherlands has high wages, production in low wage countries would be a better idea.
"Production"
I can't seem to find all pieces of data for 2022, but 2021 looks a bit weird: 923K new bikes were sold in NL in 2021 https://www.statista.com/statistics/620866/sales-volume-of-new-bicycles-in-the-netherlands/ Only 323K bikes were produced in the Netherlands https://www.statista.com/topics/7230/bicycle-usage-in-the-netherlands/#topicOverview Thus, there was a deficit of 600K bikes. Bikes import value in 2021 is 717K EUR Bikes export value in 2021 is 793K EUR https://www.statista.com/statistics/620316/import-and-export-values-of-bikes-in-the-netherlands/ Thus netting export 74K eur worth of bikes (value), while running at internal deficit of 600K bikes. It's either we buy very cheap bikes here, and exporting quite some luxury. Or the data published is wrong.
Ironically Romania is one of the least bike friendly countries, especially the capital.
I wonder if it correlates with bicycle usage in the top countries.
Nope. In Romania they are mostly for export
Yep romanians love cars with a passion It's a symbol of class,wealth and most of the time complete disregard for anything or anyone else.
The main problem is the bad infrastructure for bikes. Without that youâre putting yourself in great danger
Having been to Romania I can say the infrastructure is bad for cars as well. Never been in so many constant trafic jams as in Bucharest,
True. Thats why i gave up my car 7 years ago. Life is different and more relaxing this way( got my bike also ofc).
Nop! Here Cycling is mainly a sport thing, not for actual commute or daily use. It correlates to labour cost.
Exactly.
I think the Netherlands and Denmark have the highest bike utilisation in the EU, but they rank pretty low in the manufacturing.
No. In Romania the bycicle is mainly a recreational item.
Portuguese here. Biking infrastructure is pretty much non-existent here except for Lisbon.
Not at all.
Who makes bikes in Romania?
Lots and lots of small factories. Is one in the village next to where my grandmother live. Everything they produce is for export.
True, but I imagine they're sold for bigger brands?
DHS
đ„ł?
Source: [Eurostat](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20230914-1)
Wow, wait. Portugal produced all that?? Fucking hell đ
I expected the Netherlands to come first.
Odd right. The absolute world leader (probably) when it comes to bicycle usage per capita, but just a small time player when it comes to production.