Hello!
In my job I regularly get the chance to ride in the area around Flensburg, Germany and now I have a question for anyone that knows the rules of the road in Germany.
Am I obliged to use bike paths or are they voluntary? Do I risk a fine or road rage by not using them? They’re good for transport, but I don’t really feel comfortable doing hard efforts on them.
Thanks!
If there is a cycle path, you must use it, unless it is unsuitable (eg blocked, full of glass, etc). You cannot exceed 30km/h on cycle paths.
If there is a bike paths you have to use it, unless its in an unacceptable condition.
The following sign means “Attention, bike path is damaged” and frees you from this obligation.
However, if it´s a small country road with little traffic, most road cyclists stick to the road in my experience. Cycle paths in Germany often are in bad condition.
I think you should mention that is is only a bike path, ift there is a blue sign with the bike on it. Otherwise its not a bike path and you do not have to use it.
If there is a bike path and you are not using it, you will be yelled at sooner or later. Germans generally take rules very seriously and don’t usually miss the opportunity to let to know if you are doing otherwise.
I was once victim of a road rage situation for not using a bike path. I considered it to be safer riding on the car lane since the bike path was full of bumps and not ridable on a road bike above 20kph. I was yelled at by a driver (never seen so much anger before, seemed like her face was about to explode). 30 secs later she tried to hit me with the car at the stop light (and no, I didn’t say a word before). Ok, it was in Berlin 
but anyway…
So play it safe, you never know who is behind the wheel. Bike paths outside towns are usually very good and wide enough here.
Thanks for all the replies! Really helpful!
The bike paths I’ve encountered so far are mainly in the country side or in smaller settlements, so they’ve had a lot of roots, horse manure and stones on them. And then of course there are pedestrians, horses and the way they often weave in and out around driveways. It’s mentally draining to keep focus up.
If it’s a sidewalk with the sign “Bicycle frei” is it then also mandatory to use it or is that different? To me that feels more like an invitation to use it.
Again, thank you for your advice. I think I’ll stick to bike paths through settlements and on more high traffic roads, while going on the roads in the deep countryside between the farms.
It should be added that the obligation to use cycle paths is not enforced in any way and most motorists do accept you on the road as a racey looking road cyclist. I do stick to cycle paths as long as it is save to do so. If the cycle path requires me to change lanes or cross the road or is packed with recreational cyclists I might stay on the road though. There will always be clowns yelling at you for riding on „their“ road, but they’re a tiny minority.
I wouldn’t worry about it unless you are in a city. Here in Frankfurt I would suggest to ride on dedicated bike lanes, but as soon as you move to the outskirts do whatever you want.
Again, unless there is a blue sign with a cyclist you don’t HAVE to take it. If you know this, you can ignore most bike lanes. Most of them are called Fahrradschutzstreifen and riding on those is optional.
Conclusion: Do whatever you want but use common sense. No, Germans aren’t robots that always follow rules.
Reiterating what is written here but when out training I never use them unless in a city. Only get the odd beep. do not really want to mash up my 2k wheels on a crappy cyclepath. Road quality though is really good here in southern bavaria
Why don’t you just cross over to Denmark for your harder efforts? There you often have wider roads with a line dedicated to bikes.
However, you can’t find smaller roads without bike paths up there? I was up there last year. Did several long rides in that area (mostly in DK though … more relaxed, felt safer than in Germany), plenty of suitable roads.
Whenever you see one of the following signs, @gandlf , you’ll have to use the bike path (and risk a fine if you don’t):
The only exception is when you’re in a large group of riders or the bike path is not ridable.
Absoluty correct, @gandlf , the sign
is just an invitation, you can use the sidewalk in this case but you don’t have to.
I do actually start out from Denmark and I’m more at home there. I’m basically just interested in some more variation, now that the border is open again.
We have the blue signs here in Sweden too, but this one we don’t. Thank you for clearing that up for me.
But if you accept that invitation, you’re not allowed to exceed walking pace. You’re just a “guest” on the sidewalk, so pedestrians have the priority.
Fair enough, in the places where I’ve seen those I wouldn’t want to go faster than that.
be prepared for chaos …
“bikepaths” disappear or suddenly end in a field, appear out of nowhere on the other side of a highway you just found yourself cycling on 
good luck and stay safe (yes, maybe find that one good route on komoot or something)
Try riding in the UK… 
I can see neither bikepaths nor highways in your pictures.
