TPM-BIKE Communities project

From April 13th to 14th, 2026, we at Verein BIKE hosted the first Transnational Project Meeting (TPM) of the BIKE Communities project in Graz. This partnership brings us together with Afrilanthropy (Luxembourg) and Velorecicla (Spain) to redefine youth engagement through cycling.

The project aims to explore ways to encourage more young people to cycle by leveraging community support. Furthermore, it seeks to use biking as a means to promote integration, enhance mobility, and improve both mental and physical health.

To stay true to the project’s core, we ditched the meeting rooms and moved around Graz entirely by bike. This allowed us to test the city's "Rad Offensive" infrastructure firsthand while visiting the local organizations that are key to our mission.

We designed this meeting to be as practical and complete as possible. Our first day began at the LOGO Jugendmanagement office, where we presented our organizations to one another and established the project's strategic goals. After lunch, we cycled to our office. We spent the afternoon reviewing the impressive mobile app presented by Afrilanthropy. Velorecicla presented their local activities as well as the concept for the handbook. We shared our previous experience gained in the BIKEable! project.

Following the office work, the journey continued at the Fahrradküche,
a local self-repair hub that perfectly illustrates the community-led support we want to promote. We then returned to our office to polish the next steps for the project management. We closed the first day with a lovely and delicious dinner at Gösser Bräu.

The second day took us to the AFIT Centre (Jugend am Werk). After
a presentation of the centre's goals and an exchange regarding our own objectives, we held a workshop where students, led by Pablo from Velorecicla, demonstrated a specific mechanical test used to evaluate donated bicycles. This demonstration was particularly interesting for quickly identifying if a bike is in a good condition to be put back on the road.

The TPM meeting in Graz was just the start, and we are now fully geared up for the next stages of this journey! 🚲 🚲 🚲