Buying a bike in France?
- Thread starter pablo666
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
I recently moved to France from Spain & found buying a bike extremely difficult. It's easy enough to spend money but finding a bike to test beforehand is nigh on impossible. I'm in the south & it may be different in the north but down here there's none of the huge shops you find in the UK. No Evans, Edinburgh Bicycle, Dales et al. As others have said though, all the big online retailers you know already do deliver to France & for quite reasonable rates too. I ended up buying my Cube hybrid from a company in Germany & there was no postage charge at all.
Having said that, I note you're looking for a road bike. There's far more of those in local shops here than you tend to find in UK shops, as compared with mountain bikes for instance. It's maybe something to do with the generally far superior road surfaces you'll find in France. Every decent-sized town will have at least one bike shop but although some do sell bikes they tend to major on components & repairs.
In my particular case I had no intention of buying a bike here. I owned a very nice mountain bike that was being moved to France from Scotland with the rest of the household. Somewhere en route it went 'missing'. The insurance did eventually pay out quite handsomely but it was a stressful few months.
If I were in the UK, knowing what I know now, I'd buy in the UK. I'd also bring the bike to France myself and not trust anyone else.
If I can be of any more assistance please feel free to ask & I'll try to help. Good luck.
P.S. Where are you looking to move to?
Having said that, I note you're looking for a road bike. There's far more of those in local shops here than you tend to find in UK shops, as compared with mountain bikes for instance. It's maybe something to do with the generally far superior road surfaces you'll find in France. Every decent-sized town will have at least one bike shop but although some do sell bikes they tend to major on components & repairs.
In my particular case I had no intention of buying a bike here. I owned a very nice mountain bike that was being moved to France from Scotland with the rest of the household. Somewhere en route it went 'missing'. The insurance did eventually pay out quite handsomely but it was a stressful few months.
If I were in the UK, knowing what I know now, I'd buy in the UK. I'd also bring the bike to France myself and not trust anyone else.
If I can be of any more assistance please feel free to ask & I'll try to help. Good luck.
P.S. Where are you looking to move to?
Although I'm a 'bit' North of @Goggs, my experience is the same. The hypermarkets tend to sell utility bikes and MTBs , while road bikes are left to the local bikes shops and a few sports 'chains', such as Decathlon, Go-Sport and Intersport, but they tend to be in larger cities (Limoges in my case)
I sold my road bike before coming over here and bought a Dawes Galaxy in the UK.
Echoing @Goggs experience of buying, our Pino had to be sourced from Germany, because the French dealers couldn't be bothered to reply to my emails
I sold my road bike before coming over here and bought a Dawes Galaxy in the UK.
Echoing @Goggs experience of buying, our Pino had to be sourced from Germany, because the French dealers couldn't be bothered to reply to my emails
There is a modicum of truth here, a bike bought in France will have the front brake on the left hand side
Indeed, the correct side.
Moving to the Charente area dept 16
DCLane
Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
- Location
- Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
Note that if you're buying in France the brakes will be 'European' so set up in reverse of ours.
Jimmy Doug
If you know what's good for you ...
In France, Décathlon pretty well has the monopoly. There's another shop - Culture Vélo, but it's road bikes. The situation is improving slightly, though. Most big towns have a small retailer these days, and some even sell touring bikes. I bought my touring bike in the UK.
Oldbloke
Guru
- Location
- Mayenne, France
Decathlon do a fairly small range of road bikes. Giant have opened 2 stores within 30 minutes drive from me so I imagine they are well represented through France. Veloland are another national.
Unless the £/Euro rate improves then I think you'll find better value (and choice) in the UK. I usually return there for mine; preferrng the ease of test rides and customer service generally.
Unless the £/Euro rate improves then I think you'll find better value (and choice) in the UK. I usually return there for mine; preferrng the ease of test rides and customer service generally.
