Rent road bike or take own to France/Italy?



christoz

New Member
Nov 21, 2005
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If I go to France/Italy for a week of cycling would you recommend taking the one I own or renting one? I have a Kestrel 200SCi with Campy components that's adequate for some Alp climbing. Can you rent a really nice road bike? I've rented great mountain bikes before, but never a road bike. Thanks.
 
I would definately take your own bike and not rent one. We went to France for 2 weeks biking last year with our own bikes. Being on a nice bike that would meet all performance expectations was great. There was never any frustration about having a clunker, poor fit, or poor gearing, etc. Good cyclists who rent are usually disappointed with their bike.

We flew British Air to Geneva, Switz., through London and there was no charge for the bikes. We were able to leave the bike boxes for nearly 2 weeks (no charge) at our arrival/departure night hotel.

My second recomendation is travel light! We had a daypack and fannypack as carry-on and the only checked luggage was the bike. This worked well for "credit card" travel in early June, even in the Alps where we saw snow in the air at 9,000 ft.

We do Italy in May.
 
Subscribing to this thread.

Next time my wife has to travel to Europe for 8 weeks I am going.

Me and my fixed Tour of Southern Germany .... small town hopping. Where is my German English Spanish dictionary?
 
Take your own bike. I don't know of any place where you can rent a decent road bike. Most bike rentals are for around town. The only place where I know you can get decent rental bikes is in Austria. You can rent a road bike in Salzburg and return it in Vienna while you are exploring the Danube River.