e-bikes in the Netherlands

I'm just back from a week long tour in the Netherlands. Had a great time: excellent cycling, nice country, pleasant people, even good food! We took our Tongxin-powered bike, which - apart from a blown controller - performed very well.

A couple of things struck me about electric bikes.

Firstly there were a lot of them. I saw many more in one week there than I have ever seen in the UK. I probably noticed of the order of a hundred. It felt like 10-15 per day. Obviously there were many non-electrics, but assuming 4 hours cycling per day and passing 1 other bike per minute (ignoring the thousands in racks at stations) would be about 1700 bikes altogether, with electrics being 5 or 6% of total bikes, which feels about right. All the bike shops were visibly selling them - including Halfords! Most were ridden by leisure riders on paths outside towns although we did see some used by shoppers. Most riders were older - retired couples in particular. We got the impression they were likely to have cycled all their lives and now wanted a bit of help. They were mainly hub motors - Sparta, Giant and Gazelle in particular - in high-spec Dutch bikes. I saw the odd Panasonic crank drive, but didn't spot another kit bike in the whole week.

Secondly, you get significantly better range in the pancake-flat countryside than we do in the UK. Our 10Ah Ping batteries were giving 30 miles, compared to c.25 at home - despite some high-speed riding and some headwinds.

Frank

We took our Tongxin-powered bike, which - apart from a blown controller - performed very well.

 

Frank

Hi Frank,

Sounds like you had a great time in the Netherlands. In view of what you said about your controller, you might be interested in these http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/classifieds/4092-tongxin-brushless-controllers.html#post52750

I guess you are probably our resident expert on things all Tongxin.

J:) hn

Thanks John; it would have been perfect timing, but I'll pass on them - it takes me a good hour to change over a controller so I want to be absolutely sure that I have the right one before doing it. Also the newer Tongxin controllers have proven more reliable (for everyone else, at least!) than the older ones, and my newer ones have a different model number.

Best,

Frank

No probs Frank I quite understand,

I assumed these were the latest type with the wrong model number, but I couldn't guarantee that.

Good luck with your projects, I always enjoy reading about them.

J:) hn