Get a bike. Start living like a local.
Maastricht runs on two wheels. Nobody here waits for a bus, they hop on a bike. Here is how to get one fast, cheap, and without getting ripped off.
Three ways, pick your budget.
From zero effort to rock bottom price, there's an option for every kind of student.
Swapfiets
The easy button. A monthly subscription bike, and if it breaks they come fix it or swap it, usually within a day. Student pricing, cancel when you leave the city. Great if you just don't want to think about it.
Second hand
The cheap route. Loads of student bikes go for 40 to 80 euro on Marktplaats and local Facebook groups. Bring someone who knows bikes, test the brakes and gears, and never buy one that comes without a lock key.
Bicimaasi
Our thing. A Maastricht student bike group we're setting up, where students sell, buy and hand down bikes to each other for cheap, plus first dibs when someone leaves town. Tap join and we'll add you the moment it opens.
Fair fixes, no tourist tax.
Bikes break, and some shops see a student and quietly add a zero to the bill. We work with a local mechanic who fixes them at fair prices, the same price he'd charge his neighbour. Got a flat, a dodgy brake or a stuck gear? Send it through us and we'll get it sorted.
Flats and punctures
Sorted same week, no drama.
Brakes, gears, chains
The stuff that makes cobbles scary. Fixed properly.
Prices up front
You hear the cost before we touch it.
Keep it rolling, keep it yours.
- Buy a proper lock, spend 30 euro or more. Bike theft is basically a local sport.
- Front and back lights are legally required. You can be fined riding without them.
- Write down your frame number, so it can be traced if it gets nicked.
- Always lock the frame to something fixed, not just the wheel.
- Check tyres and brakes before winter. Wet cobbles are no joke.
- Leaving Maastricht? Sell it on in Bicimaasi and help the next student out.
Join the Maastricht student bike group.
We're putting together a WhatsApp group for buying, selling and handing down bikes between students. Tap below and we'll add you the moment it goes live.