Bicycle Austin forum

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,455

Website

No one rented bikes in Austin before Barton Springs Bike Rental?!

Community Impact newspaper (which I like a lot) recently ran a story about Barton Springs Bike Rental (which I also like a lot).  But these two quotes stood out:

When Mitchell opened the shop...in 2009, no other business in Austin was offering bicycle rentals for leisurely rides through Zilker Park or adventurous treks in the city's greenbelts, he said....Before Mitchell opened his shop, the only bicycle shops that offered rentals were geared toward a rent-to-own transaction.

So, for the record, a number of shops have offered daily bike rentals since at least 15 years ago, not related to rent-to-own transactions.  I've always listed the ones I know about on the Getting Around page.

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 623

Re: No one rented bikes in Austin before Barton Springs Bike Rental?!

When Mitchell opened the shop...in 2009, no other business in Austin was offering bicycle rentals for leisurely rides through Zilker Park

I've never rented from them (or anybody else), but they specialize in cruisers, right?

I remember having people ask where to rent a bike and all that came to mind was Bicycle Sport Shop, and all they had was high-endish road bikes and mountain bikes ... and they were priced accordingly.   

Maybe the quote just got mangled somehow.  It wouldn't be the first time.

The options for bike rentals have gotten way, way better since then.  I think BSS was all I knew about back then.  Is it possible that's all there was?

I've always listed the ones I know about on the Getting Around page.

Well, that's an interesting point.  Here's your list from 2009.  Fewer options, but more than I knew about at the time.  It may very well be that BSBR was the first place to offer cruisers?

(And here's the first archived copy of the list, from 2005 for comparison.)

Whatever he actually said, it sounds like Mitchell is doing good work and filling a needed niche.

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,455

Website

Re: No one rented bikes in Austin before Barton Springs Bike Rental?!

I'll do you one better,  here's the very first archived page, from 2003, which shows that even then, there were three other shops that rented bikes.  And rental offerings really predate 2003, that's just the first time my list made it into the Archive.

Like I said, I like both Community Impact newspaper and Barton Springs Bike Rentals.  I just wanted to set the record straight.  Certainly other bike shops who have been renting bikes for decades might have had their feathers ruffled for the world to be told that they haven't been doing what they've actually been doing.

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,455

Website

Re: No one rented bikes in Austin before Barton Springs Bike Rental?!

Poking around, I found an archived page dating back to 2000, where I listed two bike shops that rented bikes on a daily basis.

That's back when the site used frames and an image map for navigation.  That's a blast from the past, for sure.