Berlin advice

^ That. They're on it when it comes to brakless here...

Also, if anyone wants to join our regular Sunday ride, it'd be great to have some LFGSS-ers come along. We have a little 'club', you can sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/247034418828236/

Rides between 50-80k out of Berlin, mixture of single/fixed and geared. We're a very friendly bunch and we're looking for more people to ride with, so please do get involved, and send me a message if you want more details. Berlin visitors welcome too!

Cheers

Thank you for invitation but I've already decided to visit bike polo courts as there's a training day at Sunday.
Any advice on police checking your brakes if they stop you?

How HHSB is your whip? Because they're savvy enough to recognise a type when they see it.

i.e IMHO Far less likely to stop someone riding gently on an old Mercian Path frame that happens to be brakeless as they are some dude in a Brooklyn cap slaloming through traffic on a LOW with a spok and a disc. Also: don't run red lights. People will shout at you. Including the police. Other than that: enjoy! It's a great city for cycling, despite all this doom-mongering.

Haha, true!
Don't know yet. Probably I'll take this one. It doesn't look like a path frame..

Nice! Well, almost certainly worth clamping a brake on there if you're safety first when it comes to these things. To be fair, you'd have to be unlucky to get busted for it. Depends if you're rolling in spare cash to pay fines! Anyway, enjoy, have a great time.

that rossin so fiiiiiiine

Anywhere good for shopping used bike parts?

ATTENTION:
Berlin has now a "Fahrradstaffel" = i.e. organized cops on bikes, for the first time.

All has started yesterday, 16th July 2014.

Link: http://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article130240115/Fahrradstaffel-im-Einsatz-gegen-Rad-Rowdys.html

Facts: 15 male and 5 female cops
Bikes: crappy Hartje Nanago 11-speed trekking bikes, each weighs 17.6kg (ha-ha)
Area: Mitte and partly Tiergarten (Regierungsviertel)
Time: 7:00-20:00, one shift from 7-14, other one from 13-20, apparently just two cops together every day

Obviously these are horrible news, as they will (unlike I remember in the UK) also control if you have two brakes, a bell, wheel and pedal reflectors, lights and all that shit.

What a stupid measure to make people stay away from using bicycles - so wrong and idiotic. It all goes SO in the wrong direction.

Do you think some well-trained cop could keep up with anyone else on a light nice bike, when he has to use a 17.6kg bike?

Yes, if it's an electric bike.

Police on bikes is always great news. They do tend to start out with some sort of remit of targeting cyclists, but that doesn't tend to last and they tend to become much more general in their approach. Sometimes, they're also not taken seriously as police at first, but that changes. We have loads of cycling police in London now and it's a firmly-established part of their modus operandi, and very popular with some officers to do bike duty. Some call it 'the best-kept secret' in the police force. Seeing police on bikes all the time has been another ingredient in shifting perceptions of cycling in London.

You're not serious, are you?

The negative effects will be so much more substantial than the ostensible advantages...

What 'negative effects'? That there'll be more enforcement of the StVZO?

Unbelievable, I will not go further into this...

You're just wrong to think that it'll make people 'stay away from bicycles'. It will have the exact opposite effect. But do feel free to elaborate your argument, perhaps there's something I'm missing.

A couple of police on bikes will improve the lot of the general urban cyclist. What makes you think they'd target you for brakes and reflectors instead of using the bike to transport them to places where crimes are being committed in a busy city.

Also, if you're hammering it like a tit with no brakes then maybe they'd be right to stop you. If you're just cruising like a tit with no brakes maybe they'd turn a blind eye?

A couple of police on bikes will improve the lot of the general urban cyclist. What makes you think they'd target you for brakes and reflectors instead of using the bike to transport them to places where crimes are being committed in a busy city.

They will do that in Germany, as the regulations require these things. That's a well-known problem, and I'm certainly among those who think that the regulations should be changed in quite a few ways, as they were drawn up a long time ago when you didn't have anything like the variety of bikes and styles that you have now. Police on bikes, though, is a good thing. As I said in my earlier post, the attitudes of cycling police will also change quite a lot as they gain more experience and understanding of cycling.

Damn those efficient and unbending Germans. I might be moving to Stuttgart shortly...

Update: Stuttgart Berlin here we come!

^me too!

1. of august..
   
   

quite exited tbh... i'll start working. or at least, lets hope so..

Ticket is booked for 10th aug, studying for one month to begin with, no bike with me tho and still gotta find accommodation. It's like an adventure, but with learning.

@Alkali, apparently that room i messaged you about is still available, asked for a direct emailaddress from the friend to make stuff easier for you. cant work out to pm on mobile in microcosm so thought ild do it this way.. fingers crossed!

Thanks @Rodolfo, my dates have changed as I have arranged a room with friends until the 18-8-14 now and I'm in Berlin until the 6-9-14 so your mate's room isn't such a good option, shame as it's in the ideal area for the language school and I know a couple of people in Nuekolln.

Thanks again for putting me in contact

ok no prob, was in the same boat so thought ild give a shout. maybe arranging something from the 18th would still be possible, ill wire the emailadress through anyway. will most probably stay in neukolln (hobrechtstrasse) too; wouldve been great if you took a bike to ride a bit. funnily i lived in the exact same street two years ago for a month, i believe its 20m apart. kray small world.

Well here I am in Berlin, it's toll! Got no bike at the mo but I do have a monthly transport ticket so that's nice.

Clearly you missed all my posts on how to get around berlin.
Glad your enjoying it tho.

guys. encountered a great somec rat some weeks ago locked on danziger strasse. cherryred with risers, campagnolo cranks and some novatec beater wheels.

anyone on here? raaaad bike!