We are soooo stoked to be a part of this year’s @ridewithgps Cutty Cap Challenge!!! We have been combing through our favourite local weirdo spots to ride bikes and have somehow narrowed it down to 10 oddball locations.
The route goes live on Saturday May 16th at 8am. Follow the instructions on the post to make sure you can be on the move and hunting for the chance to find one of these limited caps. Can confirm they are psychedelic and pretty dang fun!
If you feel like taking photos along your journey, give us a tag, we would love to see how things are going and if folks are having as much fun finding the caps as we had hiding them.
Happy hunting and enjoy the local cuts 🤙🏻🚲🌷
Apparently, Coffee Outside + Mothers Day = Wholesome good time. Who knew 🤷♂️. Thank you to the 45 folks that came out to bop around the city and brew up some coffee the hard way, in a park. There were some of the more elaborate brew rigs (except that one time Alex brought an espresso machine), sweet bikes, and tons of lovely people ❤️😊
The double header with @bike.breath Rondar ride went off without a hitch…only a brief moment of hail. Tons of fun was had, such a beautiful way to show some love to the mommas.
Next Ride is an ATB route on May 24th, stay tuned early next week for details! 🚲🗿
TESTING TESTING 123… Check Check….
WE’RE BACK BABY & READY TO RIDE !!! At a leisurely comfortable pace, obviously ☕️😌
Coffee Outside 2026 is starting off with an ode to all the Moms out there. It’s Mother’s Day so why not ditch you brunch plans and come introduce her to your cool bike friends. Brew her up a smooth cup of joe in a public park and chat about all your short comings as a child…. Or perhaps some embarrassing childhood events 🤷🏻♂️. Please don’t be upset when every one inevitably thinks your mom is cooler than you, cuz she is, and it’s Mother’s Day, let that lady shine ✨ It should go without saying, moms are not mandatory to attend.
We will be collecting donations for the fertility friends foundation. More info coming soon 🐣
This will be a pretty stock standard route for us, very similar to our first coffee outside last year. Up the trillium pathway, across the locks, high five the LARPers, coffee at Vincent Massey, then follow the Rideau River home.
The Details:
*Meet at Bayview Station at 10am (big blue onion)
*Roll Out 10:15am
*Coffee Time 11am-12pm
*Back at Bayview for 1pm-1:30pm
*Route subject to change Kitchissippi water levels
Just like last year this is a no drop ride that rolls around 15km/hr.
See you (and maybe your mom) on May 10th!
❤️🌻
PARTS SWAP 2026!!!!!
Gosh darn that was a wild time! Any expectations we had were completely OBLITERATED💥 The Ottawa bike community (you folks) really showed up to wheel and deal some flashy parts and start the season off right. When this idea came up with @bike.breath at the end of 2025 we thought it would be a cute and quaint gathering… nope, turned into a party with a couple hundred bike nerds 🎉. Ya’ll are the best and 2026 is gearing up to be a real show stopper.
Big thanks to @retroridesca@phatmoosecycles@fullcycleottawa for supporting this event and keeping everyone’s rides rolling all year long. Your parts bins were deep and technical knowledge, cavernous. The city is truly lucky to have such unique bike shops with decades of high level service experience.
Hugggeeeeee thanks to @unclesebtattoo for slinging some stellar tats and @thearterycommunityroasters for keeping everyone highly caffeinated. Big vibe setters and made this event one to remember ☕️🍄
First ride. Mother’s day (May 10th). Stay tuned for details 🌲🚲
The countdown is seriously on to Bike Parts Swap Meet - TOMORROW Sunday, April 19 at Rideau Curling Club. We’re all set up and so excited to shop and swap in the morning! Free to attend, don’t miss out!
Shout out to our sponsors for making it possible! @fullcycleottawa@phatmoosecycles@retroridesca
ZINE 2 IS HERE !!! Available on our online store … and at the parts swap 🔧❤️
This baby has been in the incubator all winter, and features 44 pages of photos, drawings, and writing collected over this particularly brutal Ottawa winter. It’s a small representation of how my (Kyle) brain operates when not entirely consumed by bikes and community building. Many of the photos were taken while slipping and sliding through the city streets in the depths of winter. The stories are musings of my life as a bike mechanic. It’s pretty weird, but so am I, and so is Step Thru 🤷🏻♂️❤️
These cost 15 bucks to print, we printed 35 copies, we are charging 25 big ones. If we sell all 35 that’s 350 buckarunos to put into hosting more events like the parts swap 💸🚲
If you choose to purchase a zine, you rule! If not, I still think you’re pretty rad 😊
Kyle showing off his limited but refined parts bin, now show us yours!!! If you’re planning on bringing stuff let’s see it ! Parts swap is coming up this Sunday!!!! See ya there 🎉🚲
Zine 2 is off to the printers!!!..... This one is a little different than the first zine, it is less bright and cheery and more moody and brooding. The photos were collected throughout the winter when we were not running group rides and instead trying to find fun in -30 temps with 6.5 hours of daylight. You won’t find a single bike photo in this zine (okay, maybe one), but all of the writing revolves around cycling. Heads up, it’s not all sparkles and rainbows in this prose; a lot of what I wrote about are my abstract reflections on working in a bike shop during increasingly stressful times (capitalism, digital isolation, austerity, etc., etc., etc.). I wrote these reflections mostly to get them out of my head and to shed light on experiences I rarely hear bike mechanics or bike people talk about.
All proceeds from the sale of this zine go back into Step Thru to continue hosting fun and inclusive bike events in the Ottawa region. 2026 is going to be a weird and wild year. I’m looking forward to biking real slow and maybe officially learning to wheelie (but probably not). Check out our webstore to pre order.
Love, Kindness, and Bar spins
-Kyle
The clocks have sprung forward and the snow is melting. It’s time to starting thinking about bringing that build you’ve been dreaming of all winter to life.
@step.thruu & @bike.breath are teaming up to host Ottawa’s only Bike Parts Swap Meet (we think). Join us April 19 at the Rideau Curling Club to buy, sell, and trade all things bike gear.
Parts Swap is free to attend for the general public. Come on down 11am-4pm to trade, barter, and buy cycling related gems to help put the finishing touches on that dream build, or just replace your Suntour 7-Speed freewheel (shout out @retroridesca ).
Got lots of parts, frames, accessories, clothing, or bike related trinkets laying around? Reserve a table to set up your gear for sale and trade. Tables are $10-15, and are already 80% sold. Grab one while you can at stepthrucc.com! This is a community focused event that prioritizes participation from individual community members and our bike shop sponsors.
Big thanks to our generous shop sponsors @fullcycleottawa , @retroridesca and @phatmoosecycles , whose contributions have helped to subsidize the cost of tables for community members. We can’t wait to shop their parts bins.
Stay tuned for more community focused partners and pals that will be joining us at Swap Parts Meet Bike. 👜☕️🐉🚲
Ottawa Pals! 📣 Save The Date (and get yer parts bin ready): April 19th we’ll be hosting a Bike Parts Swap Meet at the Rideau Curling Club. Want a table? Register at stepthrucc.com
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#bikeottawa #partsbin #xbiking #ottawa
A lot has been going down at Step Thru HQ (a variety of cafes) this winter season and we are finally ready to start sharing some of it with you. First and maybe the most exciting news is that Step Thru officially incorporated as a not for profit organization! We have been sitting on this news for a few months but wanted to wait til we got all our little ducklings in a row for 2026 before we made the announcement. This would not have been possible without the support of our local, national, and international community. Both our Zine and collab T-shirt with @bikebreath went all over the world. Those funds went directly into funding us becoming a not for profit. All of that to say, thank you so much for your support. We hope we can make the 2026 riding season in Ottawa a little more fun and weird for ya’ll.
Second peice of news is that Step Thru has a website ! It has been live for a while now but with tweaks and edits (many spelling related) to make the site as user friendly as possible. We will be posting all our rides and event info on the site throughout the year in an effort to keep those without instagram up to date. Additionally we will have a web store with merch (stickers, zines, etc.) and a donations tab if you’d like to directly contribute to keeping the rides running. We’ve got so many fun things planned for 2026, arguably too many. Stay tuned as we will be announcing them in the coming weeks.
✌️❤️🚲-Step Thru
