http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Bike hire for tourism - thoughts en Sun, 31 May 2026 15:33:05 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=18530#post-272619 Tue, 16 Jan 2018 17:58:46 +0000 LaidBack 272619@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>If we're talking about bike hire than I end up sending people to Bike Trax, Leith Cycles or Cycle Scotland in Blackfriars St as they can choose an appropriate upright bike.<br /> Seem to be reasonable quality from what I've heard but others may have tales!.</p> <p>Bike Trax offers. <em>"We hire Ridgeback hybrid/city bikes with mudguards and rack, Saracen Mountain Bikes, Genesis Road bikes, Ridley Race bikes, Ridgeback Electric bikes and Brompton folding bikes to customers from all over the world..."</em></p> <p>For short hire then tourists might expect to have an easy to use bike share scheme. Only one in action is at Haymarket (not easy to use?) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=18530#post-272584 Tue, 16 Jan 2018 14:39:41 +0000 dougal 272584@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I've used hire bikes in several places around the world and without fail the "city" bikes have always been terrible. (I specifically mean hired bikes, not city bike schemes like the boris bikes.)</p> <p>I'm just coming to the conclusion that if you want something that isn't unwieldy, uncomfortable or even unsafe (brakes!) you need to pay extra for a road bike, even if you just use if for pootling round town.</p> <p>The level of standard expected for road bikes is so much higher, presumably because people rarely rent such things if they don't already cycle. But casual bikes are ridden by casual riders, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons">the result is a marketplace of terrible bikes</a>. There will be no Elephant bikes, no Paper bicycles, nor anything of that sort. Just the sort of painful and unpleasant experience that puts people off riding and makes it seem much harder than it actually is.</p> <p>(This post inspired by recent experience in Lanzarote, where we hired a 'city' bike one day and a 'road' bike the next few days from the same shop. Like night and day.) </p>