Info required: cycling in Switzerland and Austria

[User]

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

[QUOTE 4112345, member: 21629"]Hi all,

who used to cycle in Switzerland and Austria with road bike ? I try to find what bicycle requirements are for cycling in those countries. Helmet, front and rear lights - that's all clear. I have also found that Swiss and Austria require bike bell, mudguards and reflectors on pedals and spokes. Is that true??? How do they immagine pedal reflectors on clipless pedals (I use Crankbrothers Eggbeaters) ?

Though I was looking through many cycling photos taken in those countries and I see no mudguards or reflectors on road bikes at all.

Thanks for any info.[/QUOTE]
I can't say for Austria but I have seen loads of Swiss riders going up and down the hills - lots of BMC bikes - and haven't seen anything different from roadies in the UK. It may be one of those non-enforced laws.

 

[Onyer]

I've done a bit of cycling in Austria and Switzerland and haven't seen the police take that much interest in road bikes. I did see a cyclist get stopped by the police after cycling in an area that was clearly designated as a no cycling zone. My impression is that if you follow the rules then the police (and locals) will be OK. Transgress those rules and everyone shouts at you! Last year on our tour in Germany/France/Switzerland we were on a road, having missed the cycle path. Many cars going in both directions sounded their horns and waved for us to get off the road. In Basel we missed a no entrance sign down a road, but again the locals, very forcibly, put us right! A cheery wave and a thank you in English seemed to do the trick.

 

[midliferider]

I cycled in Switzerland for about 7 days in September last year. I cycled from German side of the lake Constance across Austria and then across Switzerland.
I cycled along the marked route which involved both main roads and separate cycle paths. I used a my trusted specialised sirus, a hybrid. It did have a mudguard at the back but it no no specific lights etc.
The country and the people are very cycle friendly. Local and national routes are well marked. If the road is dug up, there is clear diversion signs for cyclists. It is not just for motorists.
I think once they know that you are a touring cyclist, there is even more flexibility with regard to riding on the wrong way etc.
On the last day, I cycled to Geneva railway station and packed the bike back in to the box inside the station. No one said anything for me blocking their way etc. Police just had a look at me and I smiled. Everyone was very helpful.
There is only one thing which come on the way of enjoying the experience. It is very expensive.
Otherwise I will go again.
If you need anymore info, please ask.

 

[alpine fenlander]

Sports cyclists are exempt from the usual bike equipment rules in Germany and I assume the same is true in Austria and Switzerland as I've never seen a mountain biker with mud guards or a roadie with a bell etc. Lights are also not compulsory for sports cyclists (in the daytime) and I'm pretty sure helmets aren't either. Police would probably cut you some slack as a foreigner anyway and even for town/ commuting bikes they don't really enforce the rules beyond the same crackdowns as in the UK. I.e. I wouldn't worry about it, they won't lock you up for a missing reflector.
Cycle paths are mandatory though and police will tell you to use them and yes normal people will also tell you when you do something wrong. But again as a foreigner it's unlikely you'd get a fine.

Be prepared to get overtaken by families and old people going up those mountains! Ebikes are used everywhere over there now :-)

 

[mjr]

I've ridden in rural/small-town Austria years ago. No helmet or lights required AFAICR. The hire bikes seemed similar to what you'd get anywhere else, although I think the brakes make have been the reverse of the UK. The bike lock we used was horribly weak but no-one nicked the bikes.

Some cycle paths may be mandatory, but the ones I used were so good that it would be an odd choice not to use them. They were well-signed, too, although I did object to the "easy route" sign after grinding up a rather sharp climb in the small ring... blooming glad I didn't take the adventure route or whatever they called it I imagine if I'd been in a big city, there might have been some objectionable/unsuitable cycle paths, but there wasn't in the countryside and where there was no cycle track, everyone I met drove nicely.

 

[steveindenmark]

I have ridden in both Switzerland and Austria. The rules for cyclists are the same as everywhere else.

 

[alpine fenlander]

Maybe just another comment on cycle paths and cycle routes: They are usually very good quality but they aren't 100% tarmac.

It's often easy enough to find alternatives but it'll make navigation harder and the cycle routes usually take in the scenic bits and they also avoid the steepest mountains.

So for touring they are ideal and you might want to put on some more puncture proof tyres.

The off

road sections aren't like NCN/ Sustrans bad though, they are more like hard compacted ground with a bit of gravel.

 

[robjh]

Maybe just another comment on cycle paths and cycle routes: They are usually very good quality but they aren't 100% tarmac.

It's often easy enough to find alternatives but it'll make navigation harder and the cycle routes usually take in the scenic bits and they also avoid the steepest mountains.

So for touring they are ideal and you might want to put on some more puncture proof tyres.

The off road sections aren't like NCN/ Sustrans bad though, they are more like hard compacted ground with a bit of gravel.

These are pictures from a signposted cycle route near Lake Constance, which in NCN-style switched between on and off-road sections.
This (on left)............................................................................................suddenly turned into this (on right)

very pretty but not for road-bike tyres.
However I've done a few rides in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and generally found the roads good and the drivers well-behaved. In Berlin I once got stopped by a policeman and told to use the cycle path on the other side of the road (not easy to get to at that point), and observing these rules strictly can make crossing at big junctions very slow, but I found no more inconveniences than that.

Edit : just realised that the OP was talking only about Switzerland and Austria but these pics are in Germany. My impressions were that all were similar however, and I've ridden with/without helmets in each of them.

 

[smith4188]

I lived in Austria for 5 years, although I left 15 years ago. I did cycle there again for a couple of weeks in 2011 and nothing seemed to have changed. Helmets weren't compulsory. Bells were. Lights were more confusing. You absolutely had to have them at night (and I know Brits who were fined for not having them). I also heard that you were supposed to have lights fitted even during the day, presumably just in case you stayed out longer than planned. Regarding cycle paths, we were once forced on to an awful, glass-strewn cycle path by police but it was unrideable and so as soon as he was gone we were back on the road. Usually, cycle paths are a lot better than that.

 

[midliferider]

I cycled from Vienna to Prague in summer 2014. I was in Vienna only for 2 days and further 6 days in Czech Republic. I followed the well known Greenaway route.
It was an excellent experience in every way. The people, country etc, etc
I remember writing to my friends to say that it restored my faith in humanity.

There is a route which take you across to the Poland by passing Prague.
But Prague is a beautiful city that you must visit.

 

[T4tomo]

Pedal reflectors are also a legal requirement in the Uk but I've never heard anyone being done for not having them

 

[mjr]

[QUOTE 4116316, member: 21629"]Reflectors on spokes and pedals. Hmmmm ... Will take a risk to go without them. [/QUOTE]
I've just remembered that if you're taking your own bike, the tourist office is probably wrong. Austria is a signatory to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic so you only need a brake (fixed wheel doesn't count for this), a bell, lights and rear reflector on a temporarily-imported bike. The extra requirements they impose on local cycles are irrelevant. See http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/regulations/international-traffic

Of course, it may be good to have them for a quiet life, as individual police officers are unlikely to know the above.

Pedal reflectors are also a legal requirement in the Uk but I've never heard anyone being done for not having them

Only on non-vintage bikes and only after dark. I've heard of more people being done for things that are not legal requirements than being done for no pedal reflectors.

 

[andym]

Maybe just another comment on cycle paths and cycle routes: They are usually very good quality but they aren't 100% tarmac.

It's often easy enough to find alternatives but it'll make navigation harder and the cycle routes usually take in the scenic bits and they also avoid the steepest mountains.

So for touring they are ideal and you might want to put on some more puncture proof tyres.

The off-road sections aren't like NCN/ Sustrans bad though, they are more like hard compacted ground with a bit of gravel.

I rode chunk of the Drauradweg between Toblach in Italy, and Villach and quite a lot of it was unsurfaced - and the unsurfaced bits were pretty similar to NCN routes (ie perfectly fine unless you have really narrow tyres). I'd suggest putting in 25 or 28mm tyres if you can.

 

[mjr]

I rode chunk of the Drauradweg between Toblach in Italy, and Villach and quite a lot of it was unsurfaced - and the unsurfaced bits were pretty similar to NCN routes (ie perfectly fine unless you have really narrow tyres).

Your NCN routes are not the mudbaths and sandtraps west of Norwich then!