Renting road bikes in France?

Where can one rent a reliable touring bike in France?

I plan to ride in Burgundy next month and would prefer not to bring my own.

At least, I think that is what I would prefer. However, I'd like a road
bike.

The best I can seem to turn up are hybrids.

Any ideas? Thanks!

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 18:22:00 GMT, "OughtFour"
wrote:

Where can one rent a reliable touring bike in France?

I plan to ride in Burgundy next month and would prefer not to bring my own.

At least, I think that is what I would prefer. However, I'd like a road
bike.



Check out these people.
http://www.holiday-bikes.com/

Al Sharff

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 18:22:00 GMT in rec.bicycles.rides,
"OughtFour" wrote:

I plan to ride in Burgundy next month and would prefer not to bring my own.

At least, I think that is what I would prefer. However, I'd like a road
bike.

why would you want a bike you've never ridden, never seen? i'd
rather have a bike that i know fits me, one that i'm used to.
dealing with strange traffic, new signs, and a language i sort of
learned 40 years ago was enough trouble. adding a bike i didn't
know would have made it much worse.

take your own bike & bags. it will be worth it.

I don't know about Burgundy, but I do know that many people who bring
their own bikes to the Netherlands come home without their bikes.
Checkout the bike theft statistics for Burgundy.

P.S.
the Netherlands is definitely worthwhile, despite the bike theft
problem.

Dennis P. Harris wrote:

why would you want a bike you've never ridden, never seen? i'd
rather have a bike that i know fits me, one that i'm used to.
dealing with strange traffic, new signs, and a language i sort of
learned 40 years ago was enough trouble. adding a bike i didn't
know would have made it much worse.

take your own bike & bags. it will be worth it.

Thanks for your thoughts. Dennis makes a persuasive case but for reasons of
my own, not this trip. The link from Al does not include touring bikes, but
maybe they could find one for me if I asked.

Thanks again!

On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 16:25:47 GMT in rec.bicycles.rides,
"OughtFour" wrote:

Thanks for your thoughts. Dennis makes a persuasive case but for reasons of
my own, not this trip. The link from Al does not include touring bikes, but
maybe they could find one for me if I asked.

are you flying directly to france, or via london? (for many of us
west coasters, london tix are cheapest)

you might find it easier to rent a bike in england than in
france.

Bike theft not such a big issue in France as the Netherlands, and
Burgundy is pretty safe.

Finding touring bikes for rent will be problematic; most of the rental
places carry what we would call hybrids. Last I was in Burgundy,
about 4 years ago, there were rental shops near the train stations in
Dijon and Beaune, but again the bikes they rented were hybrid style.
Did not discourage me ... I just rented one and had a good time.

- rick

On 16 Mar 2005 12:17:53 -0800, "
wrote:

I don't know about Burgundy, but I do know that many people who bring
their own bikes to the Netherlands come home without their bikes.
Checkout the bike theft statistics for Burgundy.

P.S.
the Netherlands is definitely worthwhile, despite the bike theft
problem.

Dennis P. Harris wrote:

why would you want a bike you've never ridden, never seen? i'd
rather have a bike that i know fits me, one that i'm used to.
dealing with strange traffic, new signs, and a language i sort of
learned 40 years ago was enough trouble. adding a bike i didn't
know would have made it much worse.

take your own bike & bags. it will be worth it.

Rick Warner wrote:
Bike theft not such a big issue in France as the Netherlands, and
Burgundy is pretty safe.

Finding touring bikes for rent will be problematic; most of the rental
places carry what we would call hybrids. Last I was in Burgundy,
about 4 years ago, there were rental shops near the train stations in
Dijon and Beaune, but again the bikes they rented were hybrid style.
Did not discourage me ... I just rented one and had a good time.

That might just be what I'll do. We're not doing such great distances (maybe
30-40 miles per day). I've just never had a good experience using a hybrid,
but perhaps my problems were due to other issues (such as fit).