Comment on What makes a bicycle so expensive?
Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world 8 months agoI think there is a difference when you are living in the netherlands.
-bikes are part of the culture and have been for like 100 years. there are cycle paths everywhere. Your infrastructure is built for cycling. Meaning you dont have many bad roads or paths to damage your bike.
The majority of the roads in the uk are terrible and dont have dedicated cycle lanes, and our walking and cycle paths are mostly dirt paths through wooded areas.
- your country is almost completely flat, so you dont have to put much strain on your bike to get it around.
Again here in the uk the land is all over the place, hills everywhere, which puts alot of strain on your chain and gears as you have to change gear constantly so you dont have to work too hard to maintai your speed and momentum…
So i dont think a 30 year old double hand me doqn will suit most people here. And i imagine its a similar story in other countries.
Granted, im generalising a bit, and i dont live in the netherlands and haven’t seen much of it, but i dont think im being too liberal with my starements above. But if im wronf rhwn by all means correct me.
uis@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Have they? What I heard bikes became popular in 1960-1980s.
Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Honestly i wadnt sure so i google that part.
en.m.wikipedia.org/…/Cycling_in_the_Netherlands
Looking at this wiki page under history it date back to before 1900 and was becoming more and more popular until 1960 when it took a hit as cars became more affordable but then began to rise again following protests from the dutch people around road deaths. But the development of cycling paths/routes has been going on over there since before the 1900s
uis@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Huh. I was thinking about those protests. Because before cars there were only three options: bicycle, horse or tram/train. And before that only bicycle and horse.