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Comment by onlyrealcuzzo | Hacker News Reader

Question: at what age does a normal Netherlands person stop biking?

I love biking now - but I'm just wondering at what age a normal biker gets too old to bike everywhere daily.

Just some anecdotes from an expat: My landlord is 80+ and cycles everywhere. My parents in law are 75+ and are about to get rid of their car altogether since they either cycle or take public transport. My aunt in law is close to 80 and changed from manual to electric bike a few years ago after a stroke.

yea. plenty of places in the world where people don't have cars in general and afaik old people get by just fine. Japan does not have good bike infra like the netherlands but the majority of people don't use a car much either

Italy: can't believe how many 'old' people are still cycling. Do it until you can't! I got overtaken going up a particularly famous and very steep mountain climb - the cyclist said he was 86. Oh, and he loves his electric bike.

Only if they cannot cycle anymore.

Elderly cyclists are a point of concern because three quarters of the cyclists dying in traffic accidents are over 60 years old, a quarter over 80 (https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/11/elderly-cyclists-more-...)

That partly is because of the huge success in making cycling safer for kids and partly because of population aging, but also is seen as not catering enough for this group. Many of bicycle accidents involving the elderly are one-sided.

IIRC part of the reason was also the emergence of the electric bicycle, allowing elderly people to cycle for longer and at higher speeds. And I think they expected this to go down some more now that both their riders and the other participants in traffic get used to that.

I'll answer for Switzerland which also has a strong bicycling culture. People cycle while they're physically able. I have a neighbour couple who are around 70 and cycle everywhere in the city limits.

My grandfather had 4 hip replacements. Only after the last one (at 85 maybe?) did he become unable to ride a bike. My grandmother at the same age still does. They’ve never even owned a car or license.

Generally around when you're too frail to safely stop unexpectedly. Or probably a little after that, just like how people keep driving their cars a bit too long.

As an anecdote, my father has trouble walking nowadays - I think getting him to walk one km is ambitious. He does still use an electric bicycle though.

They don’t. You see elderly people on bikes all the time here. They just happen to have fewer places to go after retirement.

Of course many people get too old to bike. My grandmother is 97 and it's probably been over a decade.

Sure, some people get too frail, but in general being in physical shape is NOT a requirement to cycling as a means of transport (as opposed to a sport) in the Netherlands. Especially e-bikes are helping out a lot in that regard.

The question is a little ridiculous to me to begin with: you are too old once you can’t get the pedals round. If you can move a bike forwards you can participate in Dutch cycling traffic. There is no distinction between the two.

EDIT - But just to clarify: many people cycle well into retirement. We’re talking 60-70+ stopping ages over here, easily.

EDIT 2 - Here, have some governmental data: https://www.government.nl/binaries/government/documents/repo.... It doesn’t say anything on bicycle use in older age, but it does show you that average speed goes down by age. Average trip length does not however. In general it’s just an interesting read though.

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