Trial of 12mph bike lane speed limit grinds gears of Dutch cyclists

6/14/2026 at 8:19:48 AM

They need a distinction between pedal assist and fully electric (motor) bike.

I live in Luxembourg and the infrastructure is not as good as the Netherlands. Majority of offenders (in my experience) are delivery guys and teenagers. Where teenagers simply don't care & do reckless things like passing on a big intersection at full speed on a red light, delivery guys do the same things for extra tips.

Some of the fat-tire electric bikes are really fast, I happen to chase them on Kirchberg cycle road. I sustained 40km/h average behind delivery guys and they were still faster, eventually dropping me. (I was on a road bike).

Simply put, anything above 250watts does not belong to cycle lane.Includes humans :j

by pvtmert

6/14/2026 at 8:28:22 AM

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by junglistguy

6/14/2026 at 9:23:27 AM

Not necessarily against the idea but 20kph is very slow. It would be super easy to accidentally go over the limit unless you have a cycling computer attached to the bike and constantly monitor your speed.

by rXwubXUGAm

6/14/2026 at 9:26:38 AM

The exact same argument can be made for cars.

Doesn't stop the government wasting half my Saturday and stealing £100 every couple of years.

We should congratulate cyclist on becoming fully fledged (oppressed) road users.

by swarnie

6/14/2026 at 7:39:35 AM

The boundary between a bicycle and a motorbike has completely dissapeared.

That boundary needs to be recovered, and then rules will make sense again, until then, any effort is futile.

by jmorenoamor

6/14/2026 at 8:20:18 AM

I think it's pretty clear what is a bicycle. Bicycles don't have engines.

by lifestyleguru

6/14/2026 at 8:33:38 AM

Do you? At least the german law not. Looks like the law in the nederlands too.

by krater23

6/14/2026 at 8:35:59 AM

German law is created for litigation not for clarification.

by lifestyleguru

6/14/2026 at 8:42:03 AM

You talk about the civil law.

by krater23

6/14/2026 at 6:57:58 AM

> “This is all about cyclists on motorised bicycles, so I should think you would do something about motorised cyclists. Make a rule for them and not for all cyclists.”

There's a certain sub strain of cyclists that want absolutely no rules for them.

In a just world, cyclists would have more freedom than cars, but pedestrians would have most of all. But walking through European cities with large cycling cultures can be dangerous, too, especially for children and the elderly. Too often, cyclists will completely ignore stop signs and stop lights, or go at full speed on the sidewalks.

And because I know someone is going to retort that car drivers break traffic laws, too: drivers acting dangerously shouldn't excuse cyclists.

by huhkerrf

6/14/2026 at 7:18:40 AM

What that woman you quoted said definitely resonates with me. I cycle a lot and the rise of e-bikes has definitely made my experience worse. Those bikes are capable of inficting a lot more damage yet I find that the average skill level of e-bike riders tends to be lower than that of the general cycling population. IMO not a great combination.

by aix1

6/14/2026 at 7:18:14 AM

I don't like to think of it in terms of freedom. Everyone has the same freedom to use public highways. The difference is responsibility. If you decide to use a bicycle you have a bit more responsibility than if you walk because they can go faster. If you decide to use a motor vehicle then it should come with a huge amount of extra responsibility. Ultimately you have the added responsibility of ensuring the safety and freedoms of those more vulnerable road users. So it's not "less freedom", it's "greater responsibility".

by globular-toast

6/14/2026 at 7:10:07 AM

I find it mind blowing that ~42% of all cycling deaths are men aged 70+.

It obviously confounds fragility with participation but, still, it must mean that people continue to use bikes -- I'm guessing increasingly e-bikes -- well into their old age.

(42% is 118/281 in the report.)

by aix1

6/14/2026 at 7:17:25 AM

I think that if you as 60+ person cannot bike without support your brain is probably also not fit enough anymore for the speed you are going to ride at. So, I advice older people not to use an e-bike. I am not going to use one. Maybe a trike is a safe option at speeds not exceeding 10km/h.

by fjfaase

6/14/2026 at 7:26:27 AM

>Amsterdam and Enschede are banning wide-tyre fat bikes from some central locations or parks

What's the reason? Ordinary fatbikes aren't fast, and e-bikes are fast in any case.

by orbital-decay

6/14/2026 at 8:18:20 AM

> Ordinary fatbikes aren't fast

Most fatbikes have a much more powerful motor than a regular e-bike, and can be used without pedaling at all. They are listed as 250W, but it's actually a software-limited 750W motor. Local vendors provide unlock instructions along with the bike.

Instead of the 25km/h legal limit, they can go 40-50km/h: https://v8fatbike.com/how-to-unlock-ouxi-v8-speed-limit/

It's just a motorcycle in disguise. Then, to make matters worse, they weigh 30-40KG + two 12-year-olds on top - that, combined with reckless riding, can do a lot more damage than a boring cycling incident.

by ricardobeat

6/14/2026 at 9:26:18 AM

I mean ordinary as non-electric. I know what an electric fatbike can do of course. The article makes it ambiguous as it's talking about the common limit for all cyclists.

by orbital-decay

6/14/2026 at 7:43:53 AM

The reason is that the fat bikes are widely popular with young delinquents, typically of the immigrant kind.

They have the absolute worst reputation around Amsterdam.

by 4gotunameagain

6/14/2026 at 8:01:34 AM

You could’ve said what you said except the “immigrant kind” bit. I see enough Dutch assholes on fat bikes just as well. No need to be xenophobic here.

by reacharavindh

6/14/2026 at 8:23:33 AM

Nah, its almost for sure xenophobic and classist. I think fat bikes are the best thing that happened to amsterdam because all the scooters disappeared. All the poor people that used to ride scooters are now riding fat bikes. Its better for their health and their wallet. Yes they tend to be a bit less educated and socialised, but they were like that when they drove scooters as well. Banning fat bikes is gesture politics.

by pineaux

6/14/2026 at 8:37:21 AM

They drive fatbikes instead of road scooters, of the 25kmh limit ones eligible for cycling lanes?

by lifestyleguru

6/14/2026 at 8:13:51 AM

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by junglistguy

6/14/2026 at 8:18:38 AM

People drive fatbikes from solely selfish reasons. They want something heavier and larger than others, they want others to give way and be afraid of collision.

by lifestyleguru

6/14/2026 at 9:15:05 AM

I cycle at 14mph average on a normal pedal bicycle.. they can fuck right off the with this. We are not all fat fucks on electric scooters pretending to be bicycles

by boesboes

6/14/2026 at 8:15:32 AM

Cycling culture and infrastructure in Dutch cities is unique. Shame that it's wrecked by assholes who want something bigger and faster, or drive outright electric motorbikes.

by lifestyleguru

6/14/2026 at 7:26:20 AM

12mph seems very slow, but I suppose you can still cycle in the carriageway if you're a decent cyclist?

Really we need to ban motorised vehicles that go above 12mph. They are not bicycles and should not be in cycleways. I feel there is a big difference between someone who is able to pedal at higher speeds and someone who is just using a motor vehicle.

by globular-toast

6/14/2026 at 8:24:38 AM

Cycling on the road is only allowed where there are no bike lanes, which is very rare.

by ricardobeat

6/14/2026 at 8:46:04 AM

They should just limit electric bikes to 15km/h.

If you want to go faster, pedal yourself.

This solves two problems:

- Cool kids aren't cool anymore, biking on their now slow ass fatbikes

- Old people who's mental faculties can't keep up with 25km/h anymore dont end up in so many traffic accidents.

by seper8

6/14/2026 at 9:35:15 AM

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by cuvert

6/14/2026 at 7:24:45 AM

20 km/h is nothing. On a bike lane you should be allowed to go normal biking speed

by paddim8

6/14/2026 at 7:57:18 AM

As the article says: this is not a general speed limit but an experimental speed limit for an apparently very crowded area where many kids cycle to school. As someone whose 'normal biking speed' ist typically 30+ km/h on suitable bike lanes, I have no problems with speed limits at critical choke points.

by raphman

6/14/2026 at 8:40:08 AM

I life on a big street intersection with traffic lights in a city. Every year I can observe at least one cyclist crash with a car. Mostly because they just ignore the traffic lights completely. As cyclist you learn that traffic rules are not for you, because when you ignore them, normally nothing happens. When you want to safe lives, you need to register bikes and punish cyclists that ignore traffic rules. Otherwise the physics will do it, with much harder punishment.

by krater23