Berlin to Paris by Bike - Advice Please

massdebater

Howdy all

Myself and a friend are planning to cycle from Berlin to Paris next year in time for the Euros (want to be in France early June) and could do with some advice. We are both complete newbies to cycling this sort of distance. My friend can be very washy with her plans so there's the possibility that I'll be doing it alone but I guess the advice will be the same for both. Rough route is approx 1200kms (haven't decided the actual route yet) and I'm guessing we could do average 60kms/day. This would take 3 weeks but we're allowing ourselves 4 weeks total travel time.

I will be moving to Berlin early next year and plan to buy a bicycle and all equipment there (tent/camping stuff etc). We'll both have a backpack too. What's the best way to carry those kind of things? Should we be looking at one of those trailer things or is there some other way of distributing the weight? Has any of you traveled that sort of distance before and can you offer any advice? We will both be doing a bit of training to try get up to a decent fitness but we're currently both late 20s, average fitness etc. What type of bike would be best? Budget will be very tight so won't be splashing on expensive bikes and plan to sell it them when we get to France. Is the whole thing a silly idea or is it actually something that just anyone can do?

Thanks for the advice

ms34

I haven't cycled in that part of the world (yet) but I have some experience in touring in central and south america and I reckon your estimate of 60km a day is easily achievable. In saying that unless you have plans to stop at specific places I'd consider 60km quite a low distance to cover daily on a bike. With some training (not much) you could cover 100km a day easy enough. Obviously weather can affect that but seeing as you'll be doing it in May/June you should be grand.
A good set of panniers will do the job of carrying clothes etc. Make sure they are waterproof though. Your tent you can strap to the pannier rack. Depending on how much gear you are bringing you could get front and rear panniers. I'd avoid carrying a bag on your bag.
As for the type of bike that will depend on you. I prefer steel bikes for long distance. Lighter types made with reynolds steel are ideal. I use drop bars as they offer different positions for putting your hands so as to avoid strains. But really once you're comfortable on it and the bike fits you than you should be ok.
Btw the trip is definitely achievable. Sounds like great fun

Carawaystick

for routing there's eurovelo routes

eurovelo 2/3 cross and are not too much off a direct line between Paris and Berlin. They may not be built all the way though.

For distance, you should easily manage 20 kmh so 60 km/day is only 3 hours cycling, in long bright days you will need to do something to fill time if not on the bike.

Calahonda52

as above
no bag on back
ideally no front panniers either
get comfortable, gender specific saddle: as the male/female hardware is different in that department, there are different saddles!
whats the plan re pedals: clipped or strapped or what?
if clipped, make sure they are properly aligned and also that the saddle height is correct.
If not you run the risk of getting some joint inflammation or worse if the alignment is not right

Have fun

massdebater

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll look into getting panniers. The 60kms per day is a very conservative estimate. I assume we will be able to go much further most days but this is giving us the option to stop in some places for more than one night if we want. If we get to france early, that's not a bad thing either.

Carawaystick

Theres a few matches in the northeast of France (Lille/Lens) which wouldn't be too far off route.

massdebater

Carawaystick wrote: »

Theres a few matches in the northeast of France (Lille/Lens) which wouldn't be too far off route.

Yeah here are the cities that will be hosting matches. My final trip around France will depend on who actually qualifies (namely Ireland!) and when the fixtures are released

ford2600

On bike, while a titanium custom made bike with dynamo lighting etc be great I'm not sure your bike needs to be expensive.

While on bike this year when meeting European tourers I was struck by how ordinary most of their bikes were, €700/800 mtb bikes with rigid forks fitted and racks/trailer. Met a French man in Killarney who had cycled from Perpignan with a decathlon mtb and trailer.

When cycling in opposite direction to Camino north, most guys were on mtb bike with panniers.

Get a bike that fits you and you enjoy riding and 100km a day max you have massive options; I've done that on a Gary Fisher hybrid with a rack