MacBike: The place for bike rental, repair & sales for over 30 years
In 1988, MacBike was founded by Jos Louwman and Arnold Gruppen. Amsterdam was already the number one cycling city, however, no one gave visitors the opportunity to discover Amsterdam by bike. Soon, Louwman and Gruppen opened their first branch in the old bicycle factory, Burco. They also wanted to fulfil a function for the locals. So, apart from rental they also offered the service to repair bikes.
After opening their first store, bike rental was an immediate hit. Partly because the visitors appreciated it; just like the inhabitants of Amsterdam, they were able to move quickly, cheaply, and in a clean way through the city and the surrounding countryside.
Two years later, MacBike opened its second branch near Leidseplein and began to issue cycle routes to make the bike ride even more satisfying. Nowadays, MacBike issues over ten bicycle routes, including a countryside route, an art route, and a route through Jewish Amsterdam.
In 1993, MacBike issued the first edition of “Guide for Safe Cycling” which gave the visitors helpful tips about cycling in a busy city like Amsterdam. Today, the municipality of Amsterdam has acknowledged the importance of informing visitors about traffic laws and used our content to publish such a brochure.
Amsterdam has positioned itself as the bike capital of the world partly due to the stringent car parking policy. Because of that, MacBike grown into a company with nearly a hundred employees, seven branches and 150,000 visitors a year who discover Amsterdam by bike.
Bicycle rentals for 30 years
For three decades, we have rented out our bikes to the guests of Amsterdam with great pleasure, inspiration, and attention to safety: from families to entire school classes and from day trippers to congress attendees. With five locations in the city centre, we are always close by.
Daily, for 30 years now, we have been giving visitors to our city well-maintained and safety checked bikes. Every person who rents from us receives an explanation of the parking rules and the safe locking of the bicycle. We have also developed a manual for safe cycling as the first bike rental company in the city.
In order to draw attention to lesser-known places and routes in our city, we have developed many MacBike cycling routes. So visitors are attended to the richness of our city outside of the better-known highlights.
30 years of MacBike!
MacBike: an iconic company in Amsterdam for 30 years.
You cannot miss it when you are in the city. It stands out: the distinctive logo, the somewhat unusual name for a prime Amsterdam company and, of course, the red, sturdy city bikes.
So many citizens of Amsterdam have brought their bikes to one of our bicycle repair shops to get their bikes fixed. And many more visitors to Amsterdam have explored our city on a MacBike rental bike.
We are proud of this milestone of 30 years!
Throughout the years
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MacBike was founded in 1988 by Jos Louwman and Arnold Gruppen. Amsterdam was already the number one cycling city at the time, however, no one gave visitors the opportunity to discover Amsterdam by bike. Soon, Louwman and Gruppen opened their first branch in the old bicycle factory Burco. They also wanted to fulfil a function to the locals. So, apart from rental they also offered the service to repair bikes.
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Soon after the opening of the first shop, bicycle rental immediately took off. Partly because visitors appreciated they were able to move quickly, environmentally friendly, and at low cost through the city and the surrounding countryside, just like the locals do.
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Two years later, MacBike opened its second branch near Leidseplein (Museum District) and began to issue cycle routes to make cycling even more pleasant. Nowadays, MacBike issues over ten bicycle routes, including a countryside route, an art route, and a route through Jewish Amsterdam.
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In 1993, MacBike was the first to publish the ‘Guide for Safe Cycling’, which provides visitors with useful tips on how to cycle in a busy city like Amsterdam. In the meantime, the Municipality of Amsterdam has also recognised the importance of informing visitors and has adopted our content and produced a similar brochure.
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Amsterdam has positioned itself as the world’s cycling capital, partly because of its stringent car parking policy. As a result, MacBike has grown into a company with almost forty employees, seven branches, and 150,000 visitors a year who discover Amsterdam by bike.