While visiting Copenhagen for a few days, a friend and I wanted to rent a bike for the afternoon…read more Baisikeli was the closest shop to us, with a very convenient location on the corner of a major street, right at the top of the Dybbølsbro station. The prices also seemed extremely reasonable. (Roughly $10 for a standard bike for 6 hours.)
Let me say upfront that biking Copenhagen was SO FUN and I highly recommend it. But our experience in the store itself, while satisfactory, was a bit chaotic and underwhelming. When we walked in, no one really greeted us and it wasn't clear where to go or what to do. We approached the girl behind the counter and asked if we could rent a bike. Even though there were tons of bikes all around the shop, she looked out back and said, "You have to wait a few minutes." Um, OK. After an awkward pause, she gave us a form to fill out. We did so. When we were done, she took our (US) credit card to pre-pay, and told us to go out back and pick our bikes. She explained that there were 3 levels (budget, standard, and something else I don't remember) and how to identify the bike type by sticker color.
In the patio area where we had been directed, there were about 6-8 bikes to choose from. Slim pickings, perhaps because it was a Saturday afternoon and a beautiful sunny day. There were no budget bikes left, but we found two standard bikes that looked nice and took them over to the girl. We recorded the bike numbers and she gave us keys to unlock them. That was it. Having never done anything like this before, we felt under-prepared and asked her to explain the basic hand signals and etiquette. She went over a couple things but basically indicated we would be fine regardless. She did suggest a nice path for us to take (again, very convenient to this location, going along the river).
Unfortunately, when we actually got ON the bikes, we realized they were not going to work for us. Seats too high and such. We asked her to adjust, but she couldn't (due to some of the equipment being stuck) so we actually had to switch to two completely different bikes.
The whole process took about 30 min, which was longer than I expected. Also, IMO, when you go to a bike rental shop as a tourist, there really ought to be someone guiding you through the process much more clearly than this.
But whatever, we got it sorted, took our bikes, and went off through Copenhagen. It was FANTASTIC. Because the city has such great bike lanes -- and because we had GPS on our phones -- we were able to see several different neighborhoods and stop at Freetown Christiania, the Black Diamond, and the Dome of Visions all in the span of a couple hours.
The bike seats were VERY hard and uncomfortable. I felt bruised for a couple days afterward. But my guess is that most/all rental bikes will be this way? I dunno. The bike locks worked great and allowed us to feel comfortable stopping a few times and leaving our bikes while we walked around. Also, the brakes and bells worked well, which was handy. I don't know anything about bike gears, except that my bike was initially on a gear that made it quite effort-ful to use, so I had to fiddle with the gears until I got to the easiest one. (Again, something that it would have been nice for Baisikeli to explain and/or fix for me before I left.)
When we were done, returning the bikes was super easy. Just lock up, hand the girl the keys, and head out.
In all, I would have liked more guidance and a softer bike seat, but the low cost and convenience -- as well as the fabulous time we had biking the city -- made this A-OK.
