The Bicycle Thread - May 2023

May 2, 2023 | The Bicycle Thread

[Berlin_Freeper]

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas. 🚴‍♂️👍

[Berlin_Freeper]

I live above a bike shop which last week had a Hercules bike on a rack outside for sale. Looked a lot like my Pegasus bike. 👍

[Berlin_Freeper]

I like to get an e-bike in coming years.

Bicycle production in Germany hit an all-time high in 2022, with 2.6 million bicycles and e-bikes produced. Bicycle production was flat (900,000 units) while e-bikes continued their growth trajectory, up 20% to 1.72 million vehicles.

I been riding regularly for about 8 years and have had three times when I was really glad I was wearing a helmet. All three times were low tree branch hits to the head. One was at high speed which would have been real nasty but with the helmet it was nothing. The other times were glancing strikes but still would have hurt.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Mick Jagger cycling at speed through a London park

[RoosterRedux]

I would certainly consider an e-bike for long trails in the woods.

Re: the helmet issue: The problem I see with e-bike folks who don't wear helmets is that they appear to be rank beginners to the 2-wheel experience. And they sometimes carry children (even babies) with no helmets.

As an experienced cyclist, you know that it can be very dangerous if you take a tumble.

I mountain bike in the winter and fall about once a month (usually flying too fast through sandy patches). E-bike people ride the same trails I ride with no helmet. (I wouldn't dream of riding without a helmet...even on moderately safe trails. There's always an unseen root or some sand that's deeper than it looks.

[Berlin_Freeper]

I saw a German video of the Trek Checkpoint ALR 5. Looks great, congratulations and happy riding! ✌️

[Berlin_Freeper]

I can’t imagine risking a baby like that. I hope they soon think better about it. I hit sand last summer and gouged my ankle on the pedal. But I did manage to mostly separate from the bike. Mostly.

[Paul R.]

Please add me to your ping list. My daughter has been asking me to resuscitate my old 10-speed that got me back and forth to and around college for 4 years. So, I’m rusty (the bike, not so much!) and may have questions when I get to that project...

[Berlin_Freeper]

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread PING List, Paul R.!

I am sure you will find very good help here.

[Berlin_Freeper]

I call this Sunset Bridge. It's a place where people like to watch the sunset...

I got there ten minutes too late for a better picture. Ten minutes earlier, when I saw the sky, it was much more wide-spread orange. Then I knew I had to get to Sunset Bridge ASAP, but there was a broken traffic light. If you want to hear me crap on something about Berlin, it's that there are way too many times that traffic lights don't work.

For years I wanted to ride more at night. My window however was always in the early morning. My wife recently inherited two properties. One is lakeside property that is being sold. Which I think is a great pity but the other party wants the money. The other property is actually an apartment. One of those old school apartments with many rooms and high ceilings. My wife's grandparents invested in the construction of the building (in the 1920s) and part of the deal was the apartment rent control.

So I am renovating the apartment (the minor stuff, painting, etc) and then we are sub-renting it to a large family we know.

Sorry fore the long story but that is why I been riding at night.

[Berlin_Freeper]

The tall building with the tower-crane is going to be the tallest building in Berlin.

EDGE East Side Berlin: Amazon to move in in 2023

I like seeing the cranes. Reminds me of my New York City iron-worker days:

Tis picture of me was taken by my Apache Indian friend.

Picture taken my tower-crane engineer operator friend.
Those pictures are almost 40 years old.

[Berlin_Freeper]

I call this Sunrise Bridge. It's a place where I like to watch the sunrise...

Again, I got there ten minutes too late for a better picture. I estimated wrong. You need to head-out at 4:30am instead of 5am. If you want to see the sunrise. Reminds me of when I went camping in upstate New York. I told my friends to get out of their tents to watch the sunrise. They said they already did and the sun is risen. I said OK but I want to watch the sunrise more.

So you need to get up at 4:30 now (since the sun comes up earlier then I was used to in winter), if you want to see the sunrise. Otherwise you will be seeing the sunrise, more.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Rammstein - Sonne (Live at Rock im Park 2017)

After visiting Sunrise Bridge, I was bicycling on the bank of the River Spree. I came up behind a guy walking. He suddenly spun around as if he might be getting attacked and looked me in the eye while I said good morning.

Then I soon passed two guys in an inflatable boat that was next to the river bank. One guy was yelling good morning at might like three or four times while the other laugh load like a maniac. But the seemed to be having fun.

I thought I should sit on a bench and watch the first guy I passed (who had a face tattoo that looked like runes) catches up with these two good morning guys. Lol!

[Berlin_Freeper]

https://youtu.be/IjGNTqAW58E

[Berlin_Freeper]

Save the Earth "protestors" (I think they are more like terrorists.) stopped traffic. A car begged it's way through just as I arrived. Then another driver started arguing with a protestor as I took this picture. I didn't have time to hang around otherwise it would have been interesting to sit on the grass and watch.

[Berlin_Freeper]

The sunset sky from my terrace reminded me of Africa. Not that I ever been to Africa but it did from the wall picture I found. So I decided to ride to what I call Sunset Bridge. When I got there most of the bridge was closed except for the side where people go to watch the sunset in Berlin (There are many such places, this is one of them that is local to me.).

I found out that the homeless living under the bridge set off some kind of sh!t bomb that started a raging fire. So now the bridge is mostly closed. I guess for inspection. Which is not such a bad thing because now people have the whole bridge without the traffic, to enjoy the sunset. But it's a very busy bridge so I expect they will fix it soon. ItÄs a nice bridge but it's a cheap bridge. You can actually feel it bounce when a heavy truck crosses.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Sh!t bombed Sunset Bridge is still closed. A TV crew interviewing people was just wrapping-up and leaving when I got there.