Just booking my first trip to Finale Ligure for end this June – excited! Is it possible to hire decent bikes out there as taking mine doesn’t look like an option?

Any other tips on guides, uplift and accomodation very much appreciated.

Watching this as we may be heading there later in the year.

How technical is the riding there? We’ll be passing there on our way to Tuscany Trails and it would be nice to do a bit of riding – I’ll be on a rigid Ti-Fargo with drop bars…

As with most areas it varies, but they don’t hold an EWS round there every year for no reason.

Some sections of the trails were smooth enough for a rigid but then you’d come hareing around a corner right into/onto a massive rock garden with some substantial step-downs.

Wouldn’t see the point in going there on a rigid as (IMHO) it would spoil some of the fun, but you may well be massively more skilled than this mincer and may find it fine 🙂

Thanks – there’ll be a high level of mincing, so will see how we feel if we pop down there 😉

Oops, thought this thread had sunk without trace, thanks for resurrecting . Think there’s all sorts of trail types, hope so as we have a very mixed group.

Proutster,did see many hire outfits? Am flying with flyBE who carry bi
kes on standby basis so dont think am taking mine.

Yeh, there’s good bikes available to rent out there. Finale Freeride do guiding, uplifts, etc and I know they’ve sorted out hire bikes for customers before. In fact, if you do head out and choose to go with Finale Freeride, you might even get me guiding you! I’ll be out there June-July working for them. Hopefully see you there!

There’s a real mix of trails up there, for sure. I went out for a week last summer just to ride and there’s a huge variety of trails in the area. Smooth flowy stuff, to super chunky flat out rock gardens. Easily something for everyone.

Also, if you want the best ice cream (very important), the gelateria in Calice Ligure, just up the road is ridiculously good.

@Bounce – sorry, didn’t even look for hire bikes as we had our own with us. Didn’t even need to visit an LBS for spares as none of us (apart from the serial bike breaker, who’d taken quite a few spares with him) broke anything – so no chance to look then.

Getonyourbike has more knowledge, so go with his advice 😀

Finale freerider.net will look after you. Mark is a top man. Bike shop next door do hires.

Nice one, will drop them a line and get ourselves booked in

Sorry… typo above… its finalefreeride.net

http://www.finalefreeride.net/?m=1

You seriously can’t go wrong in Finale. Its an unbelievable place. From the 24hr of Finale XC course through to the madness of the EWS stages, there really is something for everyone.

Some of the best riding you’ll ever do, with amazing scenery and a beautiful beach with really buoyant sea to float in afterwards. Food is amazing & cheap, as is gelato & coffee, and Peroni works out about €2 a pint. I love the place for all the above reasons!!

We had a week there last summer as an end to our Alps trip, stayed with the camper on the Tahiti campsite which was better than we expected. used Freeride Finale for the uplifts and guiding and they were first class. Some of the trails can only be accessed by them as they are on private land. Wouldn’t wanted to do much climbing as the heat was stifling and the uplifts meant we got more descending in the day. would defiantly go back, my second best place to ride.

Hi all – just giving this a quick bump as i’ve booked up for a week in Finale Ligure at the end of June & wondering about bike hire / shuttles etc. had a look at the Finale Freeride site (seems to be down just now) and a couple of others but seems they’re more advertising full week-long trips with accommodation or the sites are mainly in Italian, can anyone tell me the rough cost of a day’s shuttling / bike hire & what’s available? I’ll email a couple of places & see if I can tag along for a couple of days here & there depending on what they have planned but just trying to get as much info as possible beforehand.

The other half isn’t at all interested in biking so i’ll be going solo for 2-3 days (or even half-days) spread through the week & wondering if i’d be better taking the bike over (old heckler but in good shape) rather than spending more on bike hire.

Cheers!
J

40/50 Euro a day with finalefreeride for uplifted & guided day (Think the standard is 40, their private trails higher up the mountains are only accessible by 4×4 so cost a bit more than the Van-based shuttles that just use the roads)

Cheers Honourablegeorge – just stumbled across This site which lists a load of different companies offering uplifts, not much info on hire bikes though – anyone any good suggestions or do most folks just take their own?

J

Great place, riding is fantastic & something to suit all. Would agree with others that Finale Freeride will look after you….still got the T shirt from 2009!

The town itself is an ideal place to chill when you’re not riding, plenty of good restaurants with carb loading pasta meat & seafood dishes.

Finish your ride with a dip in the med and a chilled beer on the esplanade…ahh, shoot, I so want to go back 🙁

enjoy 🙂

ps- nothing like your own rig.

take your own imo.

pps- we stayed here on 2 occasions which I can recommend

http://www.florenzhotel.it/en/

mcj78 – Member
Cheers Honourablegeorge – just stumbled across This site which lists a load of different companies offering uplifts, not much info on hire bikes though – anyone any good suggestions or do most folks just take their own?

J

There’s a bike shop next to the finalefreeride compound, they have Nukeproof hire bikes – don’t know of anywhere else in town that does rentals

http://www.theultimatebikeshop.it/category/noleggio-bici/freeride/

(Don’t use the shop above for repairs, they’re expensive, the wee bike shop hidden in a corner of the main square in the old town is the one for repairs)

Cheers all, got accommodation sorted in Finalborgo – think i’ll take my own bike & make a point of using it as much as possible outside the shuttle days on nearby trails – now to construct an indestructible bike box (A-Team style) out of an old cardboard bike box, corrugated plastic, pipe lagging, cable reels, elastic bands, gaffer tape & the 6 foot mountain of jumbo bubble wrap i’ve been keeping for a “special occasion”

Can’t wait 8)