Berlin microcosm here?

Hey, Im totally up for a safe ride at some point, more on the day trip front than a camp out as i have no equipment for that.

Happy to explore around the city or outside if there is an idea of route - i have not headed north yet to be honest

nice to hear. I grew up in Pankow, so the northern parts are exactly my thing - we did an annual day tour from Karow to Liebnitzsee and back before all this covid, it were 40km-ish. I'd love to do another one of those trips.

Sounds nice! What kind of route is it?

it begins on tarmac and the later parts are light gravel / dirt path.

Sounds good!

Sorry to hear you're stuck dude. My partner and I flew over in Jan but were allowed through since she's German with existing residence here and I had registered at her father's place.

If your partner has registered here, that could
certainly help. We emailed our documents the border police before traveling and they indicated we would probably be fine to get through. Fingers crossed for you.

Also keen for a trip sometime! Would be lovely to do an overnighter at some point too.

did a small tour with my social bubble mates on easter , from Wedding to Gorinsee via Schönerlinde and back, lovely nature spots at the end. mostly tarmac, the last few km are all forest paths but easy to ride on normal road tyres.

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If your looking for gravel, and some decent road routes I think Komoot is a pretty good bet, lots of stuff appearing on there and the Orbit routes are pretty good. CXberlin is also great, he's also been organising some 'Grevet' rides too: https://cxberlin.com/

Im not sure what the rules are as I think they changed again this week re. meeting up but would be keen on doing some more rides either road or grav.

Just one of the proposals for the open competition. Didn't make it through the first round so.
This one won:
https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/aktuell/wettbewerbe/ergebnisse/2016/schumacher_quartier/index.shtml

...let's agree to disagree..;)
You were also against the (kickass!) library at the end of the runway?

Worked on the master plan, again, one of many failed competition entries.
The tegel-airport plan was already done. The decision to keep the building is from an architectural heritage standpoint correct, although the startup hipness is starting to bore me by now.

Did you have to work to a preconceived Bebauungsplan?

I really wish they didn't do 'competitions' for this sort of thing, just break it all up into extremely small footprints and sell them individually, with a strict prohibition against combining them. Then you might get a piece of city, even if it took 20 years.

I am not completely against any building activity on Tempelhof.
Its huge, it can probably keep its many functions and great appeal with a few hundred apartments on it.
But the lets drop one row of buildings around the whole thing did not convince me.
And the library, big no thanks. Made no sense in this spot, Amerika Gedenkbibliothek is less than 3km away.
Always keep in mind that I am just an interested person, and by no means a professional though.

@Oliver Schick I think I know what you mean, and I see why, lets say one owner/building society/group per small plot would be nice.
On plots like Dragonerarealthey do a lot of participative stuff before anything starts, and while that is great, it seems to be awfully complicated and somehow not necessarily successful, just because the resources aren't there.
But at least this plot wasn't just sold to the big Austrian investor, so there is that as a success.
So maybe just going with plots big enough for a lets say 10 apartments house so you get a mix of all the ideas and goals would be great. Is this what you're getting at?

@Oliver Schick I think I know what you mean, and I see why, lets say one owner/building society/group per small plot would be nice.

Yes, I just mean that I think the only good cityscapes are those that have been able to grow gradually, and while I'm aware that this is also the case with slums, so not the only factor worth considering, I just don't like people building on huge areas in one pattern. I think cities need to be able to change gradually, and with such grand designs you usually end up with protected things that can't be changed, even with contemporary rubbish 'architecture'. The bigger your footprint, the less likely it is that you can take a small part out and change it and move on (with the exception of garden cities, although they have other problems). I also think that what I've seen of such designs in the last couple of decades usually makes a poor separation between public and private space.

So maybe just going with plots big enough for a lets say 10 apartments house so you get a mix of all the ideas and goals would be great. Is this what you're getting at?

I wouldn't prescribe too much. You will get some social separation built into it, e.g. because some people will have single-family houses and others will live in storeyed flats, but the main thing that makes a city is really the variety and mix of uses. Some rules are inevitable, e.g. ideally no red-light business in the middle of such an area, but most things develop in cities quite naturally, they just need time. This is what the short-termism inherent in masterplanning, which, ironically, is intended for the very long term, never grants.

This ride could be back on soon now things are relaxing more on Friday

keen for a ride, maybe next week? grav or road. did a super nice route around bad sarrow the other week, its lush around there and bad sarrow itself is pretty wild

Keen for a ride at some point also! I have gingerly exploring the odd route (mainly road) outside of the centre.

A quick thought whilst i'm here. I am on the hunt for the N+1 at the moment and I cant seem to work out the market just yet. Thanks to a Covid and Brexit I feel like the possibility of getting something from the UK will either be a long shot or an expensive logistical nightmare.
Im searching on Ebay, Kleinanzeigen, Facebook Flohmarkt groups and marketplace and everything seems super expensive if you are looking for a full build compared to the UK market.
For a Carbon (or alloy for that matter) frame road/gravel/CX bike, you will not find anything 1500EUR, the options at 2000EUR are still pretty slim.
Not sure if its just me or I am totally looking in the wrong places - anyone else find this?

I think second hand bikes in Germany are generally overpriced, especially compared to the uk, and guess it's even worse right now.
Loads of boring 10 year old bikes that were 1500 new with asking prices of 1000.
Rennrad news and tour Magazin forum are good sometimes, but not much going on probably.
Maybe have a look at marktplaats or whatever it's called in the Netherlands? But I never got how it works with their funny system.
If you're up for traveling, collection only eBay auctions somewhere far away from Berlin out in the sticks felt like a good bet also.

Hi everyone, what do people think about having some kind of forum ride this weekend? On road/ off road are both good for me - if anyone is interested but doesn't have any ideas about routes etc then I could suggest a few ideas... Best, Joel

Dear Berlin friends - a long shot, but my brother is looking for a good used everyday/commuter type bike he can afford. If you know of something please PM me. Thanks so much.

Think it might be too hot for me this weekend

A colleague is trying to sell a btwin commuter. Front suspension and disc brakes. Think it's still in warranty

I’d be down for a rideout as well. How about the last weekend of june?

Still haven't made it back all these months later - but extremely keen on a forum ride out to a lesser known lake or something when I do. Fully vaxxed now and hoping that when DE quarantine rules are refreshed at end of June there might be more leeway for people who have had both jabs. Fingers crossed.