WinterCity Studded Tire Challenge

Get into winter cycling this year

To support Edmonton’s WinterCity Strategy, Bike Edmonton and the City of Edmonton have teamed up to make winter cycling safer and more fun by giving out free studded winter tires!

To be eligible to receive free studded winter tires, you must:

* Be 16 or older, 
* Be new or relatively new to winter cycling, 
* Have a bike that accepts commonly available studded tire sizes.
* Do three winter cycling challenges by January 31, 2025.
* Fill out a questionnaire by February 21, 2025 to tell us if this studded tire challenge helped you.

Winter Cycling Challenges

You’ll choose three of eight suggested challenges that will help you ride your bike safely and comfortably through the winter. Some examples of challenges include watching winter cycling videos, recording your rides, taking a picture of you and your bike on a winter excursion, and riding to Coffee Outside.

How to Apply

Fill out this form and we'll let you know if you qualify for free studded winter tires. There is no deadline, though we will start giving out tires right away, so apply early to increase your chances of being selected!

This studded tire challenge is sponsored by the City of Edmonton's WinterCity Strategy. WinterCity works with community groups and Edmontonians to enable and promote positive winter experiences. Bike Edmonton is honoured to once again work with the WinterCity Strategy to help Edmontonians embrace the colder season.

Bike Route Snow Clearing Map

See what routes are clear on the City's webmap

Want to check if your planned route has been plowed before you leave home? The City of Edmonton now has a map on its website to let you know what has been cleared, what's in progress, and what is scheduled. Once all the routes have been plowed, the map then show swhich routes are on the 24 hour winter priority list and which are on a 72 hour clearing schedule. 

This is a great tool, but it's still quite new and there's a few glitches in it. Try it out and let the City know if you find it useful, and any ways that they can improve it.  You can also find lots of great Edmonton winter cycling information on the City's website here.

Wîhkwêntôwin (Oliver) Neighbourhood Renewal

Plans are underway for neighbourhood renewal in Wîhkwêntôwin (formerly Oliver) and the City of Edmonton is looking for your feedback on how to build a better neighbourhood. Check out what’s in the works, and share how you would like to see Wîhkwêntôwin’s streets transformed to be more bike and people friendly at: 

https://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/on_your_streets/oliver-neighbourhood-renewal

Cycle by Andrew Ritchie

Presented by Thou Art Here Theatre

December 11-22 at Mile Zero Dance

Thou Art Here Theatre is thrilled to present Cycle by Andrew Ritchie—a high-octane, immersive theatre experience set on a stationary bike. This groundbreaking solo performance written, developed, and performed by Andrew Ritchie runs from December 11-22, 2024. Cycle offers a dynamic and energetic experience that explores the gritty realities and exhilarating moments of active transportation and cycling culture in Canada. 

Audience members are invited to engage in the performance physically, seated on stationary bikes as they pedal alongside Ritchie, mirroring his intense ride as he traverses the dangers and highs of urban transportation. Through this interactive format, Cycle shines a light on Ritchie’s real-life experiences as a bike food courier in Toronto, and the financial and physical precariousness of trying to make a living in the gig economy. A deeply personal and politically charged journey, Cycle will get your blood pumping and cultivate a new respect for the two-wheeled travel. 

“If you’ve casually dropped “bike lanes” into dinner conversation lately, you know what it’s like to create a provocation.”  - Liz Nicholls, 12th night

Tickets are on a Pay-What-You-Will scale and available now: at: https://tickets.fringetheatre.ca/event/601:5375/ 

Cycling Cap Fundraiser

Caps should arrive this week

A big thanks to everyone who supported Bike Edmonton by ordering a custom cycling cap!  Thanks also to Bike Edmonton's Fundraising Committee for leading this initiative which raised over $1000 after expenses to help support our work.

We expect the hats to arrive this week and will email everyone who pre-ordered as soon as they're ready for pickup.

Special thanks to special donors

Big bike & parts donations major boon to shop

We receive countless donations throughout the year and are grateful for the generous support we receive from our wonderful community. This year we saw several uncommonly large and very useful donations of bikes and parts. Special thanks to:

Tim Nolt and family

Tim Nolt passed away in late 2023 and his brother contacted us last summer with the offer to donate Tim's very large collection of bikes, parts and tools to Bike Edmonton. His brother and friends believed he would have been pleased to see these useful items passed on to Bike Edmonton. Tim was a fixture in Edmonton's cycling community. He was an expert bicycle mechanic and worked for decades in local bike shops. He was also very involved in cycling advocacy, specifically in support of better bike trails. Many thanks to Tim, his brother Ted, and good friend Raymond.

Sport Central

Sport Central is an excellent local charity that empowers kids by repairing and distributing sports equipment, including bicycles, to families facing financial hardship. They recently donated several thousand dollars of especially useful bike parts to Bike Edmonton.

Thanks to Sport Central and their Director of Operations Josef Sloan for their support and generosity. And if you happen to have any kids' bikes you no longer need, we'd strongly encourage you to donate them to Sport Central to help their valuable work.

Velo West School of Bike Mechanics

Velo West offers in depth bicycle mechanic training from their location at Pedego Electric Bikes in Old Strathcona. They generously offered to have their students work on repairing bikes that had been donated to Bike Edmonton and recently returned several thoroughly tuned up bikes to us. Thanks to Velo West for their very practical support of our work!