Why take your bike away?

Why you would actually use a bike box to take your own bike away. With so many rental places in popular destinations doesn’t it make sense to just use those and save yourself the hassle?

That way you don’t have to rent or buy an expensive bike box, worry about transporting it to the airport or booking it on your flight, reclaiming it and transporting it to your destination only to rebuild it.

So why take your own bike?

Return on your investment

Well, if you are a keen cyclist you likely have spent a fair bit of money on your bike. It’s your bike so ride it. You have it set up for you with a saddle that you know, the right pedals, cranks and gears. You already have your tech tailored to it so no faffing with brackets and sensors and given that you maintain it, you trust it. You invested in your bike, you maintain it and trust it so take it with you and ride it.  

Day one comfort, day two pain

The Saddle

Hire bikes have general all-purpose saddles. Of course they do, and that’s fine. Except if you have narrow sit bones that saddle will be agony on day two and unpleasant on day three. You might think ‘I’ll be fine’ and you may well be. I have thought that and on several occasions had to suffer some painful days. It’s ok if its one day but anything more than that and it’s truly painful, you don’t perform at your best and what was a long planned treat can become a slog.

Cost

Its the one that most people agonise over. It does cost travelling with your bike, on top of a bike box rental (or purchase – and lets remember that a Bike Box Alan comes in at £400 for premium and £700 for easyfit), you will have to add it to your luggage which is typically £30-£60 per flight depending on the airline and what you have booked. But after that there is no cost. Whereas most bike rentals are coming in at £40-£90 per day depending on what you hire plus insurance which could be another £5-£10 per day.

On top of cost considerations there is also a time and hassle factor. You will need to locate a bike you want at a price point you like in the size you need. At peak times in certain popular destinations this can be a real issue. Then you need to factor in the distance from where you are staying so you can go and collect it during opening hours and return it on time. All of which adds in unexpected hassle factors when all you want to do is ride.

Reliability

As good as most hire places are, the bikes are heavily used so you are more likely to suffer issues than with your own trusted and maintained bike. I have ridden in groups with hired bike suffering multiple punctures, bent front discs. One rider found the front wheel wasn’t tightened and another had a chain break. This can happen but you might only have a 3 or 4 day break and you just want to ride.

Flexibility

Taking your own bike can allow you to squeeze every last drop out of you bike break. In Mallorca I have ridden out just 2 hours after landing and returned to pack an hour before leaving maximising the ride time and turning a 4 night break into one with 5 or 6 rides. Without that flexibility you might only get 4 or 4 rides in.

It is an excuse to upgrade

Taking your bike on a trip and saving bike rental fees allows you to ‘legitimately’ invest in your own bike. Just simple things like a new set of tyres for a trip means you will feel more confident and be keen to ride. You might add a new lighter handlebar and bar tape or a new cassette if you are heading to some serious climbs (add an 11-34 and you’ll always have enough gears). Maybe upgrade your bike computer by selling your old unit and using the bike rental budget, you’ll be able to get that newer model.

Protect your future spending

If you hire something better than your bike, you will likely soon afterwards buy another bike. It's just an inevitable fact of cycling. While we are currently in an age of less technical breakthroughs but it’s amazing how swiftly we went from carbon forks to full carbon frames, from deeper alloy wheels to carbon wheels, rim brakes to disc brakes and from standard to electronic shifting. That is a natural technical progression. If you are keen to upgrade then hiring a bike with the new feature that you are looking at (typically now electronic shifting or even ebike) can make sense but beware you will either rent something high end and feel that your ride back home is now past it or rent something cheaper and wish you had brought your own bike.

Something intangibly satisfying

Finally, there is a real satisfaction in taking your own bike on travels. Every time you ride it you will think of the times you have spent together in distant places, the climbs you rode, the days you spent pedalling away. It is a remarkable thing the attachment you can feel to a machine you picked up one day that has taken you on such a varied journey and that can only come by putting the (air) miles in.

Take your bike to the Peloton

If you are mulling over which way to go, I hope this has provided some food for thought. If you are going for a bike break, one where you ride most days I always think take your own. If it is an event you will have to take your own (though some events do offer event bike hire, for one day at L’etape it costs e300 and still gets booked out) anbd obviosly no Triathlete or Ironman would dream of not using their own bike on race day. There is a case economically, for renting a bike which is for a trip where you might only ride once or twice. Ifd that is whrre you are at, take a look at one of our other blogs on what to take.

Whatever you decide, enjoy your ride.