• Home Page • About Brittany and France • Cycle camping Holidays • Hotel Holidays • Routes For 2002 • Special Led Trips for 2002 • Children and cycling • Bikes Equipment and Backup supplied • Prices, Booking information and form •
After many years of cycletouring, and of running Breton Bikes we have learnt what makes a good touring bike. They are light strong, and have gears low enough to get you up a mountain - we know because they've done it! We offer three types of bike; tourers, hybrids, and tandems. The tourers have a heat-treated, double-butted 'Richley Logic' set made by Tange, stronger than Reynolds 531 and have components from Shimano and They have drop handlebars in the style of classic tourers and are the best choice for the more experienced. These are bikes that would happily take you round the world. Orbit, who make all our touring frames , worked with us to design a bike capable of crossing continents. The Hybrids are very similar but have a "sit-up-and-beg" riding position making them more suitable for those less experienced or unused to drop handlebars. We have two types of tandem, the first is a two seat version of the Hybrid and is probably the easiest tandem to ride we have ever tried, the other is a tandem so small at the back that they can take a 6-year-old with ease... they are both great fun and really cover the ground at a rate...
Everyone is equipped with a bike, set of high quality (Karrimore or Vaude) panniers (designed by us) and frontbag, puncture repair kit and pump. In addition you will have a detailed route plan and map. Those in hotels will have drawstring bags to line their panniers and make unloading at the hotels easier. Campers of course have a much wider range of kit. A very high quality lightweight touring tent, a sleeping bag, Trangia cooker, cook set and camping mat, in fact all your specialised camping kit.
We really want you to have a holiday as if you were using your own bikes and equipment. However we are always in the background in case you need us and you can always call for advice. Depending on where you are in Brittany we will always get to you in under 2 hours if you have a breakdown. So though you have the independence of cycling on your own or with friends, you can rest assured in the knowledge that we are there if anything goes wrong.
Re own bikes... We generally discourage this quite heavily. The reasons are simple - Part of our service is mechanical back-up. I cannot carry spares for every type of bike that is likely to come, no bike shop does either... So if you had a problem, say broken axle, spoke, failed freehub/wheel, damaged rim, all very common, it would effectively end your holiday as parts would take days to get to me. In addition I have no way of knowing the state of your bike, it may be that I'm called out to repair it every day (this has happened...), and is it geared/tyred for our terrain and does it have the necessary fittings to take panniers etc?
I know all this sounds hard, I'm joined at the hip to my bike, but our bikes are better than those of any other tour company. None are old enough to have needed brake blocks changing and they are ideal for the area/terrain we are in. If you still want to bring your own bike we can accommodate you, but we hold back a bike of your size ready to ride, so that if you do have a problem then we can simply bring out one of ours to you. For this reason there is no reduction in price if you use your own bike, but you are secure in having a functioning bike for the holiday - which after all is one of the reasons you pay us:-)
• Home Page • About Brittany and France • Cycle camping Holidays • Hotel Holidays • Routes For 2002 • Special Led Trips for 2002 • Children and cycling • Bikes Equipment and Backup supplied • Prices, Booking information and form •