I am in Germany this week to visit my daughter. She is a Texan and has lived here for about 4 years. When she arrived she bought a cheap bike and basically rode it until the frame cracked. She says in her city (Mainz) she can beat the cars from place to place because they have to spend 30 minutes looking for a place to park as well as everything being one way.
Anyway, This region has bikes. Hundreds, Thousands. They are on the trains and buses. They are everywhere, The drivers are well adjusted enough that if a bike is even on a tiny two lane road, the car waits patiently until there is room to pass. I saw accessories on these bikes I have NEVER seen in the states. Baskets and saddlebags of everykind. Just about every bike has fenders. They all have generator driven lights. Many Germans use these for basic short haul transportation in lieu of the auto. Being from Texas, I found this very interesting.
What suprises me, REALLY suprises me is that with all that I STILL did not see ANY Ebikes at ALL. The gap is still there.
This country is a HUGE opportunity for the Ebike industry EXCEPT for the fact that these people are GERMAN. IE Hard Headed. When I talked to my very green in -laws about this technology(They drive a Volkswagon), It was like I was talking to a cow in a field. They just shut down. To them, a bike is a bike and a car is a car and there is nothing in between unless you are crazy enough to ride a motorcycle.
Anyway, This region has bikes. Hundreds, Thousands. They are on the trains and buses. They are everywhere, The drivers are well adjusted enough that if a bike is even on a tiny two lane road, the car waits patiently until there is room to pass. I saw accessories on these bikes I have NEVER seen in the states. Baskets and saddlebags of everykind. Just about every bike has fenders. They all have generator driven lights. Many Germans use these for basic short haul transportation in lieu of the auto. Being from Texas, I found this very interesting.
What suprises me, REALLY suprises me is that with all that I STILL did not see ANY Ebikes at ALL. The gap is still there.
This country is a HUGE opportunity for the Ebike industry EXCEPT for the fact that these people are GERMAN. IE Hard Headed. When I talked to my very green in -laws about this technology(They drive a Volkswagon), It was like I was talking to a cow in a field. They just shut down. To them, a bike is a bike and a car is a car and there is nothing in between unless you are crazy enough to ride a motorcycle.
