[Closed] Which Alps hire bike would you choose?

I'll stick with my 5 Spot 8)

meta..........cos i aint heard of the other ones.

Sunn Kern LT S2 - this one because it's the the biggest burly rig of those on offer.

That Canyon looks like a trek fuel ex so gets my vote. Better components than the Sunn ones.

You need to buy the ones with the best distributor back up and with the most 'normal' parts etc.

Basically, the simplest, bodgeable and practical ones you can lay your hands on.

Oh and Hi btw.

Canny make it this year... forgot to email you my lack of confirmation. Sorry.

That Canyon looks like a trek fuel ex so gets my vote. Better components than the Sunn ones.

The Canyon is just a stunning deal - I get all the others at trade or thereabouts, pay the public price for the Canyon and the Canyon's spec is still at least as good. The frame has to be a bit of an unknown though.

thebikechain - Member
Canny make it this year... forgot to email you my lack of confirmation. Sorry.

pfffft 😡

Off on the road bike instead 😡

kern lt for me

looks nice and meaty, good brakes, forks
if youre in the alps may aswell go for 160mm travel
and id like to ride a sunn

I agree with the comment above about whichever is the most serviceable out there. I'd rather ride a well maintained HT in the Alps than a ropey FS bike. How you look after them is more important. The Canyon looks tempting for the spec. Is it a brand known well over there? I'd be a bit concerned that any failures could damage reputations by association. For that reason, I might avoid the Meta as well. Maybe consider the Sunn if the Canyon looks a bit fragile. Maybe mix two brands and get some feedback for next season (or do you need to bulk order one brand for the discount?).

loads of people ride Canyon here in germany. I'd also go with the Canyon as the two Sunn bikes look similar in design to the Meta, which has been known to fail/break quite often.

Whatever they hire out in whistler I'd try get those.

Off on the road bike instead

You've also got to think of re-sale value. So that's Commencal out as it'll have snapped in half before the end of the season.

I think the Meta is a bit fragile, the hire shop in Verbier had them last year and they spent half the season out of service waiting for new bits and pieces.

I would be tempted to get something with coil forks, less to go wrong.
most UK folks would want a brand they recognise, hence the meta wins, not that it necessarily should, the canyon looks good.

Why not hunt through Ebay and snap up second hand bikes, then you can have a variety.

FSR's,Fives, an Alpine, maybe a Trek. More chance of bikes suiting folk

I'll leave you my S-Works Enduro (for a nominal fee) after I visit in July.

The Canyon was commonly used by shops around Lake Garda, when I was there last year.

canyon here in innsbruck is popular too 😉

stick with it as its easier, just noticed your in france.

why not a lapierre? you can pick them also up for about 1600 and they are a great trail / dh bike.

stevomcd - Member

Off on the road bike instead

Exactly. He's dead to me.

Stevomcd - if it's any help - we've been running hire bikes and are now opening a shop so have some experience...

Basically, so long as you have the spares to sort things when they go wrong (and you use them) any bike will be fine. We ran Hecklers and Bullits for a few seasons - nice and simple bikes. This year we'll have Mondrakers - more complex, but crucially, we'll have the spares we need.

The most common things we've needed to fix aren't the frames anyway - it's the parts - rear mechs / hangers / the odd wheel / the odd brake - so it's good to have spares for all eventualities - then fix the broken bits asap. Also replaced a hell of a lot of shock eyelet bushings - with the right tool this is almost a pleasure, and takes 2 minutes. All the maintenance is, of course, entirely weather dependent - so fingers crossed for another dry summer like last year!

And we've never used a bike for more than one season... the maintenance is usually minimal until mid july - then gets more and more. I assume you'll be getting these at a trade rate, so reselling for near on what you buy the bike for is a no brainer at the end of the season - they get a bargain, you don't loose out either.

I'd get whatever the slackest bike is out of that lot - but that's just my preference!

My 10 cents!

Has to be the Canyon.

Great spec, big rotors, big tyres, anaodized frame (so should wear well) and bolt-thru forks. Having ridden your trails before (and again in September 😛 ) i'd say thats the best bike to go for.

The Kern LT would be a close second though. Those Lyriks might suit more aggresive riders perhaps but i rarely felt under-forked last year on my Rockshox Revs.

sunns look cheap.

had a meta liked it, rode it in the alps.

canyons are cool - never ridden one, would like to.

are you going to have these in june? for day rates? 😀

Commencal Meta 55 pro, great spec good suspension and a bike you can ride all day or rag it it when you want it loves both. Also all this fuss about warranty had been sorted. That was last years bikes.

If I was doing lift assisted alpine riding, I'd want the burliest, slackest, long travel bike I could. Not because I'd need it, but just because I could 😀

Canyon's always get good write-ups in the European mags and not just for their value. there's a couple of guys I ride with occasionally have Nerve AMs and they're happy. One of them had his in Spain and the Alps last year and said it was great.

Round your neck of the woods (Les Arcs, Tarentaise?), I'd go for a slack burly steel hardtail with 150 or 160mm coil forks, and an Alfine.

It might be more expensive to buy, but you would save on maintenance, and try keeping them for a couple of years - maybe with a respray in between seasons.

Have a chat with Cotic, Dialled, On-one etc and see what sort of deals they could do you.

FFS - only on here, eh? 🙄

I'd get Giants

GW - Member
FFS - only on here, eh?

I'd get Giants

Not sure what your 'only on here' point is. But I know a guide who got rid of their Giant fleet as they weren't upto the job.

I'm guessing you're a guide with experience of running a Giant hire fleet.

"Whatever they hire out in whistler I'd try get those" Kona and Norco

The Sunn LT looks like the most suitable bike for big mountains but I imagine people who would get the most out of it will be coming with their own bikes.

Go with the canyon as it will do most of what the Sunn will and will prob be cheaper.

the one wiv the lyrics.

any other suggestions fall on deaf ears.

FFS - only on here, eh?

If that was aimed at me...

I rode my slack, burly, steel hardtail in that area last year and loved it - its largely flowy/techniocal singletrack, not big hit riding. One of the other guys in the group had a Spesh Stumpy, which he killed after a couple of days. He then borrowed a Dialled Alpine with 'zocchi 66s on, and all of a sudden he was SO much faster DH it was silly and he was clearing all the hairpins he'd previosuly struggled on.

Alfine? Because a mech or hanger has a lifespan measured in days if you're riding the hard stuff.

Completely agree about the Lyrics though...

this is why id want ride a sunn in the alps
if this guy had carried on racing hed still be winning the world cup every year

[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]

Trouble with a hardtail is that most punters who aren't used to the alps will find it much much harder on their bodies - it just is. On the Singletrack reader week last year we had a couple of hardtails on offer to ride, for free I might add, and how many people rode them? Just me and Benji. Everyone else was enjoying the full suss offerings too much.

We also ran a Chameleon as a hire bike a few years back - again, just myself and one guest rode it all summer long - and he ended up buying it at the end. If you're the sort of person who wants to ride a hard tail in the alps, then you're most likely to have brought it with you.

Nothing against hardtails - I ride one here in Morzine and around the alps frequently, I love it. Zero point in them as hire bikes though.

My personal full sus is a Nomad, 170mm lyrics, coil shock, 2.5 tyres, single chain ring. In my opinion it's just about the best bike for riding around the alps - long singletrack descents, short climbs, chairlifts etc. Then if I'm feeling the need for some punishment I get the ragley out.

I think a "hardcore hardtail" would appeal to some, but it seems to be a bit of a UK specific trend from what I read on here, so you may put off a fair few customers. Plenty will be looking for maximum skills compensation in the alps too.

Maybe get one or two within a fleet of full sus?

"hardcore hardtail" ............ but it seems to be a bit of a UK specific trend

i'd agree with that. here in germany you'd likely not see a HT with more than 120mm as everyone believes what the mags tell them: HT's are for XC, and XC usually means racing here.

other than my mate who has (on my recommendation) built up a 456 with Lyriks (although he's now de-built it and built up his FS again - don't know why because the trails here hardly warrent it) i know of only 3/4 people with HT with Pikes/140mm forks.

I think having a hardtail in the fleet would be pointless. An uneccesary expense that won't pay for itself.

Most people looking to hire (as was the case with 2 quests on our holiday) are doing so because they don't have a suitable bike to bring. If thats the case then a hardtail isn't really a great idea.

A full-sus is more comfortable....simple as that.

Thanks for the input all. Leaning towards the Kern LT at the moment, but I'll probably change my mind again!

I think those suggesting a mixture of bikes are over-estimating the size of this "fleet"...

Hardtail? While I can see the appeal myself (I almost bought a Blue Pig recently), I'd have a mutiny!

Having seen 3 Commencals die on ordinary XC routes in the North Yorks Moors over last 2 years, id stick WELL clear..theyre crap.

See you in July BTW Steve.......

If that was aimed at me...

Steel Hardtail? Why Steel? Why from Cotic/Dialled/On-one? coz you're on STW, right?

I rode my slack, burly, steel hardtail in that area last year and loved it - its largely flowy/techniocal singletrack, not big hit riding.

Alfine? Because a mech or hanger has a lifespan measured in days if you're riding the hard stuff.

GW - I think you're mixing up "need" with "want" - two very different things... long travel hardtails are great fun - but they're certainly not the best method of getting from A to B with maximum comfort and efficiency 🙂

oh, and you forgot Ragley in your list 😉

Didn't you used to have Alpine 160s? Tightening the belt?
The Canyon gets my vote but only if there's no Alpines 😀

Didn't you used to have Alpine 160s? Tightening the belt?

Nope, this is the first time we've ever offered hire bikes!

Only Alpine 160 around here is mine, and no-one else is getting a shot!