When it comes to bicycles, Germans have a fundamentally different attitude than Americans. Germans use their bicycles to go places, whereas Americans go places to use their bicycles.
When we want to go for a bike ride, we have two options. We may either hop in the car and head to the gym, where the bicycles are lined up in front of an array of television sets, or we can mount the bicycle onto the car and drive to a remote location to enjoy a ride while comparing gear with fellow bicycle riders. We of course need to make sure we are dressed up in a colorful racing outfit, special bike shoes, and a super aerodynamic helmet.
Germans on the other hand walk out of the door, hop on their bike and ride it somewhere.
The point is, when you are walking in Germany and you notice part of the sidewalk is paved smooth, stay off, or else someone is going to scream at you “Radlweg!” This translates to “Please refrain from walking on the bicycle path.” They are especially angry because they aren’t on their bicycle to enjoy a ride. It’s a cold, drizzly day and your impedance is going to make them late to work.
deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid ein/ausblenden
Servus Astrid,
hier die Übersetzung:
Blitz Tipp - Deutsche benutzen ihr Fahrrad, um an Orte zu fahren
Wenn es um Fahrräder geht, haben die Deutschen grundsätzlich eine andere Einstellung als Amerikaner. Deutsche nutzen ihr Fahrrad, um an andere Orte zu gelangen, wohingegen Amerikaner an andere Orte gehen, um ihre Fahrräder zu benutzen.
Wenn wir Fahrrad fahren wollen, haben wir zwei Optionen. Wir können entweder ins Auto springen und ins Fitnessstudio fahren, wo die Fahrraeder alle aufgereiht vor den Fernsehern stehen, oder wir können das Fahrrad auf’s Auto schnallen und an einen entlegenen Ort fahren, um eine Fahrradtour zu geniessen, während wir unsere Ausrüstung mit der von anderen Fahrradfahrern vergleichen. Wir müssen natürlich sicherstellen, dass wir mit einem farbenfrohen Rennoutfit ausgestattet sind, spezielle Fahrradschuhe und einen super aerodynamischen Helm haben. Die Deutschen auf der anderen Seite gehen aus der Tür, steigen auf ihr Fahrrad und fahren damit irgendwohin.
Der Punkt ist, wenn Sie in Deutschland irgendwo laufen und Sie stellen fest, dass ein Teil des Bürgersteiges eine glatte Füche ist, bleiben Sie dem fern oder sonst schreit jemand Sie an: “Radlweg!” Dies übersetzt sich mit “Bitte gehen Sie nicht auf dem Fahrradweg.”. Er ist besonders aufgebracht, weil er nicht zur puren Freude Fahrrad fährt. Es ist ein kalter, regnerischer Tag und Sie sind die Behinderung, die ihn zu spät zur Arbeit kommen lässt.
Es tut mir echt leid, dass ich erst jetzt die Übersetzung zur Verfügung stelle. Ich bin halt ein schlechter Schwiegersohn.
Gruss,
John
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November 9th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
And what are you doing on the sidewalk with your bicycle? Vehicles belong on the carriageway!
November 9th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
They have these in Switzerland too. I almost got run over by some guy on a bike, who the proceeded to scream at me about how I should be walking on the sidewalk and not the bike path.
November 9th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Agreed. When the roadspace competition consists of tiny cars, why not have the bicycle path on the road?
November 9th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
You got bicycles in the US of A? I always thought Americans think that riding a bicycle is caused by some kind of genetic defect only Europeans and preschoolers suffer from. And that it becomes obscene and uncool as soon as you hit puberty, unless you are carrying an alien in your bicylce’s basket.
No, wait a minute: Hasn’t there been a superficial, “Baywatch”-like TV series about a police squad on bicycles, patroling beaches in ? (California? Florida?) They did not get an Emmy for that one, I suppose…
Anyway, if you are interested in my very own bicycle adventures, you may read http://bumsbutzener-gumpfen.blogspot.com/2008/07/ich-hab-es-endlich-getan.html
November 9th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
“why not have the bicycle path on the road”
a) The bicycle path usually _is_ part of the road. Or do you mean “carriageway”?
b) That is a stupid idea as well - why not just drive on the carriageway?
November 9th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Oh yeah. I’m in New York right now and everybody looked at me like I am a 3-headed-alien when I drove my bike to the subway…
And Americans don’t like it when you use the sidewalk, too!
November 9th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Just a minor correction: The correct spelling is “Radweg”, not “Radlweg”.
Your blog is great!
November 9th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
“Radlweg” is correct if you are Bavarian :D.
November 9th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Because it’s so easy to run over pedestrians who stray into your way, that so-called Radweg is better left for grannies out doing their little shopping errands. If you really want to get somewhere in the city on a bike, ride with traffic where you can get away with it. The cops have warned me about it only once in 11 years of riding nearly every day.
November 9th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I hate it when bicycle paths sudddenly stop and you have to merge with the flowing traffic. What I hate even more is police parking on the bicycle paths.
November 9th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
most bike lanes are red and there is a reason to it … the blood of unsuspecting pedestrians, also while you might think bike lanes make for great parking spots, fully expect your lights to be smashed-in … i’m only half kidding.
November 9th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
When it comes to horses, Americans have a fundamentally different attitude than Germans. Americans use their horses to go places, whereas Germans go places to use their horses… (and so on)
So what?
November 9th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
“Radlweg” might be correct Bavarian, but we are talking about Germans and German!
November 9th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Bike lanes? Who is talking about bike lanes? They’re just as bad as bike paths.
November 9th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
You have to keep one thing in mind, many of the larger cities in the us of a are relatively new one, they were developed or expandend in the 20th century, in a time were cars were relatively common in urban areas. It’s a huge country, also, it’s a long distance between places.
November 9th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Are US cities really “urban” areas?
November 9th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
As zmat said: ‘“Radlweg” might be correct Bavarian, but we are talking about Germans and German!’
Yeah, Bavarians are not Germans, they are Bavarians, who are quite alien to the normal Germans.
In times of high prices for gas your good old bike is the best, cheapest and fastest way to go. The ÖPNV is more expensive and slower because most of the time you have to wait for your bus, train or whatever it is called in your place of living.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:42 am
I wish we could use our bycicles to go to places. At least I wish it would be as easy as in the Netherlands as they really use their bikes to go to places, not the Germans. They have the infrastructure and they have a pleasing landscape to use their bikes to go to places. So I rather prefer to say that they really have a fundamentally different attitude as most Germans don’t use their bikes to get to a place - maybe a lot of Germans use it that way but definitely not the majority.
November 10th, 2008 at 6:51 am
What’s amusing about the German bicycle drivers is their hipocrisy. They do like to remind you that you are not allowed to walk on the bicycle lane, but will they step down their bike in the pedestrian zone? No! They do complain about car drivers overseeing them, but the majority of them don’t care to switch their bike-lights on when it’s dark. And finally they complain about everyone elses thoughtlessness, but they drive ruthlessly theirselves, driving down the bicycle lane at crazy speeds, putting their bike in the middle of the way when they leave it, ignoring traffic lights and driving down roads the wrong way.
November 10th, 2008 at 8:04 am
What “infrastructure” do you need for using a bike?
November 10th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I encourage everyone to come to Münster (Westf.) to experience some real bikertown.
We have 2.5 bikes per capita (statistically) and they are really used, every day. There is hardly a road that doesn’t have an extra bike lane and it is the fastest way to get to places. Also, if you are suicidale, you don’t need to throw yourself in front of a bus, car or train, just walk on the bike lane.
November 10th, 2008 at 10:13 am
@Hackwar: Yes, indeed. Interested fellows should come to Münster (the town, not the cheese) and have a look at the huge bicycle parking garage! Something I guess extremely weird for an American.
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrradparkhaus)
Nichts für ungut,
Piet
November 10th, 2008 at 10:43 am
It all depends on where you live in the US. I lived just outside of Washington, DC for 13 years, where there is an extensive bike trail system, partially made up of defunct railway lines provided by an organization called Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. My roommate worked for RTC and rode her bike the 10 miles to work Mon.-Fri. - rain, snow, sleet or hail; a huge feat considering portions of the journey were on main roads with cars moving at relatively high speess (without bike lanes) and drivers in the US are a) not as aware of bicyclists as they are in Germany b) have no patience for dealing with/yielding to slower-moving bikers c) barely leave enough safe distance between themselves and the biker when passing - all of which contrubute greatly to the risks involved in using a bike as a mode of transportation. I rode my bike quite often to my high school teaching job, but no bike racks were provided, so I had to bring my bike into my classroom. I had many other like-minded friends who would regularly attempt to ride to work. Unfortunately, we were not dealing with the small, occasional inconvenience of an unaware pedestrian, as German bikers do - we were in fear for our lives. The desire (in Americans) is there..the infrastructure, however, is not….yet. If America were the size of Germany, roughly the size of the state of Texas, instituting a similar bicycling system would undoubtedly be a managable task. Give us time, we’ll get there……
November 10th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Yeah, I already heard that Münster’s traffic regulations are very discriminating against cyclists.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
@Trogato: So you are believing the fairy tale of the safe bike path?
The infrastrucure is there, it’s called “road network”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_cycling
November 10th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
“We of course need to make sure we are dressed up in a colorful racing outfit, special bike shoes, and a super aerodynamic helmet.”
Germans aren’t much different, really. Especially around the Tour de France season you’ll see plenty of those folks in Germany, too. Mostly middle-aged or above, clad in expensive and ridiculously colorful outfits incl. bizarre helmets that make them look absurdly insect-like. And, as as a rule of thumb, the flashier the outfit, the slower they go. Almost as annoying as those idiotic “Nordic walkers”.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Concerning the common misconception of Germany being roughly the size of Texas:
Texas => 695 621 km²
Germany => 357 104 km²
Texas really IS huge.
Coming back to biking:
It’s population density, not size. If the population density in Texas would be as high as in the Ruhrgebiet, I’m sure biking would be much more common, as the distances you travel are mostly shorter… everything is more concentrated.
I live near Hamburg. Whenever the distance I need to travel get’s close to 1 km or above, I use my bike. If it’s below, I go by foot. If I want to get to Hamburg and to the university I study at, I first use my bike to get to the railway station, then the S-Bahn (train-subway amalgamate) to get close to the university and the rest by foot.
Heck, I don’t even have a driver’s license. The fee for university includes a HVV puplic transport ticket… fastest way to get to and from and all about in Hamburg.
Even if I had a drivers license, I wouldn’t bother to go there by car. It’s after all slower (parking problems, parking far away, dense traffic etc.) and more tiring. I prefer to take a nap while using the S-Bahn instead.
We don’t just use the room we have better - the population density in certain areas just forces us to do so… which is handy in some aspects, as we see.
Still, skyscrapers are pretty uncommon in Germany… strange enough. But that might be because of the decreasing population problem.
November 10th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
“The fee for university includes a HVV puplic transport ticket…” - just for the Americans: it’s the same at the UIUC.
November 10th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Du warst noch nie in Holland. Dort gibts glaub ich mehr Fahrradfahrer als Autofahrer und das ganze Fahrsystem ist perfekt geregelt. Da könnten wir Deutschen noch von lernen.
November 10th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Wow John, Even when you are simply making a comparison about one thing in two different places — without even being derogatory, you still get slaughtered. LOL.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Du warst noch nie in den Südstaaten der USA. Da ist perfekt geregelt, wo die Schwarzen wohnen dürfen. Da könnten wir Deutschen noch von lernen.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Some drivers in the US are very careful and do pay attention to cyclists. Riding on a main road in heavy traffic, a really huge pickup truck passed me and after passing the person in the passenger seat flipped the side mirror to its regular position again. They had taken it in for passing me.
Robert
PS: http://www.wurstride.com
November 10th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Ungeloeste Raetsel deutscher Fussgaenger (aus Radfahrer-Sicht):
Warum gehen Fussgaenge in Sinuskurven (auch wenn sie nicht besoffen sind)? Jedes Mal, wenn Fuss- und Radweg das Gleiche sind und ich von hinten an einen Fussgaenger komme, eiert der unter voller Ausnutzung der gesamten Wegbreite von links nach rechts.
Wenn ich laut klingelnd von hinten ankomme: warum bleiben manche Leute in der Mitte des Weges stehen und drehen sich erst einmal um, anstatt einfach zur naechstfelegenen Seite zu gehen?
November 11th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Robert, you seem to be riding _way_ too much to the right.
November 11th, 2008 at 11:52 am
There were times - in the distant past - when I believed there was a way for pedestrians and bikers to get along, honestly. But after a couple of years of riding the bike to university and shopping those dreams are shattered - the latest episode in this ongoing fight over sidewalk-domination: a guy of Michael Moore - size walking along the sidewalk (with a bike lane!) and since I did not want to race past him to provoke a heart attack on his part I slowed to his pace and - very gently - sounded my bell when I was about 10 meters behind him to make him aware of my approach. He turns as if he was struck by lightning (quite an achievment for a man that big I must say), stares at me and screams “How dare you behaving that aggressively towards pedestrians?!” with an Orc-like look on his face - I half expected him to stick his umbrella in my front wheel and sue me afterwards for destroying it - well that didn’t happen, but I was shaking from shock because of that mans behaviour all afternoon. There you have it - no matter what you do, no matter how anticipating and careful you are - there is always a chance to cross paths with someone who feels the need to unleash his or her bad mood onto you. That’s life :).
November 11th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
@zmat: have you ever been to münster? bicyclist are the vast majority here!and i love it! you get everywhere so much faster and it keeps you in an awesome shape.
thanks for that article, my american fiance is always making fun of me for going by bike. now i have proof to show him that im not a weirdo ;).
November 11th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
@paula: Yeah, and they force everyone on bike “facilities” there. Well, I can’t sue everywhere.
November 11th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Wow, quite soft your post this time. Is there any correlation to the appearance of your blog in one of the recent editions of c’t? Just wondering… lol.
November 11th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
I like your blog. I laugh about many things you post here. I am german, and I do like the US quite a lot.
You are focussing on “the little things”.. I am watching “Sicko” at the moment.. I gues you are experiencing the good german healthcare for yourself, why dont put this into one of your next postings?
November 11th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Der Jens nervt heut irgendwie ein bissl, oder?
Bicycle lanes do attract more - and different - people to ride their bike there, so yeah, more accidents on the Autobahn than on the road to Finsterberg-Dodeleben.
—-
From my recent visits, the situation in the U.S. has improved: bicycle lanes in Manhattan, and many throughout California (the southern costal part, at least) - and cyclists actually usign them. Good for you, it’s a great way to move around in densly populated areas.
A split sidewalk is preferred by slow, casual “sunday” cyclists, who otherwise wouldn’t dare to “jump into traffic”. However, car passengers often open the car doors less carefully when exiting than drivers, which is a major risk on shared or split sidewalks.
You will like this - germans have four types of “Radweg”: shared sidewalk without separate lane - just be nice to each other! Then a split lane, either on the raised sidewalk or to the left of it, and last not least a sidewalk “free for cyclists”. In the first three cases, you technically have to stay off the (car part of the) road, in the last you can pick, which is best
btw. Someone - I think in the U.S. - studied the distance of cars passing cyclists, and figured the more flashy you look (racing bike, racing outfit, etc.), the closer they pass you. So improve your safety, dress down. (Turn on your lights, though).
November 13th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
One particularly annoying spot on my route to town has the sidewalk adequately divided for pedestrians and cyclists, but neglects to tell specify which side is which! Generally, I would assume that the path nearest the street is the cyclists’ domain, but, for some inexplicable reason, these two lanes actually switch places in the middle. WTF?
Perhaps this comment opens up the possibility of a post entitled “Germans don’t believe in street signs”, which is one of my biggest pet peeves in this country.
November 13th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
@peterchen:
Not to forget the amazing “Fahrradstrasse” (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrradstrasse) where generally only bicycles are permitted and other vehicles need to have special (traffic-sign based) permission to enter and must not drive more than 30 km/h.
November 13th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
And of course, not to forget “andere Radwege”.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:41 am
> And Americans don’t like it when you use the sidewalk, too
There are sidewalks in the US? Where? I’ve never seen one.
November 15th, 2008 at 2:03 am
@paula: yes i know and i been to münster… and i know it is the “bycicle capital” of germany. but it is not an excellent example for the majority of german cities, right?
November 15th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Here in Madrid where I live, Germans scream on their bicycles, too, when they are run over by spanish cars.
November 16th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
After moving here, everyone recommended I pick up a bike so I could “get places.” I couldn’t even try the stupid thing out because I hadn’t ridden one in 10 years. However, this ex-pat has very quickly adapted to yelling at less informed occupants of the German streets and sidewalks. Kling-a-ling! Manly man coming through on the Damenrad.
@Jorgo I know that about Spain…forget drivers giving bikers or pedestrians the right-of-way!
November 24th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Just this morning I’ve been stopped by a policeman while riding my bike, because it was still dark and I didn’t have the lights on - or the be more exact, I left them at home.
Cost me 10 Euro, yeeha. :/
November 25th, 2008 at 2:57 am
lol, nice and funny blog…
But: If you want to see really aggressive riders who are screaming at you while are walking with one feet on the wrong side of the way because the part for pedestrians is too crowded I suggest you visit this Brooklyn Bridge thing in, uhm, how is it called, uhm, New York. I’ve never seen such aggressive riding anywhere in god ol’ Germany.
My 2 cents
November 26th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Isn’t this more of an city vs suburban/rural thing? Most US cities I’ve been to have bike lanes. When I’ve been to Europe, I’ve mostly been in urban areas, so I have no frame of reference.
I live in NYC and bike to get just about everywhere (unless I am leaving manhattan). There are a lot of people just like me, but NY is one of the rare compact cities in the US.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
HEY YOU ALL!!
Go to HOLLAND and you will see what an invasion of bicycle-aliens there can exist!
You think Germany is funny and sometimes life is dangerous because of the people on their bikes?
Go to Holland where they have “PARKING HOUSES WITH THREE FLOORS BICYCLES” (no kindding!!!)
… Greetz…
Your block is great!
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
You live in Munich, don’t you?
Stay off the bicycle path. It’s more possible to survive crossing the highway than crossing Radlwege in Munich. And you’ve forgotten that wonderful sound of bicycle bells and Bavarian curses along your way
Maybe it’s me. Bavarian bicycle-gotowork-racer myself. *lol*
September 28th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
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