Fixed-gear bikes spark police crackdown in Berlin

They're sleek, fast and illegal in Germany: fixed-gear bicycles. Marc Young reports on how trendy fixie riders have sparked a police crackdown in Berlin.

In a country where cyclists are expected to have a working bell on their bikes, it was probably only a matter of time before fixies fell afoul of the law in Germany.

Evolved from indoor track bikes with no gears and brakes, fixies have long been favoured by couriers and other cycling enthusiasts in big cities around the world. But a surge in popularity in Germany has prompted an unprecedented backlash by traffic cops in Berlin in recent months.

524 words remaining. Click to read the full article.

if only we could get the greenies to crack down on all the other hipster plagues around town...

As a former track racer, I dig the esthetic draw of a fixie but they're pretty impractical for real transport. But if it gets more hipsters on bikes (and therefore more people), I'm all for it.
The Berlin police should focus on crime, not cyclists. But I've been saying that for years (and they never listened).

focus on crime!? is that also in their job description?
as a long time cyclist i've actually found the police rather lax. in fact i've only once been given a single ticket (well deserved) for my criminal cycling habits - from a motorcycle cop no less! i have been reprimanded on more than one occasion, however. "Auch für Sie geht die roten Ampel!" Officer Friendly shouted at me from his van as he drove past...

The problem is, fixed-gear culture is so snobbish towards people who still have cable brakes on their whips that on one hand, the police will take your bike for 80 Euro if you don't get them, but you lose kudos if you do.
Personally, I think fixed-gear bikes are dangerous. That is why I love them.
As for calling it a hipster plague, I think you're dangerously close to defining cultural symbology for a middle-class youth subculture you know nothing about. If you can't beat them or join them, you just moan enviously.

Easy just get brakes on them. I have seen these two riders on fixed wheels doing tricks so its good for skills. Once when I was on my racing bike, a car passed me and turned in front of me causing me to lock my brakes. If I was on a fixed wheel, I would not have stopped in time. Doesn't matter how good you are in emergency situations fixed wheels can't lock up. (unless you drop the bike). But if you are strapped in with brakes, thats also dangerous.

Sorry, I don't get it: So in order to keep your bike moving forward you must keep moving your feet? How do you 'coast?'
Doesn't that take away the advantage of the bike? What's next: It's really cool to get rid of the seat!
sounds like people are going to great lengths to make things difficult for themselves. And I always love the people that want to 'fight the power.' Look, it illegal: abide by the laws or face the consequences.
Another thing to keep in mind: The police DO focus on crime. They have different divisions that handle different areas. Traffic enforcement, homocide, narcotics etc. The cop writing you a traffic ticket is not the guy in charge of gang violence of murders. Separate division.
If you don't like the laws put together an itelligent plan to change them. Don't wait for the cops to pull you over and say "F*$#! you pigs! You're just on a power trip."

Get brakes, a front brake will do. As for the police, I also find them quite relaxed - I've been given a ticked only once (also well deserved) in the 6 years I've been riding here. I've got no complaints when it comes to cops in this country.

Remember, everyone - contact those skilled experts at The Local for all your translating and English copy-writing needs

Make sure you cast that stone straight out Jeffz. Maybe it won't bring the whole glass house down...

Frankly, a single working brake on the front is superior to two poorly adjusted and maintained brakes on the cheapies most people ride anyway.

I do like the look of fixies, but I usually ride too far for one to be useful for me, so I roll a stealthy beast with gears and brakes. I'm riding a considerably shorter distance now though, so maybe I should think about it...

OI! I resemble that comment!

Does it mean if I have a front break and still a fixed back wheel everything will be fine for the police? I wanted to go back to Berlin in a couple of years I hope the situation will be diffrent by then...
Everyone who rides a fixie for a while won't go back to freewheel as you feel very connectd to your bike and the cycling feels very smooth and relaxed. I don't like the hype about it too much and some people shouldn't ride a fixed as it can be very dangerous if they don't know what they're doing!

The 80 EUR fine is nothing, but the 3 points in your driving license is another thing. I totally approve this.

NOTHING angers me more than the untrained and sometimes socially-deficient cyclists careening down the pavements (sidewalks) at all times of day (I am speaking mainly of Kreuzberg), without lights or bells or even a "hey, here I am!". So when possible my old dogs and I walk in the middle of the street.
That said, I have had no problems with Fixie-riders and I wish them luck, but wish they used lights and bells.
Berlin police and traffic officials (and cyclist groups) have a huge challenge ahead which it's not even clear they fully recognize: Training all the immigrants (many of them Europeans or North Americans) how to safely ride a safe and legal bike.
For these novice cyclists and the rest of us we have an even more difficult task: To confront the automobile industry and its symptoms, among them the propagation of fear amongst sometimes otherwise normal adults who cycle on the pavement even when the street is free of cars (or because it's a little too cobbled).

Ok, let me make a few things absolutely clear. Bells on bikes are gay, reflectors on bikes are gay, shopping baskets are gay, mudguards, chain guards, wing mirrors are all gay. I know Germans like their bikes 'fully loaded', but you will be more likely to see me naked, painted blue, with sparklers sticking out of my arse, on a skateboard; than being forced to put all that crap on my bike.

Young children can't safely brake with a hand brake so their bikes just have "back pedal" brakes which are no more effective than a fixie. Is there any evidence that fixie's have an unacceptable accident toll?
My fixie has brakes, but that is just because I want to go faster.

I disagree. The freewheeling back pedal brake is far more effective than a fixie, especially for a child. How would a child have the strength to stop a fixie in an emergency? I'd never ride a fixie for that reason...oh, and they're Berlin-Hipster-Gehy and I don't have the flouro 80's sunnies to accompany it.

Tell me another story.

Different riders, different needs. I have an old bike I got from my friends father. Sat in a garage for the last 20 years, squeaks a little but otherwise runs good. In your opinon, my bike is almost as gay as possible for for my needs it's perfect. I ride it to work leisurely in the lowest gear with my packed lunch sitting in the basket or I ride it to the store for a bit of grocery shopping. For me, not to have a bell means I will have to holler at the clueless pedestrians who are walking alongside each other by 3 or 4 making sure they are closing the path completely and not having mud guards means I'll have a wet stripe up my ass when it rains. Don't have a wing mirror though, maybe should get one

“I was stopped by eight or nine cops who looked totally bored. I tried to tell them they were taking away how I make my living, but they didn’t seem to care.”
So. Are you suggesting that my next door neigbour, who I reported to the police last week, should be able to keep his stasch of Heroin and coke, JUST because it is "the way I make my living"?

Furor, you seem to be under the impression that someone riding fixed is a criminal, according to you a courier, a highly experienced rider is the same as a drug dealer. Who do you think makes deliveries in Berlin?
The only issue with fixies is when people don't know how to ride them and must have a brakeless fixie as a fashion statement. Given you can't enforce common sense, this maybe a necessary evil so long as the police demonstrate some restraint when they should enforce it. In the case of an experienced cyclists who can safely ride fixed, let them do so.
In terms of whether people need to have bells, lights, mudguards... why not be individuals? let those who want nothing have nothing, and those who want more have more. I am tired of discussions which are geared to some kind of cyclo-normativism. I enjoy diversity, lets all do our thing and stop lecturing each other on what to do (ironically prescriptive, I know).

Furor is either: a troll, or a German who is doing his best to reinforce the stereotypes that expats have about Germans as automatons who stick to the rules rigidly no matter how ridiculous they are.
I suspect the latter, in which case, all hail our new robotic overlord!

Edited wrong window

He's actually not far wrong, but not for the reasons he thinks. During hard emergency braking, you get about 80% of your power from your front brake because of the transfer of weight onto the front wheel, allowing you to draw down harder on the lever before locking up. The rear brake is pretty incidental to the process, especially since all but very skillful riders tend to lock up the rear under emergency braking. So there's next to no real-world difference in stopping time and distance for fixies fitted with a front brake, but brakeless fixies are a menace by the same argument.

• bells: do the same thing as shouting "haaallloooooo" at clueless assholes walking in the bike lane, and convey 90% less aggravation than would be evidenced in your (my) voice. No one shouts back at a bell, but don't let your voice be dripping venom when you call out to a knuckle-dragging moran waddling in your path.
  
• reflectors: dang, i like life. I am fanatic about my ghey bike lights too and have been known to walk instead of cycle when the batteries are low or dead.
  
• mudguards: not everyone puts their bike in the basement when the cooler months roll around. Those of us who use our bikes as our primary form of transportation like to show up to work/school/dinner with the in-laws NOT looking as if we've just been sitting in the front row at a monster truck rally.
  
• chain guards: chocky is a ghey who wears spandex 365 days a year naw im just fucking with you but on the real you should see how many of my pants legs have been chewed up by my bike chain. Luckily I now ride a super-gay old lady bike with a chain-guard the size of Texas, problem solved.
  
• shopping baskets: dang, i like food and spontaneous shopping. Nothing better than realizing that not everything will fit in your backpack and remembering that extra cargo hold on your ride. Also ideal for when you're out without a backpack and want to bring something home. My basket was a birthday gift and has single handedly made my life easier than has any other aquisition of the year.
  
• wing mirrors: totally ghey. no argument there.
  

i would pay a lot of money to see you riding a skateboard with a sparkler sticking out yr arse LOL

I wouldn't equate the two but are fixies illegal or are they not? Is there a law that says you need to have all this crap on your bike or no? If the answer to both of these questions is yes, even if it's a totally stupid law, you can't really argue with it if you are stopped and fined for it. If the answer is no and there is no such law, tell the cops to jump and you'll see them in court.

We can do the same with cars, let the people individual and decide if they need lights, horn, blinking lights, safety belts, etc. Then we can enjoy even more diversity.

Have you ever noticed 95% of the people riding these bikes are complete fuckwits. No brakes, no brains, no responsibility. I hope to see them soon dragged under the wheels of a bin lorry with no steering. A bright orange gay bin lorry mind you with the number 69 printed on the side.

I have to agree a basket for my bike was one of the best purchases I have ever made. Means I only have to cycle to Lidl once a week instead of twice

I am planning on moving to Berlin in August/September, and I will be bringing my fixie with me.
I have a front break and lights on the bike, so, should I have some worries?
Also, where is the best place to get your self a bicycle courier job?
I speak a little Deutsch, but that improves everyday I am here.

Perhaps you should have worries if you have the complete inability to read a thread about something that is important to you? Would you like a tip about how you can find someone to clean your arse as well? That would be in the family section. Non German speaking Cycle couriers in the capital of Germany tend to be well down the lists of wants or needs these days. There is a cull however each Saturday close to the river Spree which can be a good laugh if nothing else.

Extra weight just slows you down.

Then again, I've been eyeing off a 120dB air horn for my bike... Is that "gay" as well?

:-D

To HAL9000:

"Perhaps you should have worries if you have the complete inability to read a thread about something that is important to you? Would you like a tip about how you can find someone to clean your arse as well? That would be in the family section. Non German speaking Cycle couriers in the capital of Germany tend to be well down the lists of wants or needs these days. There is a cull however each Saturday close to the river Spree which can be a good laugh if nothing else."

Was soll man sagen zu so einem Kommentar, der nicht nur nicht hilfreich, sondern auch völlig am Thema vorbei ist?!
Mit Sicherheit ganz unten auf der Liste der "wants or needs" eines jeden Berliners stehen engstirnige, aggressive und von sich selbst überzeugte Mitbürger jedweder Nation, die aus vollkommen suspekten Gründen annehmen ihre wenig konstruktive Meinung sei erbeten oder erwünscht.
Schade, dass du nichts besseres mit deiner Zeit anzufangen weisst, als solch dämliche Kommentare zu schreiben.
Sorry, aber das geht echt gar nicht!

Osloer Straße 7 Päkchen und Pakete. Danke.

So have you read the thread yet? Your German friend is a bit odd mind you.

A bit unrelated to the discussion at hand, but I saw some cool fixies on my trip to Indianapolis last week. We sat and chatted with these guys for a bit. The friend I was with is from Austin, Texass and is a big roadie and had a lot of questions for these guys. I'm not sure how a lot of these guys afforded these bikes with their McJobs - or the couple of Mac laptops they had sitting around. Yes, the hipster, mac-loving, ill-informed enviro weenie stereotype about fixie riders holds true in the midwestern US. They'd fit in well in San Francisco. Did you know that 85% of Germany's energy comes from Nuclear Power? I didn't either until these guys all filled me in Apparently, Europe is an environmental utopia and I'm very, very lucky to live here. Well, the lucky to live here part may be true... Don't mean to rag on these guys too hard, but they had some interesting thoughts/opinions. Fun to talk with though and they were good on their bikes. Very nice bikes they were, too.

Really don't get this subject at all.

Those bikes look like something I made when I was a kid from parts off the scrappie.

No brakes, no gears, no mud guards, cheapo paint job and odd sized wheels/tyres - yep exactly the sort of thing we used to make.

Bet they cost an arm and a leg though? They saw you coming

You need 2 brakes.

Yep!! Those who did this back when were happy to have a bike. But, now it is some type of phenom there is someone making money off of those who want to have the newest. And those who are stupid enough to spend their money on something that is really not so spectacular.

That's not true Keepingtime. Most of these are old road frames that no one wants anymore with similarly aged parts on them. The most expensive thing is probably the high-flanged track hub and cog, if they even go this route. These are pretty much the same DIY bikes we had as kids.

That's not the impression I get from reading The Beavers post and from others who post on this same subject.

It always seems as if they pay a lot of money for their fad bikes which is why I don't get the point of paying for something any 13 yearold kid could make for you from scrap.

12.5% to be precise ...

The bikes in the pictures I posted cost a couple of thousand dollars at least. The frames are all custom-made along with most of the rims/wheels. These guys were serious about their fixies and were pretty damn good with the fixie tricks. Not my cup of tea, but they were pretty impressive. Wish I would have got some better pictures of them mucking around on the stairs doing spins and wheelies and all that stuff.

I know of some guys in Portland and SF that do put their own fixies together on the cheap. I'm sure there are a wide variety of fixie types and personalities.

in other fixie news...
http://www.berlin.de/polizei/presse-fahndung/archiv/132155/index.html

The Police is lying, fixies can brake even faster than bikes with traditional brakes. I learnt that here.

There is a cottage industry springing up to supply classic fixie converted bikes to hipsters without the mechanical aptitude to build up their own bike, but building one yourself is cheap as hell for the knowledgeable.


Legally, yes, in practice, no, as I commented before due to the weight transfer during hard braking. If they want to take the miniscule chance of getting fined for riding with only a single front brake then that's their problem but there is no danger to the public from riding a fixie with a single front brake.

wow this is a really annoying thread. sorry to revive, but i needed to put in my two pence.

a proper fixed gear bike is a track bike, with very different geometry to that old bike you threw together as a kid from random parts. it's got a specific track hub, cog and crankset. and, if you're into tricks and showy stuff, it's got specially sourced hipster handlebars. they're specialist frames with specialist parts, and their value is reflected in that.

fixed gear riders in berlin can handle their bikes, and i feel safer riding with them than i would with more than 50% of the rickety ill-maintained shoppers that i see out on the streets.

Like these bloody things. I have had more near misses with people wobbling around on the side of a road on one of these than with anyone riding a racer, (or any other 'regular' bike), this one probably weighs twice as much as my aluminium frame MTB.

Proper or not Teddy, most of the fixies I see around town are actually repurposed roadbikes with a quick cog slapped over a five-, six- or seven-speed hub. Handlebars are usually sawed off bars of another ilk, nothing specialty. And, as a former Cat 2 cyclist, I think it's all great. The more people on bikes the better.
However, the thing about handling their bikes so well doesn't hold up considering recent events. I give you a press release from the Berlin cops from yesterday:
http://www.berlin.de/polizei/presse-fahndung/archiv/132155/index.html
Bei einem Verkehrsunfall in Mitte wurde heute früh ein "Fixie"-Radler schwer verletzt.
Gegen 9 Uhr 20 befuhr der 32-Jährige mit seinem Rad, das lediglich mit einer Vorderradbremse ausgerüstet war, die Friedrichstraße in Fahrtrichtung Unter den Linden.

Yes I know they are all high tech low weight super duper jazzed up things but they LOOK like something a 13 year old made from junked parts.

If you want to spend thousands to look like that then you go right ahead but don't complain when you get nicked for breaking the law.

You would soon scream if you get totalled by someone in a car that followed the same way of thinking re brakes and genral legal roadworthiness.