A few of us, based in Dublin, are thinking of a trip off to Morzine for a nice bit of riding. We dont really want to spend loads of money and were wondering if we would be better off just renting bikes over there, compared to the cost and risk of bike transportation.

The idea would be to fly to Geneva and boost from there.

Any advice would be appreciated! Cheers

hmm we are planning much teh same

if anyone has any tips on cheap accomodation for 4 lads in morzine……

PRGMTB are great for accommodation. Little bit out of town, but not so’s you’d worry, and pretty close to Lac Montriond. Which is nice.

Eighty bucks each way to bring a bike on Aer Lingus, eighty bucks for a CRC bike bag.

You’ll easily pay eighty a day to rent a decent bike out there.

Deffo cheaper to bring your own, whether your own bikes are up to it is the question – you might do more than 160 Euro in wear and tear if they’r enot.

Yeah definitely budget something for stuff breaking and having to replace it at Alps bike shop prices. If you do decide to rent it’s probably worth packing your own pedals as they’ll likely be nicer than what’s on the rental

Yeah definitely budget something for stuff breaking and having to replace it at Alps bike shop prices.

This is the same for hire bikes as well, as they work on a you break it you pay to replace it policy on non-wear items (ie: pads)

richc – Member

This is the same for hire bikes as well, as they work on a you break it you pay to replace it policy on non-wear items (ie: pads)

True, I’m more thinking of the wear and tear on shocks and the like – four days in the alps is a lot harder on your shocks and the like than most domestic riding, and things like tyres & pads wear out real fast over there.

True, I’m more thinking of the wear and tear on shocks and the like – four days in the alps is a lot harder on your shocks and the like than most domestic riding, and things like tyres & pads wear out real fast over there.

I’m not really sure about that if you’re just going riding, rather than being a God- pads, yes, of course, but decent tyres should last a week for most of us.
I don’t know what you mean about the rest- if nothing’s on the way out when you leave for the holiday, and you give the bike a wipedown and once-over each night then all you’ve really got to worry about is crash breakages. 🙂

wow 80 quid for bike carriage! Aer Lingus. Expensive enough.

I’ve done both, but I definitely prefer taking my bike. You can always get caught out with a donkey of a bike which can ruin your enjoyment of what is a fabulous opportunity. The other side of the coin is that you can obviously hire a downhill bike, rather than your xc bike from home. But assuming you have a recent bike at home, I think nothing beats riding those fab trails on your own pride and joy.

Always take my own rather the beast I know than some abused and worn hire bike

Take your own, it’s about £40 a day (at least IIRC) for a hire bike. If you invest in a bike bag it’ll last. I bought mine about 8 years ago and we fly abroad every year, it’s still going strong.

speaking as someone who owns a bike shop in Morzine, AND takes my own away when I go on holiday – I can see both sides to the argument.

All depends on you, your bike, and your bike maintenance skills.

We cover all wear and tear on our hire bikes and buy them new each year. What you’re paying for is peace of mind that if anything does go wrong with the bike due to simply riding it, we take care of it – if you blow the shock or forks, we fix that. If you snap a spoke, or buckle a wheel slightly, we fix that. Snapped gear cable, brake bleed, brake pads, tyres, etc etc. All stuff that your €80/day will buy you. Any crash damage is charged at less than retail.

Plus there’s no hassle packing / unpacking the bike each end.

The other thing is the type of bike you have – is it suitable for alpine riding? would you have more fun on a bike that’s set up for alpine riding? Are you just going to hammer your trail bike down the DH tracks? (If that’s what you’ve got!)

And the last argument is flexibility – it’s a whole lot easier to choose to hire a DH bike for a day or two if you want to have a blast on one if you’re renting anyway! Or vice versa – hire a trail bike to get away from the lifts for a day if your main thing is DH.

For a 4 day trip I’d say it’s worth renting.

And why wouldn’t you hire? Well because you bought an expensive bike and you want to ride it in the alps!

I fly and travel with my bikes all the time – never had an issue on the flights etc and am happy to fix it when it breaks.

I prefer to take my own bike (Reign) because I am familiar with it and I like to drive out so it’s easy. If you are organized with your packing then taking your own bike (and work stand) by plane is quite straightforward. For most of us riding in the Alps is the most challenging riding we do, it makes sense to me to do that on a bike I know and am confident in.

I have also rented for a day or two, e.g. it’s fun to spend a day on a DH rig, I’ve had mates who’ve rented as they have smashed up their own bike in a crash and elected not to get it fixed out there.

In terms of economics it’s not necessarily cheaper to take your own bike, the Alps are hard on bikes and if you add in a few upgrades (e.g. tyres etc) and transport you can easily find you’ve spent a tidy sum.

@kimbers – just call/email the tourist office and ask for modestly priced self catering apartments. My mates on a budget are camping.

Reading flowmtb’s post, I’d be happy to rent from him. I think that part of the problem is worrying about finding decent bikes, and ending up renting a clunker. A properly setup bike, worry free would be great.

question is – now the flights and bike cariage are so expensive – why go for 4 days? the accomodation is usually the cheapest part of a summer alps holiday…