Originally Posted by
John Martin
First a general comment: I've been a member of several forums over the years -- photography and various travel groups. THIS group is different. Thoughtful, responses. Postings that make it obvious that the poster read the earlier entries. And mostly, INFORMATIVE. It's obvious that you are more experienced than I. And, I learn a lot by reading your posts. A sincere "thank you" goes out to all who have helped me in planning my next adventure. To close the loop, I'll contribute where I can.
Re shipping my Bruce Gordon Rock and Road (my wife named it "Mike the Bike" for some crazy reason): I just can't seem to collect enough energy to handle the packaging necessary to haul it on the Atlanta metro rail ("Marta"), the airport struggles, the reassembly, the securing of the return packaging, return metro, etc., etc.. Maybe if I were younger or was doing this trip with a friend, it might seem less daunting. Anyhow, I think I'm pretty much tied to the rental route although I will take my Brooks saddle and my pedals with clips.
I'm going to start another thread to address a new issue. The idea of renting a bicycle has one major problem -- getting the bike back to the starting point. I see two solutions. First, a loop route. Return the bike to the rentor at the same place. Secondly -- as pertains to riding the Rhine River valley -- I've found a shop that will deliver the bike to the southern end and reclaim it at the north end. (There may be others that will do that but I haven't found them yet.) If you have opinions re that, look for a new thread entitled "Europe Loop Route".
Again...thanks to all. John
well, this forum can easily have folks bickering over minutia and all that, so it probably isn't all that different than other internet stuff....but I'm glad some of the comments here have been helpful to you.
You rent a bike there, you don't have to deal with a boxed bike, but there are always going to be compromises--fit, quality of bike, gearing, weight of bike or whatever--perhaps you can find of reliable details of the rental bikes, but maybe not (language issues etc) or just plain indifference from rental company.
How much does it cost to rent a bike for X weeks?--- now we come to money--you may find out that getting a bike store here to box your bike, take a van taxi to airport, taxi there, bike store in europe to unbox and assemble your bike etc--could be the same price as a rental of an unknown bike.....
yes, you have to manhandle your bike box at the airport, which could be a real hassle for you if you've never done it. I've done it many times and its ok, but I'm younger than you, so I get it. Same with the hassle of finding a taxi big enough to take a bike box in Europe. I've always used the smallest bike boxes I can fit my medium ish bikes into, I'm 5'10+, and SUV or station wagon types can fit my box---but again, I've done this and it doesnt faze me....BUT the obvious advantage is that you have your own bike, so fit and physical problems and riding enjoyment issues are eliminated .
where are you thinking of riding, where are you flying into?
Just be aware too that you may contact bike rental companies and they could say, "Sure, sure, absolutely we have bikes that are suitable for touring, they are great touring bikes, really, trust me, trust me" (worst case scenario here) and then you get there and the bikes are grandma and grandpa city bikes or something---again, this comes down to your communication skills and hopefully perhaps even talking on the phone with people to be sure of what you are getting. I can speak French so its easy for me with France, but if it were me, I'd want to have good assurance that the rental place isn't a crap company with crap bikes.
How long are planning to ride for--another factor for cost of rental.
re returning the bike, one can fairly easily take a train or trains, but with language issues, this can be tricky, plus you have to lug your bike up into trains in just 30 seconds amongst other people getting on, and making sure you rush and get to the doors of the actual cars with a bike symbol where one is allowed to bring a bike--also, hoping that the spaces are not taken up with other bikes or baby carriages (been there, done that a few times) --- so I get also the attractiveness of a company that allows one way rental.
if you take your own bike, you will have to arrange for perhaps a different bike store in a different city to box your bike. Are you good at communicating with people in another language? Are you good at picking up when someone seems to understand you but they really dont , potentially causing problems down the line?
again, just thoughts here to put out ideas for you to be wary of or to consider.
I assume you'd be bringing your own panniers with your stuff in them? I put my panniers into a small duffle type bag for check in baggage, then have one pannier as carry on along with my handlebar bag, so you'll have to figure this out rental bike or not.
Will your panniers fit easily onto the rack of a rental bike? Sorry to bring this up, but a real issue potentially (should be okay though).
if you are interested, put down here the companies you are looking at, along with your possible travel plans.
I can highly recommend looking at the Eurovelo routes, my wife and I did part of the EV 6, from Nantes across France to Switzerland. They are generally well marked, and kkeep you off busy roads, very pleasant riding overall. Look at the Eurovelo website, very neat.
Oh, and lastly, bringing your own bike touches on the fee for having a bike on a plane--different airlines charge diff prices. If you have a flight with multiple legs or transfers, this can complicate things greatly if there are affiliate airlines involved, as they will charge you again for you bike....it looks like you are flying with X airline, but actually look properly and it may be Airline A from here to there, and then Airline B from there to Europe (or whatever)
good luck planning , get back here if you want.