Europe - Buying/Renting a Bike in Berlin

I've posted this at CrazyGuy and seemingly everywhere else in the Internet World, why not here too?

After much hemming, a whole lot of hawing and some more hemming, I'm throwing myself into total commitment on the idea of just bringing my seat, pedals and panniers to Berlin and buying a used bike or finding a rental for a one-month tour. The whole boxing, unboxing, etc. thing with the costs and the reassemblage just isn't my thing.

So now I gotta find something for around 250-300 Euros that helps the rental/buy thing (almost) make economic sense.

Anybody got some ideas on where I might find a decent tourer fitting this economic description (I don't need the perfect Surly, just a solid bike in decent shape)? I've had some good help elsewhere in this quest (CrazyGuy, Toytown Germany) and figured I might as well give it a shot here.

P.S.: Of course, my dream is that someone in Berlin right now is reading this, someone perhaps with a torn ACL, and this someone has the perfect touring bike around 55 cm just hanging from their apartment ceiling. And this someone wouldn't turn down a couple of hundreds Euros for a month's usage, or might even be interested in a long-term bike exchange when the ACL heals and they decide to tour the Southwestern U.S.. I'd be more than happy to provide this person with a good bike to use here.

Hey..it could happen. Worth a shot, I guess. Btw, I'm leaving May 24th.

scot

Hi jscotkey,

Have you had any luck finding a bike to rent in Berlin? I am in a similar situation, except I need to find a recumbent in Munich to rent. But here is some info that may help. My daughter bought a bike in Ireland when she landed last October, and sold it a month later when she left Dublin for what she bought it for. A student bought it, and so you may try the universities. Perhaps someone on summer break can live without their bike for a month. My daughter used craigslist to advertise under "bicycles" and also "item wanted". Good luck to you, and let me know how it goes. We're leaving May 24 too, may see you in the air!

Alan:

The responses from used bike shops and such continue to trickle in (I got another one this morning) and I'm about 90% confident I'll find a reasonable bike. Enough to go for it. Nothing confirmed, and the rental scene looks particularly scarce for touring (it's pretty much all intra-city stuff in Berlin it appears). I'm pretty confident I'll find a bike for >350 Euros that I'll try to quickly sell, or I'll spend a bit more and try to get a decent price upon my leave.

Admittedly this is all a hassle, but for some reason it appeals in ways the whole boxing, etc. shindig doesn't. YMMV.

Lastly, when I started checking around weeks ago it seemed the West and South of Germany had much more along these lines. From what I recall you shouldn't have trouble renting a bike in Munich....recumbents, however, I wasn't checking for. Good luck to you, and if you're connection is via Schiopol I'll wave to you in the line at passport control (figuratively speaking). I'll be the bike guy without a bike.

scot

All the major European cities have their own Craigslist listings. Try this: http://berlin.en.craigslist.org/bik/

Also, there is a bridge in Berlin (around/near Kreuzberg) where many used bicycles are sold, but the Berlin police are apparently cracking down because many are allegedly stolen.