What started as a small Facebook group has grown into a community that now connects female riders across Slovakia. Group rides, camps, and Bajkerky Fest bring the girls from the online world straight to the trails – and this year, that’s exactly where we joined them. We caught up with Nina from Bajkerky to talk about the story behind the community, this year’s fest, and how the HF x Bajkerky.sk connection came to life.
To start, could you introduce yourself and tell us about your role within Bajkerky?
Bajkerky has been around for about 13–14 years. It was founded by Janka, who stepped back after a few years as her business and family commitments grew. I joined shortly before that, and since then we’ve managed to grow what was originally a small, private Facebook group into a much bigger community. I don’t really want to call myself the “head” of Bajkerky, but at the moment I’m probably the one holding the reins and helping set the direction we’re heading in. At the same time, it’s important to me that Bajkerky remains a community rather than becoming a business. Whenever I see someone who’s passionate about something and knows more about it than I do, I’m happy to give them the freedom to take the lead.
Where are you based, and what are the main activities within Bajkerky?
Bajkerky started in Bratislava, Slovakia and that’s still where we have the most members and activities. Over the past few years, though, we’ve been hearing more and more from girls in other cities asking when we’re coming their way. That’s why we’ve been gradually expanding our activities to other parts of Slovakia. Our main activities are bike camps, which we organize throughout the riding season, roughly from April to October. Most are one-day events, and in the future we’d love to bring them to places like Žilina or Košice. We also organize spontaneous group rides throughout the year – we pick a bike park, let the community know, and anyone who wants to join can come along. And then there’s our biggest event of the year, Bajkerky Fest.
“Bajkerky Fest is all about bringing the online community together in real life.” – Nina from Bajkerky
Tell us a bit more about Bajkerky Fest. How did it all start?
The idea came about three years ago, when I was on maternity leave and realized I was barely riding anymore. Before that, it was totally normal to jump on the bike, meet up with the local girls, and go for a ride, but suddenly that part of my life had disappeared. So I decided to do something about it. We organized the first Bajkerky Fest in basically two weeks. Trek came on board with test bikes, we added a bike cleaning and maintenance workshop, and the guys from Ground joined with a basic bike service workshop. Suddenly we had partners and thought, alright, let’s do this. The first year at Malinô Brdo was pretty punk, in the best possible way. We were freezing under a shelter by the lift, a local brewery joined in, and the whole thing was very spontaneous. But it turned out exactly how we wanted. Girls from the online community who had never met in person before showed up, rode together, and hung out in the evening. That was the whole point – to bring the online community out into the real world and actually meet face to face.
How has Bajkerky Fest grown since then?
We’ve got a pretty funny pattern going. The first year there were 13 of us, last year 43, and this year 63. Apparently we have a thing for threes, haha. Over time, bigger partners have joined too – Škoda last year and Red Bull this year. Naturally, that means the organization itself is growing as well. I think next year it definitely won’t be able to stay quite as punk as it has been so far, and we’ll have to take things up another level. But one thing we definitely don’t want to lose is the community atmosphere.
What was on the program?
Over the three days, there was plenty of riding, bike testing, and workshops focused on bike servicing, cleaning, and maintenance. We had a chill zone from Škoda, group rides, a skills park, and of course a BBQ and some local beer in the evening. On Saturday, we also had an interview with Simona Kuchyňková, who races in the Enduro World Cup, as well as the Slovak premiere of the Czech women’s bike film She Rides. We deliberately kept the schedule pretty loose. The girls were there mainly to ride, meet up, and hang out. And that’s exactly what the fest is all about.
How did the Horsefeathers x Bajkerky connection come about?
Our first contact was at Donovaly during a shoot for the opening of a new bike park. The actual collaboration came later though, and pretty much by coincidence. About a week before Bajkerky Fest, I got a message from one of our key partners saying they no longer had the capacity to support the event. It caught me off guard. Then, about half an hour later, I got a message from you at Horsefeathers saying you liked what we were doing with Bajkerky and asking whether there was a way you could support us. That was one of those moments where you really feel that when one door closes, another opens. It all happened almost at once and somehow just fell into place. We jumped on a call, agreed on support for the festival, and everything connected really naturally. I’d actually had HF in the back of my mind for quite a while. A few years ago, I remember thinking that once we were “big and brave enough,” maybe we’d reach out and come up with a collaboration or some shared merch. We already used and liked some of your products ourselves. In the end, it happened spontaneously from your side – and much sooner than I expected.
You also had some HF products at Bajkerky Fest. How did they hold up?
So far, we’ve had the chance to properly test the Scorpio photochromic sunglasses, and they were great. They reacted very quickly to changing light conditions and darkened really nicely. I have a fairly small, narrow face, so with sunglasses I often struggle with the fit or with pressure points when I wear them with a helmet. These fit me really well, though. A few of us tried them on, and it looks like the shape works across different face types. We definitely want to spend more time riding in them and test them in a wider range of conditions.
You introduced HF as a secret partner at Bajkerky Fest. How did it all work?
We wanted to do things a little differently and make it fun. So we hid small plastic markers with HF branding along the trail for the girls to find while riding, with Horsefeathers prizes up for grabs. It ended up being such a hit that they kept asking if there were any more markers hidden on the trail and whether there would be another round. It was a fun and natural way to bring HF into the fest while adding a little surprise for everyone.
Check out the women’s bike collection
Women's bike apparel
