Sponsored by Swapfiets.
Image courtesy of Swapfiets.
Swapfiets started out as an idea cooked up between a few liked-minded, bicycle-loving friends. They thought, “What if we charged people a reasonable monthly fee, and in return they got a really great bike for their personal use? And we’d guarantee all repairs, so the rider doesn’t have to worry about whether the bike will work?”
This isn’t the same concept as the public bike sharing that can be found in any number of cities, such as Bicing in Barcelona. In the case of Bicing and similar services, your monthly subscription fee allows you access to public bikes—often in poor condition, and sometimes unavailable when you most need them—that are then left at parking stations on the street. With Swapfiets, each high-quality bike “belongs” exclusively to the individual customer for the length of the subscription.
The idea was so well-received that Swapfiets ultimately grew from a group of friends fixing up their clients’ bikes themselves to a company that is rapidly expanding into more and more European cities. It’s newest city? Why Barcelona, of course! The newest store is located at Carrer de Balmes, 61 in Eixample.
The bikes are easily identifiable on the streets: each one possesses Swapfiets’ iconic blue front tire and are always in great shape thanks to a famously “epic” customer service.
Image courtesy of Swapfiets.
Why Travel By Bike? And Why Swapfiets’ Bikes, Specifically?
There are many immediate, practical reasons for choosing to get around by bike, and specifically by these bikes. Cycling can save you time and money. It’s less expensive than buying or renting a car, or paying for public transport, and it’s much faster than walking.
If you’re new to town, you can get to know the city while getting in some low-impact exercise. Barcelona is an incredibly bike-friendly city, as it has 172 km of bike lanes. Swapfiets can also help you to make friends, as the Swapfiets Bike Club community offers bi-weekly social biking tours that include fun collaborations with other local businesses, such as yoga or art classes.
A Swapfiets bike is a great option if you’re a student who is looking for a cheap and efficient way of getting around but isn’t sure if you’ll be in Barcelona forever. The company offers student voucher codes, and signing up saves you from having to decide whether or not you want to commit to buying a bike which you’d later have to sell when you leave town.
Image courtesy of Swapfiets.
No NIE or other paperwork is required. Pick your city and preferred bike model online, then schedule an appointment at the local Swapfiets store to pick it up (or get it delivered within 48 hours).
And the thing is, you can’t buy these bicycles. They’re not for sale. As Swapfiets says in its mission statement, “We need to consume less, and enjoy more. The world has enough stuff.” Swapfiets doesn’t want to sell you a bike, it wants to get you moving in a sustainable way—without creating any more waste for our planet. (In fact, it’s so committed to environmental sustainability that it has committed to 100% renewable energy contracts for all of its locations, including offices, warehouses and physical stores.)
The business model is an example of what’s known as the circular economy: one that recirculates resources, thereby reducing or eliminating waste. A circular economy is the opposite of excess consumerism and is a tool with which to address social concerns (such as mobility) as well as environmental concerns (like our carbon footprint). Basically, everybody wins.
Image courtesy of Swapfiets.
What Makes The Bikes Themselves Special?
Barcelona is a beautiful city, unfortunately, it’s known for its high number of bike thefts. Swapfiets makes stealing your bike nearly impossible thanks to incredibly heavy-duty double locks—both a ring lock and a chain lock are included with each bike, and without each lock’s unique key, they’re pretty much impossible to steal. This means you can rest easy.
All Swapfiets bikes are Dutch bicycles, which means they are of world-class quality. They’re dependable and are a comfortable ride. The bikes are available in various sizes, depending on your height, and as well as different colors. Both Original and Deluxe models have a light installed on the front and the back of the bike, and you can even attach your own child’s seat to the bike if you have little ones.
The Barcelona store offers Original and Deluxe 7 bike models, as well as other mobility options like the electric e-Scooter (small electric motorcycle), the e-Kick (a stand-up electric scooter), and the Power-7 electric bike, which has seven gears and can go as fast as 25 kilometers per hour.
Best of all, while technical issues with the bikes are rare, Swapfiets guarantees an appointment to fix or even swap out your bike within 48 hours if you should experience any kind of malfunction. The website offers a number of ways to get in touch in case you have questions or need assistance: Customer service number, chat, email and Facebook messenger are all available from 8:00 to 21:00.
Image courtesy of Swapfiets.
Bicycles Without Borders
Not only does Swapfiets make dependable, beautiful bikes and encourage a more sustainable solution to getting around, it also works to make the world a better place. Swapfiets has teamed up with Spanish non-profit organization Bicycles Without Borders, which has been helping give East African school children access to bicycles since the year 2015. Kids living in remote regions of the country may have to walk up to four hours to school. This trip can be reduced to under half an hour with access to a bicycle, which in turn gives students more time and energy to devote to their studies.
Swapfiets’ first donation to the program is a contribution of 170 bikes, with the goal of donating a minimum of 200 gently used bikes each year. The company has also committed to shipping a significant number of spare parts so that the bicycles can be repaired and remain in good working order. Bicycles Without Borders in turn helps to train locals to know how to repair the bikes.
By signing up for Swapfiets’ service, you’re helping to make this collaboration possible. Once again, everybody wins.
You can find out more about Swapfiets via the website at swapfiets.es and follow on Facebook: @SwapfietsES and Instagram @swapfietses.
Sponsored by Swapfiets.