– Electric bike? It’s the dumbest thing we’ve ever seen. Do they really think that people will start riding a bicycle with an electric motor? Jan Erik Holmen is trying to respond to the comments that came from the bicycle dealers in 1998. He was working as a bicycle factory worker at Øglænd DBS in Sandnes at the time. – Electric bicycles will come in the future and it starts now. Now is the time for them to be involved, we said. Jan Erik Holmen and the DBS electric bicycle that was developed in 1998. Far too early for the Norwegian sports shops. Photo: Johan Mihle Laugaland / news But the negotiators did not want to. The bicycle factory was out too early and thus they did not get to participate in the electric revolution. 25 years later, we enter the summer when the Norwegian Sports Industry Association has calculated that the 500,000th e-bike will be sold in Norway. Don’t need a car anymore According to the association, it is the women who have dragged the rest onto the bicycle seat of the electric bicycle. – I love this bike. The day he smokes, I buy a new one, says Åse Svilosen. She is a cyclist and on her way to work on her electric bike. – You’ll be happy, you’ll get some sun and you won’t sweat as much, says Nina Storhaug, who has been cycling with an electric assist motor for 12 years. Nina Storhaug has been riding an electric bike for 12 years. Photo: Nora Laugaland / news Ragnhild Thoring has been without a car since it stopped working on Christmas Eve. Then she decided to see how long she could live without a car. – I think it is absolutely fantastic. I can carry everything on the electric bike. Both plants and bottles. But it makes you a bit lazy and fat, she smiles. Ragnhild Thoring has not had a car since Christmas. Photo: Nora Laugaland / news GP Stian Lobben does not agree with the latter. GP Stian Lobben has researched the use of electric bicycles. Photo: Kjartan Rørslett / news And he has researched people who go from a sedentary life to using electric bikes to and from work. The research showed that it produced a clear health benefit. – Electric bikes lower the threshold for cycling a lot. What Norwegians get sick and die from to a large extent is that they sit still, so that we get moving is great, he says. Every third bicycle is electric The Norwegian Sports Industry Association estimates that approximately every third bicycle sold in Norway this year will be electric. Director of the Norwegian Sports Industry Association, Trond Evald Hansen. Photo: Tom Balgaard / news – What we see that is very pleasing is that there are new user groups. Older people, for example, who have a little more trouble using a normal bicycle, are now very happy with the little help they get with an electric motor, says director of the Norwegian Sports Industry Association, Trond Evald Hansen. One of them is Signe Njikamp. According to herself, she rides like a ball up the hill. – It is the best friend I have, she says. Back roads are no problem with help from the engine, says Signe Njikamp. Photo: Johan Mihle Laugaland / news Today, DBS’s first electric bicycle is at the Vitenfabrikken museum in Sandnes. And now the bicycle factory worker works at the museum. – When I walk around Sandnes and see people on electric bikes, I sometimes think that they should only know all the work that went into launching an electric bike. And then we missed a bit because we were too early, says Jan Erik Holmen. Have you been bitten by the e-bike bug? Yes, I’m totally hooked It will sting a bit – traditional bike here The car forever! Collectively is best Show result
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DBS was so early in developing electric bicycles that the sports shops laughed at them – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
