See More, Less Effort, More Fun

Taking part in one of our tours could be the most fun and insightful time you have in Capital City. Why join us? It’s simple: See more, less effort, more fun. That’s our motto, and that’s why we’re so passionate about our bike tours being the best way to see Washington.

SEE MORE

More sights. Less time. We stop at the sights, not just passing them by. Our tours leisurely cover about 6 miles (9.5 km) in 3 hours and include a rest/snack stop. It takes less time to bike between the sights than walk, so save your feet and hop on a cycle. This is not the Tour de France. If you’ve ridden a bike before, you’ll be in great shape.

If we list it, you’ll see it. We never miss the chance for a photo opportunity. You’ll enjoy entertaining and insightful stories, and anecdotes of Washington, DC at every stop (no dull and monotonous lectures). Guests often ride in the front to continue the conversation with the guide while safely moving through National Mall and the heart of DC.

LESS EFFORT

We often joke, “If you break a sweat, then we are doing something wrong”. Take the DC manager, John Voci. At 6' 5'' and *cough cough* pounds, it looked like he hadn't touch a bike in years (he hadn't). Next thing you know he's jumping on a bike and leading tourists around DC without breaking a sweat. We take comfortable roads around the mall and avoid the big hills to keep our tour less of a chore.

Washington, DC is the quickly rising up the list of most visited cities in the world (17 million in 2009) for a reason…there is a lot to see and do. But if you have ever walked the Mall from end to end, you know there is a better way! We ride at a pace that even a novice can appreciate and stick to the cycle paths or bike lanes whenever possible.

MORE FUN

We want you to have the best time possible. We believe that if you’re having fun you will absorb more information, so that’s the focus of tours and all aspects of our company. Our guides are not only very knowledgeable, but also personable, entertaining and masters of group chemistry. Also, from the moment you’re one of our extremely comfortable bikes, you’ll be having a better time than if you were on foot or sitting in a bus!

Past customers have emailed to thank us for providing an atmosphere in which they could comfortably visit with people from around the world. From the moment you’re on one of our extremely comfortable bikes, you’ll be quite pleased to not be on foot or sitting in a bus.

OUR BIKES

Why not embrace your childhood with our California beach cruisers? Ultra-hard seats? Razor-thin tires? Or fender-less mountain/hybrid bikes with back-breakingly low handlebars? Not with Cap' City! Having a dozen years of touring experience under our belts in Europe has its advantages. Our custom-made, curvy beach cruisers are the pinnacles of city-biking comfort. With cushy seats, fat tires, and handlebars that come up to meet you, it just doesn’t get more relaxed. Of course these bikes perform as well. There are vice-like brakes to make sure you stop quickly. And with multiple gears, you can choose your level of pedal-pushing effort.

(The bikes also come with unique names making these quite possibly the coolest bikes around.)

We try and keep a sense of humor and name our bikes - who wants to be Honest Abe or General GDub for the day? Also, we have a fleet of kid’s bikes: multiple baby seats, 20 inch and 24 inch bikes, and a two-wheeled tandem. Please see the FAQs or Reservations section for instructions on how to reserve a children’s bikes.

History of Capital City Bike Tours

Our first season... but not really! Capital City Bike Tours is new to DC this year, but we actually started as the world-famous Fat Tire Bike Tours off in Europe. Fat Tire Bike Tours was born in Paris, France in 1999. As the years passed, the same successful concept of visiting fantastic European cities in an English-speaking context was successfully improved upon in Barcelona, Berlin, then London.

In 2003 Fat Tire was asked to lead a group of journalists around Paris while riding on the new state of the art machines called Segways. While we rode bicycles, the journalists rode Segways and we were only permitted to try out the Segways at the Louvre. The machines were fantastic and the ease at which one could maneuver was impressive. Suddenly we were much more photographed and interesting to others than the Louvre’s pyramid and bingo, the idea for City Segway Tours was born. Within just a few years, City Segway Tours spread around the world leading a phenomenon in city travel. After leading tens of thousands guests around Washington, DC, we knew it was time to come back to how we started: bike tours. Segways are a fantastic way to see a city, but they have limits. City laws prevent them from going on certain paths, taking children under 16, or riding at full speed. We wanted to make sure that between both Segway tours and bike tours, we could offer visitors and locals alike all the best, most environmental ways to see DC.

And so after twelve years of bike tours, and eight years of Segway tours we are pleased to say that in May 2011, Capital City Bike Tours - Washington, DC opened.