Deciding if you should bring your bike?

 

While this can seem like an easy decision for some, it can be a much tougher trade off for others. Here are some items to consider.

 

Health

 

There are a myriad of factors, but this should be high on your considerations. Cycling is a repetitive motion sport, and mechanics are critical in comfort, performance, and preventing injuries. Having your bike setup correctly to ensure good mechanics can help prevent knee, back, neck and other injuries that come from a poor bike setup. Bringing your bike ensures you have the setup that you know works for you. You can certainly get a rental and set it up correctly, but often it takes time to dial it in correctly, and even if you use the same measurements as your bike, it’s unlikely the rental bike geometry will be the same. If you plan on a longer trip, longer and tougher rides, and have a lot of miles on the Road Work plan bringing your own bike should be a consideration for Health alone.

 

Cost

 

There can be substantial costs getting your bike to your destination. You need a bike specific packing container, you need to assemble and disassemble your bike, you need to Ship or Carry On your device. If you take it with you on an airline you may have a series of fees, including a Bike Fee, Extra Bag Fees, Oversize/Overweight Fees. While you can do you own assembly and disassembly, the other items have costs that you may not be able to avoid. Compound that with the fact that you need to repeat these costs each way. In total you could pay several hundred dollars round trip to get your bike to where you are going. For some it’s worth it and it may not be that much more than rental costs but let’s be real – it’s not cheap. See our Articles on Bike Luggage costs, Shipping your bike for more details on costs.  

 

Convenience

 

There is definitely a trade off, and there are Pros and Cons of bringing your own bike in terms of convenience. A rental can definitely be a lot more convenient when you think about having to pack, assemble, disassemble, shipping and/or carrying your bike around and repeating the process each way. This also includes getting your bike to your lodging, and into your car and to and from the airport. However, bringing your bike gives you the flexibility of starting off early before a bike rental opens, and not have to add time in your itinerary to pickup, setup, and drop off your rental. Overall, especially for a multi day rental, it is like that a rental is more convenient.

 

Comfort

 

You’ve got your bike setup just the way you like it, and like the Health consideration, this can be enough. The geometry, the bike setup, your seat and how your seat bones rest on the seat, your pedals, the familiarity with the gruppo, shifters, brakes, handling abilities are all different on a rental. If you’re going on longer rides and have a bigger itinerary any of these can become at best a nuisance, at worst something that is causing pain and injury. If money is not a big consideration, this alone could be worth bringing your bike.

 

Storage

 

This is one that not everyone considers, but you definitely need to plan ahead. If you ship the product, you will need some place safe and secure to send it to, not all Hotels are setup to handle this. Additionally, once your bike is there you need to check with the lodging you have chosen to make sure they allow bikes. Some DO NOT allow bikes to go through their lobby, or to be stored in your room. Others have “storage” areas that may be in a garage, or a closet with other bags not necessarily designed for bikes. You will want to check ahead of time with your lodging to ensure that they are setup to accommodate this well. Last thing you want to find out is that 200 pounds of bags are sitting on top of your derailleur, and your bike is sitting in a pile of junk with a mop and cleaning supplies.

 

Rental Offerings

 

If you are looking for a run of the mill casual cruising bike for short leisure rides, almost every rental will do. However, if you are looking for a performance bike with higher end components and setup your choices become more limited. However, there are definitely Bike Rental shops in Wine Country that do have “Performance” models, some even Carbon frames, and mid range components. If you are looking for top end carbon frames, with top end gruppos you need to lower your expectations. While there is definitely a need in the market, it’s not big enough for retailers to make the investment, especially with high end carbon frames as they will not take the abuse of a rental market. See our detailed information on Rental options.

 

Damages

 

Well, we hate to think about it but damages do occur in transit. We’ve all seen the baggage jockeys chucking luggage around ever so gently. While there are sturdy bike luggage carriers and they do a great job, damages do occur. We’ve all seen pictures of punctured hard luggage bags. Yes, there is insurance, but that is little comfort if you are counting on having your bike after making the decision to bring your bike along and now faced with having to rent anyway. 

 

Conclusion

 

In the end there are a number of factors you likely will consider in deciding to bring your bike that are all personal to you and your goals. All things considered, I’m sure most people would want to have their bike with them. Whether or not that makes sense for you is something only you can decide on. Our recommendation is to listen to yourself, and if you are really putting in big hard miles with lots or Road Work put serious consideration to bringing your bike. If that is not the plan, swallow some of those needs and put up with the Rental – it won’t be that bad and you can live with most of the trade offs. Either decision you make you can have a great time, as long as you do a little planning. Enjoy the Roll!