urbanknight

Going to be up in that area and don't want to drag my bike with me, but want to ride the rim of Crater Lake. Is there a good place to rent a road bike for a day?

mtnbud

The closest place that I know of that might rent bicycles is in Ashland.

CliffordK

What are your trip plans?

There is a lot of information on this page:

https://ridetherimoregon.com/

Mostly organized for a September ride (hopefully if smoke isn't too bad).

I doubt you'll find anything up at Crater Lake, at least not of any quality. The site above indicates Amtrak goes to Klamath Falls to the south. You could contact some bike shops in K-Falls.

There may be some resorts at Diamond Lake to the north, but not much for bike shops.

urbanknight

It's a family road trip with varying activities (as a family, we like museums, train rides, and hikes), but this looks like a route worth doing if I don't have to haul my own bike all over with us for a week just for one ride.

I found that website in a google search, but the shops they link to only show mountain bikes for rent. One shop does mention road bikes on one of their pages, so I'll have to call and see what's up and how to reserve. Thanks all!

CliffordK

If you come north through Eugene, there are bike shops that do rent bikes. I believe Pauls rents bikes during major track meets, and may also rent to the general public.

Given some advanced planning, I might be able to dig something up.

Seattle Forrest

Diamond Lake is north of Crater, it's gorgeous, definitely worth seeing if you're able. Don't go without mosquito protection.

mtnbud

Was this the website? https://ridetherimoregon.com/bike-rentals/ There's a few different shops listed. I didn't know Chiloquin had a rental company. That'd be the closest. Klamath Falls is a little under an hour drive from the rim. Bend and Lakeview are crazy far from Crater Lake. You might ask the rental shop in Chiloquin if they could put some road slicks on one of their mountain bikes. It wouldn't be that bad using a mountain bike if it didn't have knobbies.

busygizmo

This might be a ride worth bringing a bike for even if you can’t rent. The 30 odd miles around the rim are some of the best miles I’ve ridden. The views are great and the traffic isn’t usually too aggressive. It looks like you’re located in CA so there’s obviously a ton of great rides closer to home so it might not be worth it for you but there aren’t many rides near us in Seattle that I’d put in the same category.
It sounds like you have a full agenda but there are a few rides not too far away from Crater Lake depending on your route that are also worthwhile including a couple out of Ashland, Lassen NP and several in the Shasta region.
Thus guy puts Crater Lake in his “best of” list for CA and OR rides, he doesn’t think anything in our home state of WA is destination worthy. It’s hard to argue since our most scenic rides tend to have a lot of traffic.
Best of the Best - Jay's Essential Bike Rides

CliffordK

I was a bit annoyed when I was there for "RideTheRim" a couple of years ago. Halfway around the lake it was closed to traffic the first day. Then the second day it was open to traffic.

Going downhill I was rolling 30+ MPH, loaded, rough road (at that time), no shoulders, and dropoff to my right. Taking middle of my lane.

Dang cars thought they could pass uphill cyclists taking half my lane, leaving me with nowhere to go. I'd wave... and they didn't care.


Perhaps that would be an advantage of going clockwise around the lake. Fewer unprotected dropoffs (and easier to get to view points).

busygizmo

It does seem like drivers (people in general) are more impatient and aggressive than they used to be, rare is when a driver even bothers to slow down while passing and another vehicle is coming in the other direction.

We camped at Crater Lake last year and rode the rim both directions, it's worthwhile if you have the time and there aren't really any other options but if you are doing the ride only once we thought that clockwise was better. You get better views and most of the climbing seemed to more in the shade versus going the other direction.

urbanknight

Crater Lake is the northern-most point in our trip, but thanks all the same!

urbanknight

Yes, that's the one. Zach's has a page that mentions renting Trek Domane's, so I'll give them a call and see if they still do.

I might see if my bike will fit on top of the luggage, but I don't feel like letting it dangle off the back of the car the whole drive and carrying it into the room at every hotel we go to (which is pretty much a different one every night), and my wife doesn't want that either!

CliffordK

It depends on where you are headed.

Ashland is a unique "College Town" with a famous live Theater (Shakespeare and others). They might have a bike shop.

Medford and Grants Pass... Still, Medford is reasonably sized.

diphthong

bought a saris bones bike rack about 6-7 years ago. did a trip from san diego up to yellowstone/grand teton np's with three road bikes there and back. no issues.
had a long cable lock wrapped around all three bike frames for those lunch stops. this was with a 2008 honda civic. have considered doing the ride
around the rim on a drive up to or from oregon and would rather bring my bike on the rack (and ride wherever) than (possibly) rent a bike to do crater
lake np. the hassle is about the same but at least you've got your bike for other potential early morning rides.

CliffordK

Have you made the trip to Crater Lake yet?

There is a small fire to the North West of the lake, as well as a moderate sized fire to the South East.

I'd encourage looking at air quality before making the plans.

urbanknight

Yeah, we were there late last week. It was beautiful and worth it, bike or not. Thanks!