I’m pretty picky about bikes that I rent when I travel. Rightfully so. If you’ve ever been stranded with a flat tire and a bad replacement inner tube in your rental-supplied repair kit, you know exactly what I mean! As a result, I’m partial to bike rental companies that are owned and operated by bike mechanics or former cycling racers. They understand how important regular maintenance is to optimal performance, thus insuring my odds for an enjoyable, incident-free rental. When I find a rental shop that earns my trust, I’m happy to pass that resource on to you.
So just in time for summer vacation season, here are two great additions to my list of recommended bike rentals in France!
If you are planning a bicycling trip to Western France, your first stop for bike rentals should be Bikever. Bikever may be a new bike rental company, but it’s owners are hardly new to bike rentals and bike touring in France. Bikever is the brainchild of Norbert Audoin, owner of O2Cycles of Bordeaux, Jonathan Sculier of Rennes and Jean-Philippe Sancho of the Lourdes- Argeles-Gazost area in Southwest France. I have known Norbert Audoin for several years and during this time we have become good friends. The service and reliability of O2Cycle rentals has become the standard that I look for in all of my European bike rentals. The German Cube hybrid that Norbert rents is my favorite bike to rent for touring in France and I’m excited that this bike will now be available to rent in Western France through Bikever. As a matter of fact, I will be renting the Cube for my summer bicycling trip in Normandy and Brittany.
Based out of three locations: Bordeaux, Rennes and Lourdes in Southwest France, Bikever can supply you with rental bikes in Brittany, and throughout Southwest France including Bordeaux-Aquitaine, the Medoc, Dordogne and the Pyrenees. Road bikes are the lighweight GT GTR Series 1. mountain bikes are the GT Karakoram 2.0, and hybrids are the Cube Town. Bikever also rents the popular Lapierre Prorace kid’s bike. Luggage carriers, infant trailers, and Ortleib and Vaude panniers are also available for rent. Note, road bikes are provided without pedals, so be sure to bring your own for road bike rentals.
Rental rates begin at 30 Euro/day for road bikes to 20 Euro/day for mountain bikes and hybrids, to 15 Euro/day for kids bikes. Week long rentals are 175 Euro for road bikes, and 130 Euro for mountain bikes and hybrids, and 75 Euro for kids’ bikes.
Delivery and retrieval of bikes is free of charge in the following areas:
- In Rennes and within a 10 mile radius
- In Bordeaux and Merignac and within a 10 mile radius
- In Lourdes and Argeles-Gazost and in between both towns
For delivery and retrieval outside of these areas, simply send a note requesting a custom quote. All rentals include a heavy-duty anti-theft bicycle chain, a speedometer, a reflective safety jacket, an inner tube, self-adhesive inner tube patches, an air pump and multi-tool kit which includes a 4-6 mm Allen Key, and flat and crosshead screwdrivers.
With a strong customer service orientation, the Bikever team is dedicated to supplying quality bikes to enhance your cycling vacation in Western France. With a flexible delivery program, professional maintenance, trip planning assistance, a user-friendly website and great bikes, they are off to a great start! For more information or questions about bike rentals for your upcoming trip, you can contact Norbert Audoin in Bordeaux at norbert@bikever.com, Jonathan Sculier in Rennes at jonathan@bikever.com or Jean Philippe Sancho in Lourdes-Argeles-Gazost at jeanphilippe@bikever.com.
For those of you who are traveling to Paris and are looking for the perfect place to rent a high performance road bike for your French cycling adventures, look no further than Paris Bike Company . Located in the 15th arrondissement, Paris Bike Company is a quick metro ride on line 13 to Porte de Vanves or Malakoff Plateau de Vanves. Owned by American Sam Weaver, Paris Bike Company specializes in making sure that each bike rented is set up according to the measurements of your own bike at home, giving you the comfort of your own bike, without the hassle of transporting it to France. With over 13 years of experience in the bike business, Sam has a huge following among serious cyclists from his days working at Helen’s Cycles in Santa Monica, and his following in France is not far behind. His in-depth knowledge of cycling in France, his customer service orientation and his commitment to quality all help insure that your bike rental experience here will be perfect.
Sam’s high performance road bikes rent for 50 Euro for one day, 30 Euro for 2-7 days and 25 Euro for 8 or more days. They will deliver anywhere within Paris’ Boulevard Peripherique or to any of the listed suburbs found here for 20 Euro. Road bikes can be easily booked online through a 5 step online booking process. If you bring your own road bike to Paris and need to get it tuned up or shipped back to the USA, Paris Bike Company will be happy to provide these services also.
In addition to rentals, Paris Bike Company also offers custom trip planning as well as custom guided day tours to the Parisian countryside. Here is a sample of one of their Paris countryside day trips.
Further information on both of these can be found on the website. Or if you would like to contact Sam direct, you can write to him at sam@parisbikeco.com.
If you are fortunate enough to rent bikes from either Sam or the guys at Bikever, please let them know that you learned about them at Experience France By Bike!
