Best selling bikes in Europe?

[Bigbee]

I have just returned from a weeks holiday in Northern France.The whole family were on electric bike elert and would stare at all the cyclists for tell tale signs.Cycling as reported is on a much larger scale there.They have cycle lanes next to pavements so the riders are not near the road,an absolute joy.We spotted a few ebikes,not as many as we expected,all were pretty old fashioned run of the mill styles.In a hypermarket we found a couple of different style step throughs for 590 Euros,one had Bafang motor,but no details or spec on the bikes,one was branded Elec Bike I think.My daughter took photos,I'll try to post them but I dont know if I can do it! We saw another bike in a trendy shop in Le Touquet,again not a brand Ive heard of but it was 1590 Euros!It didnt look any thing special either.It appears like although the ebike market is quite away advanced than us,theres still huge room for market share.Which brings me on to a question I was asked,can any one tell me the best selling brands in Europe,especially Germany?Kalhkoff?Swissflyer?

 

[flecc]

The Netherlands market is the leading one by far for e-bikes, having huge current sales. They report their best selling brands as Gazelle, Sparta, Giant and Koga, the first two and last home grown of course. That in part reflects their flat country, the Sparta and Koga from the same maker having a low power direct drive hub which is a rotten hill climber but wonderfully refined and quiet on the flat. The Panasonic powered bikes like the Kalkhoffs and BikeTech Flyers trail just a little behind those for sales, not surprising since their major benefit is the drive through gears hill climbing, only useful to the Dutch when climbing a ferry ramp.

The next strongest market is Germany, but since most of their sales are in the flatter areas again, possibly as much due to population centres as much as anything else, I doubt their results would be markedly different, though the various Panasonic motored brands made mainly by Derby Cycles gmbh but also Swiss Flyers are probably a bit stronger than in the Netherlands. What goes for the Netherlands and Germany probably applies to Belgium too.

Chinese made hub motor bikes don't figure as strongly in those countries as they do here, probably because they now have such fine products of their own.

I don't know how strong the Danish e-bike market is or any particular brand preference, but given the strength of their ordinary bike market, they must do quite well there. Our member Erik may be able to enlighten us on that.

The French market isn't a strong one, though the Gitane and Puch brands are prominent, I think the Italian market is much stronger and they have their own e-bike forum as do the Germans and French and the Italians do use then in hilly areas and like the more powerful Chinese hub motor bikes and the Panasonic motored Lafree. eZee was originally very strong there and had a relaunch of the brand a bit over a year ago creating lots of interest.

The Spanish market is tiny, but is probably growing quite strongly now that their own brand BH have entered it with the Panasonic powered E-motion bikes, especially the sporty image ones.
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[secour]

Thank you, Flecc, for your full report on Europe's different markets.

I would like just add that I think that in France, the best cycling forum website is Cyclurba, le vélo utile and e-bike market seems hardly going up with sales in Supermarket from 390E for a folding ebike!!

 

[flecc]

Many thanks for that additional French forum information Secour. I've added that to my files.

Most of the information that I've given was derived from reports in Bike Europe, the sales details in the Netherlands coming from dealer feedback.

I find it a little strange that the French e-bike market is not healthier, given the strong French connection with cycling and the many successful years of the Velosolex, now in an electric version.
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[frank9755]

My explanation is that the French are more into cycle racing rather than utility cycling, hence less of a fit with electrics.

The other surprise is Belgium. Considering how common electric bikes are in the Netherlands, I was surprised not to see a single one on a three day trip to Flanders (ie the Dutch part of Belgium - Bruges, Gent, etc) just a year ago. It may be the same explanation, with the Belgians more into cycle racing while the Dutch are utility riders and cycle tourists.

Frank

 

[flecc]

I too had considered that possibility Frank, though the popularity of the Velosolex over more than three decades seems counter intuitive to that. Perhaps it succeeded because it was so unlike a sports bike.

You're probably right on the Belgian market, though I did see one report of growing e-bike sales there. No specific numbers with it though, so the market could have doubled from one to two e-bikes.
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[pvb123]

The reason you see so many more E-Bikes in The Netherlands is because.....drum roll......there are sooooo many more cyclists there and because of the infrastructure.

Belgium bicycle infrastructure is way behind The Netherlands....can't compare. Because there are so many more cyclists in Holland it can seem that Utility cycling is the preferred method and it is, BUT, the numbers are a bit misleading....let me give you a rough example....this is all hypothetical and numbers are used purely to show a point...

France - Population 60,000,000

Riders on race bikes (on the weekend) - 400,000
Riders on utility bikes - 400,000
Riders on E-Bikes - 20,000


Belgium - Population 10,000,000

Riders on race bikes (on the weekend) - 30,000
Riders on utility bikes - 200,000
Riders on E-Bikes - 10,000


The Netherlands - Population 17,000,000

Riders on race bikes (on the weekend) - 200,000
Riders on utility bikes - 8,000,000 (at least once a week)
Riders on E-Bikes - 500,000 (at least once a week)

Now the point of my figures is to show that Racing bikes are actually more popular per head of population in The Netherlands than even France BUT utility cycling is so big it makes the race bit seem small, even though on any given weekend you are more likely to count more road cyclists in groups in Holland, than in France and Belgium probably combined....

I base all these very unscientific statistics on my travels to these countries.

 

[flecc]

I base all these very unscientific statistics on my travels to these countries.

Frank9755 does this too, but as the saying goes, seeing is believing.
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[gedemeisterdk]

hi flecc
The marked in Denmark is not very big at the moment, pedelecs are still being looked uppond as something for the elderly or disabled.
But the market is getting bigger fast.
The most commen ebike in Denmark must be the SCO brand with ”protanium” motor, sold at ”Bilka” (tesco/wall-mart).

El-cykler

or cheep chinese imports with SLA batt.

Al my ebike parts are from The uk, germany/austria, the US and Hongkong

 

[flecc]

Thanks for the reply gedemeisterdk. That SCO is a Schwinn (USA) bicycle using the Tongxin nano motor and Schwinn's carrier mounted lithium battery. Schwinn have created the pseudo-scientific term Protanium for that motor and battery on their bikes. Similar Schwinn models are sold here in the UK under different brand names like Claud Butler for about £850 to £1000, a little cheaper than there as is usual.

Our member Erik in Denmark has also mentioned buying from Germany when shopping for e-bikes and parts. Hopefully with time the e-bike market will mature there and be more acceptable to a wider range of ages as it's become here in the UK as well as the Netherlands and Germany.
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