Hey everyone!

I'm going on vacation in Hilton Head for a week, and was wondering if anyone knows if there is a place to rent a decent road bike there. Online, all I see are beach cruisers and mountain bikes. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Hoya

I've spent alot of time in HHI. I think you are going to find the road thing a little different than back home (wherever that may be).

From what I have seen, very little roadie action on the island. Most of it is off island or in remote sections of the island. The police frown on riding on the roads as there is a bike trail beside every road.

Check with some of the bike shops (names escape me), but I know of at least one person that has received a warning ticket for riding on the roads. They have nice bike paths and expect you to use them.

Having said this, I've never tried myself to road ride on the island. I know some do, but I think they take the paths off island for the rides.

Hope this helps,

Konaken

Thanks for the tips, although that does not sound promising. Tickets for riding bikes on the road???

Maybe I'll just rent a mountain bike and hack around the bike trails a little bit while I'm there to temper the addiction. I'd rather not get into it with Rosco P. Coltrane while I'm on vacation...

hoya

I've heard that, too. Seems unbelievable that they don't want you to ride on the road, I'm not sure if it's really the law or just a convention of sorts. Whatever, it would be impossible to get a decent road ride on the bike paths because they are full of families pushing strollers, bladers, hoopty bikes, etc. And they criss-cross the roads quite frequently with stop signs every 10 yards. I've rented MTB there, and you can tool around a bit, but you won't get a workout. I thnk the highest point on the island is 30 feet above sea level ;-)

If you go off island, I suspect you will run into the problem one finds around Charleston: near the coast, there are so many rivers , few bridges, thus every road is a main artery, and the traffic is dangerous.

May I suggest running on the beach?

May I suggest running on the beach?


Ack, I was afraid you would say that. I guess ground-pounding/exercise bike is the way it is going to have to be...

hoya

Try a PM to DieselDan. He's not on the board as much as he used to be, but I think he still works at a rental shop on HH. I know he used to.

Just got back from HHI on vacation, and you guys were right, no good place to road bike really, at least not when you are used to the foothills/sierras...

Anyway, the good news was that you can rent these crappy beach cruisers there and actually ride them on the sand on the beach. We rented some, and rode from the beach house we were staying in all the way to the end of the beach and back to the other end each morning, for a solid 2 hour ride. The bikes were heavy as a tanks and single speed Jamis Taxis, but it was a hell of a good workout, especially into the wind riding on the sand. I rode my regular bike back home here in CA today, and felt like I was driving a ferrari after riding a beach cruiser for a week!

Keep the cruisers in mind if you are starving for a ride on HHI on vacation, it was a fun way to cross-train!

hoya

funny. I rented a beach cruiser on Isle of Palms last week. Put my elbows near the stem, balanced my clasped hands out in front, headed into the wind, and pretended I was a tri geek ;-) a couple of times I got into wet sand and had to stand to go forward. Yes indeedy, interesting cross training.

Hillarious...

I had on a red shirt with my bike shorts on the beach cruiser on HHI one day, and the funniest thing was everyone thought I was the Beach Patrol, so they all got out of my way. I should've confiscated some alcohol from some unwary college kids or something...

hoya