The Dutch bought 1.1 million new bikes last year – a 9% rise on 2019 – and half of them were electric, according to new figures from industry bodies RAI Vereniging and Bovag.

The total new bike bill hit €1.65bn, up 31% on 2019, because of the high cost of bikes with an electric motor. The sale of e-bikes rose 30%. Bike shops continue to be the most popular place to pick up a new bicycle, but 10% of sales were online.

The surge in new bike buys has been partly driven by the coronavirus crisis, which led to be people avoiding public transport and holidaying closer to home, the industry organisations said.

And the surge in demand was not without problems, with the lockdown hitting both sales and deliveries in March and April.

Once the lockdown was eased in May, sales picked up again. ‘The year 2020 ended very positively for the bicycle industry,’ the organisations said.