hoobiewoobie

Hi, everyone,

I am planning my visit to Seattle. We will be going in August and staying by Pike's Place Market, and wanted to rent high-end bikes to ride during my stay. Can anyone recommend a good rental place, preferably one that I can walk to?
Thanks in advance for any input!

surak

I know some folks who have demoed high end bikes from Metier, so try giving them a call and asking. It's a bit uphill, but you can definitely walk there from Pike Place.

Edit: There's also a Rapha clubhouse a little closer, where cycling club members can rent Canyon bikes.

Seattle Forrest

I didn't think there would be any in walking distance, @surak has good advice. Both of those are in a different part of town than you'll be staying, but only a couple (?) miles. And a pleasant ride back to your hotel. Call both in advance to verify and possibly reserve. If they don't work for you, services like Uber and Lyft are common and not terribly expensive, and if you're picking bikes up you'll only need a ride one way.

Enjoy your visit! 🙂

It sounds like you'll be here without a car. You can catch a ferry from downtown not very far from where you're staying to Bainbridge Island and ride around the shore for magnificent views, if you want to get out of the city.

joesch

One of my Seattle trips I got a nice gravel bike from Back Alley bikeshop not to far from there.

Phone: 206.307.1179
Address: 314 1st Ave S, Seattle, WA
Hours: Mon - Fri: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm

https://www.backalleybikerepair.com/

surak

From downtown you can ride mostly in dedicated bike/MUP trails to Alki Beach, Magnolia/Discovery Park, South Lake Union/Lake Union Park, and also connect to the Burke-Gilman trail (stop by Gas Works Park). You can go eastward on the BGT (though it's worth riding partially with traffic, due to the "Missing Link" -sigh-, westward to see the Ballard Locks) to the Sammamish River Trail, or cross Lake Washington over the 520 Bridge trail. Over on the eastside are longer gravel trails like the Snoqualmie Valley Trail and Palouse to Cascades Trail, thought getting to them would take a while if you don't go partially there by car. The Palouse to Cascades is a fun one to ride from Rattlesnake Lake to the Snoqualmie Tunnel. Note that these routes are mostly flat, especially by Seattle standards. I haven't done any gravel climbs (e.g., Tiger Mountain), and I don't think there are any trails for the popular pavement climbs.

Popular routes that you'll find on RideWithGPS, but that I'd skip given your distaste for riding with traffic, would be riding across I-90, and the Lake Washington, Mercer Island, and Lake Sammamish loops. I also think there aren't many separated trails anywhere you can ferry to, though the ferry on a good day is a very nice experience.

Seattle Forrest

It will be very hard to avoid riding with traffic without a car, I'm sorry to say. There are a number of trails outside of town, some relatively far from town, that will avoid car traffic completely, but you have to get to them.

Lyft and Uber are very cheap within Seattle, but prohibitively expensive for getting to good trails. Some can be reached by public transit, with bikes. It'll cost you time instead of money.

May is an excellent time to be here, especially as a cyclist. The Palouse to Cascades aka Iron Horse aka John Wayne Pioneer Trail is a great ride. You can take a bus to North Bend, I'm not sure where you would pick up the trail, but you could do a dirt and occasional gravel century there without being on a road. A Texan bike forums member rode through the tunnel and down to North Bend, he called it "a religious experience" being around more trees than he'd ever seen. I'd suggest going at least 5 miles E of the tunnel because of the big lake.

We have a maze of dirt logging roads, many of which get very little traffic, but a lot of them will be impassible with snow in May.

If you're able to get your bikes to Granite Falls on a week day, the Mountain Loop Hwy and Scenic Byway is a fantastic century and will have very little traffic midday M-F. You'll see glaciers, wild and scenic rivers, a massive volcano, rolling farmland, a very remote dirt road, the site of the Oso disaster, the old Monte Cristo ghost town of you want. There's a gravel trail being built to bypass the worst of the road riding.

Seattle Forrest

@hoobiewoobie - Where are yo coming from? Is there anything in particular you're hoping to see?

Seattle Forrest

Ahhh. Some of the recommendations you've got so far (Palouse to Cascades trail, Mountain Loop Hwy) are great if you're on vacation and have a whole day or most of one. If your time is more limited, well, come back for those. 🙂

Check out Gas Works Park while you're riding to or from the Troll. Ideally hit them both coming east on the BGT from the University Bridge, there a mile or two of trail overlooking the lake, fantastic views on a nice day.

One of my favorite rides in the city involves going south on Lake Washington Blvd to Seward or Beer Shiva Park. Depending on my mood I might take the Chief Sealth Trail home, or ride the southern half of the Lake Washington Loop and the I90 Trail. Neither one is completely without traffic, the Lake Wash Loop might be uncomfortable for a few blocks in Renton. But most of it is very nice. There's a point on the Chief Sealth where you crest a hill and see the Olympic Range seemingly coming out of the salt water. If either of those interest you, I can dig up a route map.

I'd highly recommend the I90 Trail, or 520 (which I haven't done yet). These are floating bridges, trail physically separated from the highway. You ride 5 or 10 feet above the water. Spectacular views in general, on a clear day you'll get a good look at Rainier and Baker.

Golden Gardens is very nice too. @surak warned about the "missing link," if you go, study a map and detour a bit north through neighborhood roads. There are more bike vs car accidents on Shilshole than most roads in the neighborhood.

MixedRider

Hop on the downtown ferry to Bainbridge Island. There are a couple fun loops there, but expect to be a little hilly. Plus you get a ferry ride!