Getting a bike for 6 weeks in Italy

[vosadrian]

Hi All,

I am going on a holiday next summer/autumn in Italy (and also some other countries). One part of the holiday will have me with a rental car for 6 weeks travelling around the country without planning to return to the place I start. I am travelling with my wife who also cycles. This is not a cycling holiday, but I would like the option to go for some rides throughout if there is some nice rides near where we are. There are parts of this holiday after being in Italy I am going the greek islands and other places where dragging around my own bike I have transported over would be a pain.

So renting a bike seems to be out of the question since I cannot easilty return it, but maybe there is some option I have not thought of. I was thinking perhaps buying a second hand bike that is cheap and old (for a few hundred bucks) and then trying to offload it to a bike shop when I leave. or just dump it? But I can't really find anything like bike exchange in Italy.

Anyone got any ideas that could help me?

[brumby33]

Why not buy quality folding bikes before you leave where you're living, taking them on the plane with you, carry them around in the car on your holiday and bring them back as you could use them on other such holidays. You can buy separate travel bags for bikes like Brompton, Tern and others. Stay away from e-bikes due to battery restrictions on planes plus they are much heavier. The small folding bikes are great for exploring down alleyways etc instead of taking the car everywhere. Yes, quality folding bikes arn't cheap but you've aways got them and they last for a long time.

Good luck with it all.

Cheers

brumby33

[cyclotaur]

Check out the network of bike hotels - they offer special services to cyclists, including bike hire at most I believe.

https://www.italybikehotels.com/

[Retrobyte]

Facebook Marketplace allows you to search by a specific town or city, and pick a radius. For fun I used Rome just now with a 500km radius and there are dozens of road bikes at different price points - so buying a cheapie and then selling or giving it away is an option

[vosadrian]

Thanks all!

The foldup bike is interesting, but compromised for me in many ways. I was after a bike I could ride up a mountain in the Dolomites more than a city bike for some basic transport, and I am unlikely to use a foldup bike except travelling.

Best option so far is to try facebook marketplace. I tried it and found some options. I hope someone selling speaks English!! I will also stop by a bike shop when I arrive and see if there is any low cost options. I was kind of hoping since Italy is such a power house in bike manufacturing that there would be old bikes for sale everywhere, but not sure if this is the case. Certainly some of the online bike shops have mainly very expensive bikes and not much used bikes.

[cyclotaur]

https://www.rentalbikeitaly.com/p/bicycle-rental.html

You pickup/dropoff at different locations.