Touring - cycling in Germany

I will be spending 2 weeks in Fulda, Germany (near Frankfort) with my daughter this summer and am wondering what the chances are of renting bikes and taking nice little day trips with her would be. Any German natives on the Forums that can help me out? Any advice appreciated, thank you! Liz

CycleMagic,
in case you haven't left yet,here are 2 rental shops in the Fulda area:
1.Drahteselklinik am Bahnhof 36129 Gersfeld (Rhön) Tel.: (0 66 54) 75 95
2.Fahrradverleih Paul Hohmann Rudolf-Diesel-Straße 4 36088 Hünfeld Tel.: (0 66 52) 48 85
In case you don't know German,
“Drahtesel” is German slang for bicycle, literally “wire donkey”.
“Fahrradverleih” means bike rental

you pretty much have about any option you can think of:
1) for cheap you can rent "city bikes" and do short city or day trips -- there are signed bike paths all over the place and special bike maps
2) you could also rent "better" touring or trekking bikes and do a multi-day or week tour very easily. one of the most popular that is not to far away is touring the Rhine River valley - it is a long-distance bike path with bike hostels and all kinds of stuff catering to cyclists along the way
3) mountain biking is a little more difficult to rent, but also possible. i think Totdnau which is a downhill MTB park in the Schwaebische Alpen about 2-3 hours from Frankfurt rents downhill bikes... oh wait, there's a closer one... Bad Wilbad i think it's called (never been there) but it's just south of Karlsruhe.

as for the first option for renting cheap bikes. Most train stations rent bike by either the hour or the day for reasonable prices. even cheaper is bike rental sponsored by the Red Cross (usually within short walk of the train station) i have rented bikes for like $3/day from there (not in Frankfurt). of course these cheap bikes will be either 3-speeds, old touring bikes or cheap MTBs... but all with fenders, lights and most with racks.

language should be no problem.

there's also lots of info on the web - i'm too lazy to search for you, but look for "fahrrad tour" or "fahrradweg" or try searching in english as many sites have that too... there are many established long distance routes.

or you could just "wing-it" and ask at the train station where you can rent bikes and then there ask for route info or go to a bookstore and buy a bike-tour guide or bike map (there will be numerous bike touring books and maps in almost any bookstore)

renting bikes and doing siomple day trips to local parks or tourist sites (say a small castle or biergarten) is a common activity for Germans and for tourists so it's pretty easy, cheap and well-supported.

Dear Bokes and Nathank:
thank you so very much for the information! i am really looking forward to this trip and you have just made it that much easier. I am happy to hear that there are some shops in the town that I will be in. I am going to look into the Rhyne River option; depending on how much my non-cycling daughter can handle. We will be there the first 2 weeks of june, so the weather should be just perfect (I hope!). Liz

i actually have never cycled it (tentatively planned to a few times with my sister but she keeps flaking on her Europe trips and now she's pregnant...) but the Rhine River Valley is supposed to be great. i think you can "sell" it pretty well to non-cyclists as it is also full of cultural and other recreational spots and activities -- i think there is even a "wine-tasting" tour that goes from winery to winery or something like that.

there are bike camping, basic bike hostels and of course nice hotels for those who like to travel "in style"... and you can pretty much choose your distance as there are hotels and stops all along the way.

Enjoy your trip! I lived in Stuttgart for 4 years, enjoyed it immensely. I'm also planning a trip to Germany sometime in the future. You will have fun there, the people are very nice and accomodating, the food is great, and there is so much history there. Have fun.

you could contact the adfc (allgemeiner deutscher fahrrad-club) at http://www.adfc.de/

they have a series of cycling maps (radtourenkarten) in 1:100,000 that covers the entire
country. printed by haupka & co. they show cycling paths, long-distance bike routes,
elevations and inclines, and roads are color-coded to indicate density of traffic.