Provence Bike

Great bikes! Need a little attention but great value. Ignore any review which doubts validity. It’s there ok. 6 hours after leaving london I was at the shop getting ready for Ventoux!

This company has a functioning website and accepted our reservation AND of course credit card details. However, when we showed up to their store front to collect the bikes from our reservation, the store front was nonexistent. There is a sign out front, but no sign of an actual shop. This is a scam and we now have to dispute the transaction with our Credit Card company. Do not reserve anything through this company. It does not exist.

Back in the states my fiancée (wife now) signed up for a bike tour of PRovence. When we got to Avignon, we were told to go to PRovence Bike where we were given our bikes, bags, helmets, and told to go on our way.
The bikes themselves were huge and extremely heavy. With the crazy streets of Avignon – even in the morning – we had a hard time pedalling around. It did not help that we had clipped in shoes, but that is our fault.
The maps provided and the directions were … well just OK. We were able to navigate pretty well the first day and only missed our turns a few times. This was because the instructions were a bit out of date and the landmarks weren’t spot on. Both my wife and I had Google Maps running on our cell phones, so we were able to find our way.
On day two, disaster stuck. After taking the heavy bikes through some challenging hills, we found ourselves on a mapped dirt road. Thinking it was only for a short distance we set off down this path. However, the dirt road became a gravel road, and then soon after the gravel started to become deep and we started to slide in our heavy bikes. The bikes themselves were hybrids, and were equipped with city tires. We basically had no grip and were sliding along in the glistening sun. After I nearly dislocated my shoulder, and my wife fell off her bike, we had to ruin our clip shoes by walking the bikes down the road. Did I mention that there was no shade? Yeah, that was not fun.
Afterwards, with our spirits killed, and our honeymoon at a very low point, we found ourselves biking through some wonderful scenery. When we got Arles, all of the positives were ruined by another set of terrible directions in a very non-​bike friendly city.
We had enough! We found our hotel, called Provence Bikes and told them to come pick up the bikes. The lady argued with us regarding following the map, and was rude about our concerns and issues. She was more interested if her bikes were damaged by the gravel road, than she was that we were mislead into thinking that our rental was going to be safe.
The next day we went to EuroCar, and got yourself a nice 6 speed diesel and drove around the Provence region for a few days. This was, much nicer than having to follow crappy directions or bikes that were not meant for this environment.
In case this sounds like one of those «american tourist» reviews:
1. Both my wife and I have been riding bikes for ages
2. I am an avid biker – mountain, road, BMX etc.
3. We both understood the challenges we have taken by renting bikes for four days
4. My wife is fluent in French, and language was never an issue
When it boils down to it, the rentals were not up to par for what we signed up for. Should they have included better directions on actual roads, maybe we would have had a better time.

Great deal on renting a bike in Avignon. Reserved ahead to speed up and assure easy process. Two steps from railroad station (not TGV gare, to get here take bus to Poste for € 1.30, walk across the street to train station). Bike office is set back from street right next to elevated train tracks (not 100 meters down the road
maps). Friendly knowledgeable staff. Supplied me with patch kit, lock, high pressure pump and a quick guide on how to get out of town. Rode to Mr Ventoux and then throughout luberon the following days. Tourist office is a few blocks away and has maps for day and multi-​day riding.