Why rent a bike???

Feb 23, 2011

Why rent a bike on training camp?

As most of you know we (James & I( are in Mallorca at the moment on the inaugural www.rutrainingtoday training camp.  James has brought along his own bike whilst I decided, for the first time in 8 visits to the Island have hired a bike from www.procyclehire.com

James story

It takes him 45 minutes to pack his bike, some difficulty taking pedals off and getting the bike in the bag.  Then he had to take the rear mech off (in case the thuggish bag handlers threw his bike bag in an attempt to prove the macho’ism). The bag itself is very heavy and is in awkward to carry. If he han’t have had a lift to the airport with myself, he may have had to pay extra carriage in a taxi, especially if he were travelling with 1-2 other cyclists with bike bags.  Cost wise it is fairly cheap to get his bike across to Mallorca.  The bike costs £17.00 each way to transport on Easy jet, although some carriers charge more- no carriers allow it to travel for nothing now unfortunately.  He arrives in Bristol airport and has to lug his heavy bag(of course, he has squeezed as much cycling kit & energy products into the bag as possible !)to the terminal, stand with it for 45 minutes waiting to check in.  He finally gets the bike checked in and then has to try & negotiate it through the half-term crowds to the oversized baggage security desk.  When he arrives in Mallorca again he waits longer than everyone else for his bike- the normal luggage came onto the converyor belt some 20 minutes previously.  Luckily his transfer is waiting as the bike bag is now dragging him down.  Success i hear you say… Nope on unpacking his bag he discovers his levers are bent and derailleur is severely damaged.  Ok he is insured but he needs/wants to ride his bike now…

Martin’s story

I am a 41 year old roadie who has many years of travelling with my bike globally.  I emailed my size, saddle height, reach, stem length & preferred chainset set-up to Bruce at www.procyclehire.com with the required dates. I travelled to the airport with only a holdall (not forgetting my own pedals) so didn’t incur the burden of a bike bag. I was able to check in via the speedy baggage drop, then when I got to Palma, I didn’t have to wait around for the bikes to come off the aircraft (always the last thing). I then got to the resort, checked in the hotel, took a 5 minute walk down to Procycle Hire, paid my cash (although I could’ve pre-paid via CC), fitted my pedals and off I went- a bike ready to go, my size, decent pumped up tyres, blow-out bag and a pump fitted to it! The bike choice is varied and wide ranging from basic road and commuting machines to the latest Massi carbon frames with Shimano Ultegra or Campagnolo.  They even have one or two carbon low-pro TT/Tri bikes with aero bars for specific TT work.

This costs from 15-25 Euro a day around 50 Euros a week more than bringing your own bike on the taxi, plane and airport transfers. Hassle-free training and service with a smile wins all the way for me….