Cycling UK Forum

It is not so much "no go", more like "don't know". You cannot reserve a bike space on Belgian IC trains, and you cannot purchase a Belgian bike ticket on the DB website, so DB do not include information on bike provision on Belgian trains.

In this case "Don't know" certainly equals "No go", since if it doesn't show a connection you won't find out about it. I also have to disagree with the reason you give for this behaviour (having also just double checked that nothing has changed on the DB website). It shows the connections from Berlin to Amsterdam if you click on the option to take a bicycle, even though you can't book the cycle place online.

On the other hand, if you try for Aachen to Brussels (with bike), it'll show you a 6hr connection with several changes (via Nijmegen in NL) even though it knows of the 2hr connection via Walkenraedt (which shows up if you unclick the cycle option, even though cycles are carried on this connection).

As implied above, it also shows connections on Dutch ICs, even though, just as in Belgium, cycle places are unbookable and the cycling ticket for the journey is unavailable on the DB site. The lack of purchasability hasn't prevented the presentation of the information about connections for the NL, yet something has for BE.

Clearly the technical reason is that the data regarding bikes on Belgian IC trains has, for whatever reason, not been entered into HAFAS (or whatever it's called nowadays), but the end result is that the DB website can't be used as a solid source for taking bikes on non-DB trains, particularly outside of Germany, and travelers with bikes would do well to, as you suggest, use the railways website of whatever country/company you want to travel through/with.

PS As yet another tangential aside, the Man in Seat 61 has also started including information about bike carriage to and between European destinations - haven't checked for a while so don't know how up to date or comprehensive his information is: https://www.seat61.com/bike-by-train.htm

PPS I like the picture - nice cycle places for an IC, Britain and Germany (et al) should learn from that!

To give an (unrequested, but possibly of interest) answer for the middle situation (not as bad as UK, not as good as NL): in Berlin red-light jumping is rampant.

The situation there is much better than most of the UK: cycling provision is superior, but not enough to make it safe. Drivers are aggressive, but nowhere near as aggressive as most urban situations I've experienced in the UK.

When I lived in Berlin, I found myself watching the pedestrian lights and moving off before the vehicle lights went green (pedestrians going ahead have the green light at the same time as vehicles going ahead/turning off) - the few seconds between the little green man (sic) lighting up and the main traffic lights turning green meant I was over the crossing before any driver tried to side-swipe me as they turned right. Ditto if I wanted to turn left across traffic to avoid having to wait at two sets of lights (that manoeuvre can be very dangerous if you're not familiar with the junction because the various green light flows may be timed differently from what was expected and you might cross traffic from the side or behind before you expect it).

Plus, as axel_knutt points out, in a big city, traffic lights every 50 to 200 metres is a real drag on the knees - particularly if loaded up for a tour. This (along with impatience) is probably the reason for the frequently observed phenomenon of cyclists weaving through pedestrians as they cross the road on pelican and zebra crossings (no, not anything I ever did, but sadly very common there, albeit not prevalent).

The solutions, of course, are green wave / phased traffic lights set to cyclists' average urban speed (13-18kmh?) along with long-distance cycle highways that avoid motor vehicle paths (and thus the need to regulate flows with traffic lights).

Deutsche Bahn's usually reliable website claims no bike-usable services

Bit late to the party, but wanted to share that DB's (often excellent) website is unreliable when it comes to information about whether bikes can be taken on non-DB trains.

I take their information on bike carriage on their own trains as gospel (including their own trains running across borders, eg IC Berlin-Amsterdam), am inclined to believe them when it comes to non-DB trains within Germany but do my own research for non-DB trains outside Germany. Take for example the Belgian ICs: according to DB, it's a no go for unboxed bikes, yet reality is you can take 2 bikes in first and last vestibule.

This is particularly important if you're using the DB website to plan a trip - eg if you want to take a bike from Aachen to a random place in Belgium, DB will say no can do. Yet the canny train-cyclist will know about the Belgian ICs and get the hourly railbus over the border from Aachen to Welkenraedt, then hop on the Eupen-Oostende IC (which conveniently goes through Brussels and on to the channel port for a ferry to Blighty).

If you want to book your bike on the train from Germany to Amsterdam, then you cannot do it online.

Damn, I keep forgetting that you can't book DB international bike reservations online. You can't even do it by phone anymore!

So unless the OP is going through Germany on the way to Jutland, they won't have a chance to try to make a reservation before.

Could the OP perhaps book the journey through Dutch trains ns.nl? Otherwise I guess the only option would be to take local trains or, if it take online bike bookings, the Flixtrain (which doesn't run so often but isn't run by DB).

Of the ICE trains, only the newer ones (ICE4) take bikes (it costs 9€ or thereabouts for a bike reservation - valid for the whole journey).

In the case of Hamburg-Amsterdam, you can actually take a bike on the ICE (first leg of journey, to pick up the IC to Amsterdam in e.g. Osnabrück). But do reserve your bike as soon as possible - there's not many spaces available on each train!) As Glucas says, check the bahn.com website, and click on change other data then Show connections with available bicycle spaces.

eg, Hamburg to Amsterdam for a random date and time: https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query ... 1657953152

If you can't find a bike space on an ICE at the time you want to travel, go back to those other options, choose Types of transport and unclick high speed services to hide the connections with ICE and (hopefully) more of the other connections.

PS These examples are from Hamburg, but if you were to travel from Niebüll (just over the border when you come down the west coast of Jutland), then you can just as easily avoid using the ICE.

PPS If you're getting local trains (RB, RE) in July and August, remember they may be so packed with day-trippers that you can't get your bike on because of the 9€ ticket. Best to avoid rush hour and, at weekends, leaving cities in the morning or heading towards cities in the late afternoon.

Really not convinced it makes much difference, but the way I remember which way round to put a tyre on is by thinking of the impression tractor tyres make in mud. They always point back the way they came.

I do take the point that a back-heavy bike might attempt a wheely on the up-escalators.

Exactly what happened to me galactic.

Yes I think this has happened to me too (many years ago, hence the fuzziness). One thing I'm pretty sure about now (having thought about it over night) is that I usually have to go a step higher up than I initially think (when going up) to keep control. It's part of the whole getting-on-an-escalator-with-bike-shuffle. Being a foot or so higher up gives you a much better angle to keep that front wheel pushed down.

I think I'm going to have to take a trip to the big city in order to put my bike on an escalator and observe exactly what I'm doing to keep it safe.

Thank you Wirral_Cyclist! I've been watching this thread with bemusement, wondering why I've never had any problems with taking my bike on escalators (although, to be fair, I've never done one of those endless ones* in London with grumpy Londoners trying to push past). I think the key point must be, as Wirral_Cyclist points out, just to let the bike find its position, then hold it there.

Once the bike has settled (usually whichever wheel is at the lower end is fully on the step, the higher wheel is wherever it lands, is that right?) then the brakes should stop the wheels turning and the bike breaking for freedom, even when fully laden. The next trick is to release the front brakes and the back brakes in the right order and at the right time just as the escalators level out before the end.

I do take the point that a back-heavy bike might attempt a wheely on the up-escalators. Not quite sure how I've dealt with that - presumably I've just made sure that I'm in the right position to exert enough downwards pressure on the handlebars. Thinking about it, I often find I have to move a step up after getting the bike settled just to make sure I have enough control, and then, when it comes to getting off the escalator, have to wheel the bike ahead of me a little to avoid getting a handlebar in my tummy. Can be a little tricky with big panniers on the back and low riders on the front.

* Yes, yes, am aware that escalators are, by their nature, endless. But you know what I mean.

The two places I look when touring on the continent are the cleaning products aisle in the supermarket (usually bottom shelf or otherwise hard to spot, often a 1litre green or white plastic bottle) or random shelves in the DIY shops (even harder to spot). The supermarkets are generally cheaper than the DIY shops, although I've paid everything from a Euro to seven Euros for a litre of the stuff.

Asking for Alcohol voor reiniging, Spiritus, Brandspiritus, Ethanol or Bio-ethanol usually does the job (ie not Methanol)

I know it's a week late, but if you want large scale (more detail), then maybe the BVA Regionalkarte 1:75k might be for you, eg https://www.fahrrad-buecher-karten.de/k ... 3870739140 ?

The Stanfords link for these 75k maps is: https://www.stanfords.co.uk/Germany-ADF ... SI00002199 (NB the picture on this page showing map coverage is for the 150k ones, not the 75k, so you'll have to work through the descriptions to see what areas are covered or check this image: https://res.cloudinary.com/pim-red/imag ... lsbaty.jpg )

If it were me, I'd dump the Kompass map and get the BVA. It's a tenner well invested and will give you pleasure while planning and touring.

Really not a fan of the Kompass maps - they're ok for walking, but (counter-intuitively) don't have the detail a cyclist would find useful (eg clear contours, indications of steep bits, distinguishing between signed and non-signed cycle touring routes or even mountain bike trails). They appear cluttered and the scale is too small (too big?) for cycling, am constantly having to stop to refold the map.

For Germany, you really can't beat the BVA Radtourenkarten 1:150k maps, which are badged and vetted by (and contributed to by local members of) the ADFC, the German cycling organisation. The 150k scale is a decent trade off between covering reasonable areas on one map, yet still having a good level of detail (surface quality, steep gradients, contour lines, pretty towns, bike shops, campsites etc etc).

Unlike the Kompass maps, the BVA ones are very clear and have details of cycle routes (route name and logo). Standords have them for £10.99 https://www.stanfords.co.uk/Germany-ADF ... SI00000218 - see that page for a sample of the mapping. Freiburg is on map number 24.

I am a huge fan of the BVA maps, and miss them sorely when traveling in other countries - am very pleased they now cover Denmark, Benelux and parts of Italy and hope they will continue expanding their coverage.

PS BVA also do 50k/75k maps for local trips - also very good mapping, but not so useful if you plan to cover some distance.

PPS Bikeline are also decent, as are Grünes Herz, but neither as clear yet detailed as the BVA 150k for general touring. Bikeline really comes into their own with their spiral bound route guides with lots of detailed touristy information, but generally I like to decide my route as I go along, so a general map is more to my taste.

Before Brexit I would have immediately recommended sending them to Ortlieb in Germany. They're great at repairs, and very reasonable pricing too. But now, with import VAT, customs charges and who knows what else ...

If none of the other options work out, it may be worth trying to work out what bureaucratic hoops you'd have to jump thro to send them to Ortlieb for repairs.

* Decent (gold rated) D-lock, always locked to something solid.

* Pitlocks on the wheels and saddle stem (not totally convinced by those things - once managed to get my back wheel off when I had a flatty but had forgotten the Pitkey). But better than nowt, and I can't be bothered with locking up the saddle and the front wheel as well as the back wheel.

* Never clean the bike (except for the rims and the go-faster reflective bits), random stickers over the bits advertising the quality of the tubes and the hand-madedness of it, not to mention hammerite daubed on any and all scratches (never the same colour twice). Frayed and worn handlebar tape. Was rather pleased the other day when another cyclist stopped just to sneer at my bike, not noticing the Rohloff or the decent frame. (No, I didn't sneer back at his shiny mass-market racer that will probably land in the skip in a year or two).

* Am currently wondering about a frame lock with a heavy chain that slots into it. It would be a nice extra for when I'm in the big city, but am thinking about using it instead of the D-lock for touring and everyday shopping trips. The problem with the D-lock is that I like to put it through the back wheel and the seatstays, or the chainstays for those stupid bike stands that clasp the wheel (they're dominant round where I live) and I worry that because the D-lock is so low down it makes it easier to use the bolt-croppers on. A frame lock with chain would be quicker and easier and would provide more options for locking the bike to things, although the chain would be even more of a pain to carry than the D-lock.

* Finally, I have a visitors bike (new brake blocks and chain are worth more than the rest of the bike) for leaving at the station.

Sounds like a plan. Hope you enjoy your trip!

I don't think I've ever cycled on 25mm tires, and I'm the kind of cyclist that would take the long way round to avoid cycling along the A6, so at least from Preston I'd probably be inclined to take the NCN6 rather than the main road. The hills to the east of the A6/M6 are nice (but can be hard work if you're loaded up). Alternatively, head towards Pilling (the flatlands) and from there to Glasson (although that means missing out Garstang).

Alternatively, from Garstang head out to Cockerham along the B5272 then the A588, either turning off to Glasson (pub, cafe) for the cycle path to Lancaster or stay on the A588 - a perfectly good route, bar the usual hectic motorists barrelling around blind corners.

The old railway cycle route from Glasson to Lancaster is tarmaced, altho I haven't been along there for many years and it may be more pothole than surface now. But in principle should be fine with narrower tires. The canal towpath south of Lancaster (including Glasson-Galgate arm) on the other hand is not surfaced until the very last bit and you'll need something chunkier if you want to take that route.

Nice pubs dotted all around the Fylde, also at Glasson Dock and Conder Green (just north of Glasson Dock, accessible via the old railway line or the A588. If you're on A588, you can come off where it crosses the canal at Deep Cutting Bridge to go down the tarmaced towpath into Lancaster, Water Witch pub when you get into town proper is on the other side of the canal and is popular.