this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2026
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The safety organisation VeiligheidNL estimates that 5,000 fatbike riders are treated in A&E [ i.e Accident & Emergency] departments each year, on the basis of a recent sample of hospitals. “And we also see that especially these young people aged from 12 to 15 have the most accidents,” said the spokesperson Tom de Beus.

Now Amsterdam’s head of transport, Melanie van der Horst, has said “unorthodox measures” are needed and has announced that she will ban these heavy electric bikes from city parks, starting in the Vondelpark. Like the city of Enschede, which is also drawing up a city centre ban, she is acting on a stream of requests “begging me to ban the fatbikes”.

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[–] HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org 101 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (27 children)

That was sadly exactly what I was expecting from the electric motorization of bicycles. It is a history that has repeated itself many times in the last 70 or 80 years since the first combustion engine mopeds.

The fact is that the human-powered bike is at a sweet spot of efficiency and safety. Once you go faster, you need a helmet, a heavier frame, wider tyres, better brakes, wider lanes, protective clothing, protection against cold, a heavier motor for propelling all the extra weight, and so on. The energy input from you the human dwindles.

It is not any more a bicycle.

[–] CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de 66 points 1 month ago (37 children)

You need a helmet on purely muscle-powered bicycles, too. A helmet saved both mine and my father's life in accidents that would not had happened were we not riding bikes that moment.
A majority of bicycle accident fatalities could have been prevented with helmets.
Wear helmets. There are cool models, too, don't try that excuse.

[–] CovfefeKills@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

Oh man I got a concussion while wearing a bike helmet I probably would have died if I wasnt wearing it. And we were just kids makings jumps in the driveway...

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[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 60 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Who knew that reinventing the motorcycle for like the third time was going to have the exact same result.

[–] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's not motorcycles, it's MiCrOmObiLiTy! - some tech bro cheating his way around road safety regulations.

[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 29 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Yes, these bikes can be dangerous. I've seen, and almost be hit by people riding them top speed on a shared pathway.

[–] HowRu68@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I mean there are llke 14 accidents per day. And most people i know are regularly complaining how they almost got run over.

If it weighs the same as a moped / motorcycle, it should be on the road. Simple as that.

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[–] tgcoldrockn@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

human powered locomotion (foot, bike, skate, etc) and mobility assist devices, should be completely separate from motorized vehicles (electric bike, scooter, cars, combustion,etc). simple as.

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[–] Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 month ago (8 children)

These are not fatbikes. Fatbikes are normal pedal bikes with big tires that are good in snow.

These are Fat Tire e-bikes. You should always be calling them ebikes when discussing them in English. Perhaps this is a mis translation.

[–] HowRu68@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (10 children)

It's in the first par. of the article.

" .. thick-tyred electric bikes.. the Dutch call “fatbikes”

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[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Let's give motorcycles with insane torque to children, What could go wrong?

Most of those even don't need you to pedal (which where I live is a prerequisite for e-bikes).

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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 month ago (4 children)

The second I saw the first fat bike I knew it was a bad idea

It's literally a worst of all worlds type vehicle, why are they so popular anyway? Is it just the "cool" factor?

[–] MeThisGuy@feddit.nl 20 points 1 month ago (2 children)

they can go around 45 kph with minimal pedaling and doesn't require a moped license.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They should require a license...

[–] qevlarr@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Exactly, they're misclassified mopeds (which do require a license, helmet, and rider age at least 16)

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[–] JackBinimbul@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Why are 12 year olds even allowed to drive what is essentially a motorbike?

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[–] cooperpair@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I hope that Eindhoven follows suit.

[–] HowRu68@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

Hope all city centres.

[–] ian@feddit.uk 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I think the laws where I am in Germany are stricter than the Netherlands. But it's always worth trying more granular rules. Such as age limit, helmets for kids, fines for increasing performance, speed limit or ban in parks. This is fairer, but much harder to police than an outright ban. But big enough fines should be a deterrent. And might be preferred by fat bikers.

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[–] Alpha71@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Make it so they have to be licensed, insured and are legal on the roads. But then allow for the bikes to have speed increases.

Basically a really cheap electric motorcycle.

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[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

Throttle controlled ebikes should be banned. Pedal assist only. Article doesn't say which these are.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 22 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Don't ban them, just make them register as electric motorcycles. Which is a market that could do with more choices..

[–] huppakee@piefed.social 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I think a big part of the reason these sell so well is because you don't need a license (like other bikes) and also don't need a helmet. I totally agree these are more like mopeds, scooters and motorcycles; but the current regulations makes these bikes accessible to a group that has no access to the other types.

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[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Electric motorcycles are not allowed on bike paths and parks. Which means they have to go faster so they can be on roads. Throttle control ebikes are right in that grey area of motorized in pedestrian areas that we should not have.

[–] HK65@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Honest question, wouldn't enforcing a hard speed limit on them be more useful? If a bike is going 25 km/h, does it matter if it got there with the rider turning the pedals or not? And if it is going 45 km/h, same question, why does it matter? IMO it should be a hard speed limit, and a limit on torque, but the "no throttle" thing is kinda missing the point. Maybe require a licence, and make registration mandatory in an easy way.

I've had one of those fatbikes, and of course I wouldn't ride them in the Vondelpark at full speed, what they were good for is a long commute on rural bike paths going a safe 25 km/h. What I liked about the electric motor was that it would get me back at 25 km/h after stopping at a light without effort. The fat tires meant that if some branch or other random shit was on the road, I would be safer, and of course it also made for a smoother ride.

That said, "pedaling" with these only means exerting the slightest effort, it's not at all different from a throttle, except it's harder to control the bike. There is hardly any way to apply only some throttle as opposed to all of it for example. And it's also easy to fuck up by resting your foot on the pedal and applying torque by mistake, while forgetting to hold the brakes that cut the engines, and ending up with the bike lurching forward.

[–] eigenspace@feddit.org 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

There is a hard speed limit on them. The thing about these Fatbike brands is that they are purposefully made it very very easy to disable the speed limiter, and make it widely known how to do it.

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