Folding bicycles are a familiar sight
on Dutch railway stations.MAARSSEN, The Netherlands - The latest figures of the Dutch National Statistics Bureau make it more than clear that the use of bicycles in combination with public transport facilities like train or bus is steadily increasing. Sure, Holland is a pioneer bicycle country in Europe. But what can be established internationally, is the fact that a lot of development on small-wheel bicycles is taking place. Shtmano introduced a special groupset for folders. Bike makers and retailers are expanding their ranges with folding bikes. On these pages Bike Europe is taking a closer look at a couple of genuine folding bikes with excellent riding properties.
Currently 30% of all train travellers in Holland use bicycles to get to the railway station. 9% of these use a folding bike on either side. There is no official figure for folding bike sales in Holland, but a fair estimate of 50,000 units (0,4 %) on a total of about 1.2 million new bicycles isn't too far off.Folding bicycles are a familiar sight
on Dutch railway stations.
This is less than in Japan, the world's biggest market for folders and small wheeled bikes. In the country of the Rising Sun the growth in sales during recent years of folding and compact bikes is remarkable. Reliable sources indicate that in 1996 about 200,000 small wheeled bikes were sold in Japan. This number increased to an estimated 1.3 million in 2002. Despite the fact that this figure includes kid bikes, it shows that in the car-congested Japan cities the demand for folding and compact bikes that can be used in combination with public transport or with cars, is rising. And, looking at the figures that indicate a growth of over 600% in 6 years, is rising fast. In Japan, the fact that a compact or folding bike can be easily stored in a small home, plays a role. In Holland, boat owners are frequent folding bike buyers.
Mass production
In view of the huge number of folding and compact bikes sold in Japan, it's not surprising that Shimano has developed the Capreo groupset for folders. It was introduced in Europe last Fall. The 9-speed Capreo de-railleur groupset has typical qualities for small wheels: a power modulator on the brakes, and a 9-speed cassette with 9-teeth smallest cog. But even with the Capreo group-set it will take a while before the number of folding bikes sold in Europe equals the Japanese numbers. However, what is helping is the fact that the production of these bikes is becoming more easy for the average bike maker. This caused by the world's biggest maker of folding bikes, Dahon Inc. The US based company which operates facilities in China, Taiwan and Macao, recently started selling frames for folding bikes which are offered on an OEM basis to bike makers. These frames are made in Dahon's new facility in Shenzhen, China. The in November 2001 opened factory produces 20,000 frames for folding bikes per month which are not only shipped to Dahon's OEM customers but also to the two other Dahon factories in Taiwan and Macao. Next to the frames, the new Dahon factory in China, which since November 2002 is ISO 9001 certified, also produces 15,000 complete folding bikes per month. The yearly production of the three Dahon facilities amounts to over 1.3 million units. With that it's obvious that this company is the world's first mass-supplier of folding bicycles.
Next to Dahon there are other mass suppliers, but they don't come close to the 1.3 million units of the US based company. These others are Neobike, Kentex and Oyama. Also there are various other important niche players like Brompton, Riese und Muller, Bernds, Bike Friday's, Montague which all are very much focused on increasing the functionality of folding bikes.
30%
of all users of public transport, use a bike to and/or from the station. 9% of
these are folders.