About Us
Hoi! I’m Pieter — Dutch e-bike advice from a rider, not a salesman.
Welcome to ebykes.nl, my little corner of the internet for everything electric on two wheels. I’ve been cycling for 30 years, riding e-bikes since 1999, and I grew up sweeping the floor of my father’s bicycle shop. These days I test e-bikes, accessories and spare parts on real Dutch roads — polders, dunes, cobbles and that legendary headwind — and write down exactly what I find.
No press-release nonsense. No “sponsored” five-star scores. Just honest advice from someone who has ridden most of the major models and still gets mud on his shoes.
⚡ Riding electric since 1999
A childhood that smelled of chain oil and rubber
My father owned a bicycle shop, and I basically grew up behind the counter. While other kids were playing football, I was learning to true a wheel, patch an inner tube and untangle brake cables for the neighbours. That shop taught me something no press release ever will: a bicycle is only as good as how it feels on a Tuesday morning, in the rain, with a flat tyre waiting to happen.
So when I tell you a hub feels vague or a battery meter is optimistic, that’s the shop kid talking — thirty years of bicycles in my hands, and no patience for gear that lets people down.
From the shop floor to 12 e-bikes
Bike-shop childhood. Saturdays spent in my father’s shop, learning what makes a bicycle trustworthy.
The 30-year clock starts. Serious cycling begins — commuting, touring, and an unhealthy interest in gear.
First e-bike. Back when people laughed at them. I rode one up a dyke into a headwind, smiled, and never looked back.
Rode most of the major models. City bikes, cargo bikes, fatbikes, speed pedelecs — if it had a battery and pedals, I wanted kilometres on it.
ebykes.nl launches. One place for honest e-bike reviews, accessory picks and spare-part help, written for Dutch riders.
Ridden across every Dutch terrain (yes, all of them)
The Netherlands has one of the densest cycle path networks on earth, and I’ve used a stubborn share of it. An e-bike that shines on flat polder asphalt can feel completely different on beach sand, cobbles or a Limburg climb — so that’s exactly where I test. Headwind category: always.
| Terrain | What it tells me about the bike |
|---|---|
| Polder & dykes | Range, cruise comfort, and how the motor handles relentless headwind. |
| City cobbles (Amsterdam, Utrecht) | Suspension, tyre volume, low-speed handling, stop-and-go brakes. |
| Dunes & beach (Zandvoort, Renesse) | Torque, grip and whether a fatbike is as fun as the adverts promise. |
| Limburg hills (Cauberg, Vaalserberg) | Climbing manners, motor heat, and brake confidence on real gradients. |
| LF-routes & long weekends | Saddle comfort after 80 km, battery honesty, display readability in sunlight. |
The 12 e-bikes in my shed (my wife calls it a zoo)
Twelve different e-bikes, each with a job. This isn’t showing off — it’s my test library. When I compare a city e-bike to a cargo e-bike, I’m swapping keys in the same shed, on the same week, in the same weather.
| Type | Count | Job in the household |
|---|---|---|
| City e-bikes | 3 | School runs, errands, station hops |
| Cargo e-bikes | 2 | Groceries, kids, market Saturdays |
| Trekking e-bikes | 2 | Long polder tours and LF-routes |
| Folding e-bikes | 2 | Train trips and holiday boot space |
| Fatbike | 1 | Beach and dune days |
| Speed pedelec | 1 | Fast commutes on the bromfietspad |
| E-gravel bike | 1 | Limburg climbs and forest trails |
One website, the whole e-bike life
Real-kilometre reviews and comparisons of city, cargo, folding, fatbike and speed pedelec models — the good, the bad and the squeaky.
Locks that survive Dutch nights, helmets, lights, bags, child seats and winter gear that actually earn a place on your bike.
Batteries, motors, tyres, chains, displays and brakes — which part fits, what it should cost, and when to DIY vs. the shop.
Plain-English help for choosing your first (or fifth) e-bike in 2026, without paying for features you’ll never use.
Why you can trust ebykes.nl
1. Ridden, not unboxed. Every review starts with real kilometres on Dutch roads — not a spec sheet.
2. No pay-to-play. Brands cannot buy a score. If a €4,000 e-bike rattles, you’ll read about the rattle.
3. Shop-floor honesty. I grew up in a bicycle shop; I know what breaks, what lasts, and what a fair price looks like.
4. Always 2026-current. Rules, prices and models change fast — articles are re-checked and updated, not abandoned.
The Netherlands in 2026: an e-bike country
Sometimes people ask why I bother starting an e-bike site now. Well, look around: the Dutch own well over 23 million bicycles for a population of about 18 million, e-bikes made up 49% of all new bike sales in 2025 (391,318 units) while generating 73% of bike-shop revenue, and the average e-bike now sells for €2,872, up 6% on the year. Speed pedelecs remain a small but fast-growing slice of the market, expanding faster than any other category. This is no longer a niche — it’s how the Netherlands moves.
Sources: Fietsberaad / RAI Vereniging bike sales data (reported March 2026), Mordor Intelligence Netherlands e-bike market report (2026).
Dutch e-bike rules in 2026, in one honest table
Rules are exactly the kind of thing people get wrong (and fined for), so here’s the current 2026 situation, kept simple, with proposed future changes clearly separated from what’s actually law today:
| Type | Support / speed | Helmet | Plate & licence | 2026 status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-bike | 250 W · 25 km/h pedal-assist | Not required | Not required | Rides as a normal bicycle on cycle paths, no minimum age today. |
| Fatbike | 250 W · 25 km/h (legal spec) | Not required today | Not required | A tuned or throttle-boosted fatbike is legally a moped, not an e-bike, and needs everything a speed pedelec does. |
| Speed pedelec | Up to 45 km/h | Required (approved helmet, e.g. NTA 8776 or ECE-22.05/06) | Yellow moped plate + AM licence + insurance | Legally a moped; generally rides the road or bromfietspad, not the cycle path. |
📌 What’s changing, and when
Enschede banned fatbikes with tyres over 7 cm from its city-centre pedestrian shopping zone during opening hours from 11 March 2026, with a €115 fine for riding one in the zone. Amsterdam followed with a similar tyre-width ban for Vondelpark from 11 May 2026. Other cities, including Utrecht, are actively discussing their own local restrictions.
Not yet law: a mandatory helmet for riders under 18 on e-bikes and fatbikes is proposed for 1 January 2027, and a national minimum age has also been proposed but hasn’t been finalised. Neither is current 2026 law, whatever a shop assistant might tell you.
If a deal looks “too fast to be true” — a throttled 40 km/h fatbike, for example — it’s illegal, uninsurable, and exactly the sort of thing I’ll warn you about before your money disappears. Dutch police ran roller-bank (dyno) speed checks throughout early 2026, and fines for a modified fatbike start at €290, with confiscation for repeat offences.
Frequently asked questions
Who writes the content on ebykes.nl?
Every article is written by me, Pieter De Groot — 30 years of cycling experience, riding e-bikes since 1999, raised in my father’s bicycle shop, and owner of 12 different e-bikes. If I haven’t ridden it, I don’t review it.
Do you get paid by brands to review e-bikes?
No. Brands can’t buy a score here. I test e-bikes, accessories and spare parts the way you’d use them — in Dutch weather, on real commutes and long rides — and I write down what I find, including the annoying bits.
What does ebykes.nl cover?
E-bike reviews and comparisons, accessories (locks, helmets, lights, bags, child seats), spare parts (batteries, motors, tyres, chains, displays), plus buying guides and maintenance advice for riders in the Netherlands.
Can I ask you a question about my own e-bike?
Please do — reader mail is my favourite part of this site. Choosing advice, a strange error code, a battery that hates winter, a spare part that won’t fit: send it to support@ebykes.nl. The best questions often become new articles.
Are your rules and prices up to date for 2026?
Yes. Articles follow the latest Dutch rules (250 W / 25 km/h for e-bikes and legal-spec fatbikes, an approved helmet and moped plate for speed pedelecs, and clear labelling of the proposed 2027 under-18 helmet rule as not-yet-law) and are re-checked as things change.
Talk to Pieter 🚲
Question about an e-bike, an accessory, a spare part — or just want to argue about headwind? My inbox is open, and I answer every sensible message myself.
✉️ support@ebykes.nl