Nordic Breeze | Iberian Seas

One of my top priorities after settling in was buying a bicycle. Biking is very common in Stockholm, especially among students. There are many bike lanes and paths in the city that are very well designed and maintained. People even bike year round here through the ice and the snow. I’m a bit nervous for that but hopefully I’ll adapt.

I asked around about where to buy a used bike and there are two main options. The first is online at Facebook Marketplace and Swedish secondhand sites such as Blocket and Tradera. I did see a lot of good options available online and for good prices, but it is hard to test the quality, condition, and sizing of the bike. The second main option is to find a secondhand bike sale. I found a group called Easy ReCycling in Masmo that hosted a big bike sale on the weekend so I cleared my schedule for the day and went on an adventure!

To get to the bike sale, I took the Tunelbana (metro) to T-Centralen (the central station) and then switched to a different metro line to get me out to an area called Masmo. The whole trip took about an hour. The sale was held in an empty lot in a quiet residential area. They had hundreds of bicycles of all kinds for sale. It was nice to have so many options but also a bit overwhelming.

Bicycles in Sweden look a bit different than what I am used to in the United States. Most people in the cities ride the type of bikes shown below (in both women’s and men’s styles). They are very nice looking and good for simple rides through city streets. Mountain bikes are also fairly common and they are great for parks and winter weather.

I looked at a few different bikes at the sale. I was looking for something sturdy, in reasonably good condition, and with a comfortable seat. I wanted something that looked okay but not fantastic because a bike that looks too nice is more likely to get stolen. Bike theft is fairly common here. Before I went to the bike sale I stopped at a store called XXL to buy a nice strong U-lock. At the bike sale, I tried riding a few different bikes before I found one that felt nice. I could have tried riding more but I figured good enough was good enough and I didn’t want to be there all day. I found a group of other students also looking for bikes and we helped each other pick bikes out and test them.

At this bike sale they had a couple of employees that did basic maintenance on the bike you bought so I had them adjust the seat height, check the tire pressure, oil the chain, and tweak the brakes a little. Overall the bike works great but there are a few small things I might want to bring to a bike shop to get checked out. I would love to get new brakes on it as well since good brakes are a safety necessity, especially for biking in a city where you often have to stop quickly.

I paid about $150 for my bike and it was mine to ride home! The journey home was a bit of an adventure. In Stockholm, you can never bring a bike on the Tunelbana (metro). You can bring a bike on the Pendeltåg (commuter rail) but not during rush hour (7-9 AM and 3-5 PM) and there are certain stations you can never get on or off at with a bike. Of course, the station I would have normally gotten off at is one that you can’t bring a bike to. So, I rode my new bike for about 30 minutes from the bike sale to a nearby Pendeltåg station called Huddinge then rode the train for about 20 minutes. I got off at a station called Stockholms Södra and then rode another 20-30 minutes through the center of Stockholm to get back to my apartment. Biking on a new bike with questionable brakes through the center of a big city on crowded roads I was unfamiliar with was pretty stressful but also a lot of fun. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon in the summer so there were lots of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads. One reason I love biking is that you get to really enjoy the scenery and see the world around you as you pass through it. Here are some pictures from my journey:

My next task is to purchase a helmet and a headlight (headlights are actually mandatory in Sweden). I am so glad I found a bicycle and I am really looking forward to using it to go to class, go to the grocery store, explore Stockholm, and ride through some parks.