Assen-Groningen fietssnelweg. Complete 1st section Haren-Groningen. A miracle in any other country. 

Yes, have a look for yourself. IT is super nice!

Completely different solution!

Yes similar measurements are taken here. There are instrumented cars and also instrumented bikes. The Fietsersbond was using their bikes a while back as part of a campaign to improve routes. I wrote a blog post a few years ago about instrumented cars on cycle-paths, measuring roughness amongst other things: www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2010/07/car-on-cycle-path.html

David Hembrow It would be interesting to know the roughness counts on that new Fietssnelweg then. Looks quite bumpy.

I hope someone measures it. I don't have the equipment myself or any way of making someone do so. The bumps are perceptible but they're not absolutely horrible. I don't think I'd like it with an racing bike with narrow tyres and no suspension, but at the moment it's OK with most bikes. While the video soundtrack seemed to pick up all 1500 bumps, I only felt some of them. Of course even if only one in ten is rough, that's still more than a hundred ! I assume it'll be worse next year after winter. I expect that as soon as water gets between the plates and freezes it will move the sections and make the gaps worse.

David Hembrow It can act as the course for the Dutch Paris-Roubaix! Dutch always innovating, here's a plastic prototype: twitter.com/FietsberaadNL/status/1004974386745667584?s=19

We already have "The small hell of the North" up here in Assen. It goes over the really awful cobbled roads in the countryside, many of which have nice smooth cycle-paths alongside which normal people ride on.

This is simply not true.... the blocks are clicked together....

STFN KRZ, even on a racing bike this section of road isn’t an issue at all. I also hardly notice them and when I do it’s not irritating in the slightest

It's not really violent yet, but I think it might become so after a couple of winters. This path is an anomaly for this part of the Netherlands. The only one which has been built of separate sections in this way. Concrete is actually the best material for cycle-paths and can be the smoothest as well if its laid continuously as is the case with all the other concrete cycle-paths in this area. There's more about that here: www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search/label/concrete

Sadly, Groningen is prioritizing buses (Westerhaven etc.) and cars (e.g. huge works around Julianplein) while paying only lip-service to cycling. I think that's why this supposedly flagship path not only has what seems to be a cost saving surface but also has routing problems: conflict with the house boats. Buses and cars are being given rough surfaces and fewer conflicts. Cyclists are not being prioritized in the same way.

nah.. fietspad is met grote wielen echt niets mis mee.

Even in the Netherlands, they sometimes don't really care enough to get it right. Groningen unfortunately gave up trying hard enough some years ago. www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search/label/groningen

Yours is one of the most ridiculous comments I've had on a youtube video. There are probably going on for a million bicycles with wheels smaller than 26" in the Netherlands. They include all folding bikes (vouwfietsen), all bikes for younger children, all bakfietsen as well as most recumbents (ligfietsen). Do you think it reasonable to design a cycle-path so that it is tolerable only by a subset of bikes ? That's not reasonable at all. Do you want children not to use this cycle-path ? Folding bike riders ? People with bakfietsen ? Cycle-paths should be designed to be maximally usable by the widest range of people, not to suit a minority. In fact, my recumbent deals quite well with the bumps. It's got suspension on every wheel, unlike most folding bikes, children's bikes and bakfietsen, which usually have no suspension at all. What's more, I use relatively wide tyres which give a smoother ride. The bumps on this path are worse with a racing bike which has narrow 28" tyres and no suspension than it is with my recumbent. My complaint is not that the path is completely unusable as I have used it several times and it does save time over the alternatives. My complaint is that Groningen is building new cycling infrastructure with a worse surface than they have used in the path. There is no reason for this. We can build better cycle-paths and we should build better cycle-paths. Why ever choose a substandard surface? Finally, yes of course klinkerwegen in the countryside are often quite nasty to ride on. They can be unpleasant whatever bike you use. My recumbent does quite well because it has suspension - much more pleasant than riding a racing bike over klinkers. This comment of yours is nothing but "whataboutism": Yes those roads are of poor quality. But so what ? That old and unimproved roads of poor quality still exist does nothing to excuse someone taking a decision to use a substandard surface on what is supposed to a flagship cycle-path in the world's leading cycling city. Groningen could have done a better job here but they chose not to. I assume this was cheaper than a better surface because why would anyone choose an inferior construction method if not to save money. At the same time, Groningen is rebuilding an enormous road junction where the Southern motorway approach to the city joins with the ring-road. This is a fantastically expensive project costing orders of magnitude more than this cut-price "flagship" cycle-path. The city has money, but it's spending it on drivers not on cyclists.

@@DavidHembrow Well.. there is a first time for everything. Just because my opinion is different, doesnt it make ridicilious. But hold that thought... You claim that this path is only suited for a MINORITY. That's a plain LIE. 9 out 10 bikes sold (in 2016, in the Netherlands) have (wide) 26"+ wheels. Do the research yourself. Furthermore: the entire ATB world shifted from 26" to 29" inch about 5 year ago.. just to handle bumps (due to roots) better. Also..have a look a the goal of this path... how many bakfietsen or vouwfietsen will actually use this path? Vouwfietsen and bakfietsen are typically used in a city (again.. do the research yourself). You claim that the path is IN the worlds leading cycling city... well it's not! Being outside the city makes its purpose (and therefore its requirements) different. And who says it is flagship material? Are those claims actually being made? By whom? Lets say your claim about substandard is true. That e.g. asphalt is better. Have you seen what has happened with the asphalt on this path and the one going from haren to witte molen. They ended up in the worst bike infra i've seen in a long time .. totally unusable, and totally SUB-SUB-SUBstandard. MAYBE this could be related to the local groundconditions of the dijk?. .So MAYBE.. just MAYBE this has to do with maintenance COSTS? So MAYBE, just MAYBE the construction method is not INFERIEUR, but SUPERIOR? I do agree with you that enormous amounts of money are spent on car infra. And i do agree that more could and should be spent on cycling infra. And true: to suit EVERY biker this path could be improved even further. But on the prioritylist of the cycling in groningen/drenthe infra there are SO SO MANY other far more urgent matters/situations to cover.

Logic doesn't seem to be your forte... I didn't state anywhere that this path was unusable by anyone. If you think I did, point out where. I am pointing out that the path is substandard, not unusable. *You* suggested that bikes with small wheels (

Wow.. my first post was "ridicilous", no my logic is "not my forte". Interesting to see how you handle opinions that are other than your own.. but, again hold that fought. Lets do a resume, maybe that will help. The resume is divided, for your comfort, in part A and B. PART A. - you said "Cycle-paths should be designed to be maximally usable by the widest range of people, not to suit a minority." FACT: 9 out of 10 bikes sold have normal wheels. Last time i looked it up "9 out of 10" was known as a MAJORITY. FACT: that 1 out of 10 MINORITY includes ligfietsen, folding bikes, bakfietsen and kids bikes. The last type is by far the largest part of this 1 out of 10. FACT: almost all bakfietsen (which are only about 100-thousand in the netherlands) are used within a town or city, for small disctances. Therefore, the number of bakfietsen on this course: practically ZERO FACT: almost all folding bikes are use by commuters (e.g. for trainstation to work). Therefore, the number of folding bikes on this course: practically ZERO FACT: there will be not many (small) kids using this path for going to primary school. That school will be near to their home. Therefore: number of schoolkids on this course: practically ZERO. FACT: this course is labeled as "Fietssnelweg". You make the assumption that that itself means is has to have toplevel surface.WOW... and you dare to question MY logic??? It only says that it is for fast transportation ... or one could say: it is NOT recreational. Therefore: number of recreational bikes, including kids bikes, primary targeted at with this path: ZERO. (MAYBE, just MAYBE there is an alternative on the other side of the canal thats is suitable for recreational bikers?) Now, with all kids bikes, bakfietsen en folding bikes out of the way... the ONE and ONLY type of bike that is left is the ligfiets. Which brings me back to my original comment: YOUR video only demonstrates that your ligfiets and this path dont combine well. NOTHING more, nothing less. PART B. You say: "For instance, the path on the other side of the canal within Groningen is smoother (continuous concrete)." I dont agree. That track is actually WORSE than the fietssnelweg. The bumps are way bigger (and more irregular). I know dozens of continuous concrete tracks. Only ONE is actually bump-less: t jagerpad in the north of groningen. The rest are all , as you might call it, sub-par. So continuous concrete is not a guarantee for a top notch surface. The only thing that is, it asphalt (tarmac). But have a look how rapidly that deteriorates along side the canal. SO MAYBE, just MAYBE, concrete slabs are the best option when it comes to both initial and recurring cost? In the end: with the small number of ligfietsen out there, i think it is reasonable to question if you want to invest top dollar for that specfic category when in comes to fietssnelwegen. I don't know.. but investing vasts amounts of money for just the comfort of ligfietsen seems like a strange priority setting to me. Tot slot.. ik snap dat u het niet met mij eens op dit onderwerp. Dat hoeft ook helemaal niet. Wat ik lastig vind is dat dat u naar mening de feiten niet respecteert en/of accepteert. Maar wat ik echt stuitend vind is dat u op basis van betere beheersing van de engelse taal mij woorden in de mond probeert te leggen. Dat accepteer ik niet. Ik zie dan ook geen enkele reden na deze post nog verder met u in discussie te gaan. Het gaat u goed.

You're putting an enormous amount of effort into defending a less than optimum cycle-path. Why are you doing this ? The fietssnelweg is sub-par. That's it. Groningen could have done better and I don't understand why you are so desperate to try to justify something which is poorer than it should be. There are many better quality paths around Groningen. For example, the path between Groningen and Ten Boer or that between Hoogkerk and Rodewolde or between the south of Groningen and Paterswolde. All of those are a few years old now but still extremely high quality without bumps. If you head a few km South into Drenthe you'll find more examples. e.g. between Vries and Assen. That path is made of continuous concrete and is now more than ten years old. It's still perfectly smooth. The path which goes along the side of the canal on the west of Assen is 4 km long and made of particularly smooth asphalt. Another good example. Today, instead of cycling to Groningen I went in the other direction to ride up and down the VAM-berg. Excellent and completely smooth asphalt cycle-paths have been built on the VAM-berg. Why should the fietssnelweg have a lesser quality surface ? No matter what bicycle you ride, a poor surface is never better than a good surface. Now you might think that no-one rides unusual bicycles any distance but I can assure you that they do. I've made the journey between Assen and Groningen on my folding bicycle. I've done it with a cargo bike (to buy things from Ikea). I've also made that journey pulling trailers with small wheels containing fragile items, and in the past when my children were young they had small wheeled bicycles which they often rode further than 30 km so if the fietssnelweg had existed in the state that it's in now they would have had to ride over those bumps. When I have cycled along the fietssnelweg I have seen both folding bicycles and bakfietsen, so at least some other people do also use those bicycles over that short distance. You appear to be obsessed by my ligfiets. This is not an issue which affects just my bike. How could it be ? I have more than one ligfiets. Both are designed for comfort. They both have suspension which makes them deal with bumps better than many other bikes. This path is substandard regardless of which bike you use along it. There is simply no reason to defend a poor quality surface on cycling infrastructure. Defending poor cycling infrastructure on the grounds that you think that certain classes of people won't make journeys by bicycle is, frankly, absurd. Cycling infrastructure should always be designed to make cycling as convenient and appealing to as large a proportion of people as possible. It should never be designed in such a way that it deters anyone from wanting to ride *their* bicycle for *their* purpose along any route.

Nah.. with a normal bike, the path is excellent...

There is no resonance issue with that bike, and it's not the only bike with which I've ridden over that cycle-path. The bumps are real. Up to a centimetre or so in height. They'll be felt on any bike. There's a photo here: www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2018/06/concrete-cycle-paths-smooth-maintenance.html#sections

You should try cycling along the N379 from Gasselternijveen to the south. All concrete plates are hollow. @@DavidHembrow What you call an old path is also brand new. That used to be asphalt until a half a year ago or so. Check it out on streetview. www.google.nl/maps/@53.1927741,6.5625066,3a,75y,336.6h,91.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snhgZFx0FGnoEyA4KXUIF3g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656