Barcelona Folding Bike - Take your bike everywhere!

It's a well known fact that Barcelona is an easy city to move around in with non-motorised wheels. Bikes, rollerskates and blades, skateboarders, they all know what they're doing. The city is on a very slight gradient towards the sea, so if you can get it just right, you can get some pretty awesome routes going on. It's often I'm asked about how to rent "one of those red bikes that are parked everywhere" but Bicing is only for residents, leaving a few of the local rental companies, all of which vary in quality and reliability.

 

Step into the ring Barcelona Folding Bike with a fresh new concept. Located in the Raval, the shop has a very cycle-friendly-history, and use to belong to a fairly famous Spanish cyclist Jordi Nicolas - see trophy cabinet and black and white pics on the wall here below. The shop doubles up as a workshop, where David and Juan spot check each and every bike before and after rentals to ensure they are in tip-top condition. Also, the great amjority of their bikes are literally brand spanking new, and look more than equipped to tackle the streets of Barcelona. The prices are very competative considering the amount of care and attention these lads are putting into their jobs.

Apart from this, the guys are also offering tours with an English/Spanish guide and a free drink to boot! Their classic tour guide (pdf link there) takes in almost all of the classic Roman monuments from Barcino as well as a quick look at the more modern touches of the city with Torre Agbar and 22@. Tours leave every Wednesday at 9:45am.

To rent any of the bikes, all you need a valid form of ID and a fresh pair of legs!!

Disclosure: A friend of mine owns this business, but I'm not being paid for this post, rather think that it's a pretty cool business idea and I'm just helping put with publicity. ;o)

Skipping the Road Works Just Got Easier

I don't think there's much of a cultural difference in Barcelona or anywhere else in the world for that matter when it comes to road works. August is usually the big month for road works playing havoc with the city's traffic, as most of the residents are not in the city, leaving the tourists to go blue in the face/be towed away/fined (delete as appropriate). Sometimes no amount of google-mapping, Sat-Naving (is that a word?) or good old fashioned AA fold away maps can prepare you for the chaos that is August driving. Add to that fact that the majority of the "road workers" seem to be strangely absent/eating bocadillos/smoking fags while propping up a rake (delete as appropriate).



Well, it seems that not only August is the month for road works and diversions. There are apparently over 380 individual jobs taking place on a street near you, and if you haven't been woken at some ungodly hour, then you're sure to run straight into a road block soon. So, those kind and conscientious people at the council office have decided to give you a hand. Cue Barcelona Road Works Website (No that's obviously not what it's really called, but I'm linking to it that way). Due to go live today (so don't blame me if the link isn't working), the site plans to detail all the sites with details of how long the job is supposed to last (so multiply that by, say, 3) and other routes to avoid the particular areas. Let's hope it saves us drivers some time, as those yellow notices obscured by trees on the side of pavements really aren't' doing it for me. Any thoughts? Feel free to comment below.

Coming to Barcelona soon? Why not rent a Barcelona Apartment as a great money-saver? And for a quick look at the sights, see this Barcelona Guide.