Do reinvent the wheel

When you arrive in Amsterdam the first thing you need is a bike

But choosing which bike to get is really difficult

There are almost 900k bikes in Amsterdam

More than the number of people

That’s a lot of choice

For the uninitiated it is a minefield

But then you start to notice something

Blue front wheels

And once you seen one, you see them everywhere

On oma bikes, geared bikes and electric bikes

They stand out a mile

And jump to mind when you want to get a bike

The blue tyres belong to Swapfiets bikes


They currently have over 200K members

And have just expanded to London, Milan and Paris

They are the world’s largest subscription bike service

Between 2019 and 2020 they grew 100%

A lot of that success is down to them reinventing the wheel

From having one function to two

It makes them stand out in a cluttered market

They took the most standardised part of the bike

And made it completely distinctive

Most marketing is a bit like the Amsterdam bike market

Seas of sameness and convention

Received wisdoms

And ‘cant do it like that’ attitudes

But our job is to stand out

Rather than fit in

So maybe sometimes we should try and reinvent the wheel