Berlin is a famous cycling city. After Copenhagen and Amsterdam, it is probably considered Europe's most cycling friendly city. So when my wife suggested a half term break with the children to Germany's capital (and largest) city, I was definitely up for it.
However schlepping a bike box around on the S-bahn is not my idea of fun, especially with two incredibly heavy suitcases full of children's clothes and enough winter layers to ensure that my arms are now a couple of centimetres longer. So it seemed like bike rental was the only option.
Much to my surprise, a pretty extensive search of the Interweb found me only one option for renting a decent quality road bike in Berlin. A few forums seemed to suggest that some of the more boutique vintage bike sellers could also rent for the day but follow up calls and emails to these shops left me discovering that they had either gone out of business or had stopped the business of bike hire. However, if I wanted to rent a push bike or a fat tired clunker, I had about 40 places to choose from.
Aspire Cycling was the only company I could find that rented road bikes in Berlin. There didn't seem to be a lot of feedback about them and the prices seemed slightly high, at 65 euros a day (I only really wanted to rent for one day as there was an organised ride via the Rapha Berlin pop up that I had been invited to join and the management was keen for me to focus on the holiday!). So I went on to their website, chose the Endurance Canyon CF9.0 (as opposed to the top of the range Ultimate CF which comes with electronic shifting and is 20 euros a day more), and waited for instructions.
Within about 20 minutes I had an email back from Alex, one of the co-owners of Aspire, asking me where I wanted the bike delivered to the next day and the time I want it delivered. He also wanted a scan/photo of my debit card and my passport, to make sure I wasn't going to run off with his 2,200 euros bike! Pretty good service. He also asked me whether I was sure if a medium was the right size for me for the Canyon because my saddle height measurement would suggest I might be better off with a small (actually I just have relatively short legs so medium is correct but it shows that they were really thinking about their customers). He also reminded me that the only thing I needed to bring with me were my pedals and a helmet as they supply spare tubes and tools in a saddle bag, in case of punctures.
I booked in for the bike to be delivered to my hotel in Mitte at 6pm the next day but our travel connections were running late (every single S-bahn line in Berlin seems to be in the middle of emergency repairs at the moment) and so I emailed him to ask if he could come at 8pm instead. Alex responded almost instantly and at 8pm he was there - with his son - to drop off the bike. All this was conducted in perfect English, in case you are wondering or not brilliant at German. It couldn't be simpler. As an added bonus, I even got a free Canyon bidon (water bottle) to keep, as part of the rental price. Needless to say, the bike was completely spotless and in great condition.
I asked him where I should return the bike to and Alex said that he or his co-founder Ilya would come and pick it up from my hotel whenever was convenient for me. I was beginning to like this service.
The next morning I was up bright and early for a quick two hour tour out to the west of the city, down to the Wannsee and then back along a couple of forest paths which were on the edge of cyclocross territory. The bike responded well and was the usual high standard one expects from a Canyon.
The set up was perfect for a visiting rider - not too aggressively set up but perfect for at least a 200km ride, I'd say. It comes with a Shimano Ultegra 11 speed chainset, with a 50/34 compact chainring and a 11-28 cassette. I didn't actually need to get into the little ring at any point in the ride, but if you do head a little further out I am told there are some proper hills that would mean you might need the 28 on the back. The wheels (DT Swiss R23 Splines) came with Continental Grand Prix 4000s II tyres, which is what I ride at home and are a pretty high end tyre to put on a rental bike.
Post ride, I suggested to Alex that he come and pick up the bike from my hotel that evening but he suggested that since it was a quiet time of year that I keep it another day and go out for a ride with him and Ilya. So, having been granted another morning off, we met up the next morning and went on a 70km ride off to Postdam and back.
During the ride I learned how Alex in an American Russian who lived in America from a very early age before returning to his motherland in his mid 20s. There he worked as an investment banker and met Ilya, who is also Russian. Alex continued to work in banking for nearly another 20 years before tiring of the endemic corruption in Russia (we had a good long chat while riding about the ills of the Russian nation) and moving to Berlin with his four children for a fresh start. Ilya, who by that point had left banking to become an artist, also decided to leave Moscow and move to Berlin for a better quality of life.
Both keen road cyclists, Ilya and Alex decided to go into business and start renting road bikes. And so was born Aspire Cycling, which is also a cycling club and also organise cycling tours in and around Berlin (strictly road biking only!). They only started in July 2015 - hence the lack of information I could find about them in my web searches - and are in the early stages of refining the business. One of the things they have discovered is that (so far) their customers are not Berliners, who don't seem to have a massive culture of road cycling yet.
Based on my experience of Aspire, I'd say they should do pretty well. They are currently negotiating a deal with Canyon to see if they can further increase their fleet and range of bikes. And as they expand, they plan to offer further regular tours to get more of the locals out on road bikes. Definitely a cause worth supporting!
Aspire Cycling - Berlin road bike rental
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