Genuine question: do you get many comments when riding that? I seem to get lots of comments here when riding unusual bicycles (and apparently that's all of them).
I think the culture of riding a bike in Deutschland is very different than that in England. It is slowly changing in England, but it still mainly dominated by people riding for sport. Most people you see are ‘dressed appropriately’ and ride accordingly. Even when I was commuting to work there was a full change of clothes at work after riding the 25km which, was needed of course. Yes, you do see people commuting to work along the canal in their ‘work jeans’ and high visibility vest etc and some will go to the local supermarket on their bike, but this isn’t the norm –
yet.
In Deutschland the bicycle is far more accepted as just a form of transport. My mother-in-law was still cycling to the shops in her eighties – and many do. Most of the bikes you see are ‘city e-bikes’ and there appears to be far more of these than ‘racing type’ bikes (in my opinion). When I’m cycling there on my ‘Mercian’ wearing my local team jersey, I too get some ‘looks’ and if my bike is resting outside a café, it will often attract some attention.
Overall though, I have a far more pleasurable experience riding in Deutschland than England.