An interesting article about e-bikes

Slight plug to start with. We wrote a book on cycling in Switzerland some years ago now. It was published by The Cicerone Press in Northern England. Cicerone originally published books about hill walking and mountaineering. Later the company branched out additionally into books about cycle touring and fell running. The company produces a digital newsletter for which we have contributed the odd article. I was just sent the latest version of the newsletter in which there is a article on e-biking in the Alps. Paean of praise would be a better description. We are in process of buying e-bikes or maybe e-trikes so I found the article: https://www.cicerone.co.uk/e-bikes-are-just-for-softies an excellent introduction into using e-bikes. If the £2000 to £3000 price tag of a decent e-bike puts you off buying an e-bike, do not forget that you can hire e-bikes reasonably cheaply in just about all tourist areas on the continent which cuts out the problems of transporting the bikes from home.

Bike Hire in the Moselle Valley

Schaltwerk in Cochem on the Moselle offers a wide range of reasonably priced hire bikes.

Schaltwerk

Ravenestraße 18-20

56812 COCHEM

T: +49(0)2671 60 35 00

info@schaltwerk-bikes.de

www.schaltwerk-bikes.de (In German, use a translation app)

Electro Cargo Bikes for Hire in Cologne

I came to Germany about 40 years ago. At that time most German young men drank beer. If a visitor came round it was usual to offer them a bottle of beer, so every two or three weeks one would buy a crate of beer. In those far off days one normally used a car in order to drive to an out of town supermarket to pick up the beer. Trolleys, bike trailers and cargo bikes were unknown. I did not have a car so would walk round to a local shop and stagger back with 20 bottle crate causing my fingers to gradually numb. These days we drink about a crate of beer annually and now there is a possibilty of hiring an electro-cargo bike, in Cologne at least: www.donk-ee.de.

E-Bike and Special Needs Bicycle Hire in the Danube Valley

The range of bicycles and tricycles available to rent in Germany is growing year by year. We were interested to come across the e-bike-verleih-bogen at a recent bicycle touring fair in Frankfurt recently. Bogen is a small settlement near Straubing on the Danube, north east of Munich. The company offers not only good quality e-bikes, but also a range of vehicles for people who have difficulty with bicycles due to physical impairments. This range includes    

• Electrically assisted Hand Bike with wheelchair seating (ProActiv NJ1)
• The VeloPlus wheelchair transport bike designed to transport people, who remain seated in their own wheelchair, by cycle.
• E-Trike therapy cycle for adults
• Tandem
  
• E-transport bike for children or of course for large dogs.

The company offers both bicycle/tricycle hire and touring holidays based in a hotel in Straubing with wheelchair access. The websites are in German: e-bike-verleih-bogen.de (Hire) and e-bike-radtouren.de (Holiday) but offer photographs of the various bikes/trikes on offer. There is always Google Translator, of course. If you are interested in hiring a bike or two and don't speak or write German just send the company an email in English. In our experience German companies always have somebody on their staff who understands English. 

 

E-Bike and Bicycle Hire in Wertheim, Germany

Wertheim lies on three major German cycle routes: River Main, River Tauber and the Romantic Road, and the extensive Spessart Forest lies to the north. It is no surprise to find that two organisations in the town offer bicycles to hire.

Tourismus Wertheim GmbH
Gerbergasse 16, 97877 Wertheim
T: +49 (0) 93509, www.tourismus-wertheim.de, eMail: info@tourismus-wertheim.de
Opening times April to October:
Mo - Fr: 9:00 - 18:00, Sa: 10:00 -16:00, Sun: 13:00 - 16:00
The tourist information office offers e-bikes from Falter (Range 60km) and from Staiger Range 120km) to hire. Both companies build good quality bicycles. You should remember though that the range is shortened when one uses more power assistance to climb hills. The river routes are relatively flat so one can reach the maximum range, before one needs to pedal without assistance. The good news is that there are now a number of free charging stations in the hillier Spessart Forest: at the moment there only appears to be a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=walderfahren, but a website is in preparation: www.walderfahren.de.
The Falter e-bikes cost:
Half Day: 10€
First Day: 18€
After 3 days: 17€ per day
After a week 15€ per day

The Staiger e-bikes cost:
Half Day: 14€
First Day: 23€
After 3 days: 20€ per day
After a week 17€ per day



Zweirad-Fachgeschäft Baumann
Neben-Neugasse 3-5
97877 Wertheim
Tel: 09342/1214
info@fahrrad-baumann.de
www.fahrrad-baumann.de

Opening times:
Mo - Fr: 9.00 - 12.00 and 14.00 - 18.00
Sa: 9.00 - 13.00 
At present we have no information about bikes, prices, etc.

Although this would be a good place to hire a bike to ride the Romantic Road, remember that you will need to return the bike to Wertheim at the end of the holiday. One possibility would be to take the Romantic Road Coach (bus) from Füssen to Wertheim Village, but this would mean stopping another night in Wertheim at the end of the holiday. If you decide to do this then take a side trip by bus or train to visit Würzburg which should not be missed.

Ten days on an e-bike

For a number of reasons we decided recently to hire e-bikes to follow the Rhine, Moselle, Marne-Rhine Canal, Rhine loop we have christened the "Riesling Route". There were three of us all on sturdy touring e-bikes hired from Bellorange in Edenkoben, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

Sturdy touring e-bikes

One of our number had never seen the Rhine Gorge or visited Trier, Nancy or Strasbourg. Our time was limited so we took a train from Mannheim to Mainz. We booked all accommodation in advance, becausr the Moselle Valley is a popular tourist destination in early autumn, due to the wine festivals and the grape picking. In addition it is more difficult to find rooms for three people than one room for a couple.

We felt it was better to take a steamer through part of the Rhine Gorge. Sightseeing is easier.

After Boppard, cycling again.

We also took some time off in Trier. Germany's oldest city needs more than a quick half hour's rubbernecking. To make up the time taken we took a train to Perl to enable us to get to Thionville before dark, where we'd booked a room. The Moselle Cycle Path is excellent and well signposted between Schengen and Arnaville. After Arnaville a rough canal towpath can be followed as far as Plagny sur Moselle where we took the train to Nancy. The recommended cycle route to the city follows the main road and is not pleasant to cycle. Taking the train meant we also had time to look at Nancy.

One of the better bits of the towpath

We cycled along the towpath of the Marne-Rhine Canal without difficulty, much of the towpath has been sealed and tarred. On the next day we climbed over the Vosges on quiet local roads and dropped down the Vallée des Éclusiers - the lockkeepers' valley - past 17 locks and lock keeper's houses. The lower part of the route involves cycling on a viaduct laid in the dewatered canal. Good fun! We reached Strasbourg in the early evening. It was a long day about 80km, but easy because of the electrical assistance and a smooth towpath. The next morning we spent in Strasbourg looking the cathedral and the old city, before following the Euro15 cycle route to Lauterbourg, where we caught a train, free for us as owners of a regional pensioners' season ticket, to Ludwigshafen. The city was chosen as destination as we knew that the lift on Mannheim HBf on our arrival platform was not functioning. The plan was to take the lift at Ludwigshafen Mitte station down to ground level, cross the Rhine and cycle home. The best laid plans do 'gang awae', unfortunately. We found that the lift on our platform was defect and we had to carry the bikes downstairs.

The stairs!

The disadvantage of these e-bikes is their weight. We found the bikes were heavy to lug on and off a ship, but we have become experts at looking helpless and were helped by the crew. All of the trains we took were low level loading, roll on, roll off, so the weight was not really a problem at least as far as the platform. At the majority of stations lifts were available if required.
On the plus side we were not as tired in the evenings as if we'd pedalled a tourer all day. If we met a headwind at the end of the day we turned up the assistance a notch or two. Whether we were much faster is difficult to assess. We were exploring the route for the first time in ten or so years and we spent much time, of necessity, scratching our heads looking at maps. We found on rough towpaths the e-bikes are about as fast as our normal tourers, but I for one was wary of putting the pedal to the metal or turning up the power when a minor mistake could have landed me in the drink. Would we hire e-bikes again? Yes, in the mountains! Would we buy a pair of e-bikes? Probably not! We live on the Rhine Plain and there are few local hills unless we go looking for them.

Questions to ask a bike hire company

If you are planning to hire a bike or an e-bike for a touring holiday then it is worthwhile checking the following points:

• Saddle:  
  • Can you take your own saddle with you and fit it before you leave? 
  • Can you leave the hire company's saddle with the hire company?
• Pedals:
  • If you normally cycle in clip pedals then check whether you can take your own with you and fit them before you leave? This is not as silly as it looks. A friend of ours hired a bike in Ireland some years ago and was surprised to see on arrival that the hire bike had the curved steel rod cranks often fitted to children's bicycles.
• Bags: 
  • Does your favoured bike have a rack? Try and avoid carrying a heavy rucksack on your back.
  • Will it take your brand of panniers?
  • Do you need a pannier? You can always buy bungees or straps to attach a small bag to the rack.
  • Can you attach a bar bag to the handlebars? This is often not possible with e-bikes.
• Locks:
  • Does the hire company offer locks free of charge?
    
  • Are they just the rear wheel frame locks beloved of cycling midwives, as seen on TV?
    
  • Can you hire a better lock so that you can attach the bike/s to a fixed object?
    
• Mudguards/Fenders:
  
  • It does rain in summer in much of Western Europe in spite of the brightly coloured photographs in the tourist office brochures. I realise that bikes with mudguards/fenders don't look as cool as those without, but muddy legs don't look cool either.. Obviously this does not apply if you are going mountain biking and are used to showering with your bike and your clothes after a day out in the hills.
• Helmet:
  
  • Helmet wearing in Europe is not compulsory. In fact in countries with heavy use of bicycles as a means of transport, e.g. Denmark, the Netherlands, it is unusual apart from keenie-beanie road men and women. If you wear a helmet when touring in these countries you run the risk of being thought a German. Some hire companies throw bike helmets in with the deal others charge you a Euro or so a day to hire.
• Punctures:
  
  • It is worth enquiring what to do in case of a puncture? Does the hire company supply a tool kit, a pump and a puncture repair outfit? Bigger supermarkets will sell cheap spanners and puncture repair kits.
• Spare batteries for e-bikes:
  
  • Hire e-bikes see some kilometres in a season, so it is worthwhile trying to pin the hire bike companies down to find out what the typical range of their batteries is to decide whether to hire a spare battery. A spare battery weighs more than a kilogram.

• Water Bottle
• Does the hire bike come with a bottle or a holder? 
• If it's just a holder would your bottle fit in it? 
• Does your pannier and/or rackpack take a bottle?
  

First impressions of an e-bike

We are on reasonable terms with the owner of our local bike bike shop. He has invested heavily in quality e-bikes - Flyer, Kalkhoff and Reise und Müller, to name just a few. He has three or four slightly older Flyers that would-be customers can borrow. The police road safety department in Mannheim our nearest big, well biggish, city offers short e-bike training courses for seniors. We signed up for one and have borrowed two of the Flyers from the bike shop for the course, which is on the Tuesday after Easter. The shop was closed from Good Friday until Easter Monday. We picked the bikes up on Thursday along with a pair of spare batteries. The batteries were old and somewhat ropey with a range of about 40 or so km using a mixture of standard and eco settings. We had a few days to acquaint ourselves with the bikes.

The bikes are eminently sensible hardtail city bikes with adequate baggage racks, hub gears, step over frames and an upright cycling position. They are a wolf in a sheep's clothing. They look like and are as practical as a grannie bike, however once underway one reaches 25kph very quickly even using the eco setting. The bikes are great. Continuous speeds of 20 or even 25 kph are possible against a head wind that would have us travelling at half this speed on a solely human-powered bike. They are eminently suitable for longer local trips.

Will we buy two? Not at the moment.  We have developed a mobility concept that fits our lifestyle well. We walk or cycle within Viernheim, mainly on our Brompton folding bikes or use the local bus. We both have pensioners' travel cards that give us free travel over a wide area once we have purchased them. They cost about €400 annually. For day walks we use our pensioners' travel cards to give us cheap travel into the Odenwald or the Palatinate Forest. Once in the hills the provision of local bus and trains there is good enough to allow us enough flexibility to enjoy linear walks. For multi-day bicycle tours we can use our touring bikes or even our Bromptons.  We do use the car occasionally to travel to places that cannot be reached easily by train or bus, e.g. Dinkelsbühl to talk to the Romantic Road Tourist Authority and for our annual trip to Britain.

We see at least two major problems:

• The bikes are heavy to push or carry on to trains.
• Where would we store them? At the moment our normal bikes are stored in the cellar and I can  just about manage to stagger up and downstairs with them, but Judith finds it just about impossible. We would like to install a bike garage at the front of the house, but we need planning permission for this.   

At the same time I think we will hire e-bikes when they make sense. If we were to write another cycle touring guide an e-bike would be a godsend.

• If Cicerone, the best known British outdoor guide publishers ever asked us to update our Swiss Guide we would only take on the work if we could hire e-bikes.  It is eight or nine years since we wrote the last guides and neither Judith's or my pins have got stronger in this time.
• As we wrote recently the Romantic Road has been extended to include Wertheim and we should investigate the route between Würzburg and Wertheim once the signposting has been redone. In which case I would be tempted to take local train to Würzburg from Mannheim and hire e-bikes there for day.

Bicycle and e-bike hire in the upper Rhine Valley (Southern Rhineland Palatinate, North Baden) in Germany

Bellorange Fahrradverleih offers a range of hire bicycles in the South of Rhineland Palatinate and North Baden (Black Forest) for both short and long periods. The website is in German, but you can check the location of the bike stations, look at prices "Preise" on the website or ring the company on +49 6323 957 423 1,  where you can chat in English. Bikes can be picked up in:

• Edenkoben.
• Bad Bergzabern.
• Wörth.
• Speyer.
• Bad Dürkheim.
• Bad Wildbad.
• Enzklösterle.

Bikes can be returned to other locations. Many hotels in the area offer this company's bikes for hire. Many of the hire sites only have a few bicycles and so, it is necessary to book, at the latest, a few days in advance. For the busy periods, school holidays, public holidays and the like, for example, it is better to book as soon as you can.

There are two sites in Edenkoben, one of which is the company's central warehouse. This is near to the railway station. Bike hire here is at the time of writing 10% cheaper than in the other locations. Need we say more? Information about rail travel in Germany can be found on http://www.bahn.co.uk and local public transport (bus, railway and ferries) in Rhineland Palatinate and Northern Baden-Württemberg  can found on http://www.vrn.de.

Prices are reasonable. There are serious discounts for multi day and for group hire.
The company offers:

• Touring bikes with 8 gear hub gears and a back pedal brake.
• Touring bikes with 24 gear derailleur gears.
• Premium touring bikes with 30 gear derailleur gears.
• Mountain bikes.
• Pedelecs (e-bikes). As long as all goes well we hope we can hire at least two of these bikes to follow the Rhineland Palatinate Route, mentioned last week.
• Trailers for drink crates, dogs and children. Not all at the same time.
• Helmets.
• Gloves and other oddments. 
• Extra batteries for e-bikes.

We have yet to hire from the company, but from our written contact it seems to be well organised. We will report after our trip later in the year.

E-bike hire in Feuchtwangen

Rental- and Service / Prices

E-bikes can be rented from Sporthaus Bräunlein, Marktplatz 11/13. Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 6:30 pm, Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm.Information is also available from Tourist Information Feuchtwangen, Marktplatz 1, 91555 Feuchtwangen, T: 09852 90455, www.feuchtwangen.de

Services

• Fahrradhaus Bräunlein
  Marktplatz 11/13
  91555 Feuchtwangen
  Tel.: 09852 616464
• Fahrrad Schmeißer
  Dorfgütingen 21
  91555 Feuchtwangen
  Tel.: 09852 2348

Rates:

One day 20€

Three days 35€

One week 60€

Tour suggestions can be found under:
http://www.romantisches-franken.de/Homepage/Activities/Biking/Bike_trails
 

Bicycle and e-bike hire in Dinkelsbühl

Bicycles and e.bikes can be hired from: Touristik Service, Altrathausplatz 2, 91550 Dinkelsbühl, 

T:09851 902-440

20 ladies, 10 men's und 5 children's three speed bicycles are available to rent, but no helmets.

E-bikes can be hired from the same office:

Rates:

One day 20€

Three days 35€

One week 60€

There is a free charging point in Dinkelsbühl at the Haus der Geschichte, Altrathausplatz 14.

Open Hours: Dinkelsbühl tourist office is open Monday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, May to October

The tourist office has tour suggestions. Check out http://alpregio.outdooractive.com/ar-romant-str-gesel/en/alpregio.jsp#lat=49.06801800732449&lng=10.268096923828125&z=12&mt=0&tab=WelcomeTab

Danube Cycle Way: Hire bikes for a one way trip between Passau and Vienna

We've just spent a few days in Austria cycling down the Tauern Cycle Path from 1100 or so m down to Passau on the Danube. As usual I took the chance to check out bike hire facilities on the way. In Passau we found the Fahrradklinik (www.fahrradklinik-passau.de) in the old town not far from the Danube Suspension Bridge.  This shop has an innovative bike hire policy and rents high quality bikes with puncture proof tyres and in part Rohloff 14 speed hub gears. These are better bikes than we have at home. The company also offers bike trailers, Ortlieb panniers, tandems and e-bikes. Prices seem reasonable to us starting at 13€ a day for one day hire and 70€ for a week for the normal bikes. E-bikes and tandems cost twice as much. The real clincher though is that the shop offers one way hire to the edge of Vienna for 29€ extra. The shop also offers repair and service of your steeds.

Fahrradklinik,
Bräugasse 10
94032 Passau
T: +49 (0) 851 33411

eMail: info@fahrradklinik-passau.de

There is a second shop in Passau in addition to Fahrradklinik offering one way hire bikes for the trip down the Danube as far as Vienna: Bikehaus. This organisation will pick up bikes from hotels and B&Bs along the route. Prices are much the same as those from Fahrradklinik: One Day: 13€, One Week 70€. Pickup prices are slighly higher than Fahrradklinik at 35€ per bike, but the company will pick up their bikes from any hotel or B&B en route between Passau and Vienna whereas Fahrradklinik uses one hotel near Vienna. The bicycles have only 8 gear Shimano hub gears rather than the fourteen speed Rohloffs offered by Fahrradklinik. The hire base is in part of the Hauptbahnhof (railway station) in Passau. Opening hours in season are surprisingly long for Germany: 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm every day of the week including public holidays! The company also offers a repair service and sells spare parts, tyres, maps, panniers, clothing and drinks.

Bikehaus
Bahnhofstraße 29
94032 Passau
T:  +49 (0) 851 - 966 25 70
Mobile: +49 (0) 151 - 1283 4224
E-Mail:  info@bikehaus.de

e-bikes in Saarland II

To order a free of charge folding map with cycling tour suggestions, rental stations and other useful information, please call the tourist authority on 0049 (0) 681 927200 or email info@tz-s.de or check http://www.visitsaarland.co.uk/en/evelo-saarland-1. Saarbrücken, the starting point for many of the suggested tours is easy to reach via its own airport and Luxembourg and Hahn airports. You can also take a TGV or an ICE from Paris. 

This is the only e-bike rental company in Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland. Most visitors to Saarland will pass through the city. Check with the company before you arrive. There are obviously a limited number of bikes to hire. 

by.schulz GmbH
Vorstadtstrasse 53
66117 Saarbrücken

Tel: 0681 / 925 52 52
Fax: 0681 / 925 52 53
Mail: info@bikes-ebikes.de
Web: http://www.bikes-ebikes.de

Schulz and Co offer Swiss built Flyers. The website is in German, I am afraid. (Hint Google Translator)

Rental costs for e-Bikes:

Half day EUR 12
One day EUR 20
Weekend all-inclusive price EUR 35 (from Friday 1 pm to Monday 1 pm)
For seven days: EUR 110

If you have ten days to two weeks to spare  you could pick up an e-bike in Saarbrücken, explore Saarland, Luxembourg and part of Lorraine or what I would be tempted to do is follow the Saar Coal Canal down to the Marne-Rhine Canal, where little added e-power is needed. Then cross over the Vosges where assistance is useful and look at the Inclined Plane in St Louis Arzviller, before cycling across to Strasbourg. After Strasbourg I'd head north through Speyer, Heidelberg, Worms, Mainz and Bingen to cycle through the Rhine Gorge with its castles and vineyards. In Koblenz you can turn left to follow the Moselle upstream to Trier, Germany's oldest city, founded by the Romans. The e-bike is very useful in the Moselle Valley as the cycle route climbs up and down the valley sides. Finally you reach Saarland again and can follow the Saar to Saarbrücken. 

E-Bike Hire in the high portion of the Black Forest around Hinterzarten

The Black Forest features some serious climbs and some of us who are long in years are beginning to think about renting an e-bike, rather than our usual technique of cheating by sticking to river valleys and even taking to the train or bus to ascend the hills. Over the next few weeks we will try to list those hotels, organisations and shops who rent out e-bikes in the Black Forest. We will also try to mention in addition whether a hire company has normal bikes in case you have purists or keeny-beanies in your party. There are over two hundred e-bike charging points in the Black Forest and a goodly number of hire points. While your bike is charging you can lunch or eat a serious sized portion of Black Forest gateau. (All of the portions of BFG in this neck of the woods are enormous.) Obviously you need to check beforehand whether your hire point has bikes available and whether in the case of a hotel the management is prepared to hire to non-guests. You will need a passport or identity card and probably a returnable deposit to hire the bikes in addition to the rental fee.

Müllers an der Staumauer Boots-/Fahrrad-verleih, 79856 Schluchsee	T: +49(0)1703803299, www.staumauer-schluchsee.de	Daily 10-18:00, Closed November to Easter	8 E-Bikes 1/2 Day 15€ Day 25€
Gasthof Grüner Baum, Bärhalder 2, 79868 Feldberg-Altglashütte	T: +49(0)7655 932227, www.gruerbaum-feldberg.de	Daily from 12:00, Restaurant Ruhetag Monday and Tuesday opens at 18:00	2 E-Bikes 1/2 Day 15€ Day 25€
Hotel Kesslermühle, Erlenbrucker Str 45, 79856 Hinterzarten	T: +49(0)7652 1290 www.kesslermuehle.de	Daily closed Mid November for four weeks	2 E-Bikes 1/2 Day 12€ Day 19€
Erfurth's Bergfriedhof, Sickinger Str 28, 79856 Hinterzarten	T: +49(0)7652 1280 www.bergfriedhof.de	Daily 09-18:00	2 E-Bikes 1/2 Day 15€ Day 19€
Hotel Thomahof Erlenbrucker Str 16 79856 Hinterzarten	T: +49(0)7652 1230 www.thomahof.de	Daily	2 E-Bikes 1/2 Day 14€ Day 19€
Landhotel Haringerhof, Brandhaldenweg 1, 79865 Grafenhausen	T: +49(0)7748 254 www.landhotel-haringerhof.de	Friday to Wednesday 10-24:00, Closed Thursdays	2 E-Bikes 1/2 Day 10€ Day18€
Restaurant Sonnhof, Schwarzwaldstr 9, 79777 Ühlingen-Birkend.	T: +49(0)7743 92010 www.sonnenhof-sonnhalde.de	Monday to Sunday 10-21:00	2 E-Bikes 1/2 Day 9€ Day 16€

Bicycle Hire and E-Bike Hire in Oberstdorf, Allgäu, Bavaria, Germany

Skiers know Oberstdorf and the nearby Austrian Klein Walser Valley as major winter sports centres, the site of a ski jump arena and a number of cable cars and chairlifts.

In summer it is a good area for mountain biking, cycle touring with or without E-bikes. The glaciated landscape with hanging valleys and moraines means that there are many short steep climbs interspersed with longer more gentle ones. Judicious use of the power control on a pedelec could make cycling a lot more pleasant. Local pubs and cafes offer free charging while you enjoy lunch or snack. We are here enjoying a few days walking in between the rain and snow storms, but took the chance to check out the town's bike hire facilities.

Zweirad Center Hasselberger, Hauptstraße 7, 87561Oberstdorf, T: +49(0)8322 4467, F: +49(0)8322 8932 has touring bikes (9€/day), mountain bikes (12€/day) and E-bikes (20€/day) for hire.

There is a Movelo hire point offering Swiss Flyer bikes. These have the advantage that 26 hotels, cafes, campsites and bike parks in the region will exchange your exhausted Movelo battery for a freshly charged one free of charge, which means you can spend more time touring and less time sitting on a terrace in the sun looking at the mountains. The company also offers E-bikes from other manufacturers: Focus and Kalkhoff and a large range of special vehicles: E-mountain bikes, trikes, tandems, tandem trikes, electro wheel chairs, sociables, bike wheelchair combinations, children's trailers, children's seats and dog trailers.

E-Bike Verleihcenter Oberstdorf, Bahnhofsplatz 1 a, 87561 Oberstdorf, T:  +49(0)8322 95290, F: +49(0)8322 95290, info@e-bike-allgaeu.de, www.e-bike-allgaeu.de (only in German), Open daily including on public holidays from 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm. Opposite the railway station.

E-Bike Hire in the Black Forest in Bad Säckingen

The Black Forest features some serious climbs and those of us who are long in years are beginning to think about renting an e-bike, rather than our usual technique of cheating by sticking to river valleys and even taking to the train or bus to ascend the hills. Over the next few weeks we will try to list those hotels, organisations and shops who rent out e-bikes in the Black Forest. We will also try to mention in addition whether a hire company has normal bikes in case you have purists or keeny-beanies in your party. There are over two hundred e-bike charging points in the Black Forest and a goodly number of hire points. While your bike is charging you can lunch or eat a serious sized portion of Black Forest gateau. (All of the portions of BFG in this neck of the woods are enormous.) Obviously you need to check beforehand whether your hire point has bikes available and whether in the case of a hotel the management is prepared to hire to non-guests. You will need a passport or identity card and probably a returnable deposit to hire the bikes in addition to the rental fee.

Where	Tel/Internet	Open	Comment
Tourist Office, Tourismus GmbH, Rheinbrückstr 48 79713 Bad Säckingen	T: +49(0)7761 5534523 www.badsaeckingen.de	Daily 8-13:00, 14-19:00	10 E-Bikes 3h: 10€ Day 19€

E-Bike Hire in the Black Forest (Germany) near Basel (Switzerland)

The Black Forest features some serious climbs and those of us who are long in years are beginning to think about renting an e-bike, rather than our usual technique of cheating by sticking to river valleys and even taking to the train or bus to ascend the hills. Over the next few weeks we will try to list those hotels, organisations and shops who rent out e-bikes in the Black Forest. We will also try to mention in addition whether a hire company has normal bikes in case you have purists or keeny-beanies in your party. There are over two hundred e-bike charging points in the Black Forest and a goodly number of hire points. While your bike is charging you can lunch or eat a serious sized portion of Black Forest gateau. (All of the portions of BFG in this neck of the woods are enormous.) Obviously you need to check beforehand whether your hire point has bikes available and whether in the case of a hotel the management is prepared to hire to non-guests. You will need a passport or identity card and probably a returnable deposit to hire the bikes in addition to the rental fee.

Where	Tel/Internet	Open	Comment
Stadt Neuenburg am Rhein, Rathausplatz 5, 79395 Neuenburg am Rhein	T:+49(0)7631 7910 www.neuenburg.de (in German)	Mon, Tue, Th, Fri 9-16:00 Wed: 9-18:30 Sat: 10-12:00	4 E-bikes
Pappelhof, 79415 Bad Bellingen	T: +49(0)7635 81130 www.pappelhof-badbellingen.de	Daily: 9-18:00 Closed on Sundays	4 E-bikes Half day: 10€ Day: 16€
Schwarzwälder Hof, Von Andlaw Str 9, 79415 Bad Bellingen	T: +49(0)7635 81080 www.ebike-bellingen.de	Daily 8-18:00	30 E-bikes Half day: 10€ Day: 16€
follow me, Bahnhofstraße 1 79539 Lörrach	T: +49(0)7621 165551 www.fome.de	Mon-Sat 9-18:00 Closed on Sundays	15 E-bikes Half day: 17€ Day 22€ Other bikes available

E-Bike Hire on the western edge of the Black Forest near Kaiserstuhl and Freiburg

The Black Forest features some serious climbs and those of us who are long in years are beginning to think about renting an e-bike, rather than our usual technique of cheating by sticking to river valleys and even taking to the train or bus to ascend the hills. Over the next few weeks we will try to list those hotels, organisations and shops who rent out e-bikes in the Black Forest. We will also try to mention in addition whether a hire company has normal bikes in case you have purists or keeny-beanies in your party. There are over two hundred e-bike charging points in the Black Forest and a goodly number of hire points. While your bike is charging you can lunch or eat a serious sized portion of Black Forest gateau. (All of the portions of BFG in this neck of the woods are enormous.) Obviously you need to check beforehand whether your hire point has bikes available and whether in the case of a hotel the management is prepared to hire to non-guests. You will need a passport or identity card and probably a returnable deposit to hire the bikes in addition to the rental fee.

Where	Tel/Internet	Open	Comment
Radhaus Schulz Friedrichstr 54 77955 Ettenheim	T: +49(0)782 21493 www.rad-schulz.de	Mon-Fri 09:00-13:00 & 14:00-19:00pm Sat:09:00-14:00	6 e-bikes Half day 15€ Day 20€
Peter Ssch, Reifen-Zweirad-Zubehör Elszwiesen 2 79365 Rheinhausen	T: +49(0)7643 6906	Mon-Fri 09:00-12:00 & 13:00-18:30pm Sat 09:00-13:00	20 e-bikes Half day From 13€ Day From 20€
Kaiserstühler Verkehrsbüro (Tourist Information) Adelshof 20, 79346 Endingen	T: +49(0)7642 689990 www.endingen.de	Mon-Fri 09:00-12:30 & 14:30-18:00 Sat 10:00-13:00	4 e-bikes Half day 15€ Day 21€
Hotel Gathof Adler Endinger Str 35 79346 Endingen-Königschafhausen	T:+49(0) 76 42 / 32 12	Mon & Tue From 17:00 Wed-Sun 08:00-22:00	2 e-bikes Half day 16€ Day 21€
Posthotel Kreuz-Post Landstr 1 79235 Vogtsburg-Burkheim	T: +49(0)7662 90910 www.post-kreuz.de	Daily 11:30-23:00	3 e-bikes Half day 14€ Day 21€
Bierhäusle Breisgauer Str 41 79111 Freiburg	T: +49(0)761 88300 www.bierhäusle.de	Open Tue-Sun Closed Sun evening all day Mon	2 e-bikes Half day 15€ Day 25€

E-Bike Hire on the Western Edge of the Black Forest near Offenburg and Strasbourg/Straßburg

The Black Forest features some serious climbs and those of us who are long in years are beginning to think about renting an e-bike, rather than our usual technique of cheating by sticking to river valleys and even taking to the train or bus to ascend the hills. Over the next few weeks we will try to list those hotels, organisations and shops who rent out e-bikes in the Black Forest. We will also try to mention in addition whether a hire company has normal bikes in case you have purists or keeny-beanies in your party. There are over two hundred e-bike charging points in the Black Forest and a goodly number of hire points. While your bike is charging you can lunch or eat a serious sized portion of Black Forest gateau. (All of the portions of BFG in this neck of the woods are enormous.) Obviously you need to check beforehand whether your hire point has bikes available and whether in the case of a hotel the management is prepared to hire to non-guests. You will need a passport or identity card and probably a returnable deposit to hire the bikes in addition to the rental fee.

Where	Tel/Internet	Open	Comment
Vier Jahreszeiten Almstr 49 77770 Durbach	T: +49(0)781 932010 www.vierjahreszeiten-durbach.de	Mon-Sun 6:30am-11pm	2 E-Bikes  Day 25€  Second day 20€
Zweirad Experte Evers Freiberger Str 9 77652 Offenburg	T: +49(0)78124998 www.zweiradexperte-evers.de	Mon-Fri 9:30am-6:30pm Sat: 9:30-4:30pm	5 E-Bikes Half Day 20€ Day 30€
Sparkassen-Garage, City Parkhaus,  Gustav-Ree-Anlage 2 77652 Offenburg	T: +49(0)781 76253	Mon-Sat 7am-8pm	12 E-Bikes Day 12€ With KONUS Card: 8€ Short term loan of unpowered bicycles free of charge.
fahrrad magazin Ortenbergerstr 6-8 77652 Offenburg	T: +49(0)781 9481396 www.fahrradmagazin.de	Mon-Fri 9:30am-1pm & 2pm-6:30pm Sat: 9am-4pm	5 E-Bikes Half Day 25€ Day From 35€ Week From 150€ Month From 300€ The shop also offers a wide range of unpowered bicycles to hire.

The Fahrrad magazin shop is moderately expensive, but you can hire for a week and return the bikes on the day after the hire period up to 12pm at no extra charge. Their hire e-bikes may well be Flyers - high quality expensive Swiss products. In a week you could probably visit a lot of the Black Forest, eat your weight in cream cakes and carry all the cuckoo clocks you choose to buy. It's worth thinking about for week's holiday. There are local regional airports in Baden-Baden, Strasbourg and Basel with good public transport connections to Offenburg and it's not that far to Frankfurt International. You could also take Eurostar, TGV to Strasbourg and then a local train to Offenburg in about seven hours from London.

An electrically assisted trip around the Black Forest may well be on the Forsyth list of things to do this year. We have wanted to try out an e-bike for five years now