Cycling UK Forum

Good news for those of you touring in Germany
As I understand it the current law there is you must have approved lights fitted to your bike at all times even in daylight.
Now, according to Suddeutsche Zeitung, battery powered lights are to be approved for the first time. Until now only dynamo lights were legal.
I wasn't aware of that.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/auto/neuregelung-zur-verkehrssicherheit-ramsauer-will-akku-lampen-am-fahrrad-zulassen-1.1708689

It is only half true, so I am not sure which bit you were not aware of.

Bikes under a certain weight, around 11Kg could previously have battery lights instead of dynamo lights, plenty of them exist with German Approval, like the B&M IQ Ixon for a start. I dont know if they have to have them fitted at day time or not.

I couldnt work out exactly what the article was saying, too many big words for me.

Was aware lights must always be fitted, wasn't aware that battery lights were illegal.
Article basically says battery lights have been illegal since th 70s and are subject to 15 euro fine. No mention of bike weight exceptions. Now the German transport minister wants to change the rule to allow battery lights and hopes to do so next week.

wasn't aware that battery lights were illegal.

That is because they werent.

This is not proof but read the bottom line of the data sheet.

http://www.bike24.net/1.php?lang=2;cont ... 117;page=1

I looked up the StVZO.
Yes you're right. Road bikes not over 11kg can use approved battery lights.
All other bikes currently must have dynamo lights. They can have battery lights as well but battery lights only are illegal.

The current law is that you must use approved lights, and if your bike is over 11kg they must be dynamo rather than battery.
However, lots of German cyclists are currently using battery lights on bikes that ought to have dynamo lights, and the transport minister is proposing that this be allowed. Nothing has actually changed yet.

What remains to be seen is whether it will only be approved battery lights, as I would expect.
Currently the fine for using an un-approved & dazzling light such as a Magicshine is double what the fine for not having any light is.

MickTheCyclist wrote:As I understand it the current law there is you must have approved lights fitted to your bike at all times even in daylight.

I wonder how long that law has been in place?

I've ridden in Germany a few times - albeit not for 20odd years - and I didn't have any lights.

Mick F wrote:

MickTheCyclist wrote:As I understand it the current law there is you must have approved lights fitted to your bike at all times even in daylight.

I wonder how long that law has been in place?

I've ridden in Germany a few times - albeit not for 20odd years - and I didn't have any lights.

Don't know, but I was there last year without lights (or the very strict reflector requirements) and had no problems.
I suppose it all depends how strict enforcement is. You expect it to be stronger in Germany.
The other concern is legal issues in the event of an accident if your bike is considered to be unroadworthy.

Yes. Suppose so.

I was riding somewhere else abroad in Europe - can't remember where - Antwerp? Amsterdam? - and bikes had tax discs on their front dropouts. I wasn't stopped from riding, even though I refused to use the cycle lanes, taking my place on the roads with the traffic.

I've been touring in Germany for ten years and rarely see anyone with lights fitted! Certainly not the thousands of sportive riders, or the mountain bike riders or my bikes, borrowed or owned. None of my German friends have ever even mentioned the need for lighting in daylight hours.

If you are riding in daylight i wouldn't worry about this at all, at night of course you should have lights, i'm guessing the Polizei use common sense, prefer seeing nice bright lights than often poor 'legal' lighting.

As a UK bike and visitor, provided you comply with UK regs then you are OK.

Lots of other things are illegal on vehicles in Germany but OK in the UK (fixed towbars for one)...steering wheels on the right being another!

I've toured in Germany about 7 times and have always had lights, in my panniers in case I needed them. I think that this law is a bit like the law in Britain that you must carry a sword..

hamster wrote:As a UK bike and visitor, provided you comply with UK regs then you are OK.

Partly true. Different rules do apply to vehicles - including bikes - that are 'temporarily imported' by a foreign visitor for their own use, but it's not as simple as what goes in your country will be fine elsewhere. The International Convention on Road Traffic has a list of what a country can require on a visitor's bike. The list comprises one brake and a bell, and only when it's dark: lights (of any sort) and a rear reflector. If the country you're visiting requires any of those things, you have to have them, but cannot be required to fit any other items that may normally be required in that country.

Britain's lighting requirements exceed the International ones (we also require pedal reflectors although we don't enforce it) so on the lighting front: if you're legal here you're legal anywhere.

But Great Britain does not require a bell on a bike, or only at the point of sale. If you take that bell off, you can legally ride the bike in England, Wales and Scotland, but not in most other European countries, which do require a bell. Visit France, Germany, Denmark, Holland etc. and you will have to find and re-fit that bell. It's a sensible requirement where there are lots of twisty cyclepaths, averting many a head-on collision if rung before blind corners.

A visitor from Holland however, which allows cycling with just a back-pedal brake, does not have to add a front brake when they ride off the boat in Harwich, even though a bike with only a rear brake takes twice as far to stop.

And here's a thing you didn't expect: one of the many countries that require a bell is Northern Ireland!

foxyrider wrote:I've been touring in Germany for ten years and rarely see anyone with lights fitted! Certainly not the thousands of sportive riders, or the mountain bike riders or my bikes, borrowed or owned. None of my German friends have ever even mentioned the need for lighting in daylight hours.

You must have a very specialised circle of German friends, who number amongst the thousands engaged in cycle sport, rather than the millions who use bikes for travel and transport. I've been touring in Germany for 25 years and most of the bikes I see have dynamos, as have my German friends. Most of the stock in most German bike shops comprises city and trekking bikes complete with full dynamo lighting systems.

Naked racing and mountain-bikes are very much in the minority, on the streets and in the shops. And that's not through any sales restriction. It is perfectly legal to sell any kind of bike without lights. But Germans have the habit of using dynamos, are peculiarly law-abiding and know that they cannot legally ride the bike away from the shop unless it has a one fitted.

But I've noticed an increasing use of naked bikes and use of battery lights on bikes that certainly weigh more than 11kg - particularly by the young and of course the racers. It's given me cause to wonder how long German officialdom could remain 'in denial'. The most serious challenge however, to their insistence that batteries are second-rate and a vehicle needs an alternator to ensure that it's lights will work whenever it moves, comes from electric bikes. How ridiculous it is to fit a front dynamo hub to a bike that isn't going anywhere without a battery big enough to power its lights for a month!

CJ wrote:And here's a thing you didn't expect: one of the many countries that require a bell is Northern Ireland!

I did expect it but then I do live in NI
But I've yet to meet a local cyclist who believes me when I tell them.
Don't suppose you have a link to the relevant legislation for NI?