Q&A

Friends with bikes is a female-founded cycling community based in Stockholm. We’ve been hosting weekly rides, bikepacking adventures, events, Mallorca trips and Vättern teams since 2020. Our ambition has always been the same: lowering the thresholds to friendships, movement and growth through cycling. 

Friends with bikes should feel and be inclusive, welcoming and open-minded, but this doesn’t mean we are for everyone. To maintain the beautiful ‘friends of friends’ atmosphere we’ve worked so hard to build, we keep our values close to heart. If you’re 25-40 years old, have some cycling experience (or you join a Friendly FIRST first) and identify with caring more about good times over gear and grams, and believing in the team>the ego, this could be a place for you.

Team>ego

• By women, for all – as long as you’re friendly and put the team>ego.

• Be kind, inclusive, and supportive

• Help each other (yes, we stop for flats) 

• No showing off, spontaneously sprinting away, skipping red lights 

• A group ride means we ride together

Good vibes

• Everyone starts somewhere – no elitism around gear, performance or stats 

• Sharing is caring and we learn from each other

• No disrespectful or exclusionary behavior

Apply to join the community group here. This is where all our rides and activities are communicated.

We have three different paces for our rides:

• Friendly FUN (25-27 km/h) – social pace, for everyone, no drop

• Friendly FAST (28+ km/h) – training rides, drops allowed

• Friendly SPINS – intervals at your own pace

If you’re not an experienced rider, you need to join a Friendly FIRST before coming to our weekly rides. This as an introduction to cycling with us and in a group. We will go through signs and get you comfortable riding together with others.

 Safety first, always: 

• Ride predictably & avoid unnecessary risks.

• Maintain your bike by having a clean chain, charged battery if electric shifting, have fresh tubes (or TL), and enough bar in the tires.

• Always bring everything you need for a ride, such as a multitool, pump (or CO2), tire levers, an extra tube, water and nutrition. 

• Be aware of all our signs and know when and how to signal. Note that it differs from group to group so please make sure you know which ones we use in Friends. If unsure, kindly ask.

We are a Stockholm-based cycling community, but during our bikepacking adventures and trips we allow friends of friends from all over the world to join us.

For our weekly rides, we usually meet up somewhere at Södermalm or Kungsholmen. Some of our favourite routes are Älgö, VissVass, Färingsö, Skärgårdsrundan and Adelsö.

We host weekly rides from April-October, starting with our Season Opener and ending with our Season Closer. In July, we go on holiday (just like everyone else) and pause the rides for a few weeks. 

Anytime, you as a member can initiate a ride too. Just write in the group and remember to clearly specify when, meet up place and time, roll off time, distance, avg. speed and intended breaks.