A workshop that happens to sell bikes
Cadence Cycles builds road, gravel and city bikes by hand in Amsterdam - and rides them with you every Saturday.
Joris Aalbers spent ten years as a team mechanic on the Belgian cyclocross circuit; Mei Lindqvist raced on the road for Sweden and then trained as a bike fitter. In 2014 they rented two bays of a disused tram depot by the Westerpark, set up a wheel-building bench and started a Saturday ride so local riders had a reason to stop by.
The bikes followed. Every Cadence frame is designed around a size chart we built from the fit sessions of more than three thousand riders, which is why our XS genuinely fits a rider of 152 cm and our XL a rider of 196 cm. Each bike is built to order on a workstand by one mechanic, start to finish, and ridden 10 km before it is delivered.
We still think the best thing a bike shop can do is get people riding together. The Saturday club runs 52 weeks a year in three groups, from a no-drop social loop to a full-gas chaingang, and it is free for anyone - on any bike, from anywhere.
- Bikes built by hand
- 6,400+Bikes built by hand
- Mechanics on the floor
- 11Mechanics on the floor
- Club rides a year
- 52Club rides a year
A short history
2014
Two workstands, one ride
Joris and Mei open in a disused tram depot and lead the first Saturday ride: nine riders, 60 km, one puncture.
2017
The first Cadence frame
The Polder AL endurance frame launches, sized from 1,200 fit sessions on the shop’s own fit bike.
2021
Gravel, then the city
The Allroad gravel bike and the Grachten city bike join the range; the workshop grows to eleven mechanics.
2026
Aero R1 Carbon
Our first carbon race frame, tested over a full season by the Saturday chaingang before a single one was sold.
What we hold to
Free build
Every bike is assembled, torqued and test-ridden by a qualified mechanic before delivery.
Free first service
At 500 km we re-index the gears, true the wheels and check every bolt - on us.
Delivered ride-ready
Our own van across the Netherlands and Belgium, pedals on and tyres pumped.
What customers say
“They measured me on the fit bike, swapped the stem for a 90 mm before it left the stand, and the R1 has felt like an extension of me ever since. 4,200 km and not a single creak.”
“I came for the gravel bike and stayed for the club. The social group waits at every junction and the coffee after is half the reason I get up at seven.”
“My Grachten has done four Dutch winters on the daily commute. The first-service check caught a worn chain early - that is the kind of shop you keep.”
Routes, results and workshop notes
One email on Sunday evening: next week’s club routes as GPX files, a mechanic’s tip you can do at home, and first look at new frames. Unsubscribe any time.