Cornwall - road bike hire?

e17blade

I am going to be in Cornwall for a week in mid-April and would like to hire a road bike for a day if possible.

Does anyone know of anywhere I could hire a half decent bike in the Liskeard/Fowey area?

Cheers.

Dave

Monty Dog

Nearest bike hire would be in Bodmin at the head of the Camel Trail - more likely hybrids / MTBs rather than road bikes. There's also bike hire at Bissoe which is further south near Redruth - again mtbs and hybrids. Don't forget to bring your climbing legs - suggest you try a ride from East Looe, Talland Bay, Polperro and over the top of Lantic Bay and down into Polruan and back. Talland Lane out of Polperro is in the book of top climbs in the UK for a reason - there's a helpful handrail you can hang onto! For something flatter, ride the Camel Trail from Bodmin towards Padstow. Spend many happy days climbing many of the lanes in the area - there's some fearsome minor roads at the head of the Looe Valley.

Mikey23

There is a bike shop in liskeard called (surprisingly) liskeard cycles. Their details are on the net. May be worth contacting them. If they can't help they will probably know someone who can... I'm just up the road in launceston btw. We also have an excellent shop

Anonymous

Back down in Cornwall in a couple of weeks. Will probably be sticking to Camel Trail as only bringing mountain bikes.

Last time we were down I saw a guy drive under a car park barrier with his bike on top.
I felt sick all day (and still do when driving under them) for not having been able to help him.
If he is on here I am really sorry, but the kids were playing up and my mind was on other things as we approached the car park.
I still think of how great it would have been if I could have prevented it. Hope your bike and day/holiday were not too badly affected.

lakesluddite

Is road bike hire prevalent in the UK? I have never seen any bike hire places offer road bikes, just hybrids and MTB (not that I've been looking that hard).

I was down in Cornwall last 'summer' and went to a rental place near St Austell, and all that had was MTB. I know on the continent it's fairly easy to track down a road bike.

Mikey23

I would think that it would be quite rare for a hire shop to have roadies. MTB would outnumber them by a good margin and attract casual cyclists who would want to do half a day on the trail as a day out and would possibly freak out at the thought of going on the roads. In my area we have the camel, the granite and the Tarka trails and hire shops clustered around them. All perfectly suitable for road bikes but I have not seen many and I don't think it would make economic sense

Ginjafro

You could go to your LBS and arrange a "cheeky" test ride loan of a road bike. Some bike shops are quite happy to lend out bikes for a few days test riding, especially if you are a regular customer.

e17blade

Thanks for all the replies - even if the answer seems to be 'no'!

Might just hire a MTB for a day.

Mikey23

Well you could borrow my spare...

Anonymous

Toying with bringing my daughters road bike now you have said the trails are all suitable for road bikes Mikey23.
We rode the Camel trail from Padstow to Bodmin on hire bikes last year, but cannot remember how 'off road' the worse bits were.
Staying in Wadebridge this time, and as not camping we can bring our own bikes

Kernow1

Go ByCycle hire road bikes and deliver them to your accommodation, anywhere in Cornwall. They are friendly and really helpful. The owner does a lot of cycling himself so he knows some good routes too. Here's a link to their website
http://www.cornwallbikehire.co.uk/bike-hire-in-cornwall/road-bike-hire-in-cornwall/
Maybe they can help on your next visit.