Guerrilla civil engineering.
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Following the invention of the bicycle, they became very common and wildly popular in any place wealthy enough that people could afford them. The Netherlands, as much as any other developed country, abandoned the bicycle as the rise of the automobile redefined city streets as the domain of the motorcar, until activists in the 1960s rejected the death toll of car traffic and lobbied for safe bicycle infrastructure. Only then did the number of bicycles explode once more.
There’s nothing special about the Netherlands with regards to bikes. Given the will to do so, any developed city could become the bike heaven that Amsterdam is.
At least, that is my understanding of the history of it. Granted, I have never been to the Netherlands, so I’d be interested to hear your take on it!
There’s one thing: The Netherlands is extremely, extremely flat!
That has always been part of my explanation of the bikes here (I’m dutch).
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I was going to point out something similar…
I really wonder about countries where the social contract isn’t that strong?
It’s just one city, but driving in Tijuana is generally a free-for-all, even when there are hard kerbs to regulate traffic. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve ridden in a taxi-van when the driver decides to CROSS THE DOUBLE YELLOW LINE AGAINST TRAFFIC when approaching a crowded intersection and crossing back over into the intersection against the red light (and opposing traffic) in order to jump traffic queues.
And if you choose to ride a bicycle there, you’re generally considered a stuntperson or a fool.
living far north I am used to lots of snow for 6 months and NO road MARKING at all as it is under the SNOW
and how often a 4 lane road becomes 3 because of drivers between the lanes as they either do not know where the lane is OR do not CARE where it is and parking in surface lots and people can not even park in straight rows next to another car
Even when the car became more popular, the Netherlands still had more cyclists than other European countries. The activism of the seventies helped increase the amount of bike infrastructure, but the first dedicated bike lanes where built over 100 years ago.
I do think that most developed citues will be able to be bike friendly, though Amsterdam might not be the best example because they made the city bike-friendly by making it horrible for cars.
And, as naam said, the Netherlands is flat, really really flat. So biking is literally never an uphill battle.
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I’ve only ever known this as the phrase ‘if it sticks or squeaks, WD40, for everything else duct tape’. But I admire your flowchart. If you flip the first no/yes in the left branch, you can even combine the 'no problem’s. But that leaves the first layer no/yes in a different order to the second layer. Aww, good flowchart design is hard.
If they are faster cyclists their behavior will be to everyone’s advantage.
It’s pretty flat there, that makes bike riding easier and less strenuous.
Edit: I see now that I am the third to point this out. Sorry 
The usual dismissive answer local German politicians give when asked why they don’t create better biking infrastructure on the Dutch and Danish model is that “these countries are flat”. They dismiss the case of Münster (Westphalia) on the same grounds.
However, some cities like Göttingen and Freiburg, with large numbers of people commuting by bike (a lot of them students) deliver counter-examples. There’s still much to do, but also much to learn from those examples.
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It helps a lot to have bicycle-friendly mass transit, too. For years I worked for a Dutch company and spent a lot of time there – notably Nijmegen, which is a lovely city and quite pedestrian-friendly too – I found that getting around there was easier for a visitor than any American city except perhaps San Francisco.
I wonder if that had any influence on my moving to a small town when I retired?
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The standard Brit explanation for the Dutch having a lot of bikes is “it’s bloody flat there”. That said, Bristol is supposed to be a very bike friendly city, despite everything being up a bloody hill.
Except for the bits that aren’t. Limburg has hills. It’s not Cumbria, Snowdonia or the Highlands of Scotland, but it isn’t flat.
Lots of places are very flat and lack good, safe, connected bike infrastructure, and very few people bike there because it’s too scary (my hometown is an example)
Some places are reasonably hilly and have good bike infrastruture, and lots of people bike there (Montreal is a fairly good example).
For something a bit more involved, try installing a sign over an active freeway …
The social contract works for cars, too!
Here’s a brief documentary describing a “Guerilla Public Service” project in 2001 … 
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That was an awesome ride.
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Which is one of the reasons why a lot of people from the Neatherlands spend their vacation or weekends at the Sauerland. It’s practically next door, and you can experience elevations of up to 843 m!
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