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Bike hire in Corfu

janetthompsonjanetthompson Posts: 82
edited August 2013 in The bottom bracket
I'm off to Dassia in Corfu next month and was wondering if anyone knew of anywhere you can hire bikes over there? Doesn't have to be road bikes - I just want the chance to explore a little... 8)

Thanks

Janet
Not lost, just exploring...

Posts

  • ColinJColinJ Posts: 2,218
    I was there about 12 years ago and hired bikes a few times. I asked the holiday rep where to go for a bike and found out that the owner of a local scooter hire company had bought some mountain bikes. I managed to hire one for a couple of rides but then a couple of other tourists 'gazumped' me - I went down to pick up the bike I'd reserved and he told me that he'd just let a British couple have both his bikes for a week because they'd paid more than I was paying! :evil:

    He sent me to a shop down the road which apparently had a bike for hire. The elderly Greek owners didn't speak English so we communicated in sign language. They sent me round the back where a young man wheeled out a very tatty bike. I took a look at it and found all sorts of faults - dodgy tyres, brakes, loose handlebars, cracked crank...

    In typical 'Englishman abroad' mode I pointed at the bike and said "Bike no good. Bad tyre. Loose bars. I no want!" To my embarrassment, the man replied in perfect English with a New York accent. Turned out that he was on holiday visiting his grandparents! :oops:

    I was over on the west coast at Paleokastritsa. There were some nice hilly routes over there. I can't remember exactly where it is but there is a climb with about 50 switchbacks on it in the centre of the island. That was fun to climb and a blast to descend.

    The maps were awful! The best one I could find was so bad that it didn't even show the busy road I was on let alone the village where the shop was. I think it is a ploy to confuse the Turks should they ever invade! :wink:

    Have a nice trip.

    PS I went in May and found the mosquitoes quite literally a pain - I got about 20 bites a day. My g/f wasn't bitten though so perhaps they prefer men! Even in May, it was Scorchio. In July it could be baking!
  • 1footedninja1footedninja Posts: 269
    I managed to rent a couple of cronky ol' mountain bikes for a day quite cheaply when I was in Arrilas which is top left corner of Corfu, the guy who did that for me had got them in from another part of corfu.My missus (at the time) who wasnt really into cycling loved it, its hot so prepare to sweat alot going up hills in middle of knowhere, then having the cooling wind as you go back down one again. :) This was middle summer when I went though!

    Great island to bike around.

    Apparently some better bike shops near Corfu town , you could rent a decent bike I'm sure from. Sort it all out ahead of time , reckon they will deliver possibly to where you want the bike to be, its only a small island afterall.
    'since the flaming telly's been taken away, we don't even know if the Queen of Englands gone off with the dustman'.
    Lizzie Birdsworth, Episode 64, Prisoner Cell Block H.
  • abertawe1970abertawe1970 Posts: 1
    I'm going to Corfu on holiday in August, and i would like to hire a road bike to continue my training. Has anyone hired a road bike from there, and are they safe? 8)
  • ibbo86ibbo86 Posts: 1
    abertawe1970 - did you manage to hire a road bike? I am going to Corfu this August and am trying to find out about hiring a road bike for my husband to continue his training. I don't seem to be having much joy though.
  • Cleat EastwoodCleat Eastwood Posts: 7,508
    That was 2 years ago - he only made one post - he's probably dead - fell off a greek cliff on a cronky greek bike. :mrgreen:

    Whatever happened to 1footedninja - I used to like his esoteric postings.
    The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns
    momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.
  • capt_slogcapt_slog Posts: 3,831
    I've not hired bikes in Corfu, but did in Crete many years ago. Since then I've driven a lot when I've been to Crete, Corfu, and Rhodes on holidays.

    I don't know about the bikes being safe, but the roads are definitely not, and this is due to the Greek drivers. This mild mannered, easy going people turn into raving lunatics when behind the wheel of a car and take no prisoners. They will quite literally run at anything in their way and you have to move!

    The roads usually just peter out at the edges and the bit you want on be on is not a nice surface.

    I have seen some nice roads, but to be honest, I wasn't looking at them from the point of view of a cyclist as I wasn't at the time, however I recall well how small mopeds faired on the same roads and how they were treated. There are organised cycle tours on some of the islands. I know that in Crete there is one that takes a group of riders and bikes up a mountain in a mini bus so that they can 'cycle' down again, it looked like fun and was one of the better surfaced roads.


    The older I get, the better I was.

  • rapid uphillrapid uphill Posts: 22
    greeks took over our chippy its gone right down the pan now :(
  • rsbystryrsbystry Posts: 3
    ibbo86 wrote:
    abertawe1970 - did you manage to hire a road bike? I am going to Corfu this August and am trying to find out about hiring a road bike for my husband to continue his training. I don't seem to be having much joy though.

    I hired a road bike from s bikes in Acharavi on the north coast of corfu.
    http://www.corfumountainbikes.com/Bike-Rental.html
    Cube peleton with shimano 105 compact and a nice big 30 tooth sprocket on the back. Bike was great and Stamatis was more than happy to swap my pedals and saddle onto the bike and do a quick setup. The roads are not great but the island is not so very busy either so although it can be a bit hair raising it was worth thebike hire for sure.
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