Don't you think that people living in other countries who do the work on their own bikes, have the same pressures as we do in this country?
Depends a lot on the country. in some other EU nations (particularly Benelux, Germany and Scandinavian nations) the government and employers have a much less adversarial relationship (ditto the citizens with the public sector). People work shorter hours, take longer holidays, have easier access to child care and thus have time for their personal projects, often with the goodwill of employers who realise the value these have for personal development.
Sometimes British management styles and a culture of negativity and in-fighting in some companies tend to kill the enthusiasm of young people. I've seen this happen myself with young mechanics, engineers and electricians. I know
loads of people who do these practical skills for a living but their work atmosphere is such by the time they get home all they want to do is relax..
In Asia people often build their own e-bikes out of necessity, and as mentioned a fair few times before traffic laws aren't so harshly enforced, so bikes which are essentially electric mopeds are commonly found on the roads. in the UK young people do still work on / modify their petrol powered bikes and cars, with varying degrees of tolerance from wider society and the constabulary to the end results
in the USA a greater abundance of space, resources, less harsh laws and it actually being hard to find "european" ebikes also encourages more people to home-brew.
I understand enough French, German (and most recently Dutch) to lurk on a lot of euro-forums and manufacturers sites and I do wonder if we sometimes look across the Channel and North Sea and automatically assume "the grass is greener there". I suspect that home brew e-bikes are as much of a niche as they are in the UK, but as e-bikes are more popular in these nations already its a larger niche..
Even in China not everyone knows how to build an e-bike (but its easier to find repair workshops which will work on anything from a push bike to a family car!)
