So you’re going on a bike trip across the country and you face one of the dilemmas:
Bike trips are fun but take some planning. |
Do you rent a bike or ship your bike there?
Of course that depends on numerous factors:
- Are you inexorably attached to your bike?
- Is your bike custom fitted?
- Are you a bike snob?
- Do you like trying out new bikes?
- What are the financial advantages/disadvantages?
- How do you get your bike from point A to point B?
renting
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shipping
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taking on plane/train
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pros
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cons
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pros
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cons
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pros
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cons
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sometimes cheaper
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sometimes expensive
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sometimes cheaper
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sometimes expensive
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sometimes cheaper
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sometimes ex-pensive
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meet locals
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shop not available
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use your own custom fit bike
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can be a hassle
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use your own custom fit bike
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can be a hassle
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service
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your bike style not available
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possible bike damage
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possible bike damage
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try new bikes & styles
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bike not custom fit
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ability to get bike from point A to B if it’s a one way trip
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convenience
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ability to get bike from point A to B if it’s a one way trip
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Getting bike and/or box to airport
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Some airlines/trains won’t take bikes
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- If I rented a bike in Pennsylvania, it would have cost me more than the rental charge to get the bike back to Pennsylvania from Washington D.C.
- Taking the bike on the plane was a hassle because I would have had to get the box to the airport both here in Colorado and at Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. That would have been really hard in D.C.
- I’m taking an Amtrak train from D.C. to Connellsville, PA, and Amtrak wouldn’t allow me to take a bike off the train at Connellsville.
- Once my trail trip is over, I’ll spend another five days in D.C. I’d like to have a bike available to try out some of the D.C. paths, but it would cost a lot to rent a bike for ten days.
- The (little bit of) money I could save on shipping rather than renting would allow me to buy bike luggage for the trip.