FEATURE
Top left and right: Pieces of history from the Gazelle museum. Bottom Left: An early image of the factory. Bottom Right: The experience centre.
renovation, a move that was described as a “calculated gamble on technical complexity.”
The team explained that while much of the industry at the time was still geared towards the high-speed assembly of traditional pedal bikes, Gazelle’s new layout was designed from the outset to handle the intricate Bill of Materials (BOM) required for e-bikes. As my factory guide pointed out, an e-bike requires far tighter quality controls and significantly more components than a mechanical one. Because Gazelle had already integrated specialised pre-assembly stations where motors are mounted, and cables are routed before they even hit the final line, they were uniquely prepared for the sudden market shift. By the time the global e-bike boom arrived in the early 2020s, Gazelle said that the Dieren facility had already spent years refining the very processes that many competitors were only just beginning to grapple with.
The 85-Second Stations On the factory floor, the team works in a day-shift system to produce roughly 1,000 e-bikes daily. The rhythm flows steadily: every station has exactly 85 seconds to complete its task before the conveyor moves. Yet, despite the speed of the industrial soundtrack of beeps, scanners, and
10 |May 2026
packing tools, the focus felt deliberate and steady. Gazelle has handled its own painting, wheel assembly, and
pre-assembly in-house from the very beginning. The team believes that maintaining control over these core processes is the only way to truly guarantee the premium quality and durability they are known for. In the paint shop, it’s hard not to be somewhat impressed
by the sheer scale of the operation. An exceptionally long conveyor (1.8 km long) takes bikes through the facility, carrying frames in various states of transformation. While I couldn’t observe the interior of the spray booths, each step of the six-hour, four-layer finish was explained in detail. The frames first undergo degreasing and pre-conditioning before receiving a white or black primer. Then come two layers of wet paint, the hand-application of transfers, and a final protective top coat in either matt or gloss. This control is vital for longevity; if a frame needs replacing under its ten-year warranty, it can be hand-painted in the factory in the original colour, a level of service that would be impossible with a factory-finished frame from overseas. “Keeping these crafts within our own factory walls for over a century ensures that every bike is built to our exact specifications without compromise,” they explained. “It isn’t
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