Taking your own bike vs renting a bike on vacation.

[XXtwindad]

I might have a unique travel opportunity that came up. It kind of fell into my lap. One of my closest friends moved to the Southern coast of France and offered me miles to compensate me for all the feelings of abandonment.

The purpose of the trip is expressly “cycling.” No kids, partners, to-do lists, etc.

So, being a relative novice at overseas cycling trips, is it better to rent a bike or pack a bike? The trip will be roughly a week with some mellower rides and a few big ones. The bike will definitely be used frequently.

The biggest factor is cost: is it cheaper to rent or fly with a bike? The next biggest factor is convenience. I’m actually leaning toward bringing one of my own bikes but I really, really hate futzing around with assembling a bike.
(The Scicon cases look really convenient for assembly)

Any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks.

[christian]

It mostly depends on the rental options at the location. If your friend knows an LBS that will rent, and the bikes are good, that is a million times more convenient.

[echappist]

Depends on how exacting one is re: at least contact points, if not more.

For instance, the following are my requirements:
-38-40 cm c-t-c handlebars in classic round bend. In a pinch, I can make do with round-ish bend bars;
-particular saddle;
-165 mm cranks.

If it's a shop that is accommodating (as in, allowing me to swap my own parts), renting could be feasible. But not all are. So if I rent, at a minimum I'm bringing crankset, saddle, and possibly my torque wrench.

And I otherwise can make do with bikes with a whole range of ETT, from 52.0 cm to 55.5 cm (as long as I get the stem needed). Put another way, it may be a bigger issue trying to find a good fit on a rental bike that nominally should work, for someone used to riding custom frames with particular fit parameters, as compared to someone who can tolerate a bit more variation.

Also, as long as one doesn't fly on Lufthansa (and iirc, airlines owned by Lufthansa), fees for bikes is minimal on standard economy fare (and free at premium economy and above). Lufthansa charges $200/each way for bikes, even on premium economy and business fares.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by echappist

Depends on how exacting one is re: at least contact points, if not more.

For instance, the following are my requirements:
-38-40 cm c-t-c handlebars in classic round bend. In a pinch, I can make do with round-ish bend bars;
-particular saddle;
-165 mm cranks.

If it's a shop that is accommodating (as in, allowing me to swap my own parts), renting could be feasible. But not all are.

And I otherwise can make do with bikes with a whole range of ETT, from 52.0 cm to 55.5 cm (as long as I get the stem needed). Put another way, it may be a bigger issue trying to find a good fit on a rental bike that nominally should work, for someone used to riding custom frames with particular fit parameters, as compared to someone who can tolerate a bit more variation.

Also, as long as one doesn't fly on Lufthansa (and iirc, airlines owned by Lufthansa), fees for bikes is minimal on standard economy fare (and free at premium economy and above). Lufthansa charges $200/each way for bikes, even on premium economy and business fares.

I’m not really particularly about fit, but I’m much more particular about gearing. I’m hopefully going to be doing this ride: https://www.cafeducycliste.com/en_us...ce-eze-madone/ (or a version of it) and I’d really like a lower geared bike. A 34/34 would be great. Also SPD pedals.

[prototoast]

I like bringing my own bike if I'm going to a house where I'll stay the whole time.

I like renting if I'm staying in a hotel and/or moving around multiple times on the trip.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I like bringing my own bike if I'm going to a house where I'll stay the whole time.

I like renting if I'm staying in a hotel and/or moving around multiple times on the trip.

Great take. It’s the first situation.

[Likes2ridefar]

I always bring my own bike unless there is a reason not to. A good case requires minimal effort to pack and reassemble and most airlines are free or same as any checked bag.

[Onno]

I'm in the early stages of planning a bike trip to northern Spain (Girona area) for next year, and I'm wondering the same thing. Girona has lots of great bike shops that rent high-end bikes. But I really love my custom Pursuit--when I'm in a cycling Eden, shouldn't I be riding my perfect bike? On the other hand, my perfect bike could easily get damaged in transit, and lugging bikes to and from airports, finding a vehicle big enough to transport the bikes, finding a place to store the bike box, etc., adds cost and complexity and stress. So I think I'll rent, and bring my own saddle and pedals.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by echappist

Depends on how exacting one is re: at least contact points, if not more.

^^^This. I'm remarkably adaptable, to the point of being indifferent, to the fit of a bike. I can ride nearly anything. Mind you, I do greatly prefer riding a bike that was custom made to fit me, and so I have that bike to bring along when the cycling will be the bulk of the trip's purpose. But I can be easily convinced to forego the time and agita of packing/unpacking my coupled bike if I know there are decent rental options available and I won't be on the rental bike more than ~3 or 4 hours a day.

Conversely, my wife is the proverbial Princess & The Pea; she is extremely sensetive to even the slightest variations in bike fit, and so it is* well worth the effort to bring her custom-built coupled bike and know that everything will be in the correct place, rather than futz around with a rented or borrowed bike and constantly having to stop mid-ride to whip out a hex wrench and do some +/- 1mm tweak.

*or rather, was: Her S&S coupled bike was destroyed in a crash several years ago, and so the last two cycling vacations we took she rented or borrowed a bike. Lots of stopping & tweaking ensued.

[Elefantino]

I've flown to Europe with my bike twice. The rentals are nice, but you sacrifice generic contact points for your particulars, and I haven't been willing to sacrifice. Build-up/take-down from my travel case is easy.

[mass_biker]

I go to Europe each summer for a few weeks - as a result, the Ritchey Breakaway cross has accumulated some decent frequent flier miles, and is great to have over there. No disc brakes as others have mentioned makes things easy. Going eTap would be ever easier, but this works for my needs. Not a race bike by any means, but it does the job and is so fun to ride. The only reason I go with my Breakaway is that the travel to/from CDG to my family’s house can be a bit of a logistical hassle, so having the smaller case makes a difference.

Traveling domestically I rely on my DaKine bike case. Again, I stash a rim brake/steel bike in there. So far it’s held up great on multiple trips. As others have noted, shipping ahead does save a lot of hassle. Quite often, I’ll “ship there/check it back” as the risk on not having it at the location (when the whole point of the trip is to have to a bike on location!) is greater outbound than inbound.

MB

[CAAD]

It's really not even a question, if it's a vacation, a bike is coming with me. Both domestically and internationally. I will not rent a bike because I usually don't plan my destination around cycling, but always find places to get plenty of miles in via local groups and ride with GPS. I do have a dedicated "travel" bike. Aluminum, rim brake, room for 32s, full mechanical. Goes into an Orucase airport ninja. I have become pretty efficient when it comes to packing. For 2 weeks I can get away with just my bike bag and a carry on. We don't have issues with taxi cabs, train luggage racks, and rental cars.

[Wunder]

Originally Posted by CAAD

It's really not even a question, if it's a vacation, a bike is coming with me. Both domestically and internationally. I will not rent a bike because I usually don't plan my destination around cycling, but always find places to get plenty of miles in via local groups and ride with GPS. I do have a dedicated "travel" bike. Aluminum, rim brake, room for 32s, full mechanical. Goes into an Orucase airport ninja. I have become pretty efficient when it comes to packing. For 2 weeks I can get away with just my bike bag and a carry on. We don't have issues with taxi cabs, train luggage racks, and rental cars.

My travel bike (recently aquired) is the same except steel frame. Packing my Cervelo into an Airport Ninja was a challenge with the internal cabling with minimal slack and concern over damage in flight hence the aquisiton of a travel ready bike.

My general rule is if the primary focus of the trip is cycling I bring my own bike. If the primary purpose is something else and I only plan to ride for a small portion of the trip I'll rent if I can.

[madsciencenow]

I usually rent if I’m flying and can find a reasonably local shop w a bike. I typically figure out the fit ahead of time and take my own stem, saddle and pedals.


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[HowardCosellsPR]

I tend to rent if it's a mtb. And bring my own if it's road/gravel. Largely because I can generally ride any ball-park fit on mtb where as my road set up kind of requires shorter cranks etc..

That said... I DO NOT (and would not) travel with my 'A' bikes. For flights I prefer bringing a bike that can handle some abuse and is easy to break down/work on.