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Renting a bike

08.13.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

Although lots of bikers pack their bikes and take them along on trips, we decided against the hassle for our recent vacation. Instead, I contacted a local bike shop to see about rentals. If you’re ever planning to rent bikes in a distant city, my experiences may be of some use to you.

Traverse City, Michigan, has a couple of good bike shops for a city this size (14,000). I got in touch with McLain Cycle and Fitness, since they were the first to come up in a Google search. McLain’s has an online rental system, and I decided to use that.

They offer road bikes, “comfort” bikes, cruisers, tandems. My wife, Pat (she prefers I don’t call her Mrs. Noob), rides a hybrid at home, but wanted to rent a flat bar road bike for the trip. No luck. The road bikes are all drop bar bikes, and the “comfort” bikes are hybrids. I ordered a comfort bike in large size for her, and a road bike in 56 cm for me.

I placed the order six days before our arrival. When I received no confirmation, I called the shop on Friday — the day before we got to Traverse City. They had no record of our order. I repeated the order over the phone, and asked for clarification about the comfort bike/hybrid bike issue, and whether any flat bar road bikes would be available. No, said the clerk, only a hybrid. OK.

When we got to the shop the next day, the clerk I had talked to wasn’t there, and the one on duty was confused. We finally found that a 56 cm Specialized Allez had been set aside for me. They put on SPD-SL pedals, and I was ready to go.

It was less easy for Pat. The shop had no large size hybrids. We confirmed that no flat bar road bikes were available, then she tried out an XL Specialized Crossroads and one in a medium size. The bike mechanic insisted that with a seat post change, the XL would fit Pat fine. He made the change, she rode it around the parking lot, and said OK.

The shop threw in two helmets and two water bottles, and charged us the weekly rate, although we would keep the bikes for eight days.

As it turned out, I was pretty happy with the Allez. It came with Sora components, which I’d never used before, but which gave me no trouble. The saddle was a different model than the one on my bike, but it was close enough, and by the end of the week, I felt quite at home on the Allez.

The rented Specialized Allez fitted me fine.

For Pat, the experience was not as good. Her own bike is a hybrid, with a high stem that puts her in a very upright position. The Crossroads was very upright, too — which she likes — but the XL size made her feel as though she were riding a tall horse. Its handlebars were almost a foot higher than the ones on my bike. She quickly dubbed it “The Beast” — a name that stuck.

Pat aboard The Beast.

They fitted it with Look pedals, and although they were the same kind she uses at home, she never really adjusted to them. She unclipped from them too easily, which made uphills hard, since she couldn’t pull up on the pedal. I adjusted the tension, and then she felt permanently attached to the tall machine, which made her uneasy, especially one day when we spent most of the ride along a somewhat busy highway.

She did one hilly ride of 23 miles with us, but beyond that, didn’t feel comfortable enough with the bike to ride it for more than six or seven miles — on flat roads.

When we returned the bikes to the shop, checkin was almost too easy. We gave our names, they took the bikes, and said, “Thank you. Have a nice day.” I was surprised they didn’t ask about any problems, and mentioned that the Allez worked out great, but the hybrid, not so much. They didn’t seem interested, and went about their work. We left the store.

What did we learn from our renting experience? First, shop around. There is another bike shop in Traverse right next to McLain’s. If we had bothered to check, we might have found something more in line with Pat’s needs. Second, get confirmation. If the shop’s web site doesn’t indicate that the order has been received, follow up with a phone call. And on the call, be sure they have all the necessary information. I was more than a little miffed that they didn’t have a bike in Pat’s size. Third, make sure it’s right. One quick turn around the parking lot isn’t enough, especially if you’re going to keep the bike for more than a few days.

Will we rent again? Sure, probably. It’s too convenient not to. But next time, we’ll do it with our eyes open.

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Categories // Bikes Tags // Bikes, rentals

Flat bar road bikes

04.21.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

Pat is getting close to wrapping up her training for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, which is this coming Saturday. One conclusion she’s reached this year is that the heavy old hybrid she rides needs to be replaced.

She’s not ready to take the plunge just yet. She wants to ride the Ride on the bike she’s been used to. But once it’s all over, she’ll be ready to scope out something new.

The other day we were at the LBS, to get some adjustments made to her bike, and to stock up on stuff we’ve run low on, like bum cream. While we were at it, she suggested we look at some bikes, just to see what the possibilities are.

She liked the Specialized Sequoia, with its kind of upright riding position (for a road bike). The price is OK, and she likes the added brake levers on the bars, rather than just those on the hoods. She wasn’t fired up about the Specialized Ruby and Dolce, two WSD bikes. Then we asked to see some flat bar road bikes.

The salesman showed us the Trek FX 7.5. She raved about it. The handlebar was comfortably familiar, and the brake levers were right there. The brakes themselves are cantilever, in the hybrid style, which added to the familiarity of the bike. It had 700C x 32 tires, which offered a feeling of security. Priced well under $1,000. Then, he pointed out the Trek FX 7.6. A real step up from the 7.5. Carbon fiber seat stays and seat post, Shimano 105 rear derailleur, skinny tires, lighter wheels. She got on each of them, asked about modifying them to raise the handlebar to a more upright position, but turned down the offer of a test ride, since she didn’t plan on buying a bike right away.

The Trek FX 7.6.

I was impressed with the bikes. I had never considered anything other than a traditional road bike, so I was unfamiliar with these. I knew they could be fast, because I remembered being smoked on the Veloway by a guy on a Cannondale flat bar last summer. As riding in a road bike position becomes less comfortable for me, now that I am of a certain age, a switch to a bike like these might be worth some thought.

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Categories // Bikes

Island biking on Sanibel

03.09.2008 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

sanibel island trails

My wife and I spent the weekend in Ft. Myers, Florida, on family business. We were looking for a place to rent bikes and sneak in a ride. But the bike shops in town rent only by the week. To just get a bike for a few hours, you have to go to Sanibel Island.

Sanibel is just off shore from Ft. Myers, linked to the mainland by a three-mile causeway. Much of the island is a conservation area, with much of it taken up by the “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The roads on the island are paralleled by paved bike paths, and while driving through the island, we resolved to check out one of the bike rental places.

It was late in the afternoon, and we opted to come back Saturday morning for the ride. At the bike rental shop (Finnimore’s), the clerk told us to pick out our bikes, and gave us a lock and flexible locking cable. She said to take the lock key with us, and when we came back in the morning before they opened (9 a.m.), we could just grab the bikes and go.

At first, I was disappointed to see that the bikes were hybrids. The riding position is very upright, which is a big switch from the road bike position I’m used to. After riding for a little while, I saw that these were the perfect bikes for the conditions. The island is perfectly flat, but the breeze does blow from the Gulf, and it was gusting quite high this morning. The 21-speed gearing on the bikes was needed more than we’d expected. They were by a company called Caloi, which I had never heard of, but which is a Brazilian bike maker whose products are popular with seaside resort area bike rentals.

We were on the bikes at 8 a.m.  We didn’t burn up the bike paths, but we had a nice hour and a half pedal and saw some exotic birds at the wildlife refuge. When biking purely for pleasure, and not to build speed, or fitness, or distance, these hybrids provided us with a terrific Saturday morning.

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Categories // Bikes, Rides

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