The HandleBar FAQ

The Important Stuff you’ll want to bring along: 

• Completed e-waivers:  Every single person who rides needs to sign one before they arrive
• Beverages (beer/wine/prepackaged beverages but NO GLASS)
• Ice:  Bring your own, BUT we provide a really nice, YETI cooler on every Pedal Pub® so cold beer may keep itself cold.  How big are they ?  We’ve fit 72 12oz. beers.  You may also bring coolers if you’d like, but consider you may not want to lug a cooler around town with you after the tour.
  – Your own coolers: Anything less than 2ft in width will fit in the middle of our beer bike, but consider the more coolers you bring, the smaller the dance floor gets.  We also have  room for smaller sized coolers (roughly the size of a 6-pack of beer or a small backpack) overhead in the roof rack, but make sure you don’t bring coolers that leak! (they’ll drip on your heads!)
• Music: Make a playlist or just bring a phone(Spotify/Pandora works fine too!) We have bluetooth, an aux cord and a lightning cord for you to hook up with

What you can’t bring

• ABSOLUTELY NO GLASS for any reason – if you bring glass you’ll be walking it back to your car and likely starting the tour late.  Don’t be that guy (or girl), bring plastic or cans.
• No more than 16 passengers per pedal pub, no exceptions (if you have more than 16ppl just reserve more than one Pedal Pub®)
• No Jello Shots

The Extras:

• Snacks if you want (if you do, we recommend items that can be eaten with one hand like pretzels.  An example of something that would be difficult might be a big sheet cake w/ plates, forks, knives, etc haha)
• City law states we cannot stop the tour at a party store to pick up more alcohol once the tour has started so come prepared!  The police do check this so it’s a rule we must enforce.  Once the tour starts whatever drinks you brought needs to last the 2hrs (of course, we can stop at bars anytime along the way as well)

YES! EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.  Our bikes are hand built by the inventors of the concept of the Pedal Pub® over in Amsterdam.  Here in the USA we’ve realized there’s a need for a motor, so we equipped our Original Pedal Pubs® with electric assist.  Our motor system was uniquely designed and built for our party bikes to help you out as much OR as little as you’d like!

Still prefer that pure pedal power we brought to the city back in 2012?  NO problem, just let your driver know! Prefer more help? You got it!

Stephen and I (Brian) are both mechanical engineers and we nerded out a bit over the design before releasing to you guys so that it helps, but doesn’t diminish the experience.  Why does this matter ?  Most people want to pedal, but don’t want a workout.  In every other existing motor design it locks onto the pedals and you can’t pedal faster than it; eventually customers catch on and just give up even trying.  Why exert energy when you’re constantly bottoming out on the motor’s set speed?  It’s a small difference, but something we have spent a lot of time designing and have heard awesome feedback on. (and proud of if you can’t tell, haha)  Like everything we do; we spend a lot of time carefully considering what is best for our customers so please let us know your feedback!

Group Tours departing from Tin Roof: 
A. Starting Location: Right in the middle of it all; 20ft from the entrance to Comerica Park in the beer garden @ Tin Roof.  We won’t waste valuable tour time getting to and from the action because you’re starting and finishing the tour right where you want to be!  We’re within a block from Ford Field, The Fox Theatre, Little Caesar’s Arena & The Fillmore so it’s perfect if you want to walk to or from another event.  If you’re not familiar with Tin Roof, it has 4 floors of entertainment complete with a live music stage, DJ booth, grass covered beer garden and a rooftop patio with one of the best views of Detroit. In addition to legit LIVE entertainment 7-days a week, they feature southern inspired, made from scratch ‘Better Than Bar Food’ you’ll want to grab before and after your tour.
–> BONUS: If you arrive early before your tour they have a drink special for you (ask when you arrive), after the tour you’ll get 15% off your total food bill if you mention “The HandleBar Hookup”.  You’ll also get free cover to enter tin roof if you mention HandleBar so come early or stay late and enjoy LIVE music 7-days a week!
B. Booking: You book the entire bike and bring between 6-16 people (per party bike) and the price is fixed on the bike (regardless of the number of people you bring
C. Route: We typically make 2 bar stops and one group photo op stop.  We’ll go by almost the entire city on this tour (Campus Martius, Greektown, Comerica Park / Ford Field, District Detroit, etc)  The discussion point is where we stop.  We have recommendations that we can talk about when you arrive, but as long as we can find parking we’ll go anywhere.

Individual Seat tours departing from Tin Roof:
They’re back, Baby!  Exact same thing as a group tour departing from Tin Roof, except
A. Seating: You only book the number of seats that you need.  We’ll pair you with other smaller groups.
B. Route: Route is the same as well, but bar/restaurant stops we will have to make sure everyone is alright w/ our suggestions.  Always awesome and fun spots and most people are mostly concerned about the route, which hits every downtown area.

Group Tours departing from Detroit Shipping Company:
A. Starting Location: Tours start at Detroit Shipping Company (3 Blocks north of Little Caesar’s Arena) It’s a restaurant collective and beer garden featuring five unique food-truck style eateries, two full service bars, a coffee and ice cream shop, a small outdoor stage, galleries for local artists and retailers, and two private lounges. All constructed from refashioned shipping containers.  Whether you’re hanging in their common space or hit them up to reserve a VIP area, groups love starting at Detroit Shipping Company because of the unique spot to gather before or after the tour has completed.  The food is LEGIT, but the space & vibe are hard to match as well!
B. Booking: You book the entire bike and bring between 6-16 people (per party bike) and the price is fixed on the bike (regardless of the number of people you bring
C. Route: it’s 100% your choice.  There are essentially 2 options
Option 1: We can do a traditional downtown tour hitting all the hot spots.  The 5 main areas of downtown with bar options are listed below

A. Campus Martius Area (Checker Bar, The Fountain Beach Bar, Grand Trunk Pub, Anchor Bar etc),
B. The Belt Alley (The Skip, Queens Bar, The Brakeman)
C. Greektown (The Detroiter, Firebird, Old Shillelagh, The Well, The Baltimore, DelMar Detroit & Others)
D. Just north of LCA: Detroit Shipping Company, 2nd Best Detroit. Founders, Bakersfield, etc. 
E. Entertainment District: (Brass Rail, Rusted Crow, Town Pump, Sports & Social, Mike’s, Harry’s, etc)

OR 

Option 2: We can head north and checkout Midtown (Hopcat, Jolly Pumpkin, Honest Johns, Smith & Co, 3rd Street, Founders Brewery, 2nd Best,  Shinola, etc)  

To see available dates and book your tour, visit our Booking page.

We operate from Mid-March through December, however, if you have a date/time outside of this window just email us at gm@handlebardetroit.com and we can help!  We do tours year round upon request 🙂

For Group tours the minimum is 6 and the maximum is 16.  For individual seat tours you book as few or as many seats as you need.

If you have a party larger than what will fit on 1 Pedal Pub®, you may rent multiple bikes. The price per bike remains fixed regardless of party size for our group tours.

Seating on the pedal pubs:  Each bike has 12 barstool seats, 3 seats on the back and then one person in the middle (bartender standing or often times the middle turns into a dance floor). 10 of the seats have pedals. The guests typically swap seats at each bar stop so everyone gets a turn to pedal and/or not pedal.  For individual tours typically guests rotate amongst themselves at stops, but just speak up if you want us to help facilitate a swap!

Pricing depends on the day / date / time of day – The best way to see what’s open is to go to our online calendar

Group tours START at $274.99 and Individual seats START at $24.99

Have you ever been to a (fun) party without music? C’mon now!  Just bring your phone and we’ll hook it up to our stereo.  We have lightning / headphone / aux connections on the bike ready to go or you can try bluetooth as well.

Pro Tip: Create a playlist for your day, or queue up Spotify and plug into our stereo.  Don’t be the rookie that plays low quality (and low sound) youtube videos and has all sorts of awkward pauses!

Tours Departing from Tin Roof:  Start/End at 2021 Witherell in the beer garden at one of the coolest venues in Detroit, Tin Roof  Here’s a map.  Don’t waste valuable tour time getting to/from all the action; start right in the middle of it!

As far as what you’ll see on this tour (the route); Basically everything downtown!  A typical tour will see Campus Martius, Greektown, Spirit of Detroit, Grand Circus Park, Ford Field, Comerica Park, Little Caesar’s Arena and without a doubt some of the best views of the city; everywhere you want to go!  As for where we stop; somewhere great for a group picture and then a couple bars.  Timing depends how fast you guys pedal and want to stay in the bars, but we’ll keep you on track to hit at least 2.  We have excellent relationships with most of them (not paid contracts) so you can pick them or we’ll show you our favorites!  Below are a list of 5 main areas of Detroit that you will see and a few of the bar options at each area!  If you don’t see what you like just let us know where you’d like to go!

1. Campus Martius Area (Checker Bar, The Fountain Beach Bar, Grand Trunk Pub, Anchor Bar etc),
2. The Belt Alley (The Skip, Queens Bar, The Brakeman, Punch Bowl Social)
3. Greektown (The Detroiter, Firebird, Old Shillelagh, The Well, The Baltimore, & Others)
4. Just north of LCA: Detroit Shipping Company, 2nd Best Detroit. Bakersfield, etc. 
5. Entertainment District: (Brass Rail, Sports & Social, Mike’s, Harry’s, etc)

If you’d like to checkout Corktown or Eastern Market instead of downtown we can do that too, just let us know!

Corktown: PJ’s Lagerhouse, McShanes, Nemos, etc.

Eastern Market: Eastern Market Brewery, Thomas Magee’s, Vivios, Detroit City Distillery, Cutter’s, BB Butchers

Something we’re proud of: We’re the only tour company in Detroit that refuses to take money from bars to be “partnered” with them so we’re not obligated to take you anywhere you don’t want to go.   It also means some of them offer us better discounts because we’re not charging them to stop, which we completely pass on to you guys.  It’s very important to us that we remain good partners with our small business partners.

Most importantly: Don’t get stressed out about all the options – the vast majority of people just show up and let us take you around!

Group Tours departing from Detroit Shipping Company:
A. Starting Location: Tours start at Detroit Shipping Company (3 Blocks north of Little Caesar’s Arena) It’s a restaurant collective and beer garden featuring five unique food-truck style eateries, two full service bars, a coffee and ice cream shop, a small outdoor stage, galleries for local artists and retailers, and two private lounges. All constructed from refashioned shipping containers.  Whether you’re hanging in their common space or hit them up to reserve a VIP area, groups love starting at Detroit Shipping Company because of the unique spot to gather before or after the tour has completed.  The food is LEGIT, but the space & vibe are hard to match as well!

B. Route: As far as what you’ll see on this tour (the route); it’s 100% your choice.  There are essentially 2 options
Option 1: We can do a traditional downtown tour hitting all the hot spots.  The 5 main areas of downtown with bar options are listed below

A. Campus Martius Area (Checker Bar, The Fountain Beach Bar, Grand Trunk Pub, Anchor Bar etc),
B. The Belt Alley (The Skip, Queens Bar, The Brakeman)
C. Greektown (The Detroiter, Firebird, Old Shillelagh, The Well, The Baltimore, & Others)
D. Just north of LCA: Detroit Shipping Company, 2nd Best Detroit. Bakersfield, etc. 
E. Entertainment District: (Brass Rail, Points Bet Sports Bar, Mike’s, Harry’s, etc)

OR 

Option 2: We can head north and checkout Midtown (Barcade, Hopcat, Jolly Pumpkin, Honest Johns, 2nd Best,  Shinola, etc)  

The time on the bike is yours so if you have a custom request, just let your driver know when you arrive where you’d like to go and we’ll show you what you prefer!  

Cool your jets pal. Here she is: WAIVER

If you do a tour with us you’re getting the best starting locations of anywhere in the city, especially for large groups!

Tours starting from Tin Roof: Located right in the heart of the entertainment district the options really are endless.

Food & drinks on site @ Tin Roof:
BONUS: If you arrive early before your tour they have a drink special for you (ask when you arrive).  With traffic, parking and herding a large group we highly recommend showing up early and having a drink (vs. stressing out about that one person that is always late).  After the tour you’ll get 15% off your total food bill if you mention “The HandleBar Hookup”.  You’ll also get free cover to enter tin roof if you mention HandleBar so come early or stay late and enjoy LIVE music 7-days a week!
Group Reservations at Tin Roof
–> Any large groups of 20+ can make an inquiry to brittanyhelms@tinroofbars.com (in house sales manager) Tin Roof is a 4-story bar/restaurant with a massive outdoor beer garden so there is lots of space for first come / first serve seating as well!

We start tours in The Tin Roof beer garden, a grassy patio 20ft from the entrance to Comerica Park so it’s by far the most convenient option.  There is a food truck on the patio and a full menu inside.  In addition to legit LIVE entertainment 7-days a week, they feature southern inspired, made from scratch ‘Better Than Bar Food’ you’ll want to grab before and after your tour; Menu here

Other options within 2 blocks of us: Buddy’s Pizza, Frita Batidos, Detroit Beer Company, The Elwood Bar & Grill, Brass Rail Pizza, Cliff Bells,  Subway, etc. General Options within walking distance (3-4 blocks): The Brakeman, San Morello, Downtown Louie’s Lounge, Wright & Co., Mootz

Tours starting from Detroit Shipping Company: You’d be crazy not to at least consider staying right on site at Detroit Shipping Co.

Detroit Shipping Company is a restaurant collective and beer garden featuring five unique food-truck style eateries, two full service bars, a coffee and ice cream shop, a small outdoor stage, galleries for local artists and retailers, and two private lounges. All constructed from refashioned shipping containers.

We’ve never met anyone that wasn’t impressed with the restaurants at Shipping Co.  They all have something unique from tacos and nachos to Thai food (you gotta try the Pad Thai Roll!) to chicken, burgers and homestyle Nepalese dumplings.  You can find the deets here, but if you’ve got a lot of different menu restrictions/tastes and don’t want to break the bank (that’s right, it’s not expensive, but it definitely tastes and looks like it is!)  there is no better place to try something new. Ohh and the dishes make for some excellent Instagram material, if you’re into that sorta thing!

Other options within walking distance:
The Peterboro, Bakersfield, 2nd Best Detroit, Grey Ghost, etc

OF COURSE!  What – are we going to start 20ft from Comerica Park and NOT get you guys great discounted group rates on tickets to the game ?   Not so fast though, you have to be an actual customer!  Book a tour and you’ll receive a link to reserve discounted tickets so you and your group can catch a game before or after your tour!

Think you’ve got what it takes ?  Want to be surrounded by fun people and work with an awesome team ?  The details on the job & how to apply to work with us are here http://www.HandleBarDetroit.com/sidehustle

Prices fluctuate based on the day and time of day – it’s all online BOOKINGS PAGE

The full amount of the tour is due when you book the tour online.  We do not hold tours, but the good news is if you book a tour and need to move the date you’ve got up until 7days before to let us know.   The calendar is LIVE and we sellout every year so don’t wait too long to lock in your day….

Cancellations more than 7 days out you can reschedule for no cost (just shoot us an e-mail to gm@handlebardetroit.com) or you can get a refund to your credit card minus $50 to cover booking fees. Cancellations less than 7 days out – No refund or rain check (you are responsible for the full price of the tour).

Please let us know if you need to cancel inside 7days, as we will do our best to fill your tour (sometimes we have a waitlist).  If we can fill your spot, we would offer a reschedule option.

Yep, you can purchase gift certificates for any dollar amount. They’re great for birthdays, work outings or even to donate to charity auctions to generate funds.

Get Gift Certificate

All riders must be 18 years or older and must be 21 or older to consume alcohol.

All riders must sign the e-waiver before we depart (It’s YOUR responsibility to make sure everyone has completed it before they arrive!)  Each rider must show their confirmation email received after completion as well as ID to ride.

The details are here.

If HandleBar judges the weather is subjectively bad enough (thunderstorms, freezing rain, etc), we will notify you at least 2 hours before the tour start time to offer a rain check. You may decide to still go as long as the weather is safe enough to ride. Never assume your ride is canceled.

We ride rain or shine. There is a large roof that overhangs in all directions to protect you from direct rain and we go into bars to dry off. No one likes to get wet when they’re dry, but once you’re wet we can tell you from experience that tours in the rain will often have more fun than not because of how much more ridiculous it makes the experience. Life is what you make of it and a HandleBar tour is no different 🙂 . Don’t believe us? Just check the reviews!

Please dress appropriately for predicted weather conditions.

10 people have pedals on their seats, 6 people don’t.  Swap seats after the stops if you’d like, totally up to you guys!

You bring 16 people including yourself and we provide a driver (17th person). As far as the pedaling goes, there are 10 sets of pedals. If you look closely you’ll see there are 12 “BarStools” total (6 on each side) but only 10 total pedaling seats (5 on each side). Each side also has a seat over the wheels, which means they don’t have pedals. Each cycle bar also has a bench in the back that seats 3 people who want a rest or just want to relax. The last passenger spot is in the middle of The Handlebar and is reserved for the group “bartender.”

Passengers shorter than 5’3”  may have a hard time reaching pedals although every pedal pub has 3 adjustable seats.  

There is a maximum weight of 300 pounds for people on the bike seats.

The bench at the back of the cycle bar is perfect for those who don’t fit the height and weight limitations. 

We STRONGLY recommend finding an Uber/Lyft or using public transportation.  If you must drive here are several; some that are FREE: Check em out here.

SHOW UP WAY EARLY:  The most important thing regarding parking is that you make sure everyone in your group knows where to park and plans on being at least 25mins early – we actually recommend 1 hour.  Detroit has the 2nd largest entertainment district in the USA and while that’s fun, parking can take time.

PLUS – We even worked out a deal with Tin Roof to offer exclusive drink specials only available PRE-TOUR.  Show up early, enjoy their live music 7-days a week and don’t stress about hitting traffic or construction.

We can start early potentially, but we cannot finish the tour late.  Don’t let one person not planning ahead to find parking be the reason your tour is cut short.

We recommend leaving the Sandals at home!  Really, anything can be worn and you’ll be okay, but remember you’re pedaling a bike so consider that when picking out your wardrobe.

No problem! We have tours where people just want to ride and enjoy the unique experience. The HandleBar is always a blast and we welcome everyone.

Yes! The dimensions of the parts you can decorate can be found below. Decorations can be hung anywhere on the bike with the exception of covering our HandleBar website address. We recommend zip ties, rope, or string for attachment methods. We do not allow tape as duct tape removes the varnish from the wood and scotch tape is not strong enough to hold.

Yes! Riders are allowed to drink beer, wine and any other type of pre-packaged drink.   What is a pre-packaged drink ?  Think White Claw / Truly hard seltzer, mike’s hard lemonade, canned cocktails, etc. (so many options!).

Glass is NOT ALLOWED on the tour.  If you are bringing wine we recommend plastic water bottles.  If you try to sneak glass we’ll find it and make you walk it back to your car – don’t be that guy (or girl)

KEEP IN MIND: City law states we cannot stop the Rolling Pub / Bike Bar / Party Bike / Pedal Pub / Bar Bike at a party store to pick up more alcohol once the tour has started so come prepared! (of course, we can stop at bars for you to anytime)

It’s actually illegal for us to provide alcohol, but the good news is you can Bring Your Own Bar®️ and we provide a YETI cooler on every tour.

ABSOLUTELY NO GLASS – Plastic and cans are fine!  If you try to sneak a glass bottle we’ll make you walk it back to your car and that could delay the tour – please don’t make us be party poopers.

Alcoholic beverages are limited to beer and wine while on the beer bike. Mixed drinks and hard liquor are not allowed on The Handlebar. However, pre-packaged drinks like White Claw Hard Seltzer, Canned Cocktails or anything pre-packaged and under 9% ABV are allowed. We have tons of space on the roof rack for beverages and coolers. In the middle of the bar cycle / bike bar, we have more space for large coolers 2 feet in width or less.

lol you’re crazy.  Nope, and you don’t want to bring one on a bicycle pub. We’ve done it before and kegs get super foamy during the ride, they are harder to keep cold and it gets very messy trying to fill 16 cups throughout the tour. That and everyone is so picky these days; who can agree to all drink the same thing?!

Cans are the way to go when you’re on a Rolling Pub / Bike Bar / Party Bike / Pedal Pub / Bar Bike

Route vs. Stops: It’s a common mistake to confuse the route with the places that you stop on your Rolling Pub.  Our tours departing from Tin Roof hit every hotspot on every tour (Campus Martius, Greektown, District Detroit, Grand Circus Park, Comerica, etc) and Tours departing from Detroit Shipping Company see the entire area as well with the added bonus to see Midtown if you’d like.  More detail is below; but almost everyone comes on the tour and trusts us to show you the city 🙂  Stephen and I (Brian) have been doing this for 9yrs now and it’s more about the route and spending time on the rolling pub than focusing too much on where you stop. 

Tours Departing from Tin Roof:  Start/End at 2021 Witherell in the beer garden at one of the coolest venues in Detroit, Tin Roof  Here’s a map.  Don’t waste valuable tour time getting to/from all the action; start right in the middle of it!

As far as what you’ll see on this tour (the route); Basically everything downtown!  A typical tour will see Campus Martius, Greektown, Spirit of Detroit, Grand Circus Park, Ford Field, Comerica Park, Little Caesar’s Arena and without a doubt some of the best views of the city; everywhere you want to go!  As for where we stop; somewhere great for a group picture and then a couple bars.  Timing depends how fast you guys pedal and want to stay in the bars, but we’ll keep you on track to hit at least 2.  We have excellent relationships with most of them (not paid contracts) so you can pick them or we’ll show you our favorites!  Below are a list of 5 main areas of Detroit that you will see and a few of the bar options at each area!  If you don’t see what you like just let us know where you’d like to go!

1. Campus Martius Area (Checker Bar, The Fountain Beach Bar, Grand Trunk Pub, Anchor Bar etc),
2. The Belt Alley (The Skip, Queens Bar, The Brakeman, Punch Bowl Social)
3. Greektown (The Detroiter, Firebird, Old Shillelagh, The Well, The Baltimore, DelMar Detroit & Others)
4. Just north of LCA: Detroit Shipping Company, 2nd Best Detroit. Founders, Bakersfield, etc. 
5. Entertainment District: (Brass Rail, Rusted Crow, Town Pump, Sports & Social, Mike’s, Harry’s, etc)

If you’d like to checkout Corktown or Eastern Market instead of downtown we can do that too, just let us know!

Corktown: PJ’s Lagerhouse, McShanes, Nemos, etc.

Eastern Market: Eastern Market Brewery, Thomas Magee’s, Vivios, Detroit City Distillery, Cutter’s, BB Butchers

Something we’re proud of: We refuse to take money from bars to be “partnered” with us so we’re not obligated to take you anywhere you don’t want to go.   It also means some of them offer us better discounts because we’re not charging them to stop, which we completely pass on to you guys.

Most importantly: Don’t get stressed out about all the options – the vast majority of people just show up and let us take you around!

Group Tours departing from Detroit Shipping Company:
A. Starting Location: Tours start at Detroit Shipping Company (3 Blocks north of Little Caesar’s Arena) It’s a restaurant collective and beer garden featuring five unique food-truck style eateries, two full service bars, a coffee and ice cream shop, a small outdoor stage, galleries for local artists and retailers, and two private lounges. All constructed from refashioned shipping containers.  Whether you’re hanging in their common space or hit them up to reserve a VIP area, groups love starting at Detroit Shipping Company because of the unique spot to gather before or after the tour has completed.  The food is LEGIT, but the space & vibe are hard to match as well!

B. Route: As far as what you’ll see on this tour (the route); it’s 100% your choice.  There are essentially 2 options
Option 1: We can do a traditional downtown tour hitting all the hot spots.  The 5 main areas of downtown with bar options are listed below

A. Campus Martius Area (Checker Bar, The Fountain Beach Bar, Grand Trunk Pub, Anchor Bar etc),
B. The Belt Alley (The Skip, Queens Bar, The Brakeman, Punch Bowl Social)
C. Greektown (The Detroiter, Firebird, Old Shillelagh, The Well, The Baltimore, DelMar Detroit & Others)
D. Just north of LCA: Detroit Shipping Company, 2nd Best Detroit. Founders, Bakersfield, etc. 
E. Entertainment District: (Brass Rail, Rusted Crow, Town Pump, Sports & Social, Mike’s, Harry’s, etc)

OR 

Option 2: We can head north and checkout Midtown (Hopcat, Jolly Pumpkin, Honest Johns, Smith & Co, 3rd Street, Founders Brewery, 2nd Best,  Shinola, etc)  

The time on the bike is yours so if you have a custom request, just let your driver know when you arrive where you’d like to go and we’ll show you what you prefer!  

Each tour comes with your very own Bar Handler. He or She will steer the rolling pub for you, get pictures along the way, keep you fueled and guide you through some of the coolest areas of town. We could not be more proud of the crew of young hard working Bar Handlers that have joined our team over the years.

The Bar Handler is also in charge of the Rolling Pub / Bike Bar / Party Bike / Pedal Pub / Bar Bike, so what they say goes.

Have you ever been to a (fun) party without music? C’mon now!  Just bring your phone or mp3 player and we’ll connect it to the stereo on our bike bar.  We have lightning / headphone / aux cables or you can use bluetooth on every rolling pub.  If your phone requires a USB-C or some other connection just bring it w/ you!

Pro Tip: Create a playlist for your day, or queue up Spotify and plug into our stereo (we’ve got you covered with the hook-ups required and the speakers/stereo).

You will be charged a late fee if you do not return the Rolling Pub / Bike Bar / Party Bike / Pedal Pub / Bar Bike to the starting point on time. The time it takes to complete a tour is up to the people pedaling the bicycle bar. The Bar Handler (driver) will assist in keeping you on time. We have test-pedaled all routes and know how long they take. We have never had this be an issue!

No, it wasn’t legal according to the city of Detroit until the 2017 season. History: Senate Bill 165 was passed in July of 2015 and allows alcohol to be consumed while on a Rolling Pub / Bike Bar / Party Bike / Pedal Pub / Bar Bike in the state of Michigan. The city of Detroit’s interpretation for the 2015 and 2016 seasons was that an existing city ordinance, Disorderly Conduct Code § 38-5-1, did not allow alcohol on bike bars – even with the new state law that explicitly allowed it.  As you can imagine, we had our discussions with the city on this interpretation at the time, but all of that is history, as we know, because Detroit city council passed an ordinance in late 2016 to specifically allow alcohol on bicycle bars.

Yep, we sure are.  Just about every media outlet did a story on us when we first opened.  (One that aired in 2015 is here)  Not only that, but we had many negotiations with the Mayor’s office and city council to negotiate allowing us to operate.  Paving the way wasn’t necessarily easy for a concept like this, but we’re proud to have done it the right way and to have been welcomed by the city.

Seem weird for people to ask ?  For a couple years now, our competition that came in after us has been running ads on social media and google adwords that they are “Detroit’s first pedal pub” and “Detroit’s Original Bike Bar”.  We’ve contacted them and they refuse to remove the wording even though it’s very obviously not true.  Our friends, family and staff will send us screen dumps of the ads, but Stephen and I aren’t too worried about it because we think it says more about them… than us.

We operate the world’s first Original Pedal Pub® that was invented, designed and manufactured in Amsterdam over 20yrs ago by Henk and Zwier Van Laar so we are the The Original in every sense of the word.