How Lego got bicycle

The largest toy manufacturer in the world for several years, Lego has become more than a brand: a name passed in everyday language, whose variations are scrutinized and expected.Recently, fans have been delighted to see adaptations in Discovery bricks arrive in France, the famous NASA shuttle, Burj Khalifa, the Emirati skyscraper, or, for the youngest, of the house of WinnieBear cub.In this very diverse range of products, cycling has long been a brand absent.Until the initiative of Marcel Steeman, who went to shake the Danish firm with a very simple question: "Where are the cycle paths at Lego?»»

More cycle paths for 20 years

For years, one of the most famous brick series in Lego has been that dedicated to the city, with its roads, small houses and pedestrian passages.However, despite the growing place of the bicycle in our company, no cycle path on the horizon.In the 1980s and 1990s, on certain portions of roads, a thin green line suggested a lane reserved for bikes ... until it disappeared on more recent editions.

It was this observation that intrigued Marcel Steeman.This regional councilor in the Netherlands, in the Northern Holland region, a experienced cyclist regularly working on issues of urban mobility, filed in 2019 a suggestion in the "Ideas" section of the Lego website.Launched in 2008, this section allows users to send their proposal to offices based in Billund for a possible production later.Among the thirty suggestions that have emerged over the years: sets dedicated to the Wall-E cartoon, the Big Bang Theory series, or paleontology.

The support of "brico-militants"

Steeman's proposal is simple: new models of road plates including large blue and white cycle paths, as found on many European roads.His idea is, on several occasions, rebuilt by the toy manufacturer.“I tried to offer it several times.Sometimes she was rejected without reason, another time because it was considered that it was just a political publication, "he explained to the American media The Verge.

However, it attracts the curiosity of several Internet users, who share it massively, and ends up reaching the ears of Marco te Brömmelstroet, urban planning professor weighing several thousand followers on Twitter.In a series of messages, the “Cycling Professor” questioned the design of the Lego roads and offered alternatives to the brand.A few weeks later, the last LEGO shopping street, decked out of n ° 60306 contained a narrow azure cycle strip, a Gravel Bike and a cargo bike.Without paternity being recognized by one of the two men.

"I had been talking about it for so long that I had to end up buying it," said Steeman on Twitter, with the last Lego City box in my hands for his son.This first lego step towards the cyclists was appreciated, but above all reinforced these "brico-militants" in their convictions.In the ideas box, a new suggestion has been deposited, with wider cycle paths and arches to store its two-wheelers.