Renting or buying bikes for 2 weeks' trip

We are coming to Portland in 3 weeks and have rented an RV to go around Oregon. As we don%26#39;t have a car in tow we would need to do a little biking but we don%26#39;t want to bring our bikes from NC.

My question is do we rent the 4 bikes we need or do we buy them and just leave them in OR before we fly back to NC?

Where to rent around Portland? Where to buy?

We would need 2 adults and 2 tween bikes and we are not going mountain biking just city biking.

THANKS!

Renting or buying bikes for 2 weeks' trip

This is the only shop I could find that does extended-period rentals, but I don%26#39;t know anything about them: http://www.velocebicycles.com/ . If they can%26#39;t set you up, I suggest you call either Bike Gallery or River City Bicycles. I%26#39;ve done business with both, and would trust their advice.

Renting or buying bikes for 2 weeks' trip

Your motorhome may not come with a bike rack. Perhaps check with your rental company?

鈥ytimes.com/2009/鈥?/a>

In todays New York Times.. maybe it will help ..

Nice reading - but we%26#39;ll do the longer trips by RV and leave the biking to the smaller tours.

Good idea re asking about the bike rack on our rental RV, thanks

We have several good resources for used bikes here:

Citybikes Workers%26#39; Cooperative

- www.citybikes.coop - (503) 239-0553

Fast Bikes Inc

- www.fastbikesincracing.com - (503) 235-4647

Bike Farm

- bikefarm.org - (971) 533-7428

Recyclery

- www.therecyclery.com - (503) 734-8831

Sellwood Cycle

- sellwoodcycle.com - (503) 233-9392

From a quick scan of the rental prices, it would seem that it would be cheaper to buy bikes at Walmart and donate them to Goodwill when you leave.

On the other hand, my father sells used bikes on craigslist in the Vancouver/Portland area. He finds the bikes at garage sales or Goodwill, fixes them, and re-sells at a fair price, usually between $45-$100.

Currently, I only see one of his more expensive bikes listed (鈥raigslist.org/clk/bik/1183845392.html) but his phone number is in the ad so you could contact him about what else he might have ';in stock';. He has been know to shop for special requests as well.

But Walmart might be less fuss!

Thanks for your suggestions.

We have reconsidered and have decided not to have the bikes all the time. Instead we%26#39;ll try to rent bikes near the RV parks we are staying in - does this sound possible?

Thanks

In looking at your itinerary, I%26#39;d expect you can find bicycles to rent in Newport, Bend, and obviously Portland (where you%26#39;ll probably not want to), but I wouldn%26#39;t count on it in any of the others.