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digitalmars.D - DConf 2017 Berlin - bicycles

reply Adrian Matoga <dlang.spam matoga.info> writes:
I'm arriving at Berlin Ostbahnhof on Wednesday evening and will 
be heading to Britz Hotel, but last year I learnt that the best 
way to get around the city is on a bicycle. Can you recommend a 
place (preferably near the station) where I could rent a 
not-so-small bike for 4 days for a reasonable price?
Thanks!
Apr 19 2017
next sibling parent reply Fool <fool dlang.org> writes:
No personal experience, but

  http://www.yaambike.de/

sounds like an option.
Apr 19 2017
parent Adrian Matoga <dlang.spam matoga.info> writes:
On Wednesday, 19 April 2017 at 19:03:40 UTC, Fool wrote:

 No personal experience, but

  http://www.yaambike.de/

 sounds like an option.


Looks good, thanks.
Apr 19 2017
prev sibling next sibling parent reply Walter Bright <newshound2 digitalmars.com> writes:
On 4/19/2017 11:22 AM, Adrian Matoga wrote:

 I'm arriving at Berlin Ostbahnhof on Wednesday evening and will be heading to
 Britz Hotel, but last year I learnt that the best way to get around the city is
 on a bicycle. Can you recommend a place (preferably near the station) where I
 could rent a not-so-small bike for 4 days for a reasonable price?
 Thanks!



I personally found that the transit system in Berlin was excellent. You can buy 
a 3 day pass from the ticket machines, it's under "Tourist Fahrkarte" if I 
remember correctly.
Apr 19 2017
parent reply Adrian Matoga <dlang.spam matoga.info> writes:
On Wednesday, 19 April 2017 at 20:13:52 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:

 On 4/19/2017 11:22 AM, Adrian Matoga wrote:

 I'm arriving at Berlin Ostbahnhof on Wednesday evening and 
 will be heading to
 Britz Hotel, but last year I learnt that the best way to get 
 around the city is
 on a bicycle. Can you recommend a place (preferably near the 
 station) where I
 could rent a not-so-small bike for 4 days for a reasonable 
 price?
 Thanks!



 I personally found that the transit system in Berlin was 
 excellent. You can buy a 3 day pass from the ticket machines, 
 it's under "Tourist Fahrkarte" if I remember correctly.


It is! In many discussions about public transport, Berlin is 
mentioned as an example that should be followed, and I must agree 
with that after a few rides I had.
Apr 19 2017
parent reply Steven Schveighoffer <schveiguy yahoo.com> writes:
On 4/20/17 1:29 AM, Adrian Matoga wrote:

 On Wednesday, 19 April 2017 at 20:13:52 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:

 On 4/19/2017 11:22 AM, Adrian Matoga wrote:

 I'm arriving at Berlin Ostbahnhof on Wednesday evening and will be
 heading to
 Britz Hotel, but last year I learnt that the best way to get around
 the city is
 on a bicycle. Can you recommend a place (preferably near the station)
 where I
 could rent a not-so-small bike for 4 days for a reasonable price?
 Thanks!



 I personally found that the transit system in Berlin was excellent.
 You can buy a 3 day pass from the ticket machines, it's under "Tourist
 Fahrkarte" if I remember correctly.


 It is! In many discussions about public transport, Berlin is mentioned
 as an example that should be followed, and I must agree with that after
 a few rides I had.


After the bike tour I had last year, I can 100% agree that having a bike 
is a fabulous way to get around the city quickly. You can ride the 
subway with your bike (although IIRC, you need to buy a ticket for it), 
but the thing that makes Berlin so accessible via bike is that it's 
totally flat. Those 10 minute walks become 1 minute rides, and it's a 
very bike-friendly city. I mused while riding around that the tour would 
be nearly impossible, or at least a huge workout if we did something 
like that in Boston :)

That being said, as a non-German speaker, I have no idea where the best 
place to rent a bike is. David Eckhardt figured it all out and 
negotiated with the bike shop that he found right down the street from 
the Ibis. This is after I walked a couple miles to 2 different bike 
shops to find out they were all sold out. I know there are places to 
rent bikes from an automated machine, then you can return them to one of 
those machines, but not sure if there are any in the area Dconf is 
happening.

Glad you are coming, Adrian, looking forward to seeing you again!

-Steve
Apr 21 2017
parent reply Adrian Matoga <dlang.spam matoga.info> writes:
On Friday, 21 April 2017 at 13:37:17 UTC, Steven Schveighoffer 
wrote:

 After the bike tour I had last year, I can 100% agree that 
 having a bike is a fabulous way to get around the city quickly. 
 You can ride the subway with your bike (although IIRC, you need 
 to buy a ticket for it), but the thing that makes Berlin so 
 accessible via bike is that it's totally flat. Those 10 minute 
 walks become 1 minute rides, and it's a very bike-friendly 
 city. I mused while riding around that the tour would be nearly 
 impossible, or at least a huge workout if we did something like 
 that in Boston :)


I don't know about Boston, but I've heard many times that Lisbon 
was too hilly to ride a bike there, but in reality it wasn't all 
that bad (well, maybe on the hottest summer days), and in recent 
years the city council has been investing in dedicated 
infrastructure to improve it. I guess people will always find 
excuses. :)
Warsaw, where I live now, is almost just as flat as Berlin and 
quite pleasant to ride around, especially in spring and summer (I 
rarely choose the shortest way home), but it's not as 
bike-friendly yet for other reasons. Cities like Berlin are a 
live explanation of the term "critical mass" – there's just 
enough people on bikes so they're treated as normal and respected 
in the streets, unlike in Polish cities where riding to work is 
still considered eccentric and casual cyclists are thought of as 
traffic obstacles, members of leftist sects, or just too poor to 
own a car.


 Glad you are coming, Adrian, looking forward to seeing you 
 again!


Yeah, can't wait to hear your talk on iopipe! :)
Apr 21 2017
parent reply Walter Bright <newshound2 digitalmars.com> writes:
On 4/21/2017 2:10 PM, Adrian Matoga wrote:

 I don't know about Boston, but I've heard many times that Lisbon was too hilly
 to ride a bike there, but in reality it wasn't all that bad (well, maybe on the
 hottest summer days),


I grew up in Phoenix, and rode my bike everywhere. It's completely flat, so 
you'd think it'd be easy. But there was always a wind, and biking upwind is 
worse than biking up a hill.

Many times I idly thought about rigging a sail on my bike.
Apr 21 2017
parent Bastiaan Veelo <Bastiaan Veelo.net> writes:
On Saturday, 22 April 2017 at 01:41:25 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:

 Many times I idly thought about rigging a sail on my bike.


Not a bad idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdfE4-hjrWA
Apr 23 2017
prev sibling parent reply Iain Buclaw via Digitalmars-d <digitalmars-d puremagic.com> writes:
On 19 April 2017 at 20:22, Adrian Matoga via Digitalmars-d
<digitalmars-d puremagic.com> wrote:

 I'm arriving at Berlin Ostbahnhof on Wednesday evening and will be heading
 to Britz Hotel, but last year I learnt that the best way to get around the
 city is on a bicycle. Can you recommend a place (preferably near the
 station) where I could rent a not-so-small bike for 4 days for a reasonable
 price?
 Thanks!


Almost every single bike shop you stumble across in Berlin offers
rentals, all pretty much at the same price of around 10€ a day.  If
you have a native german to help you, maybe you'll even get a swindled
deal.

However, the one notable thing that has changed from last year is that
there's a new competitor in the form of a Lidl bike.  I've seen
literally hundreds of them inside the Berlin S-bahn ring, one major
advantage of using them is that they don't need a dedicated docking
station for you to park them in.

I'll just refer to this blog on the more fine grain details.

https://schnaeppchenfuchs.com/news/lidl-bike-berlin

Looks like they even come with a GPS locator, which probably is used
for DB's smartphone app.

https://www.lidl-bike.de/de/rad-finden

Iain.
Apr 21 2017
parent Adrian Matoga <dlang.spam matoga.info> writes:
On Friday, 21 April 2017 at 16:49:36 UTC, Iain Buclaw wrote:

 On 19 April 2017 at 20:22, Adrian Matoga via Digitalmars-d 
 <digitalmars-d puremagic.com> wrote:

 I'm arriving at Berlin Ostbahnhof on Wednesday evening and 
 will be heading
 to Britz Hotel, but last year I learnt that the best way to 
 get around the
 city is on a bicycle. Can you recommend a place (preferably 
 near the
 station) where I could rent a not-so-small bike for 4 days for 
 a reasonable
 price?
 Thanks!


 Almost every single bike shop you stumble across in Berlin 
 offers rentals, all pretty much at the same price of around 10€ 
 a day.  If you have a native german to help you, maybe you'll 
 even get a swindled deal.

 However, the one notable thing that has changed from last year 
 is that there's a new competitor in the form of a Lidl bike.  
 I've seen literally hundreds of them inside the Berlin S-bahn 
 ring, one major advantage of using them is that they don't need 
 a dedicated docking station for you to park them in.

 I'll just refer to this blog on the more fine grain details.

 https://schnaeppchenfuchs.com/news/lidl-bike-berlin

 Looks like they even come with a GPS locator, which probably is 
 used for DB's smartphone app.

 https://www.lidl-bike.de/de/rad-finden


Good idea, I'll try to find one before I look for some 
"traditional" rental. I'm only afraid that as a sort of public 
bikes they're all in a "normalized" size which probably won't be 
safe for me – I sometimes ride nextbike bikes here in Warsaw 
(this year they look exactly the same as in Berlin) and they kill 
my knees very quickly.

I really wanted to take my own bike but the train operator sucks 
– there's only one train in the timetable that allows bicycles 
and it's at 6am and costs twice as much as the one in the 
afternoon.
Apr 21 2017