Buying a Bike In Berlin?

I have, in my time, lived in Holland for a couple of years. Now, the Dutch are famous for their biking culture, but the reality is that Berliners are waaaay more gay for bikes than the Dutch could ever be.

It was with some reluctance that I submitted to an overwhelming pressure to buy a bike. Around here it’s kind of like not having genitals: you can’t really have fun without them. Buying a new bike is reasonably cheap here, and but obviously down to how much you want to pay. Second-hand bikes, however, are ten a euro-cent, and appear on Craigslist on a daily basis. I couldn’t really find anywhere better than that to buy one. Within a week of checking here, I was in possession of 50 Euros worth of pushbike, or fahrrad, if you speak the lingo. Indeed, I decided to get straight into the Berlin spirit and get a beer for the ride home (complete with a rollie hanging out of my mouth), and subsequently bring myself about as close to death as I like to get on a Sunday afternoon.

Bikes in Berlin are pretty much essential, and the infrastructure is here to allow you to get pretty much anywhere you want under your own steam. My only real problem is the omni-present fear of death. But ho-hum, we all have our issues.  In reality, the place is pretty safe for cyclists. I’ve only seen one guy stack it, and that was into a pedestrian on a Saturday night.

To be honest, if there’s a point to this post, it’s not that you need a bike, rather to point out that the Berlin integrated transport system is actually pretty shit. I guess it has something to do with the east/west business, but the tube map looks like it’s been designed by this lady, and as for the tram system, well, if it ever bloody worked, it might be okay.

This has a wider point than merely my griping on the subject of public transport. The Berlin transport system’s “It’ll get you there… eventually” attitude means it’s hugely important to choose where you live very carefully, unless you want to spend a lot of time waiting around for trams to take you to the wrong place. A lot of people come to Berlin to have a bit of fun. Indeed, the podgy, walking stereotype of a Spaniard I bought my bike from came here for a month’s holiday, and she’s by no means alone. The chances are that if you’re reading this, you’ll be thinking about coming to Berlin – so do your research.

Berlin’s various areas – Mitte, Fredrichshain, Kreuzberg etc… have incredibly diverse atmospheres, attitudes and prejudices. Hopefully I’ll be able to offer my humble opinion in this blog, but one thing’s for sure – you need a bike.