Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Renting a bike is still the way to go on trips

I just finished paying $134 to ship my bike to Connellsville, PA to ride the Great Allegheny Passage Trail.

I much prefer to rent bikes on my trips, but the logistics of renting a bike on one end of the trail, then getting it back to the rental shop after reaching my destination on the other end of the trail just wasn't working for me.

I'm hoping that someone will start renting bikes on the longer rail-trails that will allow users to drop the bike-rentals off at either end of the trail, sort of like U-Haul does w/ their rental trucks.

In the meantime, I just took a look at the RentaBikeNow.com website. It offers rental locations in numerous locations in the U. S. and Canada. It looks like an excellent business and one that could be very helpful on future rail-trail trips. The idea of a one-stop bike rental process is very appealing and would save lots of time on the planning stages of a trail excursion.

I'll keep you posted on future rental experiences, but for now, I'm recommending bike rentals over bike shipping. Bike rentals, as I've pointed out in a previous blog, allows you to meet locals, save money over shipping, and pack lighter. It also allows you to try new bikes such as hybrids, mountain bikes, cruisers, and recumbents.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We specialize in renting fully equipped bikes for the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O. Racks , panniers, tools, tubes...we will even pick up the bike in DC! All at a reasonable price www.bikepittsburgh.com

Anonymous said...

We specialize in renting fully equipped bikes for the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O. Racks , panniers, tools, tubes...we will even pick up the bike in DC! All at a reasonable price www.bikepittsburgh.com