Bicycle: a Fresh Concept Bar in Bucharest's Old Town

While searching for interesting ideas for a college project, I discovered Bicicleta, the concept-bar located in Lipscani Street's Old Town. Inaugurated in 2012, this venue caters to urban cyclists but welcomes everyone. It is situated on the second floor of the building at number 38 on Lipscani Street.

Opening the GalleryThe space is essentially a high attic with both typical attic windows and regular windows, making it extremely bright, a major plus in my opinion. Honestly, you don't know what to look at first when you enter.

The first impression is that the space has a strong longitudinal effect that invites you to explore it.

The predominant industrial style features helicopterized concrete flooring and exposed concrete walls and beams. To soften this rather harsh aspect of the concrete, the attic ceiling was painted a light blue. But what sets Bicicleta apart from other concept-bars in Bucharest is not just its industrial theme; there are plenty of those.

At Bicicleta, the furniture is fascinating. It's made from bicycle components salvaged from the former Tohani factory (which produced the famous Pegas bicycles), with some parts also ordered from Great Britain and dating back to the 1930s-40s. I should mention that Stefan, the bar owner, created the furniture along with his father.

Only the chairs and chandelier were made by Vertigo Metal Design.

What I loved most about their furniture was that as I looked closer, I kept discovering ingeniously assembled bicycle parts. The chairs are composed of two wheels, and the legs still bear the factory emblem.

The second chair model has a backrest shaped like handlebars. Round tables have a wheel frame, and handlebars with bicycle headlights mounted in the center dangle from concrete pillars.

The bar itself is very long, fitting the space. Its ends are made of leatherwork by Boohooho Leather Design, inspired by tool belts used for repairs. I found the footrest support ingeniously crafted from dozens of handlebars.

The decoration behind the bar, a cascading bicycle, is also Stefan's idea and was created using 3000 beads! Bicicleta also has a lounge area where you can admire the chandelier made entirely from bicycle headlights.