The fatbike: hated by some, a status symbol for others. According to innovation expert Simone van Neerven, the (often tuned) electric bikes also symbolise something else. ‘The fatbike is exemplary of how we deal with pressing problems. Thinking in impossibilities and passing the buck.’
"I was extremely lucky"
Earlier this summer, Ramona was cycling with her one-and-a-half-year-old son on the back of her bike when she collided head-on with two teenagers on an illegally tuned fatbike. The young mother suddenly saw the boys coming towards her. They were going so fast that she had no time to anticipate. What followed was a ‘hard blow’. She fell on the ground, the boys also, and the fatbike was split in half.
‘It was a mess’, she recalls. ‘I thought there must be some teeth out of my mouth or my nose is broken. I was black and blue, with bruises everywhere.’ One of the teenagers was taken to hospital by ambulance. Fortunately, Ramona’s son escaped unscathed. ‘It could have been a lot worse, I was extremely lucky.’
The problem increases by the day
With a growing number of fatbikes on the road, the problem also increases. Almost daily, there are accidents with fatbikes, and the first fatalities are a fact. About half of all victims in the Emergency Room are between 10 and 14 years old.
Most fatbikes are tuned, which is illegal. But on TikTok, videos about how to make your fatbike faster go viral. For a few bucks, you can buy equipment sets on AliExpress and adjust your fatbike in no time. For Chinese fatbikes it’s even easier as you simply remove the limiter. If you don’t know how to do that, the salesman will be more than happy to give you a hand.
Passing the problem
The problem is a many-headed monster. Everyone plays a role, but no one takes responsibility, and they all keep pointing the finger at each other. The different regulators argue about who is responsible. Organisations such as the Cyclists’ Union and Veilig Verkeer Nederland accuse fatbike manufacturers that tuning bikes is far too easy. But they won’t take any responsibility and blame the Chinese manufacturers. In addition, they believe that the rules are clear and the municipality should just enforce them.
The municipalities look at the government because the law needs to be changed, but the government holds the citizens accountable as they are not allowed to tune the fatbikes. The citizens blame each other: “What parents buy such a thing for their children?”. And so we keep going around in circles without anyone taking ownership of the problem.
The entire country is crying out for action. Doctors in the Emergency Rooms are getting discouraged by the many injuries they see as a result of fatbike accidents and share their frustration on social media. These messages receive enormous support, and it seems that everyone in the Netherlands is fed up with the problem. Yet, nothing is happening.
Lack of creativity
Years ago, there was a similar problem, but with mopeds. After long debates, helmets finally became mandatory, and the issues were gone with the wind. But the problem quickly shifted. People started to buy a ‘van Moof’, and soon after fatbikes became extremely popular. Because there is no age limit on these e-bikes, they appeal enormously to the young crowd.
While the fatbike manufacturers used their creativity to find loopholes in the law that make intervening almost impossible, it is precisely the lack of creativity on the part of the government that causes the problem to drag on for so long.
Everything can be solved
If it had been easy, the problem would have been solved ages ago. However, it does not seem to be that difficult either. If you just look at scooters, mopeds and fatbikes, you’ll see more similarities than differences. The situation is unduly complex, but ‘where there is a will, there is a way’.
So, we need rebels. People who ask endless questions, so they know the problem down to the last detail. People who have the courage to take ownership of a tough subject that no one else dares to touch. People who work in a connecting way and bring everyone involved together to come up with creative solutions. And who, above all, perseveres and makes it happen.
The fatbike is a status symbol for some, but for others, it’s symbolises everything that is going wrong these days and exemplary of how the government deals with pressing problems. It’s all about thinking in impossibilities and passing the buck instead of asking: “What do we need to make it happen?”
This article was originally published in Dutch on MT/Sprout, the most popular business and management platform in the Netherlands.
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