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u/dented42ford

r/bicycletouring r/Madrid r/BrompNOTs r/Brompton
▲ 0 r/Madrid

Recommend English-language Driving School in Madrid?

I'm an American who has lived in Madrid for years, permanent resident. In all the time I've lived here, I've never bothered to get a Spanish driver's license, in spite of the fact that I'd had one in the US for well over two decades.

The time has come for me to rectify that, for various reasons.

My Spanish isn't the best, so I'd like to take the theoretical at least in English. I've been looking at various schools that offer it, and none seem to inspire confidence. I'm just looking for a recommendation and/or anecdotes about doing that process from other Madrid-dwelling Anglophones.

For what it's worth I live in Carabanchel (near Metro Oporto), so anything on the southern half of the center is good. Anything further north (basically Chamberí/Avenida de America) is a bit of a pain for me to get to, time-wise, but the actual city center is fine.

Help?

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u/dented42ford — 10 days ago
▲ 4 r/BrompNOTs

If I wanted to order a Java Neo Carbon 3 in 16", how exactly would I go about it? I live in Spain.

I'm not trying to be difficult, but it is honestly a bit vexing.

I have two Bromptons - a C-line 12s and a G-line - and all the talk about how great the BrompNOTs are has now got me curious, and I have the money to try. So I started the process of figuring out how to get one to Europe, and...

It is infuriating.

Not only will I have to wait 2-4 months, the stories of how there is basically no communication from dealers are more than a little disheartening. I already know that the bike will cost about the same as a C-line after import fees and such, but the actual process of ordering is opaque in the extreme.

So, now, I'm genuinely curious. Why the Java Neo Carbon? Because it is the lightest, and interests me the most. Why the 16"? Because it is the lightest, and I'd use it for multi-modal here in Madrid. Neither of those things really matter, because I can't find enough information from dealers to even start the process!

So I guess what I want to know is where I should look - which shops, in which countries - and what the actual process will look like, to me, as someone who lives in Europe. I know I'm in for a world of hurt on import fees and such, but let's leave that aside for the moment.

Where would you, presumably more-experienced people point me? Any advice? Any warnings? Anecdotes about ordering from Asia, not just the Java?

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u/dented42ford — 1 month ago
▲ 131 r/Brompton+1 crossposts

My partner and I took a trip!

This was our first multi-day bike trip, so we decided to do an "easy" route. We took the Bromptons so that train travel would be easy, and we'll be doing it again!

We went by Ave from Madrid to Valencia, then biked over 4 days down to Alicante. I was riding my modified C-Line (44T chainring, P-line saddle and pedals, Magicshine lights, comfort grips), she was riding our stock G-line. Vincita Big Nash, regular Nash, and Birch 2.0 bags, along with a Brompton Metro bag.

Here are some highlights and thoughts, in my usual stream-of-consciousness style.

  • No issues with either bike over the entire trip. The two closest things to an issue were dropping the chain on the C somewhere on the first train trip (took about a minute to rectify) and having some difficulty with unintentional unfolding on the first day - I'll do a separate post about that later.
  • Took spare parts and tubes and tools, needed none of them. Only maintenance that was needed was checking tire pressure every day. FWIW I was running the C at 90 and the G at 42 PSI, after some experimenting.
  • The G-line was both better and worse than the C on the trip - we did swap a few times - mostly down to gearing and the tires not being that great for pure pavement.
  • Bags worked great, especially the two Nash bags. Having the fold-down "panniers" to store food and extra water/Aquarius was amazing, and even with our overpacking we had plenty of extra room!
  • On both ends of the trip the Renfe/Ave attendants wanted to insist on cases for the bikes, even though the policy is explicit in multiple places on the Renfe site that they are optional. In Alicante they almost didn't let us board, even though that policy was posted on the wall of the station, because the [insert expletive] thought "it was just rude to not have a case". Fair warning to those carrying Brommys on Renfe. In the end it was fine, just tense.
  • We stayed in hotels, because off-season was cheap. €40-60 every night in 2-to-4-star places. No one gave the bikes a second thought. Same with restaurants, though we mostly stopped at markets and ate pre-made food.
  • Another general note about the Spanish Mediterranean coast, most of the beach paths are posted "no bikes", and you are likely to get fined in the season. We did it off-season on purpose, and had no issues, but another fair warning.
  • There are a lot of official bike paths along the way, but to call them "inconsistent" is an understatement. You'll spend quite a bit of time on real roads.
  • On that note, route planning apps aren't all that useful due to poor documentation of the various paths. Be warned, you'll be checking maps, and very few of the paths are marked on them.
  • Day 1 was Valencia to Cullera, and it was flat flat. We mostly stuck to the empty-due-to-off-season beach paths. The end bit from around Mareny Blau to Far de Cullera we had to go onto a farm road around 1km inland, and that was kind of annoying but nice (all citrus, all the time), but the end bit was spectacular.
  • We liked Cullera's beach, but the town is a bit sad. Old in a bad way, if that makes sense.
  • Day 2 was Cullera to Dénia. This was even flatter, 45m of elevation over 60km. Had to spend a lot more time up on those farm roads, but quite a bit of it was very close to the beach. We really liked Gandia and Dénia.
  • Day 3 was Dénia to Benidorm. HILLS! It was around 700m of elvation in the first 20km, then quite a few smaller hills getting from Xabia to Benidorm. This was tiring as heck, and I think we'd have been better served chopping it in half, stopping in Calp[e]. Getting from Calpe to Benidorm was a bit nightmarish, all highway, and there really aren't any other options without going pretty far inland.
  • Benidorm I was not a fan of. It felt like Atlantic City if AC were a theme park of Blackpool, but somehow drunker and older...
  • That being said, it was easy to find cheap-ish accommodation due to sheer variety!
  • Day 4 was Benidorm to Alicante. More hills (around 500m over 45km), and a couple of ill-advised detours, including 900m of hike-a-bike when a path turned out to be rocks. More highways. The bit at the end was very nice, though. I'd be careful in Alicante itself - we accidentally stuck to the coast, which meant one of the dodgier roads we had to go down, better to skip behind the mountains.

That's about all I can say right now, but please feel free to ask any questions about the route, the bikes, the gear, or anything else you can think of!

u/dented42ford — 2 months ago