Research

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📍Local

Made in Belgium

The frames manufacturers or makers in Belgium are

Credits to Philippe Serruys for putting this overview on a map (see announcement):

As you can see, there aren't many brands manufacturing their frames in Belgium. The market is still very linear, with frames production taking place in Asia and being imported to Belgium.

Made in Europe

France

France is becoming a niche with artistans manufacturing bicycle frames sur mesure. You can find an extensive list here and a clear map here below. Prices are extremely high as the bicycles are unique and tailor-made (minimum 4000€ per unit).

Rest of the EU

In 2019, the EU produced 11.4 million bicycles and exported 1 million of its production.

  • Portugal: 2.7 million

  • Italy: 2.1 million

  • Germany: 1.5 million

  • Poland: 0.9 million

  • The Netherlands: 0.7 million

These 5 countries together account for 70% of the EU production of bicycles. Source here.

Made in Asia

As you now understand, most of the production still comes from Asia. In 2019, imported bicycles mainly came from Taiwan, Cambodia, China and the Philippines. More than 50% of the electric bicycles were imported from Taiwan, followed by Vietnam, China & Switzerland. Source here

🔓 Open

Open source bicycles:

🔁 Circular

Raw materials such as steel, aluminum, copper and oil exist in finite quantities. There's simply no sufficient global resources to continue to feed the demand of the world's population. Every year, we dump a 2.12 billion tons of waste & 99% of the stuff we buy is trashed within 6 months (source here). It's also estimated that roughly 15 million bikes are discarded by their owners every year (source here).

What are the projects currently busy addressing this issue? What organizations are trying to switch from the linear production (take, make and dispose) to a circular economy?

Belgium

France

Apart from the vintage - upcycled - market, many new startups in France are offering services to turn old bicycles into e-bikes - rather than having people buy another bike. A list of startups can be found here.

UK

UK is probably the most interesting country when it comes to circularity in the bicycle industry.

  • Isla Bikes, Ludlow | UK brand who launche the Imagine Project, one of the most advanced projects to identify new ways to produce local, open & circular bicycles.

  • Bamboo Bicycle Club, London | Bamboo bicycles sold in kit or to be built by users.

  • The Big Bike Revival, UK | NGO who identified that the primary cause of people dumping their bicycles is their unability to fix it and therefore organize trainings & workshops.

  • London Bike Kitchen | Teach cyclists how to maintain and repair their bicycles.

  • BEAMZ Wooden Bikes | Bamboo bicycle

  • Twmpa Cycles | Wooden Gravel Bike

Europe

America

Overall, one of the biggest mouvement in circularity is the trend of upcycled vintage bicycles such as Steel Vintage Bikes, ReCycle & BiCycle, Vintage Velo Berlin, French Wheels, ect.

➕ Others

1. Frame building courses

2. Do It Yourself

Bamboo is an incredibly strong material used to building bicycles since the early 1900. As it's a material easy to find, it is one of the most important do-it-yourself material there is. You can easily find tutorials on how to build your own bamboo bicycle.

Others DIY:

3. Market studies

Hub Brussels has published an analysis of the characteristics and the potential market in Brussels Region (French here & Dutch here). Agoria also recently published an extensive research about the Belgian bicycle industry (link here).

We also recommend the book "Circular Revolution, a practical guide to creating a circular cycling economy", which summarizes good theoritical knowledge and inspirations.

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