2 Hire or not 2 Hire

[Jace]

If you broke your bike a week before an event you were training very hard for or wanted to test a brand new high quality bike at your next race. Knowing that you could put your own saddle on it and the bike would be setup to your specific requirements.

[DJR]

If I only have 1 week to get used to a new bike before doing an event that I have poured much money and training time into, I would get a replacement bike as close to my own bike as possible. I seriously believe in making as few changes as you can at the last minute.

 

If my bike broke on the morning of the race, then I'll ride a farm gate, as long as I get to ride. But then "racing" would not be my first concern, just to ride and enjoy and finish.

[Jace]

If I only have 1 week to get used to a new bike before doing an event that I have poured much money and training time into, I would get a replacement bike as close to my own bike as possible. I seriously believe in making as few changes as you can at the last minute.

 

If my bike broke on the morning of the race, then I'll ride a farm gate, as long as I get to ride. But then "racing" would not be my first concern, just to ride and enjoy and finish.

 

Thanks for your honesty, more appreciated is the humor!! thanks!

[Ratty]

Thanks for your honesty, more appreciated is the humor!! thanks!

 

If I only have 1 week to get used to a new bike before doing an event that I have poured much money and training time into, I would get a replacement bike as close to my own bike as possible. I seriously believe in making as few changes as you can at the last minute.

 

If my bike broke on the morning of the race, then I'll ride a farm gate, as long as I get to ride. But then "racing" would not be my first concern, just to ride and enjoy and finish.

My dads bike broke on a flight to Durban for our first Berg and Bush. A very kind stranger lent him a bike. It was luckily a full suspension, but quite different to his own bike. He survived the 3 days quite easily without changing anything except for the saddle height.

[Jace]

My dads bike broke on a flight to Durban for our first Berg and Bush. A very kind stranger lent him a bike. It was luckily a full suspension, but quite different to his own bike. He survived the 3 days quite easily without changing anything except for the saddle height.

 

Thanks Ratty, so apart from the saddle and possibly the cleats nothing else was was adjusted to suit your dads build and riding posture?

[Vetseun]

No

[Shebeen]

My selected answer is obviously, "it depends". If you are charging R50 for the privilige, then YES. If you are charging R1500 then NO.

 

The question I ask is, who the hell is going to rent out top spec bikes for racing only? You could make a small fortune from this (just start with a big one).

[DieVlieg]

Most top contenders has more than one bike at disposal at all time. They even try to get rid of them from time to time. Then there is the serious racers trying to better their times on every race they do and probably not all of them are sponsored or have replacement bikes. Then you have those of us that do not even own a fancy bike but is thinking of buying one. I believe that is where the money is in. Sometimes you get confused by the options available and would really like to properly test a higher end bike and see how it effects your riding. Using a different bike would be less a gamble as you probably have not much to risk and were entering to have a social ride anyway.

 

The people with money probably became successful elsewhere in life definitely not from cycling. Pros live a hard life and probably wait on sponsors for most of their gear. Rather target mid level market at races that has the cash to upgrade because of comfort or wants to achieve their goals with less effort or overcome technical sections with better gear.

[SwissVan]

Yes, why not if its not over priced.

I hired a Trek once to do 94.7 simply because i did not want to fly with my Specz roubaix

All it cost me was the 2 new tyres and tubes fitted by the bike shop, fitted my own saddle and pedals.

[DieVlieg]

I paid R200 a day for a lower end specked bike. The problem also is in the terms. For instance hiring late on the first day in the after hours and returning very early on the third day should not be seen as 3 days. Rather have allowances for this while not losing out. Have agreements on damage and theft. I wont hire if there is not at least some sort of insurance even if I pay a premium that I won't be reliable for damages. Abuse is a different matter.

[Beattbox]

I broke my bike one week before my first multi stage MTB race. I was in a flatty to say the least! I'd put in hours of training, serviced said bike, purchased a spare derailleur hanger, spare tubes etc for the bike and now it was broken with no hope of it being repaired before the event. I ended up hiring a bike from my LBS just for the event. I put my saddle and peddles on it and got it the day before the event. To make things more interesting, my bike was a 26er and the hired bike was a 29er. This would be the first time in my life that i would swing my leg over a 29er. I went for a quick 30km installation spin before packing up everything for the event. What followed was 3 days of awesome riding. It took me about an hour on the first day to get comfy on the bike and then it was like i was riding my old bike. So to answer your question, hire it, try it out and if you like, buy it.

[Beattbox]

If I only have 1 week to get used to a new bike before doing an event that I have poured much money and training time into, I would get a replacement bike as close to my own bike as possible. I seriously believe in making as few changes as you can at the last minute.

 

If my bike broke on the morning of the race, then I'll ride a farm gate, as long as I get to ride. But then "racing" would not be my first concern, just to ride and enjoy and finish.

 

I broke my bike half way through stage 1 of another 3 day event (not the same one as mentioned in a previous post). I ended up riding said farm gate, but boy was i grateful for the loan of that gate and it turned out to be surprisingly good...

[Capricorn]

in general, i'm there for the race, and only teh race. so if trained my ass off for it, i'll take any bike, and if it so happens to be that the high end bike is better than mine, then more better.

[Jace]

I paid R200 a day for a lower end specked bike. The problem also is in the terms. For instance hiring late on the first day in the after hours and returning very early on the third day should not be seen as 3 days. Rather have allowances for this while not losing out. Have agreements on damage and theft. I wont hire if there is not at least some sort of insurance even if I pay a premium that I won't be reliable for damages. Abuse is a different matter.

 

Appreciate your response there, thanks. I agree with you entirely regarding the insurance premiums. However the day to day hiring does become tricky if someone is into night riding/wee hours of the morning riding. Thanks again..

[Jace]

I broke my bike one week before my first multi stage MTB race. I was in a flatty to say the least! I'd put in hours of training, serviced said bike, purchased a spare derailleur hanger, spare tubes etc for the bike and now it was broken with no hope of it being repaired before the event. I ended up hiring a bike from my LBS just for the event. I put my saddle and peddles on it and got it the day before the event. To make things more interesting, my bike was a 26er and the hired bike was a 29er. This would be the first time in my life that i would swing my leg over a 29er. I went for a quick 30km installation spin before packing up everything for the event. What followed was 3 days of awesome riding. It took me about an hour on the first day to get comfy on the bike and then it was like i was riding my old bike. So to answer your question, hire it, try it out and if you like, buy it.

 

REally appreciate that little storry. Shedding some light on a very difficult subject.

[Quincy]

 

 

If my bike broke on the morning of the race, then I'll ride a farm gate,

 

Hahahahahahah "A Farm Gate"

 

Flip, I almost fell off my chair, I laughed so much