Good morning...
 

... from Germany (well, I'll probably go to sleep after writing this).

I have not owned a bike for a few years (more than 10, to be precise), but I could probably need one for my daily commuting, preferably one that lets me take it on the public transport. Because of that, I'll most likely buy a folding bike next year. I won't tell you my current considerations because I prefer to not be a part of one of the regular BikeForums fights between vendors and brand fans. I'm - more or less - reading this forum actively though, it already gave me a few important hints.

Just wanted to say Hello: Hello.

Welcome to the forums.

Welcome!

Welcome

Thank you. :)

Like Stan said, a couple good forums here for you including Commuting and Folding Bikes. :thumb:

I already spend my nights reading through it - thank you! :)

Hey gopher, welcome from another newbie.
I'm curious: how good is the bike infrastructure for commuting where you are?
(protected lanes and such)

It depends a lot. My hometown (at least the one in which I chose to live...), a rather large city near Hannover, is almost completely staffed with separate biking lanes. We even have a few in our historical downtown area, not too many though - probably because of preservation laws.

My parents live in a rural area near the state borders of Lower Saxony, close to the Harz. It is absolutely awful there - the next village (where the closest train station is) can only be reached over a ringroad with a "recommended speed" of 100 km/h. I guess I won't drive that part by bike, ever.

Hello! I love how our love for bicycles no matter where in the world we are, brings us together. Happy New Year!! :hug:

Same to you, BikingTech! :)

Hey gopher. Thanks for that info about bike lanes where you live - it sounds pretty good.
I am in metro Boston area, and protected bike lanes are still not common here. Most bike lanes are a painted strip between the travel lane and the parked cars. It doesn't exactly give one a feeling of safety.
I am fortunate enough to live near several bike trails created from former railway rights-of-way, and those are very popular with recreational cyclists like myself.

Hi everyone! I'm a newbie here too and I'm glad that I've found such a bright biking community! I've already found a lot of interesting stuff here.

Welcome!

Thank you - and welcome too!