Detroit's pedal pubs run on beer, wine and a sober driver

You’ve seen them: a dozen or more people pedaling a bar down Woodward at walking speed, music blaring, somebody up front doing the steering. Love them or roll your eyes at them, The HandleBar opened for business in Detroit in 2015 as soon as the state passed its quadricycle law.

The fleet got smaller this year: The Michigan Pedaler, which ran 15-passenger bikes out of 1460 Michigan Avenue, did not open for the 2026 season. "After 10 incredible seasons, we have made the difficult decision not to open for the 2026 season," the company told customers on its website, adding that it is "actively pursuing the sale of the business" and hopes the bikes return under a new owner, after what it says was more than $100,000 in charitable rides for schools and nonprofits.

Detroit Rolling Pub started in 2015 with one bike and now runs five, each with ten pedaling seats, two passive seats and a back bench for three more. Its two-hour tours leave from Beaubien and Macomb in Greektown, take six to 16 riders, cost $275 Monday through Thursday, $400 on Friday and Saturday and $295 on Sunday, and allow liquor as long as anything in glass gets poured into a cup. Rolling Social picks up at The Belt, 225 Gratiot, for tours of an hour and 45 minutes with groups of six to 15, or 16 on a private booking, and it allows beer, wine and premixed drinks, bans hard liquor and glass, and requires everyone on board to be 21 or older if there is alcohol on the bike.

State law lets a passenger on a commercial quadricycle carry beer, wine, spirits or a mixed spirits drink unless a local ordinance says otherwise. The catch is up front: Michigan law permits drinking on a pedal pub only as long as its driver has a zero blood-alcohol level.

Until late 2016, a rider who drank on board could be cited for disorderly conduct under a 1984 city ordinance, and The HandleBar had to warn customers they might run afoul of it. In late November 2016, City Council voted to let riders drink on board, with an amended ordinance written to follow the state law. "It's definitely been a long road, but Stephen and I are pumped that Detroit City Council worked with us and ultimately recognized the benefit we provide to the city," Brian Lindsey, who co-founded The HandleBar with his brother Stephen, told Michigan Capitol Confidential.

The contraption itself is Dutch: The HandleBar traces the bike to brothers Henk and Zwier Van Laar in the Netherlands, who built it as a Queen's Day parade float for a friend who owned a bar, combining two Dutch favorites, beer and biking.

"They roll through all day long. They bring happy, fun customers," Sean Harrington, owner of the Town Pump Tavern, told Michigan Capitol Confidential when the vote came through. The driver stuck behind one at a red light on Congress may feel differently, and that is the argument we want to hear.