Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?

F

fozzest

Medlem
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
Hej, ursäkta jag pratar inte bra svenska.

I am moving to Stockholm, and will not be bringing my bikes. I wanted to know from locals, if trail systems around Stockholm is better for Gravel, or MTB? Will mostly be doing off-road exploration, wanted to know if there is enough trails requiring a MTB, or if I am better just getting a hybrid as first bike in Stockholm

Would love to hear your thoughts, and excited to be coming to Sweden and spending time on this forum! Tack!
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
Welcome to Stockholm!

First, to get more relevant answers, you may want to specify roughly in which part of Stockholm you will be living. Since Stockholm is divided by water in the east-west direction, moving from one side to the other involves travelling through central parts of the city. This means that people living to the south of Stockholm typically do most of there cycling on the southern side of the city and those living to the north stay on the northern side.

While it is possible to cycle through the city to get from the northern to the southern side, or vice versa, it is something one does more out of necessity than because it is enjoyable. If you do want to move from one side to the other, an alternative to cycle through the city is to take the commuter rail where you're allowed to bring your bike outside of rush hour traffic.

Also, there are other parts of the Stockholm area that are somewhat separated from the rest, like Ekerö and Värmdö. If you live in those areas, you will probably end up doing most of your regular cycling within those areas.

On the positive side, regardless of what type of bike you have, I'd say that you can find some good cycling in the Stockholm area. One thing that facilitates cycling in the countryside and in the forrests is a thing called Allemansrätten It allows you access to most of the Swedish nature. Just remember that while it is a right, it does not mean that you can walk or cycle anywhere. There are places where it is explicitly forbidden to cycle, like most of Tyresta national park. Also, you cannot cycle in cultivated land, in some jogging tracks, in someone's backyard, etc. However, use common sense and be respectful to others and you'll be fine.

What you will not find in Stockholm are long down- or uphills. While not flat, there are no large hills in the area. The highest point is not much more than 100 m.a.s.l.
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
To add to that: Around Stockholm you do have extensive trail networks for several thousand kilometers both on the north and south side. Some are more used and better maintained then others, but regardless of where you stay you will find both off-road trails and gravel to keep you occupied.
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
I think a MTB would be best for off road exploration. Gravel routes in and just outside of Stockholm is mostly like tracks prepared for walking/joggers and it causes a lot of headache to constantly having to tell people that we actually share the paths...

You get true gravel outside of Stockholm, but you would have to travel a bit to get there. Once there you might as well have a MTB (depending on your pace I guess).

Then again, if you're bringing a "nice" MTB I wouldn't recommend you to use it around town or leaving it locked...
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
You can do either, the answer will likely depend on what the answerer prefers.

For instance you can go on gravel roads (and some bikepaths) from Solna out on Järvafältet and basically keep going to Uppsala if you want to, almost no cars.

Or you can go mtb in Nacka (for instance), those paths you'd likely be better off with a mtb.

Something to keep in mind if you like exploring is that you can bring your bike on the commuter train, there are time snd station restrictions, but basically on weekends you can skip the whole boring slog through high traffic areas and go all the way to Märsta, Uppsala, Nynäshamn, Södertälje, Gnesta, Bålsta.
This makes it easy to either get out and say explore the countryside in Västmanland, or to go say, Stockholm Uppsala and take the train back if you want.
Some of the non-SJ trains (such as Mälartåg and Upptåget) also have limited allowance for bikes, which means you can more ot less go exploring northern Uppland, and take the train(s) back.
I typically use this to get access to low traffic country roads (roadmap.se) for roadbiking, but if you prefer gravel roads there are lots of those as well.
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
I live south of the real down town Stockholm but inside the underground system (Farsta). I have gravel almost around the courner. Yesterday I did an 80 km tour with ca 70 km of gravel. It was a mix of private gravel roads and paths. No problem with people and at one place a sign "NO hourses but cyclists are welcome".
I'm planering for a new tour today but have not desided yet between a 150 km with start and finish in Farsta or an 80 km with start from a commuting station.
I think that there are less angry people on gravel tracks than on MTB paths.
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
for cycling in stockholm area for enjoyment i would recommend mtb for more central (i mean it) locations and road bike more for rides to the countryside. there are excellent cycle paths to reach both.

center to periphery is not more than 15-20 km like for most metropolitan areas, but within that is an actual abundance of good mtb areas, with a preference of somewhat gnarly single track.

gravel in sweden had not really caught on, but as kjell just pointed out there is certainly potential. i guess one factor is that gravel roads here tend to be dead ends. so a spidery small road network more than a mesh. nevertheless a good gravel bike gives a freedom to explore more freely, and if well chosen avoiding 1x can be excellent also on tarmac.

neither an mtb, gravel bike or road bike can be safely parked in the streets, so for that you will need a beater, avoiding also 28" ladies bikes, which likewise are popular on the black market. any 26er is good, or you might opt for a brompton.
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
If you live in the suburbs to the south/southeast of Stockholm you have Hellas just around the corner, where you have lots of MTB-trails. I have about 5 minutes from my apartement until the first trail in the forest.
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
thank you all for the fantastic replies. For context, I will likely be living in South Central of city, and rented a MTB to test out the trails of Hellasgarden a few weeks back. Definitely loved the trail system there, but those single tracks are gnarly!

Given the train restrictions limiting travel to outside the city, im leaning towards MTB to take full advantage of Hellasgarden and the Southwest, but I worry about missing the utility of my gravel bike and can just picture myself getting stuffed in a headwind wishing i was on something faster.

What is the gravel or XCO amateur racing scene like in Stockholm?

In all honesty, as us bike addicts will know, there will probably be multiple bikes back in my stable in a years' time. Just need to convince the girlfriend...
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
There is no real racing scene in Stockholm. The closest the XCO cup comes this year is Sigtuna. For gravel there are some "events" in Sweden, but I only know of one (1) race, and that is not in Stockholm.

There used to be, and will hopefully be, an unofficial cyclocross cup called "kompiscrossen" during the autumn and winter.
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
If you go with a 130mm MTB you can ride both trail and gravel and when you get tired of riding gravel with that one you buy a dedicated gravelbike. Problem solved.
 
Moving to Stockholm - Gravel or MTB?
If you have a reasonable place to keep you bike during work you can opt for a used CX or simple gravel bike for commutes and gravel riding.
I'm often parking my bike outside during daytime and ride bus/subway or Voi in the nights.
 

Senaste inläggen

Köp & Sälj

Ny annons

Artiklar

Tillbaka
Topp