E-bikes on the Berlin to Copenhagen Route

The organisers of the Berlin-Copenhagen Cycle Route (http://www.bike-berlin-copenhagen.com) have put out a booklet called "Grenzenlos vernetzt" "Exploring the Berlin-Copenhagen Bikeway by Pedelec" which lists 57 points on the cycle route - cafés, hostels, camp sites and hotels where e-bikers can charge their steeds. Normally there is a small charge unless you stopping in the accommodation. Although the hard types who can cycle up the side of houses are probably wondering why you need an e-bike to cycle across flat landscapes. It is true that Denmark is remarkably flat. The highest hill in Denmark is lower than the highest hill in the Netherlands. However the wind in Denmark can blow as strongly  and as long as its Dutch equivalent. Hills finish at 8,848m (29,029') the height of Mount Everest, but the wind can blow for weeks. It is not such a daft idea after all to take an e-bike.

Hire a bike in Berlin and drop it off in Copenhagen

If you hire a car in Madrid and wish to drive to Oslo, you can leave it in Oslo at a branch of the company. It will cost you a few pounds/dollars/euro/krone more, but you can do it. Normally it is not possible to rent a bike in one place and return it somewhere else. We have written about this problem recently.

We are planning a tour along part of the Berlin-Copenhagen cycle route and by chance I discovered that you can rent a bicycle in Copenhagen and return it in Berlin or vice versa. 

Fahrradstation (a Berlin bike hire company) in collaboration with MTB-Tour (Værløse, Copenhagen) offers the opportunity to rent a reliable bicycle in Berlin to ride this beautiful and famous international cycle route and then easily return it in Copenhagen. As well as the other way round!  You can enjoy a one-way ride without worrying about returning the bike to the starting point.

Choose your two-wheeler among a range of:

• trekking bikes
• mountain bikes
• e-bikes

but also childrens' bikes and tandems!

Bike	7 Days	10 Days	14 Days
MTB	€ 199,-	€ 229,-	€ 259,-
Trekking Bike	€ 199,-	€ 229,-	€ 259,-
E-Bike	€ 299,-	€ 349,-	399,-
Child's Bike		€ 169,-
Tandem			€ 399,-

For any further information and for reservation, contact Fahrradstation  at berlincopenhagen@fahrradstation.de.

Cargo bikes in Berlin

There is another aspect of cycling as well as the Berlin-Copenhagen Cycle Route that links the two cities: The popularity of cargo bikes. Cargo bikes are often to be seen on the streets of both cities. Denmark is home to a number of major cargo bike manufacturers: Bullit, Christiana, for example.
An almost parallel society of enthusiasts has blossomed in Berlin. The Berliner Lastenrad-Netzwerk (Berlin Cargo Bike Network) has a mobile workshop to help groups build cargo bikes or modify conventional bikes. Its website: www.werkstatt-lastenrad.de features films on the building of and plans for cargo bikes. All this information is in German. If you want more information use the contact details on the website and drop the folks an eMail in English.
The Lastenrad-Fans Berlin (http://preview.tinyurl.com/d4zepuf) meet once a month to cycle round the city to encourage the city fathers to build wider cycle paths and offer safe parking areas for these bikes.
Unlike Copenhagen there does not yet appear to be a manufacturer of cargo bikes, but in a city like Berlin that is very open to new ideas, it won't be that long before somebody starts to manufacture.

A Bullit cargo bike amongst the messengers' bikes at the City Museum in Copenhagen

Copenhagen by the harbour

A parking area in Copenhagen especially for cargo bikes

A winter excursion to Copenhagen Part I

Deutsche Bahn (DB) German Railways offer BahnCards - a range of reduced price cards giving substantial discounts on travel. One of the side benefits of buying a card is that you are offered a cheap trip to a specific destination from time to time. Recently we were offered a trip to Copenhagen and decided since this is probably the most cyclist-friendly city in the world, it would be a good place to exercise our Bromptons. In addition because we would be travelling on ICEs, we could check out the ease of travel with a folding bicycle on German high speed trains.

We took the midmorning ICE from Mannheim to Hamburg via Hanover which takes about four and a half hours to reach Hamburg. We had two seats in the middle of the open plan section of the first or second generation stock which was ideal, near to the luggage stand and with room between the seats to slip in a Brompton. We had 50 minutes or so to change trains in Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, but were rather surprised to see a very short ICE-TD with just four carriages arrive to take us to Copenhagen. Normally ICEs are nine or ten carriages long. However anything longer than four carriages would not fit on the ferry. Again the train was full, but there was room enough between seats to store the bikes. If we had needed we could stored them on luggage racks in the middle of the train.

The run from Hamburg to the German ferry port at Puttgarden is pleasant enough through Holstein. Passengers must leave the train once it arrives on the ship. The trip on ship was not so exciting. It was a pitch black November night and so we did not see anything. The ship's journey takes 45 minutes which is just enough time to eat a moderately expensive snack, or hit the duty free shop to buy chocolate, beer and spirits. Our Danish train conductor announced that due to urgent bridge repairs that we would transfer to a bus to Copenhagen in Nykobing. This went well and there was no problem popping the bikes and our bags in the lockers under the bus.

We arrived at the central station Københavns Hovedbanegård at about 20:30 on cold windy pitch night. The cycling facilities in Copenhagen are mind boggling, e.g. wide physically separate cycleways and green wave traffic lights for cyclists. We suspect that any British, American or even German cyclist cycling around Copenhagen would think they had popped their clogs and gone to heaven. However we are from the North of England, so any chance to complain should be taken: There are no town plans on display in the station and thus no cycle routes on display. We needed to go the south of the city to the Amager Youth Hostel. Fortunately drawing on many years of carrying out research for our cycle touring guide books, we had a city plan tucked in the back of a guide book and had googled and printed out the approach to the Youth Hostel. We peered out of various entrances, managed to orientate ourselves with the help of the lights of the Tivoli pleasure gardens and studied our maps. We worked out our route and moved out. It was Saturday night. Road traffic was fairly heavy. There are few signposts for cyclists, but we had no trouble getting out of the centre and across the Langebro bridge over the harbour canal. We turned off into a area of tenements still on a cycle track and then got lost. In the ensuing efforts to find our way we lost the guide book, but not the map. Finally we found our way past the university campus to the hostel. 

Bike Hire in Copenhagen

We were most impressed with the cycling facilities in Copenhagen. If you land in the city while  touring without a bike, a good way of experiencing la dolche vita à la Copenhagen is to hire a bike. This company offers guided tours and bikes to hire on a daily basis. We used our trusty Bromptons the last time we were there, so we have not hired from the company, but I was quite impressed with the no nonsense approach shown on its website.

Bike Mike

Email: bikecopenhagenwithmike@gmail.com - best way to get in contact with Bike Mike

Phone: (45) 26 39 56 88

Web: http://www.bikecopenhagenwithmike.dk/

Address for Bike Mike tour base - meeting point for all Bike Mike tours:
Sankt Peders Stræde 47
1453 Copenhagen
Denmark