Any advice for buying bicycles in Germany? ()

After repeated visits to London my fourteen-year-old brother is looking to spend his pocket money on a road bicycle.

He tells me that in Münster everyone rides dutch style or hybrids and that shops only cater to these styles of riding (+ his teenage budget means he is looking for something second hand anyway).

Does anyone have some knowledge or tips to share on where he could look for affordable second hand road bikes?

I've suggested German Ebay or gumtree equivalents..

Holland is a short train journey away and he is a fluent German speaker.

Any German LFGSS equivalents?

I’d imagined that in the centre or Europe would be full of good quality and fairly priced second hand steel, but he assured me it’s not. Is he looking in the wrong places?

I wouldve thought Germany is prime for flea market finds. When I was in a small Austrian city there was a Bike kitchen which collected abandoned bikes and allowed/helped anyone who was interested to come along and put themselves a bike together for free.

I did just that, and when that bike got stolen. I found my own abandoned bike, a very decent modern sporty hybrid and fixed that up (with nothing but a set of allen keys and a pump). I can only imagine and decent city in Germany is a bike frenzy. He is definitely looking in the wrong places.

After repeated visits to London my fourteen-year-old brother is looking to spend his pocket money on a road bicycle.

He tells me that in Münster everyone rides dutch style or hybrids and that shops only cater to these styles of riding (+ his teenage budget means he is looking for something second hand anyway).

Does anyone have some knowledge or tips to share on where he could look for affordable second hand road bikes?

I've suggested German Ebay or gumtree equivalents..

Holland is a short train journey away and he is a fluent German speaker.

Any German LFGSS equivalents?

I’d imagined that in the centre or Europe would be full of good quality and fairly priced second hand steel, but he assured me it’s not. Is he looking in the wrong places?

If he's looking for a road bike, my brother tells me that there are often good deals to be had on http://www.rennrad-news.de/forum/. I don't know about LFGSS equivalents; does he want a fixed bike or a road bike?

There used to be this; berlinfixedgear.ning.com but it went offline.

Get the train to Decathlon in Essen and buy a Triban 3?

Buy one from lfgss! Plenty of bargains from Dutch sellers here.

Possibly not teenage budget but

www.lfgss.com/thread126230.html#post4208228

Thread dredge... Any current wisdom on bike buying in DE, specifically Frankfurt am Main? I'm aware of the flea market here and the kleinanzeigen website. I don't speak German yet... Are there other gumtree-esque options? I'm looking to get a comfortable upright bike til I can ship my tarck bike over...

flea markets and kleinanzeigen your best bet. no "expats in frankfurt" fb groups to ask? its asked several times a week on the "dutchmen in berlin" group (guilty as charged) and its common knowledge for people having been a while in the city

FB... Good thought, vielen dank.