Reader Q&A: Should I bring my bike or buy one in Toulouse?

Published by Lyn on 21 August 2013

We received this question about buying and selling bikes in France. 

Hello,
 
I'm going to be spending a couple months in a village about an hour from Toulouse. I'd like to have a bike available but as far as I can tell renting is far too expensive for a period that long. I'm debating whether to ship my bike from the US or try to buy a used one in France which I would ideally sell before returning home. If anyone has done such a thing I would appreciate your insights!  
 
Thanks in advance!
 

Answer:

If you decide to buy one, try http://www.leboncoin.fr/. As you'll be not far from Toulouse, you should find the site quite active in that region, so you may be able to pick something up and be able to sell it again quite quickly.

You could also post on the local AngloInfo site, which is an English-language community site.

I'm told that there is a shop called Bader Flavien at 1 place Robert Schuman, Toulouse (08 99 10 35 16) that sells good second-hand bikes.

You could also get in touch with the local bicycle organisation as they may have a buy/sell service for locals or be able to recommend other second-hand shops.

The sports store Decathlon is excellent for well-priced new bikes that you would be able to sell on at the end. They sometimes have sales around October.

See here for information on flying with your bike.

Hope that helps.
Lyn @ Freewheeling France

Update:

Another site user, Neil, writes: A better website than www.leboncoin.fr is www.troc-velo.com. It is THE site where French people sell their bikes, components, parts, clothing etc. It also has a very basic review system, a bit like ebay.

If you have any questions or queries about cycling in France, feel free to email me at lyn@freewheelingfrance.com and I'll try to help if I can.

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