http://formosaguy.blogspot.com/2008/05/leave-your-bike-at-home.html
Just stumbled upon this blog and he mentions bike rental - does anyone else know if this program still runs?
While I’m not sure about the Giant rental program, there is a rental shop near Taida, at the intersection of Roosevelt Sect 3 & Xin Hai.
OK
its not needed now, but next visit my brother makes I want to take him on a road trip or do a sprint triathlon with him, so bike rental would be useful for both (plus I live in the mountains and he doesnt like riding scooters)
I used this service in July 2009. Being able to pick the bike up in one location and return it to another gives a lot of flexibility.
I’m out doing travel research at the moment and found Giant still has this service but not at every shop. I’ve mostly been on the east coast and so far I have found Giant in Hualien (the PARKVIEW HOTEL) and Taitung allow extended rental. It’s NT1200 for 3 days, NT200 a day afterwards. Includes bags, speedmeter, lock, repair kit, but not helmet afaik.
You need to reserve a week or more in advance. Hualien had larger framed bikes but not Taitung.
I’m sure a lot of the other shops around the island also have this.
afaik it is the factory owned Giant stores which offer the service. I sent an e-mail to Giant via their Taiwan website to find out the addresses/phone numbers of the stores in the place where I was going. Then I contacted the store by phone to arrange the hire. Another thing to note is that the store required a credit card for a deposit.
Yeah, it is still going. The ‘Great Journey’ bikes are very nice for touring, too. I rented one with a friend about a month ago. It is true that not all stores do it. They do need 5 days notice. You do not need a credit card. You can drop them off at your destination.
Thoroughly recommended.
No, it just depends on their location. There are three Giant shops in Hualien but two are only for day trips. Even the parkview hotel Giant mostly has bikes for day trips. You can’t just take any bike on an extended trip. Only the great journey and another.
trubadour, did you do this without a credit card? All the shops said you had to use one especialy considering they were not asking for a deposit on the bike. I can’t see a shop letting you go off with a NT20,000 bike and not having your credit card to back up the potential loss.
Hi guys.
My husband actually rents bikes for touring around the island. (including bike gear/spares etc…) His website is
dbk.url.tw/index_2.htm. It’s in Chinese, so you may need a bit of help maneuvering around it. Has camping gear as well and lots of other stuff…don’t know all the full details. I can read a little Chinese. His stores are mainly around
/Beitou/Shilin/Tamshui/Kuandu/Bali area.
Have fun…
Shirley 
cool
thanks for info
The other bike is the Giant CRX2, which i bought much lighter than the gran tourer and skinnier wheels, with a more aggressive riding angle
The CRX 2 looks like a nice bike and I’m sure it’s great for around town. We had the Great Journey, which I wouldn’t have chosen for the obvious reasons (bigger, heavier, etc) but it was perfect. The main reason was the touring handlebar set up. You do not want to cycle any serious distance with straight handlebars. I’m actually a fan of flat bars on road bikes, but they are great because they are nimble, and like you say, aggressive: ideal for the city. But these types of bars are just so good for touring. 
. When touring it’s not really about speed but comfort to last the distnace… I did 100k in a day on flat handlebars and felt it badly in my wrists hands and shoulders. 100k with the trekking bars, an I was ready for more.
hmm - good point about the handlebars - I bought my CRX2 for commuting/weekend riding and less touring, so maybe if I were to do more touring i would also change the bars (or in this case rent the gran journey)
Saying that, my first ride was a CNY tour from TPE (Xindian)-Yilan-Hualian-Taidong, 3 days each breaking well over 100k (total is about 400k, but the final day was flat inland highway and i think we did more like 160k, wow thinking of it now thats a lot!) We were in saddle literally all day mind, 8-9am start, hour lunch and roll into destination at 7-8pm. The point is my arse hurt more than my wrists (hmm, maybe should rephrase that…)
You rode the Su-hua Highway? Fuck I hate even driving that now it’s so insane. And those tunnels? You is crazy man.
any places rent mountain bikes?
I can confirm that the Giant shop opposite Hongshulin MRT rents both road and MTBs. Nice MTBs too. Expensive at the weekend (200 per hour) cheap during the week (about 400 for the day I think)
Can helmets be rented?
This sounds so cool. Next time I’m there gonna look into this.
[quote=“aprimo”]Can helmets be rented?
This sounds so cool. Next time I’m there gonna look into this.[/quote]
I think they’ll throw a helmet in for free…for road bikes of course its best if you bring your own pedals and shoes (presuming you’re using cleats).
any closer places in taipei that rents mountain bikes?
thanks 