Buying a bicycle in Sofia

Hi there kaminoge, some options, you may try at the big malls, as they use to have also bicycles, sport shops like Sport Depot:
http://sportdepot.bg/en/cycling/sport-13

also online:
http://www.bike.store.bg/

or even rent one:
http://sofiarentcenter.com/en/bicycles/city-bikes.html

On a side note, I would not like to discourage you from biking around but remember that Sofia, and Bulgaria in general, is not what I would call a bike-friendly environment.

See also a google search for bike magazines in Bulgarian:
https://www.google.bg/#bav=on.2,or.r_cp … 0%B8%D1%8F

Cheers.

Thanks. I'll check those options out.

It's funny, everyone keeps trying to put me off cycling but I see loads of other people doing it. And I figure if I survived cycling for 5 years in Beijing traffic I think I can probably cope here too! Also the place I most want to cycle is through the park to get from my apartment to the pool you recommended to me so that won't be on the road.

Thanks again.

You are welcome.
Regarding cycling, it is true, a lot of bad feelings about it.
Enjoy your ride through "Borisova gradina".

Regards

I'm just putting an update here in case anyone is interested in this in the future. I discovered that there's loads of small bicycle shops around and the best way to find them is actually to google brands of bikes. One place that has several locations is bikescenter-bg.com.

In the end however I found there is quite a large second hand market on weekends (definitely Saturday not sure about Sunday) which is in the parking lot of the Vasil Levski National Stadium. I'd estimate there was at least 15 different dealers there with bikes. There was also stalls selling parts as well as a few vendors selling other things like roller blades, hiking poles and scooters (not the motorised type). Apparently in winter they sell ski stuff.

The prices are not super cheap but seemed in line with the second hand bikes I'd seen in shops. The disadvantage is you can't track them down again easily, the advantage is that there's a heap of second hand bikes in one place. I managed to bargain the price down a little (without speaking any Bulgarian) but a more skilled haggler could possibly do better.

Thanks very much for this information. Do you think that at the same place, it might be possible to sell the bike again, when finished with it ( eg moving out again)

I've got no actual idea but I'd assume they must be open to buying bikes as well. Of course you'd have to expect a lot less money but the dealers must get the bikes from somewhere.

@kaminoge
When i first landed in Sofia, my question was also the same, why people here dont use bicycles. The city is sooo small and the distances are less than 2-3 KM from home to work.
Usually you are just moving in 2-3KM radius but there is no fashion of bicycles.

May be it is due to winter, but i am sure the winter is same or even worse in Netherlands where I have seen bicycles soooo common.

May be expats should start this fashion here

From what Bulgarians have told me it's a combination of
1) Bad roads (potholes etc)
2) Dangerous drivers
3) The dogs
4) The snow/ice in winter

I'm managing to commute each day by bike (it's over 10k though so not everyone has such short commutes) but I will have to stop when there is snow/ice on the roads. I also have problems with mud every time it rains even the slightest bit. So I can see why it's not totally appealing to people.

Still I do have a decent chunk of the way on bike path and if they extended those it would be fantastic so I definitely hope more people start to see it as a viable option.

It can also be that the roads here in Bulgaria are so awful as in the pavement, so be careful when cycling! x

@kaminoge
BTW from driving, it reminded me about the LEFT turn.
I named it ORPHAN's TURN because you really feel like it while waiting to make a left turn.

I rented car here for 20 days so that we (me and my BG fiancée) can go to (almost) every corner of BG and the LEFT turn i find most awful.

Even in my third world city, Karachi, there is a filter for LEFT turn and there is a separate green light for them.
But on most roads in Sofia, the left turn cars have to find their way from the cars coming in opposite direction. Plus when you take the left turn, the pedestrians on the target road (destination road) are already crossing road (as it is GREEN for them).

May be the lowest IQ guy in BG was awarded the contract to program a traffic signal system like this

Made me proud of my traffic signals in a third third world city.

Illustration for those who dont drive in Sofia

I love the graphic! I'm still waiting for my paperwork so I can drive but I'm sure I'll enjoy feeling like an orphan. It's going to be worse for me because I've never driven on the right before so I'm going to have to remember not to just do left turns onto the left side!

He he he thank you
Australia has left hand drive? In Dubai it is right hand drive

The driver sits on the right of the car and drives on the left of the road.

New bikes can be bought in at least 50 bycile shops in Sofia. For example at the beginning of Pirotska str, the first crossing on the righr, another one is located very close to jenski Pazar, it is a company shop of one of the big Bulgarian  bycicle producing companies. Also used bikes can be found at the ski and bycicle market  just above the Vassil Levski Stadium. Keep looking.

If you'd bothered to have read the posts you'd know I bought one at the second hand market months ago.