Bike rental cork - near fota

Alanbt

Hi. Looking to see if anyone can recommend a place to rent a bike near Fota in Cork.
Gonna head that way for a week, I’ll be bringing my bike for taking daughter on spins and no room for wife’s bike.
She uses upright Dutch style bike, but I’m sure a mixte or hybrid would do the job for the few days.

Anyone know of good place to rent one in that part of the country?

Cheers

hesker

Can’t think of anywhere near FOTA that would rent bikes.

Could try The Bike Shed near Dennehys Cross. Victoria Cycles is also near there but don’t know if they rent.
Kilgrews in city centre might be able to help.

BionicRasher

Midleton Bike rentals is an option. Where are you staying OP?

Alanbt

BionicRasher wrote: »

Midleton Bike rentals is an option. Where are you staying OP?

Staying at fota. Saw Middleton bike on Google, was hoping for something closer but seems might be the best option

BionicRasher

Nearest village is Carrigtwohill 3 mins away
Midleton is only 10 mins drive
Cobh 12 minutes but no bike rental as it’s full of hills !!
Cork City is about 20 minutes

There are decent tracks on Fota island in and around the hotel and Golf courses. I have walked them but not sure if they are cycling paths too. I don’t think you are allowed cycle around Fota house and arboretum paths. Definitely no cycling in the wildlife park

The main road out side Fota is very busy and the road to Cobh between the hotel entrance and wildlife park gates is a dangerous road for a family cycle. Once you get past the Belvelly castle and on to Cobh it’s flat enough and a scenic route but still a busy road. There are some quieter roads heading out the back of Carrigtwohill and on towards Midleton that might suit a family cycle

Alanbt

BionicRasher wrote: »

Nearest village is Carrigtwohill 3 mins away
Midleton is only 10 mins drive
Cobh 12 minutes but no bike rental as it’s full of hills !!
Cork City is about 20 minutes

There are decent tracks on Fota island in and around the hotel and Golf courses. I have walked them but not sure if they are cycling paths too. I don’t think you are allowed cycle around Fota house and arboretum paths. Definitely no cycling in the wildlife park

The main road out side Fota is very busy and the road to Cobh between the hotel entrance and wildlife park gates is a dangerous road for a family cycle. Once you get past the Belvelly castle and on to Cobh it’s flat enough and a scenic route but still a busy road. There are some quieter roads heading out the back of Carrigtwohill and on towards Midleton that might suit a family cycle

Thanks for that advice. Will look into it a bit more

.red.

If your bikes are going on the back of the car, a rented roof rack and mount might be a cheaper option than renting a bike for her?
You could probably even borrow a mount and just rent the roof bars, most people would know somebody with the bike mounts for the roof.
If your car has roof rails then the roof bars are generally generic and probably easily borrowed too.
If you already have the bikes on the roof then a cheap back mount can be gotten for €30/40, again cheaper than renting a bike.
Just a few other options to think about.

timmyjimmy

You can hire pretty decent bikes from McCarthy's cycles in Blackpool.

mr spuckler

BionicRasher wrote: »

Nearest village is Carrigtwohill 3 mins away
Midleton is only 10 mins drive
Cobh 12 minutes but no bike rental as it’s full of hills !!
Cork City is about 20 minutes

There are decent tracks on Fota island in and around the hotel and Golf courses. I have walked them but not sure if they are cycling paths too. I don’t think you are allowed cycle around Fota house and arboretum paths. Definitely no cycling in the wildlife park

The main road out side Fota is very busy and the road to Cobh between the hotel entrance and wildlife park gates is a dangerous road for a family cycle. Once you get past the Belvelly castle and on to Cobh it’s flat enough and a scenic route but still a busy road. There are some quieter roads heading out the back of Carrigtwohill and on towards Midleton that might suit a family cycle

I cycled a good bit around there a couple of years ago. There's a track through the estate (one of the signed walks) which leads on to a back road that takes you to a park entrance beside the train station. That road also takes you to a back entrance to Fota house so for that bit of sight seeing there's no need to go near the main road at all if you want to cycle.

FWIW I did those with a trailer too, no issues at all. Staff in the wildlife park let us lock the bikes up inside the gate and my then 2 1/2 yo pootled about the park on his balance bike!

seaviewphotos

There's also Youghal Bike Hire who have opened recently and have some lovely bikes. The roads would be much quieter and you could add a visit to one of the blue flag beaches.

hans aus dtschl

Where hotel gate is, you can just cross the road directly onto the quarry road. There's not a lot of traffic and you can get all the way to Midleton on that back road in relative peace and pretty much all on the flat. You could see Barryscourt castle and if you're ambitious maybe even reach Ballyannan forest (well worth a visit).

Crossing towards Glounthaune, the old Youghal road is also flat and reasonably quiet. You could visit Harpers Island (but not cycle inside the island) and get food etc in Glounthaune.

I wouldn't cycle on the main road with a family to Cobh, I'd just take the train instead. It's hilly, there's a lot of fast-moving traffic, and there's no hard shoulders. I think you can cycle from the Hotel to the House/Gardens, and come out at the Zoo entrance, to cross at Belvelly to Great Island. You could head off down to Marlogue from there but I think Cobh itself might potentially be a bit too hilly and busy.

In terms of rentals, there's a good few in town and one in Midleton. All are accessible by rail from Fota. If you're driving, these are quite close.