Table of contents
Thomas Schmieder
Sports & scene
Scene: Berlin air
Berlin motorcycle scene
What moves the capital
Germany’s lively capital is also a colorful stage for two-wheelers. An extremely busy motorcycle scene in the metropolis compensates for the lack of curves.
Thomas Schmieder
01/20/2011
Berlin in October 2010. At the Festival of Lights, lighting artists transform 70 buildings into aesthetic compositions of light and color for ten evenings. Also the Brandenburg Gate. Information on the city’s history flashes directly under the famous Quadriga, in German and English. People from all over the world find out that 550 motorcycles per day will be built in Berlin in 2010: Since 1969, almost all BMW motorcycles have come from the BMW motorcycle factory in Spandau, the only remaining motorcycle production facility in Germany. But 550 a day? Then BMW would only need 181 working days per year to build 100,000 machines ?? Vis-à-vis is a Suzuki SV 650. Two-wheeler pilots do not have any parking problems in Berlin, the second most populous city in the EU after London. Okay, flat landscape and continental climate, hot summers and cold winters, are only partially predestined for motorcycling. Berlin is not exactly a German stronghold for two-wheelers, it ranks last among the motorcycle density together with Hamburg
16 federal states.
But “poor but sexy” also applies to the motorcycle scene in Germany’s largest city in terms of area. On almost 900 square kilometers, many use their two-wheelers as a real one
Means of transport, not just as a leisure device: more flexible than the S-Bahn, faster than the car. Scooters, 125cc and motorcycles go everywhere. Snapshots with a symbolic character: A Simson Schwalbe from GDR times drives across the Strabe des 17. Juni, a Triumph Daytona 675 accelerates on Potsdamer Platz, a Harley V-Rod thuds past the former Checkpoint Charlie. In the evening, on Oranienburger Strasse, young super sports drivers draw attention to themselves with loud gas bursts between in-bars, monuments and curb swallows. Symphony of the big city.
In each of the twelve districts, parked machines crowd under sheltered shelters. Lantern parkers want dry spots, motorcycle garages are rare. A talent for improvisation is required. Just like with Peter Hanke from Prenzlauer Berg. as “BMW Pope of the GDR” he adventurously imported his K 100 to East Berlin in 1984 and is still working on BMWs today. Stefan Gulas made it from Vienna to Berlin. Here he developed the E-Rockit, a “Human hybrid”, replaces the throttle grip when pedaling. Production in Berlin is a matter of honor for the 12,460 euro vehicle.
Klaus Andree turned his soft spot for the 1920s / 1930s into the sideline company Retronia. He designs and sells clothing for vintage cars: gauntlets, lace-up boots, knickers. All because there was no suitable clothing for his DKW KM 200 from 1935. The building contractor Uwe Kobilke fulfilled his dream in the middle of the Berlin S-Bahn main axis, between Hackeschem Markt and Alexanderplatz. He opened it in the shadow of the television tower “First Berlin GDR motorcycle museum”. 140 motorcycles, scooters and mopeds show the complete East German two-wheel history. 365 days a year, daily until 8 p.m.. “Some people bring their money to the bank, others prefer to invest in beautiful things”, says Kobilke.
The architect Sonja Wiese also has her office in the S-Bahn arches, under the Jannowitzbrucke. She designs apartments and wellness facilities for luxury hotels. She often drives to construction sites on her Derbi Mulhacen. Her chic single is exclusive; she doesn’t know any other owners of the city runabout in Berlin. The 39-year-old is a subtenant at the motorcycle manufacturer Urban Motor. It builds stylish city motorcycles from two-valve twins from BMW, Ducati and Moto Guzzi. One “Brown sugar” The baptized BMW from Urban Motor drives Christoph Kohler. He is active in “Doctors help e. V.”, an association for the improvement of medical care in emergency areas.
The Eurobiks are also socially committed. Their annual Whitsun tours to countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe provide support for children’s homes and hospitals – largely planned by bikers from Berlin. The motorsport group of the German Bundestag sports association is at home around the Reichstag. It has 300 members, a few MPs and high officials plus members of all kinds of professions in the orbit of Parliament. They regularly go on friendship trips, often accompanied by those who are experienced in the protocol “white mice”, the motorcycle escort of the Berlin police. The two-wheel acrobatics of their motorcycle sport group – ambassadors in green and white – are almost legendary.
Anyone who came from the Rhineland to the Spree in the course of the government’s move will sorely miss the Eifel or Bergisches Land. Because curves are rare in the Berlin area, it is far to the Harz. It is more likely that picturesque avenues lure you to tours to Brandenburg. Wolfgang Schmitz, treasurer at the Federal Association of Motorcyclists (BVDM), moves his BMW R 100 GS less than he used to on the Rhine, only on long vacations. Instead, he goes trials at the weekend. Per Reul from Bonn runs a hotel in the Hasenheide which he named after Ludwig van Beethoven, who was born in Bonn. Per has a motorcycle in Berlin and one at his second home in Bonn.
The Berlin motorcyclists meet en masse on the Spanische Allee at the Spinner Bridge. At this crossing of the A 115 near the Grunewald service area, a section of the AVUS race track opened in 1921, you can breathe real Berlin motorcycle air.
Berlin motorcycle inventory
On January 1, 2010, the Federal Motor Transport Authority counted 93,478 registered motorcycles without scooters and 125 cc motorcycles in Berlin. With a population of 3.44 million, that makes 27.2 machines per thousand people. With this rate, Berlin occupies a poor 401st place among the 427 licensing districts nationwide. The motorcycle density in Berlin is only 60 percent of the national average of 45.8 machines per 1000 inhabitants: 3.76 million motorcycles for 82 million German citizens. The front runner Bavaria even has 60.2 motorcycles for every 1000 inhabitants.
But in view of the good local transport system and the rather low average income, Berliners also afford comparatively few cars (1.1 million). Statistically, three Berliners share a car, nationwide there is more than one car for every two people.
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