One factor may be that in most of the UK biking is done on the road mixed with cars which may have more oil, sooth or other things in the water that gets on the bike, compared to dedicated bike lanes in the Netherlands. A lot of those lanes here aren't just a part of the same road, they're a few meters away from the road.
Another factor may be that there is more of a longer term bike culture, so more people know about simple bike maintenance (spray the chain etc) or have a bike shop around the corner.