Reader Q&A: Road bike hire in the Auvergne

Published by Lyn on 12 April 2015

David emailed to ask about road bike hire between Yssingeaux and St Etienne in the Auvergne. Here's our email conversation.

Cycling in the Auvergne

With open (often empty) roads, the Auvergne is one of France's hidden cycling treasures. But bring your own bike because quality road bike hire can be hard to find. Photo: Dzipi

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Hi Lyn

Great website! I am coming to the Auvergne (between Yssingeaux and St Etienne) on vacation and would love to hire a road bike. Do you know of anyone in the region who could hire me a bike or could deliver? I'm really struggling to find any bike hire places in the region.

Thanks,
David.

I wrote back:

*****
UPDATE April 25, 2015
Since I posted this blog, I've since come across Cycle Farges in Aurillac (thanks to Margriet at Les Camelias, mentioned below). It'd be too far from where David is staying, but it may be of assistance to other readers.

*****

Hi David

I've drawn all blanks locally. It's nearly all mountain bike hire around there, I'm afraid.

However these guys deliver to the Alps and you won't be *that* far away from Valence, so it may be worth an email to check if they may cross the border to you.

A good contact on the ground (Margriet at the cycling B&B Les Camelias) in the Auvergne says good MTB bike hire can be hard to find and road bikes are even scarcer.

If you can't secure road bikes, there's a VTT/MTB base just west of at Yssingeaux at Rosieres – see www.location-vtt-rosieres.com

There's another one just south at St-Pierre-Eynac (see www.auxpointsdujour.com)

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Lyn.

David wrote back:

Hi Lyn
 
Thanks so much for looking into this for me. It's really strange that there is no one hiring road bikes!
 
I looked at the delivery companies and unfortunately the cost is prohibitive
 

I may end up going with a VTT. Thanks again!

I wrote back:

Hi David,

It is not uncommon outside the Alps/Pyrenees and main tourist centres (Dordogne, etc).

Buying and retaining a good road bike fleet is expensive relative to hybrids and customers expect them to be upgraded more regularly. Hire firms says that unless you're in an area of high demand, it's just not worth their while.

Cheers,
Lyn.

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