I would like to hear from someone here where the best bike shops I can go to get in touch with bikers to ride with.
I will bring my mountain bike and my road bike.
Also, where is the best place for a biker to live in Paris, considering proximity with bike shops and, mostly, proximity to training spots during the weekdays...
Today I got in touch with Paris Bike Co, which seems to offer custom workouts.
They also offer airport pick-ups for bikes, storage, rental, bike fit.... Hope they can show me some good trails for MTB or routes for road around/within Paris.
Today I got in touch with Paris Bike Co, which seems to offer custom workouts.
They also offer airport pick-ups for bikes, storage, rental, bike fit.... Hope they can show me some good trails for MTB or routes for road around/within Paris.
Take the train out to Triel Sur Seine to the West and ride up into the woods there, great play area or south of Paris you have Fountainbleau and south west Vallee de la Chevreuse. All good riding areas.
Take the train out to Triel Sur Seine to the West and ride up into the woods there, great play area or south of Paris you have Fountainbleau and south west Vallee de la Chevreuse. All good riding areas.
That's great! thanks a lot.
I arrived today in Paris. Will live in the 16eme, close to Victor Hugo and close to Bois de Bolougne. My MTB is arriving in 2 weeks but my road bike is here and ready to fly.
I've already visited a couple of bike shops, with the following tips:
Cycles Laurent: they told me that there are road bike groups riding a few km course in Bois de Bolougne and Bois de Vincennes, but there are also groups of rodies leaving the city for longer workouts - Paris Cyclist Olympique.
They also tolde me mountain biking is hard to find close to the city.....but I will not give up looking.
Franscoop: at this shop the guy told me pretty much the same, but including some tips for mountain biking close to Paris, such as the ones zenmonkey mentioned (Fountainbleau and Valee de la Chevreuse). I will try them as soon as possible.
So, please, if anyone in the area, let me know so that we can arrange a ride together.
I'm French and before moving to Tennessee, I lived close "la vallee de Chevreuse". It's a very nice place to ride and the week-end there are a lot of both road bike riders and motorcycle riders.
About the MTB I don't know.
To go through "la vallee de Chevreuse", you can take either your car and drive about 30 min from south of Paris. Go direction south-west between "Versailles" and "Rambouillet" or take a train RER E (Green line) and stop at the last station “St Remy les Chevreuse”
You can go also to “Le bois de Vincenne” near “le chateau de Vincenne”. Take the subway line 1 (Yellow line).
I've already been to Chevreuse for 3 w-ends in a row - very nice area to ride with some short climbs. Actually I went all the way with my bike, so it is a 80 - 110km ride. Good, of course, but I miss some more climbings. Do you know where I can find decent, steep, long climbs around?
I've also been to Vincennes - good to ride in the week days, close to the chateau, right? (the triangle path). But I live really close to Bois de Boulogne, so I'd rather go there - also 'cause it is a bit longer than Vincennes'. The place is always crowded with bikers. Nice to see!
Thanks for the advices! Please bring more if you have.
I found a link on you tube "VTT en foret de marly" that looks like it might be a good challenge, but I don't have enough posts yet to be able to embed it. just google it though & it should come up. La Forêt de Marly is close to Versailles.
I'm looking for some information from VTT riders in the Paris region myself. I'm a Clydesdale American at 310 lbs & 6'2" looking to get a new VTT. I had a Decathlon B-twin that held up fairly well until a guy on a bike ran into me & cracked my frame. Decathlon replaced it with a Triban, but the wheel in the back wasn't strong enough for me & warped soon after I got it. I went to a bike store in St. Cyr L'Ecole where I live and asked about getting some stronger wheels, but the guy basically told me to lose weight. So I'm wondering if I could get some recommendations on a good bike store in the area & which VTT's I should be looking at in the 800€ range. I'm thinking about a 29er hardtail.......here's a photo of my current bike that has been out of commission for a few years now.
Hi VéloJello
If I'm not mistaken, St.Cyr Ecole is close to Versailles. I pass by very often throughout that are in my road or MTB workouts.
The only bike shop I know close to Versailles is Ghidini. It is in Chaville, actually, and I just got a new road bike there. They have been friendly and I found them to have competitive prices if comparing with other Paris stores, or with other relevant on-line stores in internet.
I go very frequently at Foret de Meudon - there is a real labirint of trails which is hard to understand, but always fun and worth trying, and you can have a decent ride with single tracks and some short but steep climbing.
Also, close to Jouy-En-Josas there are a lot of trails, but I've been there only once to participate on the 10ème Jovacienne - very good cross country indeed.
You're looking for a good shop? Here it is : Alltricks. Best price so far in the area, plus they are well known by the french speaking mountain bikers in Europe for being one of, if not The best french based e-commerce website (Great customer services). They're around Versailles .
yeah, St Cyr L'Ecole is right next to Versailles and in fact when my bike was in good working condition I usually just rode it around the canal & trails on the grounds of the Chateau of Versailles. Now I'll have a bunch more options once I get my new bike.
I was checking out the Alltricks website.... How good is the Mondraker Kit complet FINALIST PRO 2011 Noir/Bleu taille L? The price is right...... with my size, i want to avoid buying from Decathlon... i didn't have much luck with their bikes.
Well the thing is you should be careful with mondraker. Like many Spanish brand you're (way) over the weight limit (around 100-110kg if I remember).
You should visit the shop, at least one of the employees speak English and due to some agreement, some brand are not on their website but they sell it.
Anyway if you're commuting, then you should check this website : velotaf. Even if you're not that familiar with the french language some of the users there are, so you could get better advice (I'm living and working in the South of France, but a regular customer of Alltricks).
But if you can afford it, and due to your body weight you should start looking for an "à la carte" bike. Starting with a Sobre (small french brand, their frames are made by the same workers who made the Surlys) 29" steel frame, just my two cents .
I'm probably going to have a hard time finding a frame with a lifetime warranty for someone at my weight.... around 140kg. You can see the photo of my current bike. Do you think that I could find some stronger wheels that could support my weight while I get into better shape? My wife seems to think that I'm just going to break whatever bike I buy or that I'm going to quit & lose interest after a month or so. I'd love to prove her wrong! I'm actually on vacation in the southwest of France near Sarlat where there are lots of great places for mountain biking... I'd love to be riding while I'm here. Alltricks is less than a 10 minute drive from my apartment. When I get back I think that I'll go by & ask for some advice & see what they have to say.
Don't worry about the wheels. To me it's clear, you need hand built wheels (not industrial wheels like campagnolo, fulcrum, shimano, easton , mavic or whatever).
When I said hand built, I mean hand built by a very good builder (a good builder use a spoke-meter, and he use it right). With the right rim, the right spokes and the right hubs even at 140kg it should be ok.
If you're interested I could give you the names and addresses of some good wheel builders.
yes, that would be cool if you have the addresses of some good wheel builders. Do you think that it's worth trying to put some custom built wheels on my Decathlon Triban?
I signed up over at Vélovert & it seems like a really good site. My user name is vélojo. I've been researching & their guide d'achat is very good... seems like the prices are better than most other sites I've ran across. Thanks for the help!
It has a price, but the price of quality. In fact it's not that expensive, my own wheels was built by taupe and it worth the price. In fact it was just 50 bucks more than actionsports.de, the lower price in Europe when it comes to custom wheels. Plus taupe is an english speaker if I'm right.
Something about karatekid2, the guy is tall and heavy, not sure if he's an english speaking person.
Anyway, when it comes to wheels on Vélovert, visit This thread. Feel free to participate and ask for some advice.
If you need wheels for you Decathlon, and don't want to brake them once again, then it's worth trying custom built wheels. You're not looking for some lightweight rims, you're looking for custom wheels tough enough for your weight : It's possible.
Ok, thanks for the information. I think whether or not I get a new vtt right now or not that it would be good to keep the Decathlon as a back up or at least to use for the road & keep the new bike exclusively for the trails.
Yes, besides your decathlon is not a real mtb, it's something between a mountain bike, a cyclo-cross and an urban bike (triban is the contraction of tribe and urban). It's the decathlon solution for commuters, and a high end one.
So if you decide to buy a new bike, and real mountain bike this time, you should keep the decathlon, good bike for commuting or for family ride.
Hi I arrived in Paris two months ago and just found this site. I live in Vitry sur Seine.
I bought a second hand xc bike in Paris. I've tried Vincennes and it's pretty good.
You can get to a lot of good MTBing on the RER system. Near to the 16ieme you have Parc St Cloud as well as the Bois de Boulogne, which is more oriented to city cyclotourists.
Not too far you've also got the whole Meudon/Clamart forest. The CAF has a mountain biking section with sunday rides.
Is there anyone here who rides out at Fontainebleau or St Remy, (or really anywhere reachable from Paris) on the weekends in the woods?
I am pretty familiar to with the above mentioned, but know that there are many trails that I don't know and I am looking to explore and for some people to ride with as the normal group I'm with doesn't like the cold...
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Originally Posted by Thiago Nicoluci
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