Berlin advice

good to encounter a nice bike here for once. lots of cheapy conversions or boutique fixies; not much real classy stuff.

Just got back from a month in Berlin, borrowed a bike and saw plenty of stuff.

so, just as a taster,who's actually on here and currently living here?

would be up for rides, beers, cycling talk, other talk.

me, ruud, dutch, architect, moved little less then a month ago to pursue life here. was here already from july 2012 till feb 2013 doing an internship, so know the city and talk german. now in kreuzkoelln, will move a bit south into true neukoelln this weekend.

so, thats @jetski from last page.. who am i missing?

and on a different note; anybody know a workshop/framebuilder here where i could get some eyelets added and the rear bridge drilled? winter is coming and i don't want to take the ubahn as i did back in '12.

Eyelets and a brake bridge on your Gazelle? Naaaah!

nah.. i thought i pushed my luck with drilling the front.

bought uoeno's claud butler of which im now admiring its lugs as we speak

just a cm longer and taller then the gazelle, but with generous clearances allowing fatter tyres and mudguards. was planning on running it with p-clips and a ziptie or something for the rear mudguard to brake bridge but guess i could do it also a bit more permanent

Welcome @Rodolfo!
Providing I find those keys I would be up for a ride before winter.

The framebuilder thing is not that easy here, or at least thats my impression.
http://www.fahrradfritze.de/ those guys used to build and I think they still have the equipment.
They took 20€ to bend a fork for me, and they were nice (in a grumpy condescending Berliner way).
http://www.rahmenbau-berlin.de/ they offer repairs and stuff. No first hand experience.

<--- An actual Berliner ... ready for a few rides before it gets too cold.
Let me know here or send me a message.

as for the frame repairs:

Totembikes ... but I doubt his shop is still open as he is currently moving
Ostrad ... they should be able to put some eyelets on the frame
There is a workshop being built near Ostkreuz, but they are not ready yet I think.

cool, will check those out and give m a ring in the morning.

@Schnitter, real Berliners, then you don't encounter them, then theyre everywhere. Had two room visits which were with OG Berliners of which one cool one im gonna live with from this weekend.
@c.h.e, which keys? which bike?

i've yet only brought the gazelle track bike, and left most of my cycling stamina in 2013 but a couple of blasts round tempelhof on track bikes has proven fun back in '12 with @tommmmmmm and would love to give that a go if you guys up for it.

on a related note, it seems as one needs an invite for berlinfixedgear forum. does the provenance of being almost 5 years on here and speaking the german language well, give me the possibility of getting an invite?:)

oh and i came upon this on the keirin berlin website i think.

I may have encountered Berlin Fixed Forum last month, hanging out on the steps by U- Frankfurter Tur. A shitload of fixed riders anyway. I was rolling on my borrowed Dutch bike and speak very poor German so didn't stop to enquire (also I was probably doing some pimp shit or something)

@Rodolfo - if you're in Neukolln, this place is good http://www.nudelbude-berlin.de/ authentic and cheap, if you like that sort of thing. It's not very luxurious though.

This place is a bit different too and worth a look before the evenings get too cold. http://www.findingberlin.com/klunkerkranich-rooftop/

Found my keller was broken into, and my Battaglin beater was stolen, if anyone spots it please drop me a pm, thanks (not sure how to posts pics or even links anymore but its in this thread: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=114495 )

on the up side I found a pretty nice 97' Cannondale Beast of The East for a nice price so if anyones up for riding off road in the Grunwald or Wannsee get in touch

ps: I lent a Danish/Scandanavian fellow off here a set of track bars and stem about 4/5yrs ago, if by chance you read this and are still in Berlin please get in touch, cheers

I will be in Berlin in October for 3 days. Never been before so rather than wander around and 'discover ' the place and probably miss out on places I thought I'd get a better overview from an organised bike tour by a local.
Can anyone recommend a good one that won't make me look like the obvious tourist I am ?
Thanks

I dont know about bike tours but I did this on the first day I was in Berlin and it was great. Pay what you want, and they take you to some less touristy spots that you'd probably otherwise miss.

Thanks - looks good

I'm going to be in Berlin on sunday, woop!
I've got 24 hours there, staying in Kreuzberg, keen not to ride my bike as I'm heading off touring the next day, I've been to Berlin before so have ticked off all the big sights (though it was some time ago so I'm happy to see things again - probably not the Reichstag though as it has weird memories for me) ... what should I see and do, oh internetz?

Sunday

http://www.zitty.de/list?type=events&group[districts]=Berlin&date=26-10-2014

Besides eating all the amazing veggie stuff I could stuff in my face, I quite enjoyed visiting the 'Museum of Things'

Thanks @fussballclub and @andy_k! Andy, any particular recommendations for veggie foods or should I just start eating on arrival and graze my way around the city?

I've also just discovered that Berlin has quite a big swing dance scene so I'm going to check that out. Happy days!

Went to an expensive(ish) but awesome veggie restaurant recently called Chipps. Would dine again.

Veganz is a good place to start but avoid the posh restaurant they've put in upstairs, the cafe and supermarket on the ground floor has a selection of bagels, wraps and snacks and a whole lot of cake (avocado blueberry and lime cheesecake mmmmm...), smoothies and fancy coffee stuff

http://tanneb.de/ does vegan waffles (amazing!), around the corner(ish) there's a place called Rootz which also does cake and other cafe stuff.

Voner does excellent seitan doner/kebab type stuff, they had like a garlic tahini sauce, get that on everything...

Delores had some nice veggie/vegan burrito options, apparently it's "like Chipotle but European and better", either way you get a lot of guac and the burritos were the size of my head. Yellow Sunshine does junk food stuff (wheat burgers and things) if you're into that, I wasn't blown away but figured I should probably try a vegan currywurst and then sat in the park opposite drinking beers all afternoon. There was a great Sudanese takeaway nearby too but I can't remember what it was called. Huge portions of idon'tknowwhatbutitwasnice and a load of the Sudanese version of falafel was thrown in by the owner just for having a chat with him it seemed!

Dada falafel was great for falafel, their website isn't that helpful though!

There were a bunch of other good places, I'll ask Lucy this evening as she'll remember what they were called while I can only remember what I ate!

eww vegan ...

Thanks @fussballclub and @andy_k! Andy, any particular recommendations for veggie foods or should I just start eating on arrival and graze my way around the city?

Fat Gay Vegan was in Berlin recently and has a few blog posts:

http://fatgayvegan.com/2014/10/10/fgv-on-the-loose/
http://fatgayvegan.com/2014/10/17/lets-go-vego/

The latter post is about getting a vegan Berlin Currywurst. It's pretty horrendous, but part of the essential Berlin experience. :)

Also, Vegan Peasant were in Berlin a few years ago and recommend gourmet destinations:

veganpeasantcatering.com/2012/10/vegan-berlin/

That was 2012, though, and may now be out of date.

Brilliant tips, thanks so much! I'm going to stuff my face :)

Extremely jealous, I haven't stopped thinking about those cakes all day :(