Spain and France: rent a bike or take my own?

[meyatt]

If you plan to be on the bike every day, I'd take your own as the expense of renting really adds up. If you're just trying to get a ride in or two, I'd rent because it really reduces the hassle of dragging it around (hotels here in Europe are also not always in love with bikes being in the rooms).

[notsew]

Originally Posted by accordvsick

Thanks for this. Did you end up riding cap formentor as well? We are staying at a house on the south side in Cala Pi so still trying to figure out what’s going to work. I imagine I’m only going to be able to sneak away for half day (probably 5 am to noon) type of thing and not ride with a guilty conscience lol. And in Barcelona I’ll be in the Carretera de Puiggraciós area…. Looks mountainous so I’ll be able to get out more often since I’ll be there the Marjority of the time with friends.

Sa Colabra and Formentor would be a big day. I rode from Port de Pollenca to Sa Colabra and back, its like 60 miles and 6000 feet. Formentor from there is another 25 and 2700 round trip.

You could start in Campanet or something, go up to Sa Colabra through Luc then come back out to Formentor and back down over to Campanet. That would be probably a bigger ride, but more of a loop and a bit less driving. (EDIT, about the same actually, 88 and 9500 ft)


Riding in Mallorca is amazing. Wish I was there! Feel free to PM me about it - I've only been once for a couple weeks, but I fantasize about moving there at least once a week.

[cgolvin]

I don't know what the rental costs are like, but since you've got an easy solution in Girona here's another possibility: join the Rapha Cycling Club and rent bikes in Mallorca. Membership costs USD 95 per person and bike rentals are EU 40 per day. There is a three day rental limit but in Mallorca it's seven days. Again, you'd have to research costs from other shops but in general I've found that the Rapha rates are well under 50% of local rentals for similar quality bikes. IMO, unless you live reasonably close to a clubhouse, bike rental is the only reason to join RCC.

They're currently in the process of refreshing the fleets at each clubhouse -- they were Open (UP and Wi.DE) with Ekar, the new ones are Factor but I don't know the groupset or wheels.

If you were to consider this route, I'd recommend that you contact the Mallorca clubhouse first to find out whether the bikes you need are available on the days you'll be renting. If they are, you can tell them that you're going to purchase memberships and ask them to hold them while you buy your memberships (like, immediately) -- they might be willing to do that for a day. IME availability is the biggest problem so given your lead time you might be in good shape. Information on bike hire here (I'm logged in, not sure if this page*is available to non-members).