Biking

Explore the city by bike

Hamilton is an ideal place to walk and bike around because it's mostly flat. To improve your safety when biking on roads, visit Tips for biking around Hamilton.

Safety tips

Check out the safety tips below to help keep yourself and others safe when you’re riding your bike or e-bike.

Helmet

A helmet should fit snug on your head with the strap not too loose under your chin. This means you should only be able to fit two fingers between your chin and the strap.

Being seen

Wearing hi-vis clothing and having lights or reflectors on your bike can help you be more visible while biking. If you need a hi-vis vest or backpack cover, you can get one for free from Council’s Customer Services in Garden Place.

Remember, you need front and back lights if you’re biking at night or in low light conditions.

Bike check

Check your bike is safe to ride by using the M bike check.

Shared path behaviour

Shared paths are for everyone – people on bikes or scooters, pedestrians, and micro-mobility users.

To remain safe and courteous:

Keep left and slow down
Use a bell or call out when passing
Give way to pedestrians
Keep dogs on leads
Avoid distractions like phones or loud music.

Tips for locking your bike

Reduce the risk of theft with these simple steps:

Use a high-quality lock - Consumer NZ has great advice about lock types
Make sure the lock has been passed through the frame of the bike. Wheels and the bike seat post can easily be removed so these aren’t suitable for locking
Remove accessories such as lights, GPS units, and cameras
Avoid locking your bike or e-scooter to white poles on the footpath, such as parking and street signs, as these are often removable
Choose busy, well-lit areas to discourage potential thieves.

Antenno app

Notice something wrong while out biking? Report it on our free Antenno app.

Biking infrastructure

Hamilton’s biking network includes a variety of road markings and infrastructure designed to support safe and confident riding. Key features include sharrows, advanced stop boxes, and hook turns.

Learn how to use these features and ride safely through roundabouts, around heavy vehicles, and when to 'take the lane' by visiting our Biking safely on Hamilton roads page.

More information

To learn the rules of the road, check out NZ Transport Agencey’s Code for cycling

Our Biking and Micro-mobility Programme helps to inform our Long-Term Plan, and improvements around the city.

Our biking training courses

Kids on Bikes – Learn to safely bike to school

Kids on Bikes is a school-based programme for school students in years 5 - 8. The programme follows NZ Transport Agency’s Bike Ready syllabus and gives kids of all biking abilities the skills and knowledge on how to ride a bike safely. This includes general road safety knowledge for travel to and from school.

For primary-aged students, the sessions are usually delivered on the school grounds or at a nearby park. For intermediate-aged students, there can be a mixture of sessions on a field and local roads.

The learning sessions are scheduled across the week, and the students’ skills progress each day. There are different timetable options for each school, depending on the number of classes and needs of the students.

To enquire about booking in your school, please contact cycling@hcc.govt.nz

Kids on Bikes – School holidays sessions

During the October and January school holidays, our cycling team run learn-to-ride sessions for students aged 5 years and older to learn to how ride a bike.

These sessions are held at local parks around the city and support kids with learning to bike, and give parents and caregivers the tools to help their kids.

See the timeline below for upcoming sessions and to register.

Neighbourhood and community rides

These sessions are for adults who would like to grow their biking ability and increase their skills for riding on local roads or new infrastructure. Each session will be led by a qualified instructor, and during the ride relevant biking skills such as:

the basics – including how to correctly check and fit your helmet, and what to look for when doing a bike safety check
riding on shared paths, cycleways, and quiet roads
positioning, passing side roads and parked cars
intersections and roundabouts – including how to correctly give hand signals.

Sometimes these bike rides are planned as part of other events or activities and may have a theme or fun additions. See timeline below for upcoming bike rides and to register.

Biketober

Fun events throughout October to celebrate biking and promote bike safety in the city.

Bike to sport

Events that encourage more kids to bike to their sports games with their parents.

Does your primary aged child want to learn how to ride a bike but you’re not sure where to start?

Register for our upcoming learn to bike sessions for primary aged kids. Biking tips and guidance will be provided by our bike instructors, with parents giving support to their child to start biking.  
 
Bikes and helmets are available if needed. A maximum of eight spaces are available per session. Parents must stay with their children.

• Tuesday 27 January, 10-10.45am at Fairfield Park, Fairfield
• Tuesday 27 January, 3-3.45pm at Innes Common, Hamilton Lake
• Thursday 28 January, 10-10.45am at Jansen Park, Hillcrest

Learn to ride sessions

Parent name

Email

Phone number

Child name

Age of child

I will attend the following sessions:

Tuesday 27 January, 10am – 10.45am Fairfield Park, Fairfield

Tuesday 27 January, 3pm – 3.45pm at Innes Common, Hamilton Lake

Thursday 28 January, 10am – 10.45am at Jansen Park, Hillcrest

I need to borrow:

A bike

A helmet

None of the above.

I understand Council will use mine and my child's details solely for the purpose of the bike training sessions. The information will be deleted after the session is complete.

I will complete and sign a participant consent form on the day of the training session.

Related information

Plans

Central City Transformation Plan

pdf 6.1 MB

Biking Plan

pdf 2.1 MB

Explore the city by bike