can find just about anything related to fixed gear culture that you might desire, and if it isn’t on hand they’ll be sure to track it down. Newer in town is Cicli Berlinetta, the uptown shop with a hankering for Italian tradition.

Keirin Cycle Culture Cafe and its network of friends and followers are indicative of why Berlin was the logical spot to premiere Fixed City, a documentary on the country’s fixed gear culture circa 2009 that switched “between velodrome and traffic lights, messengers and fakengers, inspiration and revolution, trick riding and speed addiction, pragmatism and passion, purism and a very own poetry.” When it comes to their city, the film team of Kristian Ansand and Martin Gilluck say that “Berlin is definitely one year ahead” of most urban cycling movements in the country.

Köln

Down toward Germany‘s former capital is Köln, or Cologne to Westerners, a savvy and prolific nexus of media and culture that, at under a million people but spread out over 156 square miles, is reminiscent of a more modern urbanist Seattle. Which isn‘t to say there‘s no old-world influence; the city‘s enormous cathedral is an international photo spot for skateboarders and, increasingly, urban bikers. On my trips through the city there were a healthy number of velos rolling about, from the iconic Dutch style bikes to fixies and even a few unicycles. Somewhat unexpected was the number of urban freeride bikes with their distinctive low saddles, fat tires and beefy suspension. Unexpected, that is, until you consider the city‘s mainstay WeThePeople, a freestyle brand that has made a name for itself in the world of BMX. The aforementioned BierBike sells franchises in smaller cities from its home in Cologne.

One focal point for the city‘s urban riding scene is Bike Syndikat, a messenger dispatch center and bike shop on one of the many geometrically skewed blocks on the west side of the city centre. Another recent highlight on Cologne‘s bicycle calendar was Cyclodonia, an industry trade fare in March that covered city bikes, mountain bikes, family bikes and, increasingly, e-bikes. Though it doesn‘t yet have the profile of Munich‘s Bike Expo or the Eurobike tradeshow, Cyclodonia hosts enough workshops, exhibitions and resources to deepen Cologne‘s dent on the German bike map.

Online, the city has had an English blog documenting the various rides, alleycats and polo matches around Cologne, from the perspective of a track racer for the RC Adler team who decided to ride to London on a 1980s era Raleigh frame that he‘d found via the legendary Sheldon Brown. The velodrome veteran was perhaps lured to the touring life with inspiration from Brian McCulloch, who rode his fixed gear the other direction, some 840 miles from Bristol to Berlin in 8 days.

Munich

Munich, which hosts the industry focal point Bike Expo, has been a powerhouse in bike polo for the past several years. The city claimed the 3rd place team at the 2009 European championships and at the 2008 Hardcourt Showdown in Zurich the Müncheners, took second and fourth (with a Berlin squad in third). The city hosted its own Bicyculture Festival last year, and this 27th of June will mark the 2nd Bavarian Super Sprints races.

Frankfurt

Just by dint of proximity, while living in Germany I did most of my urban riding in Frankfurt, the airport-fueled business centre on the banks of the Main River. Though traditionally known as a center of commerce and finance, the city (known colloquially as Mainhattan for its plethora of skyscrapers, a rarity in Europe) is seeing the fruits of a long bender on cultural rejuvenation, and the bike has played a roll there too. On the administrative level the city has a fairly extensive network of bike lanes on major throughways and dedicated loops in some industrial areas, not to mention the GrünGürtel, a 75km greenbelt that takes bikers on a circular route around the entire city.

On the hipper side of things, Frankfurt just played host to the German qualifiers for the 2010 World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship, taking place in-country in August. The prelims and finals to determine the national team for 2010 were hosted by the local cadre known as Frankfurt‘s Finest Messengers, and the local malleteers of Team Polosynthese will be the only northern influence on the team. The rest of the German contingent will consist of three outfits from Karslruhe and a squad from Munich.

Off the court, Critical Mass enjoys a cult following in Frankfurt as well, with two regular monthly rides that can number just half a dozen participants in the dead of winter but swell to several hundred when the skies clear to give glimpses of the surrounding Taunus mountains and the skyline ironically punctuated by the Europaturm, the towering space needle with its rings back-lit in the once lofty Team Telekom pink.

The core of traffic corkers from the Frankfurt‘s Finest Messengers and its Critical Mass group lent a strong presence to Umsatteln (meaning “dismount), a massive two-wheeled protest ride cum rolling carnival that demanded “a person-friendly future” for the city, organized in response to the annual Frankfurt Auto Show.

Raleigh