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Im off to lake garda tomorrow, what are the best bike shops to hire from and what would be a good starting point for trails? Nothing downhill, all mountain preferably.
there are a few shops in torbole and a good mechanic in riva. can't remember the names. ask around. most guys speak enough english and the shops hiring the bikes will give you some pointers. then go to the other shop where you'll be told about the trails the hire shop doesn't want you riding.
Kompass maps are pretty good, but there is also a map produced by the local tourist info that is just as good, if not better for 2-3€.
have fun!
Couple of pointers for you from my last visit to Malcesine:
1, Take your own bike if you can as the hire ones have the brakes the other way around...........dangerous!
2, If you are in the moddle of the lake, there are a number of routes down from the top of Mt Baldo- not necessarily down hill routes, but more all mountain.
The route I took was quite challenging with lots of rocky drop offs etc, so dont forget to take your bag of skills!
Have a great time!
Al.
About three years back a group of us used kit from Garda on Bike. They bikes were brand new Rize 2s which at the time were circa £2.2k. The daily rental was something crazy like £22 per bike (by this I mean that we all thought it very good value). As we were short on time, we also paid them to drive us to the top of a couple of local mountains. Highly enjoyable.
I am going there in 3 weeks. Can't wait...!
Gardaonbike are in Riva and they do guiding etc. Let us know how you get on!
I'm also planning to be there in September. 🙂
Gardabikeshop (in Rive del Garda) looked like they had some decent hire bikes in last year at least - prices were good (circa £25/day) for proper all mountain bikes in seemingly good condition - Cannondale Jekylls IIRC
Be sure to go to Meckis while you are there
[s]Be sure[/s] don't to go to Meckis while you are there
it's full of poseurs drinking coffees, counting how many people oogle their bikes after their tour on the Monte Brione or from Tenno castle.
and i don't like the swear words on their t-shirts.
Uplifts from Meckis and the other place across the road in Torbole are about 15 euros by van. They'll give you directions, which was enough for us to find our way down. Tremazlo and Skull were both good routes.
The cable car in Malorcine only takes bikes on certain trips, and the queues are big!
Great place for riding, 2000m descents straight to the beach, pretty unique.
The cable car in [b]Malcesine[/b] only takes bikes on certain trips, and the queues are big!
the prices are canny hefty too! you're not gonna be shuttling runs all day Pleny style...
it's full of poseurs drinking coffees, counting how many people oogle their bikes after their tour on the Monte Brione or from Tenno castle.and i don't like the swear words on their t-shirt
Seemed pretty chilled when I wandered in, only an Italian roadie smoking a cigar and the owners mother and her friend enjoying a coffee, it was low season to be fair. I thought the swearing and suspect English on the shirts was funny in a childish way.
+1 on the cost of the cablecar out of Malcesine, shuttle runs on that will hurt your wallet very quickly
Went last year and rode up! 2 hours up on the road, 20 mins down on looney trails. Germans well into lycra / XC / posing / matching kit / gadgets galore attatched to bikes. Most of the shops will upload GPX's to your sat nav for free. Thought the bike shops were selling high end kit at high end prices, hire prices were expensive and uplifts (which I did) were more like 30 euro's as they needed to be booked specifically (so I'm guessing is wasn't that cost effective for just 1 or 2). Didn't do the cable car, and plenty of slighlt quieter riding on the other side of Riva. 661 trail is awesome, shown on the Kompass map along with some other trails and a couple of specific DH runs (not named)