Cycling music is about cadence, not intensity, which is the mistake most workout playlists make when they get borrowed for a bike. A comfortable pedalling rhythm sits around 80-90 revolutions per minute, and music at 120-170 BPM lines up with it cleanly — one pedal stroke every two beats. This playlist opens with Kraftwerk's Tour De France, the only piece of music ever written specifically to sound like cycling, and holds that pulse for two hours.
Why It Works
The reason four-to-the-floor electronic music dominates cycling playlists is structural rather than cultural. A steady kick drum gives you a cadence reference you do not have to think about, and tracks built on repetition rather than verse-chorus structure will not disrupt your rhythm halfway up a climb by suddenly going quiet. Kraftwerk called this approach motorik long before anyone applied it to sport. The indie block in the middle — Bloc Party, Foals, Two Door Cinema Club, Metronomy — keeps the same pulse with guitars, which matters on longer rides where unbroken electronic music starts to feel airless around the ninety-minute mark. The last five tracks drop to a cooldown tempo on purpose, so the ride ends the way a coach would end it rather than the way a shuffle would.
Why Mixtuby
An ad break at the base of a climb breaks your rhythm and your concentration, and on a turbo trainer it breaks the session outright — which is exactly what YouTube does every few tracks, whether you are sprinting or not. Mixtuby plays the full two hours without interruption, free and without an account, from any browser on any device.
History
Kraftwerk released Tour de France in 1983 as a single timed to the race, built on breathing sounds, a bicycle chain, and a repeating synth figure that mimics pedalling. Ralf Hütter was himself a serious amateur cyclist who rode hundreds of kilometres a week and travelled with bikes on tour, sometimes riding to the venue. The record is widely credited as an early template for both electro and Detroit techno, and its rhythmic idea — a steady, unvarying pulse designed to be moved to rather than danced to — came directly out of German rock's motorik beat, the constant 4/4 pattern Neu!
and Can developed in the early seventies with drummers Klaus Dinger and Jaki Liebezeit. Everything else on this playlist descends from that lineage: French house through Justice, big beat through the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, and the guitar bands who borrowed the same engine in the mid-2000s.
Legacy & Influence
Kraftwerk's cycling obsession turned out to be one of the more consequential hobbies in music history. Tour de France gave electronic music a rhythmic model that spread through Detroit techno into every form of dance music that followed, and it gave cyclists a genre they still use forty years later. Structured indoor training platforms now sell playlists organised entirely by BPM, matched to interval blocks, which is the same idea Hütter had in 1983 with more marketing behind it and less irony.
The underlying observation has not aged: the best riding music is not the most exciting music, it is the most consistent. Excitement makes you surge. Consistency gets you home.
This is the one place where cycling genuinely diverges from every other endurance sport. Runners can follow tempo loosely, because a stride adjusts itself; a cyclist locked into a gear cannot, and surging to a chorus costs energy that has to be repaid on the next climb. Coaches spend a great deal of time teaching riders to hold an even output, and the wrong playlist quietly works against that all afternoon.
The right one does the opposite — it becomes an external metronome you stop noticing, in the same way you stop noticing your own breathing. That is a strange thing to want from music, and it is why cycling playlists tend to look boring written down and feel completely different at hour two. There is also a safety argument that gets overlooked.
A record with a sudden dynamic jump pulls your attention off the road for a fraction of a second, and on a bike that fraction is worth more than it is anywhere else. Consistency is not only a training preference; outdoors it is the responsible choice, which is part of why the electronic block sits at the front of this playlist and the more dramatic material never appears at all.
Perfect For
Long road rides
Indoor trainer and turbo sessions
Spin and indoor cycling classes
Commuting by bike
Steady-state endurance work
Rowing machine and cross-trainer
Running at an even pace
Warm-up and cooldown either side of a ride
Any workout where rhythm matters more than intensity
How to Listen
1
Match cadence to the beat rather than the other way round. One pedal stroke every two beats at 160 BPM gives you a comfortable 80 rpm.
2
The first eleven tracks are the electronic block and the most rhythmically consistent — use them for steady-state work.
3
Tracks 12-18 bring guitars back in. Useful on long rides when unbroken electronic music starts to feel monotonous.
4
The last five tracks step down in tempo. Let them run as your cooldown instead of stopping the playlist.
5
Outdoors, use one earbud or a bone-conduction headset. You need to hear traffic, and in several countries riding with both ears covered is illegal.
Built for the friend who lives in the drop. Combos picked with affection, not algorithms — at prices that match the energy. Small touches that hit harder than the big-budget gear.
New playlists, features & artist drops. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
You're in!
We'll keep you posted.
Cycling Music Player — FAQ
What is the cycling music playlist?
Twenty-five driving electronic and indie tracks that hold a steady pulse — Kraftwerk, Yello, Justice, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, LCD Soundsystem, Foals, M83, Bonobo and RÜFÜS DU SOL. It runs about two hours.
What BPM should cycling music be?
Between 120 and 170 BPM. Ride one pedal stroke every two beats and that gives you a cadence of 60-85 rpm, which covers everything from recovery to tempo work.
Why is Kraftwerk on a cycling playlist?
Because Tour de France, released in 1983, was written about cycling by a band whose singer rode competitively as an amateur. It uses breathing sounds and a bicycle chain as percussion.
Is this suitable for indoor training?
Yes, and arguably better indoors. A steady pulse is more useful on a turbo trainer, where there is no traffic or terrain to break your rhythm for you.
Can I listen while riding on the road?
Use one earbud or bone-conduction headphones so you can still hear traffic. Riding with both ears covered is illegal in several countries and unwise everywhere else.
How long is the playlist?
About two hours, which covers most long rides. Continuous playback keeps going past the last track if the ride does.
