X-ray of a ghost market – why speedbikes aren’t taking off?

Introduction: innovation off the streets

In Paris, how many of every 100 bicycles you come across exceed 25 km/h? Very many. How many have license plates? None.

This is the paradox of the French speedbike: a legal vehicle on the road… illegally. Because there’s a gulf between regulatory theory and the reality on the ground. And within that gulf, an entire market that just won’t take off.

The speedbike should be the solution for fast intercity and rural journeys. A credible alternative to the car for the 20-50 km daily commute. Yet where demand for agile mobility is exploding, this segment remains hopelessly marginal.

Why? That’s the question that’s been obsessing me these past few months. And the deeper I dig, the more I discover a system locked in its own contradictions.

The speedbike, a misidentified object

First things first: what is a speedbike?

Technically, it’s a VAE (Vélo à Assistance Électrique) that exceeds 25 km/h and can reach 45 km/h. In Europe, it falls into category L1e-B, that of light mopeds. The same DNA as a bicycle, but with the legal status of a scooter.

And then things get really complicated.

To be compliant, a speedbike must carry :

• ECE R113-approved front light (low-beam headlamp)
• ECE R50 tail-light
• ECE R50 brake-light
• ECE R50 rear registration plate lamp
• Two ECE R3 side amber reflectors
• ECE R3 rear reflector
• ECE R28 horn

Add to this: registration, moped insurance, compulsory motorcycle helmets, and an outright ban on cycle paths.

Let’s be clear about this: you’ve got a bike that pedals like a bike, weighs like a bike, stores like a bike… but is banned wherever bikes are allowed.

For the manufacturer, this means Type Approval – i.e. European type approval with all the administrative and financial constraints that entails. We’ll come back to this later.

Supply on the fritz – state of the French and European market

The French speedbike market? It’s like the regulations: ghostly.

In France, only LMX still produces speedbikes. Moustache, which was a major player, has all but thrown in the towel. Sales volumes are derisory compared with the conventional VAE market.

Let’s take a look at the other side of the border.

In Belgium, 2023 was the second-best year in speedbike history, with 15,672 registrations (source: Traxio.be / Speed Pedelec Review). By comparison, the Netherlands recorded just 4,185 speedbikes in the same year. The Belgian market is 3.7 times larger than the Dutch.

Why such a difference? Three factors combine:

1. Tax-advantaged leasing: in Belgium, 50% of speedbikes are company-leased, with a mileage allowance of up to €0.35/km (exempt up to €3,500/year).
2. The right infrastructure: on roads with speeds over 50 km/h, speedbikes are allowed – and even obliged – to use cycle paths.
3. A clear political will: Belgium has chosen to encourage this intermediate mobility.

In France? Exactly the opposite.

Speedbikes are banned from cycle paths. The result? Users ride speedbikes… but have removed their plates. So they can use the bike lanes without being ticketed. Absurd? Absolutely. But symptomatic of regulations that are ill-adapted to actual use.

A paradoxical market, locked in by law, which makes investment by SMEs unattractive. Why develop a product whose marketing is an obstacle course, when the neighboring market offers much healthier prospects?

The hidden face of this absence

The speedbike is much more than a missed market niche. It’s the symbol of regulatory slowness in the face of new mobility.

While conventional electric bikes explode (millions of units sold), electric scooters invade cities (for better or worse), and electric cars benefit from billions in public subsidies, the speedbike remains stuck in a gray area between bike and scooter.

Too fast to be a bike. Too clean and quiet to be a scooter. Too innovative to fit into the administrative boxes of the 21st century.

The result? A wasted decarbonization potential. Trips of 30-50 km are still made by car, whereas a speedbike would cover them in 1h-1h15, with no traffic jams, no paid parking and no pollution.

Conclusion: why not take a closer look?

Six months I’ve been circling this subject. Six months I’ve been asking myself: what’s the hold-up?

So I decided to go further. Not just in theory, but in practice.

To understand this stumbling block, I wanted to see for myself how much it really costs to build a speedbike.

In the next article, I’ll tell you about the obstacle course of an entrepreneur who wants to create a speedbike in 2026.

To be continued here:

► Link to Article 2

Spoiler: it’s not the technique that gets in the way. It’s everything else.

Sources :

• Speed Pedelec Review, “Het speed pedelec jaar 2023”
• Traxio.be, Belgian market analysis
• Spaninga, Technical documentation speedbike