Hi all, after some advice, I have a trip planned to les arcs this summer and have never gone mtb’ing abroad before – so can’t wait !

I have an option to either take my bike on the flight or hire a bike locally for about £250 for the week. I am wondering wether its better to take my bike or if it will be trashed on my return and cost me more in parts etc in the long run !!

Any advice from experience alps veterans appreciated, will mainly be riding single rack

Thanks

Forgot to say, I think baggage and a bike bag will be approx £120

Thanks

Depends what bike it is and where you’re riding to an extent.

I wouldn’t take a Rigid down Morzine Black… But i’d use a hire bike…

Familiarity of bike is often nice to have.

What are you planning on doing there (who with?) what do you own and what do you ride?

(for starters)

My last trip to Les Arcs resulted in 1 bent brake lever between 2 of us. Others over the 10 days (we crossed 2 chalet weeks) cooked brakes, bent chain rings, snapped spokes, bent rims etc.

We were running 150mm trail/am bikes with tough wheel sets proper brakes and rotors (180/200mm) and DH tyres.

If you know the hire bikes on offer and the spec you can decide if it’s worth getting some bigger tyres etc. personally my setup has taken a lot of effort to get right and I prefer it – it also took very little changing from my normal setup for the UK. The Les Arcs stuff (very little in the actual resort but everywhere else) was more like very long UK riding not at all like the stuff carved across Portes du Solie. The Cachette DH run is mostly not worth bothering with due to the riding elsewhere.

If your taking your own look at some dual ply minions (60a is fine) and some bigger rotors as heat build up can happen.
If you hire take your saddle with you.

i ride in the alps and pyrenees with mates most summers and although I’ve often thought i wish i had my bike here… the cost hassle of getting them there / damage / spares etc in the end up never seems worth it.

You also get the benefit of trying bikes for a week you’d never ride / need / afford at home, Most places will let you switch if you don’t get on with a bike, so pick a shop that has a few makes

Thanks, I run a ibis mojo sl with 140mm travel, heading out with trail addiction….. Setup would probably work but after running track days for years I know that using your own gear can look cheaper until the repairs start !!!! The hire place is running nuke proof am’s so good bikes as well I think (although I have never ridden one !) and would probably take my own pedals, dropper seatpost etc

Also remember that depending on how far through the season it is the hire bike will also have some miles on it so don’t expect a “Demo” one. The Mojo is probably perfect out there did a fair chunk of the stuff that you would do and a few times quite fancied having my hardtail for maneuverability on some of the tighter stuff.

I have taken my mojo sl to trail addiction and it was perfect, maybe take off the outer ring and shorten the chain. Ran 160mm forks for a bit which helped a little but they blew up a bit and i put my 140mm back on and it was still great.

Take your own bike, riding it is what you bought if for isnt it ?
Spend money before you go on thick tyres / bigger rotors / fork &shock service and maybe some new bearings.

I’d always take my own bike if possible- assuming it’s vaguely suitable at least. Costwise it ended up pretty neutral last time, the cost of flying the bike and the wear and tear ended up about the same as hiring, maybe a wee bit more actually. But having my own bike that I know, and that’s set up just how I like and all in good order, that’s worth a fair bit extra.

Course, some hire bikes are bang on but I’d not want to depend on that!

Awesome, thanks all, appreciate the advice, think I will try and take the mojo….. Running a 2.4 rubber queen up front and 2.2 rear so hope they will do with dh inner tubes !!!!! How were the trails to those that have been ?????

Take your own bike. I guided in the valley with BikeVillage and the very few guests who didn’t bring their own bike regretted it. They hired shoddy bags of shit from the local shops that aren’t a patch on the ski hire set up for the winter season and were trying to get used to them all week.

You’ve got a good bike, pack it well and take it with you

Take your own bike. You don’t want to spend all week messing with set up, do you?

So, I’m going to take the mojo ! Thanks to all, now the next fatal question what’s the best way to pack – box, soft bag etc

Cardboard box from LBS using pads/clothes as packaging, mech & hanger off, rotors off spacers or old hubs in the drop outs, probably pedals off. Get it up to within a couple of Kg of the allowable and say yes bike only on checkin. I put tools and spares in my camelback and pack that too with shoes etc.

Helmet as hand luggage.

Seriously, take your bike. If you don’t use that thing in the Alps you’ll never, ever, EVER, have used it properly. Get a bike box by all means, but given that you’ve clearly spent a quid or two on your bike, get a bike bag (The CRC ones are great) because when you come back from a week in the Alps with TA, you WILL be going back again. Mountain biking will never be the same again, and you’ll realise what your bike designers had in mind when they thought up your bike, and trust me, it wasn’t Dalby Forest, Thetford or or Llandegla!

BTW, TrailAddiction will show you a seriously good time, you won’t ever want to come home. Enjoy!

the bag/box thing is always a split. personally i think it takes at least two to throw a box effectively if i tape up the handles, and they have to be in sync, whereas a bag comes with handles that one can manage…
pack it well, and the box may not survive the return trip, but you’ll likely wind up with a happy bike both ends, and it’s cost nowt. my box has done, oooo, about 7 trips now? reckon there’s another one or two in her yet. 🙂
a mojo should be perfect out there. have fun!

I’ve got a pretty nice bag, which I put a bike box into- I wouldn’t trust the bag by itself (and also it likes to flop about and fall over without the bag to beef it up)

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t buy the bag- I’d get a good box and wrap it completely in parcel tape, and add handles. Tape up the corners double strong so it’ll be happy being slid about.

Yep, a £4,000 bike in a three quid box.

Makes loads of sense.

The £4000 bike has already travelled round the world in a cardboard box, it won’t mind.

Driller – Member
Yep, a £4,000 bike in a three quid box.

Makes loads of sense.

Thats how the get shipped round the world normally… I’ve had better luck with a packed cardboard box then bike bags, the bag lasted the outbound trip before it was holed by the handlers and the wheels ripped off. Flown, sent, shipped and air freighted bike boxes all with no drama.

Yep, a £4,000 bike in a three quid box.

Makes loads of sense.
well for 15 years i’ve shipped machines worth up to 80 or 90k worldwide in cardboard boxes without any issues. fairly delicate bits of kit too.
anyway, you’re going to smack the thing back together, probably with a multitool, then throw it down a mountain repeatedly with 80kg of rider on top of it. 😉

Awesome, thanks all for advice and great to hear positive views on trail adiction ! Can’t wait !

I took my bike to Spain in a cardboard box last year – it was fine. My friend who took a hired bike box had to be escorted to the freight x-ray scanner because his bike box wouldn’t fit through the standard check in luggage scanner 😆

My friend who took a hired bike box had to be escorted to the freight x-ray scanner because his bike box wouldn’t fit through the standard check in luggage scanner

Most bikes go down oversized anyway…

If you are worried about damaging your bike, you’re doing the wrong activity… 🙄