Remember the Dutch government’s attempt to reduce fatbikes accidents by imposing an age limit and a helmet requirement? Well, fatbike producers have already found a way around it — they’re making ‘skinny’ bikes now.
It sounds like a joke, but the bike manufacturers are dead serious — in fact, they’ve already started producing the new bikes, reports the AD.
A cat-and-mouse game
Major bike companies such as Doppio, Phatfour and Brekr, who together form the covenant veilig-fatbikes.nl, are openly defying the Dutch government’s initiative.
“If the House of Representatives closes one door, we will open another,” warns Phatfour’s Pieter van Beusekom.
And open it they did: according to Michael Fiering from Knaap Bikes, companies “can already supply the cool skinny bike.”
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The companies’ strategy is simple: if the government keeps only targeting fatbikes as opposed to all e-bikes, they will keep coming up with new bike models, forcing the government to play catch-up with its regulations in an endless cat-and-mouse game.
Sounds annoying? Well, that’s the point.
What even are skinny bikes?
Essentially, these new bikes would be the same as fatbikes, but just different enough to circumvent the government’s restrictions.
Since the government has based its definition of fatbikes on a specific tyre size (10 centimetres or wider) and saddle height, all bike manufacturers have to do to work around it is make the tyres thinner and place the saddle at a different height.
And just like that, the “skinny” bike is born.
“It can go fast”
Surely, the Dutch government is one step ahead in this dispute, right?
Well, the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management himself doesn’t seem so convinced.
Two weeks ago, he launched a campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of fatbikes — except that the slogan was “‘’t kan hard gaan” or “it can go fast”, which made it sound more like an advertisement.
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Much like the bike manufacturers, he thinks that if new restrictions are to be implemented, they should apply to all e-bikes, not just fatbikes.
These concerns, so far, have kept him from getting behind the House of Representives’ current motion.
Does that mean that the government will backpedal on its initiative, or will they step on the gas? We will find out.
What should be the government’s next move in its fight against fatbike accidents? Keep your thoughts rolling in the comments below.
