Rain of fines for fat bikers: these locations stand out

Whether you are a fan of the lightning-fast bike that has become an indispensable part of the street scene, or you hate it, one thing is certain: fat bikers are often associated with criminal acts. Especially when they are tuned up, problems regularly arise. And there have been plenty of those problems lately.

Fat bikers are often faced with fines. The police are checking the fat bikes en masse, but also e-bikes for their speed. Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN) applauds the police efforts. "The police pay a lot of attention to the fat bike problem and do their best to get unsafe bikes off the road," Willemijn Pomper tells Het Parool .

In 2024, a total of 10,450 fines were issued for speeding or tuning fat bikes. Amsterdam takes the crown: 1,688 fines were issued there. That is almost as many as in the whole of the eastern Netherlands, where the total came to 1,794 fines. This is evident from police data provided to De Telegraaf .

For example, few fines were issued in Limburg; there, 188 fines were issued to fat bikers in 2024. Also in Zeeland (583) there were a lot less than in North Holland (1309) and Central Netherlands; there were 1036.

Rotterdam stands out with 64 fines for tuned fatbikes, a lot less than Amsterdam with almost 500 and The Hague with 190 fines. However, the streets where most fatbike drivers were fined are mainly in large cities. For example, the Hague police wrote out 15 fines on the Spui in The Hague alone.

A police spokesperson told De Telegraaf that not every issued fine always leads to an actual ticket. It is possible that the Public Prosecution Service will drop the ticket. That is why the actual number of fines may be lower. It is also possible that the number of fines increases slightly due to registration errors. These amount to at least 320 euros, but can increase if there is more wrong with the e-bike.

The police have long advocated for an age limit for fat bikes, or even for all e-bikes, to make enforcement easier. The House of Representatives, on the other hand, focuses specifically on stricter measures for fat bikers only.

A tuned fatbike is illegal in the Netherlands if it goes faster than 25 km/h with pedal assistance, delivers more than 250 watts, or has a throttle that accelerates without pedaling. For these reasons, you can be punished as a fatbiker. In principle, tuning it is allowed, but you are not allowed to take it on the road.

Metro previously wrote about how taking the bike is becoming increasingly dangerous . Legal service provider DAS sees more injury cases involving cyclists. This is partly due to e-bikes and fatbikes. The number of accidents involving fatbikes also rose sharply last year.

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