Auntie Helen
Ich bin Powerfrau!
- Location
- 47906 Kempen, Germany
Hi TwoInTow,
My only experience is from two previous tours with my recumbent - I haven't travelled with a tandem before.
As I'm using the Schönes-Wochenende ticket I'm only allowed to take the RE, RB and smaller trains, not the ICE or IC. This is no problem for my route anyway.
When I did my second tour last year (in September) we took the train from Hoek van Holland to Bamberg which involved eight trains in total. There was only one train where there was a potential issue - and this train was choc-a-bloc as there had been a suicide on another line and all the passengers were piling into this train. In the end I just took the seat off the trike and laid it on its side so it was smaller and that was fine. A Pino wouldn't have seemed as large, I imagine (I cycle with someone with a Pino so I know what it is).
The trains all had very different bicycle facilities, ranging from an entire carriage for bikes and their owners, to squeezing in smallish cycle areas (Dutch trains had lesser facilities, generally). The only problems with the German trains tended to be that the carriages were quite high up from the platforms so I had to lift my trike up, plus they had poles in the middle of the doorways which made it a tight squeeze. These wouldn't be an issue with the Pino, IMO.
Do you speak any German? If you can that would probably help as they're so pleased when you speak to them in their language, especially as the conductors probably don't speak English. With my four sets of journeys on German trains there was only the one possible problem (which didn't become an issue anyway) and I'm very confident in future Deutsche Bahn travel. The trike is a much bigger issue than the Pino would be, so I would say you ought to be fine. I don't know about the IRE trains though - perhaps you should consult Deutsche Bahn's website or PM Andy in Sig on CycleChat as he lives in Sigmaringen and rides a recumbent (he has written an article about the very cycle route you are doing and so might send it to you if you ask him!)
My only experience is from two previous tours with my recumbent - I haven't travelled with a tandem before.
As I'm using the Schönes-Wochenende ticket I'm only allowed to take the RE, RB and smaller trains, not the ICE or IC. This is no problem for my route anyway.
When I did my second tour last year (in September) we took the train from Hoek van Holland to Bamberg which involved eight trains in total. There was only one train where there was a potential issue - and this train was choc-a-bloc as there had been a suicide on another line and all the passengers were piling into this train. In the end I just took the seat off the trike and laid it on its side so it was smaller and that was fine. A Pino wouldn't have seemed as large, I imagine (I cycle with someone with a Pino so I know what it is).
The trains all had very different bicycle facilities, ranging from an entire carriage for bikes and their owners, to squeezing in smallish cycle areas (Dutch trains had lesser facilities, generally). The only problems with the German trains tended to be that the carriages were quite high up from the platforms so I had to lift my trike up, plus they had poles in the middle of the doorways which made it a tight squeeze. These wouldn't be an issue with the Pino, IMO.
Do you speak any German? If you can that would probably help as they're so pleased when you speak to them in their language, especially as the conductors probably don't speak English. With my four sets of journeys on German trains there was only the one possible problem (which didn't become an issue anyway) and I'm very confident in future Deutsche Bahn travel. The trike is a much bigger issue than the Pino would be, so I would say you ought to be fine. I don't know about the IRE trains though - perhaps you should consult Deutsche Bahn's website or PM Andy in Sig on CycleChat as he lives in Sigmaringen and rides a recumbent (he has written an article about the very cycle route you are doing and so might send it to you if you ask him!)