Have you even been on a cycling holiday in the mountains and if so can you remember what tyres were on the bike?

Would you be miffed if you hired a bike and it came with Rubino’s, or do you expect Conti GP4000’s and nothing less.

Keep to hear your experiences.

Merci!

I would expect cheap and durrable nothing more from a rental.

Our road bikes go out with whatever they had fitted as standard that year. Many hirers are somewhat less than technically proficient so something robust is a better bet for avoiding punctures.

This years “road” bikes are Diverges. I suspect we might fit something skinnier to those for some customers.

I always take my own saddle and pedals, have thought about tyres as well but never bothered in the end. But no reason why you shouldn’t if you have a real preference.

I ‘struggled’ with a hire bike in Majorca. I found the road surfaces there very slippy / difficult to stop without locking up the wheels once a little rain fell. I had a minor off going down Sa Calobra ! After that, I think my mind was made up that there was a problem and I didn’t get over it and so it spoiled the rest of the descending that week (it was often damp). The Combination was, as you mentioned, Vittoria Rubino (pro?) tyres (although I’ve previously used in UK with no disasters) but I think the problem was more likely with the braking – poor / hard brake blocks (guessing), possible other issues with brakes (felt very on/off), brakes the ‘wrong’ way round, and my mental block after the first incident.

If I was to go there again I’d probably hire a disc-braked bike and take my own tyres (probably conti 4 seasons). Might be a bit silly given I’ve managed fine in the wet UK pennines on rim brakes and Rubino tyres but that one incident got in my head and I wouldn’t want to spoil another weeks riding.

How do Rubinos compare?

http://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/road-bike-reviews/vittoria-rubino-pro-iii-2014

Unless I was hiring it to go racing while I was there I wouldn’t worry at all and just slow down on te descents to compensate.

Although I appreciate that some folk ride with their eyes first and the mind can’t cope.

Luganos on an Ultegra equipped Cannondale Evo. It is pretty much what I would expect.

Whatever comes on the bike.

It’s just a tyre, as long as it’s not crap it will make little difference.

I had a blowout on whatever crappy Michelin tyres were on the road bike I hired in the Algarve.

A pickup truck inched out of an entrance to a field into my path as I was coming down a fairly steep descent.

I locked on the brakes to avoid it, skidded a bit, then there was a bang and I had a big hole in both tyre and tube.

Since I was out in the wilderness, I ended up making a tyre boot out of a banana skin, which wore out, then out of a bit of eucalyptus bark, then another bit, and limping back to civilisation.

Replaced the tyre at the first bike shop I happened upon.

The hire shop wouldn’t reimburse me for the newer, better tyre and insisted I take it off the bike when I returned it.