Portugal Is Riding a Boom in Bicycles
To meet a jump in demand, the country’s bike-making industry is building new factories, hiring workers and dealing with parts shortages.
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No country in the European Union makes more bicycles than Portugal. RTE’s factory churns out about 5,500 bikes a day, but it could produce more if parts arrived quicker.CreditCredit.Rodrigo Cardoso for The New York Times
June 2, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET
VOUZELA, Portugal Inside a factory set among eucalyptus trees in the Portuguese countryside, workers carefully cut thin strips of sticky carbon fiber and press them into molds. It is slow and painstaking labor.