Breakdown service for cyclists

The breakdown is most likely to happen at the weekend - or on Friday afternoon at 5.30pm ...

The breakdown tends to happen at the weekend - or on Friday afternoon at 5.30pm, when there is guaranteed to be no one left who is even willing to keep an eye on the beloved means of transport, let alone lend a hand to change the tyres and inner tube. I myself have three left thumbs when it comes to working on bikes and I'm not a technophile who wants to spend days talking shop about components. Sometimes, in a fit of arrogance, I think that I spend the time that others spend devotedly screwing and cleaning in the saddle instead. And it only dawned on me how many parts a pedelec consists of since I moved into my office right next to the bike workshop here at trike-x-press. There seem to be infinitely more than on the bikes of my youth...

So I'm not one of those cyclists who mends every flat tyre on the side of the road myself in no time at all. And it's not just a flat rear tyre on a pedelec that is my touring nightmare. Even a flat tyre on the front wheel with a quick-release fastener is an abomination to be avoided at all costs. I am an everyday and therefore all-weather cyclist and the bike is (almost) my only means of transport, so hardly a day goes by without contact with my bike. I don't have a car or driving licence (anymore), which is why I rely on my trekking bike always being ready to go. In my free time, I prefer to be out in nature, far away from traffic, noise and crowds, even over rough and smooth terrain.

Despite my supposed "flatlessness", I have been plagued by flat tyres time and again in recent years. (The motor and battery, on the other hand, proved to be surprisingly robust - even after 20,000 kilometres...) And, as already described, every time the nearest bike repair shop in the city had just finished work, or it was Saturday afternoon...

ADFC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad Club) breakdown service

As an ADFC member, I called their breakdown hotline for the first time a few years ago, who told me that there was a garage nearby (but it was already closed) and that they would call me back. They never called me back, but I was lucky - incredible coincidence! - that I happened to be outside the local ADFC office where a couple of members took pity on me and even conjured up a spare inner tube...

A year later, it was Saturday afternoon on my favourite walking tour when I broke down at the Walkenmühle in the Bega meadows near Lemgo. I tried the ADFC breakdown service again and had better luck this time. After 1 ½ hours of salad and sheep's cheese, the breakdown service turned up and surprised me with their 7.5 tonne lorry on which my robust trekking pedelec looked like a mosquito on an elephant. The friendly mechanic on the road explained that he would have repaired the flat tyre even if I had had a tube with me. So he simply drove me to our workshop in Detmold, as I had requested.

The ADFC breakdown service is a service that is available to all ADFC members, and only to them, in addition to the other benefits that membership offers, such as legal expenses insurance in the event of bicycle accidents. For €11.90/year, the basic breakdown service can be upgraded to "ADFC-PannenhilfePLUS", which, in conjunction with the Roland Schutzbrief, includes additional services such as medical/bicycle return transport. The booking is made online. So much for the ADFC breakdown service.

ACE

The "Auto Club Europa e. V. is Germany's second largest automobile club after the ADAC with more than 630,000 members", according to the ACE website. (Just like the ADFC, it is only a dwarf compared to the giant ADAC organisation with no less than 21 million members). And advertises here with the words "Unlimited breakdown assistance for cars, motorhomes, motorbikes, bicycles and much more". The ACE is also aggressively endeavouring to poach customers/members from the ADAC and compares them directly on the website. It is also ahead of the ADAC with its breakdown cover for cyclists, as the latter is still hesitant to include bicycle breakdowns in its portfolio.

ACV

The ACV bicycle cover is included in the annual membership fee at no extra cost. If your bike breaks down or has an accident, the emergency call centre has access to a nationwide network of partners and can quickly find you a breakdown mechanic nearby.

ACV will provide breakdown assistance on site and cover the costs of the return journey or onward journey if necessary. We will also transport the bike to the nearest workshop if the damage cannot be repaired on site.

AVD

With its "AvD Help Plus Family" tariff for €84.90/year, the AVD also offers a bicycle cover letter. This includes 24-hour service, breakdown assistance, towing, recovery, onward or return journey, replacement bike, overnight accommodation costs and bike return transport.

ADAC

According to the TAZ newspaper, the ADAC "no longer wants to be a car lobby", but so far it has shied away from integrating the bicycle into its business model. Accordingly, there is - as yet - no breakdown service for cyclists. However, with the increasing expansion of cycle traffic, it can be assumed that this will change sooner or later.

Without guarantee

Of course, I cannot vouch for the quality of the breakdown service providers listed, as my personal experience is limited to the ADFC breakdown service, and even this individual experience is of course not representative.

The term "nationwide partner network" should be taken into account. As the size of the respective mobility organisation increases, the size of its own vehicle fleet usually decreases. While the ADAC has approx. 1700(!) "mobile workplaces", most other associations are likely to rely almost exclusively or even exclusively on this "nationwide partner network".

Whether the waiting times are short or long does not depend on the size of the (own) fleet, but on the general capacity utilisation and the overall traffic volume. Anyone who has ever waited for the ADAC knows that this can also take 2-3 hours. I "only" waited 1 ½ hours for the ADFC's partner company... So pushing the trike/two-wheeler to the next salad with sheep's cheese could be worthwhile...

Photo: Image by M. H. on Pixabay