Given the Dutch appetite for bicycles, it is little wonder that Frank van Oirschot joined two friends to open a business here they call Amazing Wheels. In a sprawling warehouse along piers where fishing trawlers once dumped their haul, Mr. van Oirschot runs what is arguably the largest wholesale bike dealership in the Netherlands, and possibly in Europe.

Leading a visitor through the warehouse, he pointed out touring bicycles, the way the Dutch like them; electric bicycles, from mountainous Switzerland; recumbent bicycles, whose riders look like they are on a two-wheeled gurney; and all sorts of three-wheeled models, for hauling groceries or tools or children. There is even a bicycle that folds up into a suitcase, for carrying on planes.

“We have house painters in Amsterdam who love the three-wheeled bikes,” he said.

In neighboring Belgium, Coca-Cola recently ordered 13 SmartTrikes, three-wheeled bikes for carrying children or goods or both, which it plans to use to sell Coke at amusement parks. “Thirteen is not what I’d call an impressive investment, but it’s one way to bring the brand to consumers,” said Wouter Vermeulen, a spokesman for Coca-Cola. “It’s a bike-loving country.”

Mr. van Oirschot, 37, a heavyset former software expert, said bicycles were increasingly seen as an expression of a lifestyle. “It’s, like, for hanging out, almost as a fashion statement,” he said, pointing to Phat Cycles from California, with their laid-back look reminiscent of the movie “Easy Rider.”

Image An Amazing Wheels employee tested a three-wheeled aero rider on the streets of Ijmuiden. Utility tricycles are popular among the Dutch. Credit... Herman Wouters for The New York Times

Biking, it is clear, is a Dutch way of entertaining children or grandchildren. Michael Pronk, 31, and his wife rolled along a road leading to the sea, each with one of their 3-year-old twins on the back of their bicycles. “On a day like this,” Mr. Pronk said, motioning to the high scudding clouds, “instead of walking, we take a bike ride.”

No wonder then, that on work days the train stations here and in nearby Haarlem look like buildings afloat in a lake of bicycles.