Germany Stages

The 19th and final stage of the igus:bike tour in Germany takes us to Greetsiel. The village is located directly on the Leybucht, a small bay on the East Frisian west coast. Greetsiel is a port town known for Greetsiel Harbor, with its seafood restaurants, traditional fishing boats, and 18th-century brick homes, many with family crests. 

Today, we spend the day sightseeing while riding a circular route around Greetsiel. We start off in the center of the village at the watercourse Altes Greetsieler Sieltief, then cycling anti-clockwise through meadows before reaching the dyke at the shore of the Wadden Sea, an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. Along the way, we pass sights such as the Pilsumer lighthouse and Greetsiel lock Leysiel as part of the Leyhörn Nature Reserve. After 26 km we reach our destination: the lookout Greetsieler port. 

The 18th stage takes us back to the Münsterland region. Here we first visit our customer Scheffer Krantechnik GmbH in Sassenberg, which uses various energy chain systems from igus in its crane systems.

Afterwards, this time two of our colleagues will set off on a tour through the Münsterland region. The flat route takes them from Sassenberg through fields and small villages along the River Ems to the old town of Münster and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Our 16th stage takes place in Munich, where we cycle from Nymphenburg Palace past the Olympic Stadium and the English Garden to Marienplatz/Viktualienmarkt. This time we visit Hinterher GmbH, manufacturer of high-quality bicycle trailers.

Tour 16 takes us along the Erms river through the biosphere area on the Swabian Alps. We start in Rietheim in a valley basin and head through the old town of Bad Urach on the Erms Cycling path. We end in Dettingen/Erms.  

We are in the beautiful Allgäu again. The start of the tour is in Benningen. From there we first head north towards Memmingen and then continue to Ottobeuren where we end at the beautiful Basilica St. Alexander and Theodor. 

The 5th week of our bike tour starts in the Black Forest. Here, our team is heading up high, namely to the Feldberg and 1,493 metres above sea level. From there, we ride downhill through the Breisgau region over 1,200 metres in altitude. The destination of today’s stage is Freiburg Minster.

Stage 13 brings us to Lauingen, a small town in the Bavarian area in southern Germany. Our first stop is ErgoPack Deutschland GmbH.

From there, we continue via the Donauradweg (Danube cycle path), which is considered as one of the most beautiful cycling paths in Europe. The cycle path is mostly flat, which is perfect for our urban igus:bike.

The tour ends in Günzburg near Munich, where the known theme park Legoland Germany is located.

Today, the igus:bike tour takes us all the way to the south of Germany. More precisely, the Eibsee. It is a lake in Bavaria, roughly 100 km southwest of Munich, right at the border to Austria and the northerly base of the Zugspitze – Germany’s highest mountain. We start on the eastern side of the lake and cycle clockwise for about 7 km on the Eibsee circular trail along forest paths.

The journey continues today in southern Germany. We start at MULTIVAC Sepp Haggenmüller SE & Co. KG. The supplier of integrated processing and packaging solutions for food, medical and pharmaceutical products as well as industrial goods utilieses the numerous advantages of igus motion plastics.

From the headquarters in Wolfertschwenden, the tour leads through the spa town Bad Grönebach. Passing meadows and forests, the route crosses the river Iller and ends at the Iller Suspension Bridge.

Week 4 of our world tour takes us to the south of Germany. The first stage for this week takes place in the Allgäu region, close to the Austrian border, in Füssen and Pfronten to be precise.

We start in the morning at the Lech Falls in Füssen and set off on a short sightseeing tour. Among other things, we visit the Forggensee lake and Neuschwanstein Castle.

In the afternoon, we continue to Pfronten, one of DMG MORI‘s most important development and largest production plants in Europe. Here we will see which igus solutions are used by one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-precision machine tools.

We start off our last stage for this week in Frankfurt am Main. Located in the middle of Germany, it is a major financial hub that’s also home to the European Central Bank.

Our route with the igus:bike begins at the Main riverbank in Niederrad. From there, we ride along the Main, the longest tributary of the Rhine. It rises in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and flows west through central Germany for 525 kilometres to meet the Rhine below Rüsselsheim.

After 3 km we make a stop in the heart of Frankfurt at the bridge Eiserner Steg (Iron Footbridge), which is the site for thousands of love locks and offers a fantastic view of the downtown skyline as well as the museums that line the Main River. The bridge connects the city centre with the district of Sachsenhausen. The area is home to a mix of quaint apple-wine pubs, late-night bars, clubs and German restaurants.

We then continue our way east along the Main River until we reach Offenbach am Main, where we visit our customer Advanced Bikes.

The tour starts at the Eurogate container terminal, where our colleagues from the Port of Hamburg will tell our colleagues all about shore power and how the iMSPO (igus Mobile Shore Power Outlet) helps to flexibly supply ships with electricity from shore. From there, we cross the Altenwerder Damm bridge, which offers a great view of the container harbour.

At Bubendeyufer we cycle onto the ferry. The 12-minute journey across the Elbe takes us to Övelgönne, in the direction of the city centre. The tour continues to the fish market hall, followed by a ride along the Reeperbahn.

The tour leads over the Landungsbrücken to the impressive Elbphilharmonie concert hall. The tour then continues through the Speicherstadt warehouse district towards Jungfernstieg, including a coffee break.

At the Lombards bridge, our team has a fantastic view of the Jungfernstieg. The stage ends along the Outer Alster.

For the last tour in week 2, our team is heading to Berlin. We start in the south-west, in Bad Saarow on Lake Scharmützelsee. From here, it’s a 3.5 km flat route to our customer SENSYS Sensorik & Systemtechnologie GmbH, which offers magnetic and electromagnetic measuring systems and components. After the visit, we return to Bad Saarow.

In the afternoon, we start a short sightseeing tour in Berlin itself and visit a few sights of the German capital.

On Thursday, we start off the day in Schmölln-Putzkau to visit our customer Fiedler Maschinenbau und Technikvertrieb GmbH. The company manufactures cleaning and municipal vehicles and uses maintenance-free drylin W linear guides in the front welding beam structures. 

Then, we make our way to the Elbe cycle path in Pirna to start our route with the igus:bike. From there, we follow the course of the Elbe, one of the major rivers of Central Europe. On our way we pass the bridge “Blaues Wunder” (“Blue wonder”) in Loschwitz, which was built in the late 1800s. The name derives from the bridge’s original sky-blue color and the fact that it was one of the first bridges in Europe without river piers, which was a technical masterpiece at the time – and thus regarded as a miracle.

After another 6 km we reach our destination: Dresden, the capital city of the state of Saxony. More precisely, the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). The Lutheran church was first built in the 11th century but was destroyed during World War II, before it was reconstructed between 1994 and 2005. Finally, we let the day end with a quick sightseeing tour of Dresden.

After a short cycle tour through Erfurt, our route starts in Waltershausen. There we visit our customer Rockinger Agriculture GmbH. The company manufactures trailer couplings for lorries and trailer components and uses special parts made from igus high-performance plastics.

Along the beautiful villages and past picturesque meadows, the bike reaches the KRUMBEIN rationell GmbH & Co. KG, a machine manufacturer for bakeries and patisseries.

The bike made one last additional stop on this day in Stadtilm. The town is 40 kilometres from Gotha. Notable sights include Stadtilm Castle, which used to be a monastery, and St Mary’s Church, which was built in the 12th century and is known for its baroque renovations and medieval frescoes. In Stadtilm itself, we visited L&K Land- und Kraftfahrzeugtechnik GmbH. Among other things, the company manufactures excavator shovels in XXL format and relies on igus plain bearings.

We start the second week of our world tour in the beautiful Münsterland, more precisely at the Wasserburg (moated castle) in Gemen. The former castle is now a palace used by the diocese of Münster as a youth education centre. However, the site is still surrounded by a moat and therefore offers a fantastic view.

From the moated castle, our tour first takes us 12 kilometres to the next largest village, Weseke. Here we make a stopover and visit our customer Haane Welding Systems, which specialises in welding solutions in mechanical engineering and uses energy chains from igus for this.

Our tour then continues over a distance of 13 kilometres, which takes us via Südlohn to Stadtlohn. The destination here is Günther Wensing GmbH, a manufacturer of stretch-bending machines and special machines, which also use igus energy chains.

The stage begins at sunrise on the 153-meter-high Halde Hoheward. With a fantastic view over the Ruhr area, we head downhill at a rapid pace towards an exciting chain application.

After a short stretch along the Emscher, our next destination slowly comes into view: the Veltins-Arena, home to one of the iconic coal region football clubs, Schalke 04. What makes this arena truly special is its retractable pitch. The entire playing field can be moved out of the stadium, under the south stand, using igus e-chains. This allows the grass to regenerate optimally, reducing the need for costly and frequent turf replacement.

In this application, igus energy chains ensure reliable guidance and protection of the cables that control the retractable pitch. The chains withstand outdoor conditions and high loads while keeping the cables free of damage or tangling, enabling smooth and efficient movement of the entire playing surface. This technology not only improves the durability of the pitch but also helps reduce maintenance costs and downtime.

We continue along the Rhine-Herne Canal, passing through the Gelsenkirchen lock and heading towards Essen. As hunger starts to set in, we take a short break to sample a typical Ruhr area staple: currywurst.

Refreshed, we proceed to the destination of today’s stage: the UNESCO World Heritage site “Zeche Zollverein”.

Our second stage kicks off once again at igus GmbH in Cologne. After a 4 km ride on the igus bike, we already reach the facilities of our customer, ARIS.

Their advanced Linearis drives, powered by igus dryspin lead screw units, offer precise movement and positioning. These drives are already proving their durability in tough industrial applications, such as painting systems of the automotive industry.

After a brief visit, we continue our journey toward the scenic Wahner Heide. This biodiverse nature reserve, between Cologne, Rösrath, and Troisdorf, boasts a stunning mix of heathlands, marshes, moors, and forests. The tour wraps up after approximately 25 kilometers at a small, quiet lake close to Königsforst.