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A collection of reviews covering road bike tours, bikes and accessories written and provided by the site author, Steve plus tour and bike reviews from site readers. Reviews I started this website in 2020 with a series of one paragraph reviews covering the various longer cycle tours I had joined in Europe and the USA over the previous ten years. I had tried to cover topics that seem to elicit interest when discussing our tours with family, friends and people we meet during our rides. The reviews web page therefore contains two sections, the first devoted to my reviews and the other includes reviews submitted directly to this site using the Template provided at the bottom of the Contact Me page. After looking at the feedback I had received, I added reviews of one day and partial day events as these are often the means by which potential cycle tourists get to experience the joys of cycling. Please also use the Contact Me page to suggest improvements or to identify data that needs to be collected but hasn't been so far. Throughout the website I have made references to cycle tour companies (see Tips 4 Touring for details of the companies I have used), operators, guides, etc. Usually positive, but not always so, but please remember that these are my views and may not accord with your experience or the experience of others that you talk too. Cycle tourists can spend a lot of money to do bike tours and, accordingly, we need as much information as possible to make important expenditure decisions, even if this means having to weigh up competing opinions and make a personal decision. So, please, have a read, make a decision and then spend whatever time is required getting ready to ride!

Expanding horizons: to e-bike or not to e-bike. An article from the French Cycling,linguistics Holidays Website. In late 2025 I wad approached by Caitlin Smith from Creative Communication in Les Moulins, Bozel, France who had been employed by French Cycling Holidays (FCH) to write an article on e-biking. She had been given my name by FCH and she asked whether I could provide some ‘real life’ input, to help others decide whether or not an e-bike is for them within the context of joining cycle tours. Caitlin looked at this web site and sent me three questions and used my reply to prepare the newsletter article below which FCH published in early December 2025. The article contains links to both this website and to the FCH website and if you find the links useful please let me know using this site's contact me page. Also, I would appreciate it if you would mention to FCH the role this site played in any booking you might subsequently make. “People absolutely love e-bikes!” Our guides Susan and David are adamant that it’s a case of “once bitten, forever smitten” when it comes to choosing pedal assisted e-bikes. So let’s delve into the topic in a bit more detail to help you decide whether an e-bike is for you (or not yet, or not ever!) To begin at the beginning, when it comes to choosing a cycling tour, the first thought in everyone’s mind is capability: “Am I up to the riding, or not?” These are the questions we are most often asked: How hard are the hill climbs? Am I fit/experienced enough to cope with daily riding? Will I hold back the rest of the group? What happens if I get too tired and can’t finish the ride? The answer is, if you are feeling anxious about these questions, or holding back on committing to a cycle tour, then an e-bike could make all the difference to your enjoyment by smoothing over any niggles (whether that’s confidence, health or fitness) and allow you to fully enjoy your days on the bike, rather than feel overly challenged. If your objective is the challenge, then perhaps you would prefer to stick to a human-powered bike, but if you feel like you're nearly up for a bike tour, but not quite - do consider an e-bike. “Everyone can ride together” According to Susan, from our guests' perspective, e-bikes are overwhelmingly positive: "A huge plus is for couples or groups within a mixed tour who are worried about keeping the same pace. You should never feel pressure about “keeping up” on your cycling holiday, but e-bikes completely remove that anxiety. Everyone can ride together, enjoy the scenery, and relax.” Susan goes on to tell the story of a couple who had been travelling with French Cycling Holidays for several years, but – as age crept up on them – mentioned that they were probably on their final tour, the wife having gradually fallen out of love with riding. “We arranged an e-bike for her that same year, and the change was incredible. She enjoyed the holiday again, and he enjoyed seeing her happy. And five years later, he made the switch too. The truth is that e-bikes extend the cycling timeline for so many people. Guests who’ve had injuries, hip or knee replacements, have mobility issues, or simply fatigue earlier as they age, find themselves able to enjoy riding again.” Australian cycle tour adventurer Steve Ryan, from Tour de Mature , agrees, and shares his experience: “My wife Mary and I had been travelling to Europe for cycle tours from 2014 till 2019 when it became clear to us that whilst we were enjoying the tours we joined, we were struggling to keep up with our fellow riders who were either much younger and/or much fitter. It was as we climbed into a sag wagon on a big climb in Italy that we decided that the tour had morphed from an enjoyable ride to a physical challenge and there had to be a better way.” Expanding horizons: e-bikes can help you explore further afield Steve continues: “As we have gotten older, we recognised that riding regular bikes would mean we either join beginner tours or accept that most days we will finish well behind the rest of the group. E-bikes have meant that we have been able to select tours that we would otherwise have had to ignore. Riding e-bikes, we were able to ascend the 1325m Le Grand Ballon, something we would never have done otherwise. Likewise we have ridden rented e-road bikes up challenging climbs such as Monte Baldi near Lake Garda in Italy and up various climbs on the Italian Island of Elba. And the sights have been amazing!” Clearly, the opportunity to conquer climbs that were previously not on your radar are a huge bonus of pedal assist biking. E-bike uptake has been exponential in recent years and it is a joy to see people who you perhaps wouldn’t have seen out on a bike, enjoying the sunshine and getting fresh air and exercise, even on some of the challenging mountain roads of the Alps. And you shouldn’t think of e-biking as “giving up” on your old bike. Susan explains, “The two are definitely not mutually exclusive, it’s just a different tool for a different job. If you love road biking at home but fancy exploring some hillier terrain whilst on holiday, renting an e-bike for a tour gives you a perfect opportunity to try it out and see how you get on.” With an e-bike, mountain landscapes such as Lake Annecy become more accessible to more riders But which e-bike do I choose? Let’s get technical. Not all e-bikes are the same, and with ‘e’ versions of road bikes, hybrids, mountain bikes and city riders, there are loads of options and styles from the major bike producers as well as specialist e-bike brands. So much so, it could be a bit overwhelming! In which case, ask an expert. If you’re signing up for a cycling tour and want to explore e-bike rental, then the first stop is to ask the operator which they’d recommend for the terrain, and often they will already be in contact with rental stockists near to the starting point of your tour. Steve has delved into testing bikes and e-bikes (more on his website here ) and has ridden on numerous cycle tours, and explains how the process began for his and Mary’s switch: “We were both Specialized road bike riders at home, then I received an email from Specialized telling us about the new Creo e-road bike they were about to release. And that’s when we decided to check out e-bike possibilities to see what it would mean for us and others joining tours. In 2020 just before COVID struck we had the good fortune to join a Creo test ride in Adelaide as part of the Tour Down Under promotions. We were instantly hooked." Is it better to rent a bike abroad or travel with your own e-bike? Since beginning their e-bike journey, Steve and Mary haven’t looked back: “We’ve only ridden e-bikes since, both here in Australia and in Europe. The challenge has been that it’s immensely difficult and expensive to get our bikes from Canberra to Europe, so we look at e-bike options offered by providers. Initially that meant e-city bikes for our tour of the Netherlands and Belgium. And then Susan contacted me to advise that the company’s bike supplier could provide Mary and I with e-bikes, similar to our own back home. We are wedded to riding on e-bikes now, and our first preference each time will be to select a company that can provide e-road bikes.” Most guests on a French Cycling Holidays tour don't travel with their own bikes as the cost and logistics of packing and transporting your bike usually outweigh the benefit. All our tours include our hybrid Trek bikes as standard, but we can also source e-bikes to suit your needs, and find something suitable for the terrain, whether that's a road, hybrid, or mountain bike. Ask us via the contact form or send us an email to find out more: fch@frenchcyclingholidays.com Choosing an e-road bike makes France's cols slightly less daunting! Bike sorted – but what about the group dynamic? Some cycle tour operators offer ‘e-bike only’ holidays, and others allow mixed, which are ideal for couples or families at different fitness levels. When you book your guided cycle tour, your guides should be extremely experienced in managing groups. That’s why at French Cycling Holidays we generally run mixed tours with e-bikes and our Trek bikes. Susan and David say, “We’re very used to mixed groups, we have years of experience in managing different levels and styles of riders, so e-bikes are just another of these factors. Keeping mixed groups together is something our guests really appreciate, especially as it means friends/partners can stay together on a ride, where perhaps they wouldn’t usually manage to ride alongside one another.” The group dynamic on a guided tour is key to everyone’s enjoyment, something Steve also recognises. “In the early days of touring Europe we often had about a third of riders on bike and the rest of us on hybrid flat bar bikes. Each day the group would tend to split into those with and without e-bikes and at that time the latter riders tended to be quite slow, such that those on regular bikes would often ride ahead. This started to change as we headed towards 2020 with more e-bikes appearing and the group starting to ride as a single entity, although big climbs spread the field with e-bikes taking the lead. In 2023 we joined a French Cycling Holidays tour in the Alsace region. From memory, besides Mary and I on e-road bikes, three or four riders were on regular road bikes and the rest on hybrid e-bikes. This was a great tour and the riders each had bikes that suited their riding aspirations, and everyone seemed to enjoy the bikes they were on." Susan acknowledges that everyone will have their own preference about mixed -vs- separate bike tours: “Some guests prefer tours that are entirely e-bike groups; others prefer tours of all regular bikes; and many are happy mixing.” Evidently, it’s a personal choice. “At French Cycling Holidays, because we are a small company, we can respond to each enquiry and fit them with a suitable group, so rather than saying it’s an either/or situation, we prefer to just chat with people and understand what their requirements are. We also run private tours for groups of 6-8+, so in this case, they decide between themselves what will work best for them.” Which tours are best for e-bikes? Susan explains that there are some stunning rides that less confident cyclists don’t need to miss out on, if they choose an e-bike: “Our Luberon tour is a gorgeous route but it’s definitely a hilly one – in fact, many other companies run it exclusively as an e-bike tour. An e-bike completely changes the accessibility of terrain like that.” Likewise, our Cévennes tour is marked as an 8/10 in difficulty for non e-bikers. This remote but dramatic region is suitable testing ground for anyone wanting a step up towards our Alpine or Pyrénées climbs, but for an e-biker, we rate it as a 4/10 which opens up this beautiful and un-touristy area to a much wider audience. The stunning hilltop village of Gordes in the Luberon Is it “cheating” to use an e-bike? There is unfortunately some stigma still attached to e-bikes within the cycling community! E-bikes are easier to ride, that’s for sure, so many toughened road cyclists will decide it’s simply not for them. And that’s totally fine, of course! But in terms of allowing people to access new landscapes, whilst staying active longer, we’ll say it loud and proud: “E-biking is not cheating”! So stop apologising for your battery and simply enjoy the ride (like Steve and Mary!) Get in touch with your questions about e-bikes on our cycle tours fch@frenchcyclingholidays.com +44(0) 1923 894305 020 8357 8934 With many thanks to Steve Ryan for his input.

Is joining a cycle tour simply a case of showing up and the people running the tour will organise everything or are there lots of things that you may need to do to ensure you have a good time? Is the tour your only activity during your travel or do you have to work out how to get to and from the tour? Will you be collected when you arrive or will you need to make your own travel arrangements? List goes on and this web page provides a check list of matters to consider. And When U Do - What Next? Food and Drink: Food and drink quality and choice varies across all tours. The price of the tour will provide some indication of quality and choice, but of course this can't be guaranteed. On cheaper bike and barge tours we have experienced alla carte service with great meals prepared by the crews' speciality cook, while on others the cooking was done by the captain and crew and was fairly ordinary buffet style meals. Land based tours provide a mixture of dinners prepared by the hotel you are staying in and/or being taken to restaurants to try local cuisine. With French Cycling Holidays, for example, dinners are usually a highlight of the day with the guides taking extra care to find great food and excellent wines. Breakfasts can also vary with some boats or hotels offering a wide range of choices while others serve up the same fare every morning. When we first started bike and barging we would join the other riders every morning after breakfast packing our lunch for the day - usually a bread roll with meat and/or cheese, a piece of fruit and a small box of juice. After a couple of tours we decided that this is a recipe for boring eating and we stopped preparing our lunches except on days when advised that we would not have a purchase option. Companies like French Cycling Holidays will at the start of the tour offer participants the chance to have picnic lunches on days when the local food choices will be poor or non-existent. Sometimes the cost is built into the tour and on other occasions you are given the choice of joining picnic(s) and contributing your share of the cost of the picnic at the end of the week. Otherwise, we check out the local options near where we stop for lunch and usually really enjoy trying local specialities that otherwise we might never try. All tours we have done have provided free water every day, sometimes the water is bottled and other times you fill your water bottle from water provided by the guides before and during each day's ride. Most, but not all, tours include a free water bottle in your welcome package. After experiencing a tour that didn't we now always bring our own reusable water bottles with us. In addition to possibly contributing to the cost of providing picnics, it fairly common on smaller barges and boats for a tab to be kept for drink purchases over the whole tour, with participants given their bill for their costs over the tour on the last night so that accounts are cleared before you leave the vessel. Coffee Coffee, the go to drink of many cyclists, whether it is drunk before, during or after a ride with friends, part of a meal or something to end the day. Riding locally the challenge is usually to find a coffee shop that is open and prepares a good coffee of the type that you like. As an Australian, I have become used to purchasing espresso coffees from a speciality coffee shop with trained baristas and as a cyclist I look for coffee shops with good coffee that welcome cyclists and that have somewhere suitable to stack or lock bikes within eyesight. Once I travel overseas, the 'coffee' challenge becomes harder. A tool that I use to help me locate suitable places is Google Maps which can help you find somewhere that is open and serves coffee, but reviews don't usually give you a sense of the coffee preparation or style. I haven't had to use Google in Italy as the coffee options there are prolific and usually you can tell how good the barista is by looking at the coffees they have already prepared. A tip for novices, though - a latte in Italy is a glass of milk and the standard coffee options are espresso and cappuccino. If you want a latte try asking for a cafe latte, but you may be delivered a black coffee with milk. If you drink piccolos in Australia try asking for a doppia (double) macchiato and see how you go. The other thing about espresso coffee is that the coffee names vary from country to country. One country's espresso is another's short black; a piccolo is called a cortado in several countries and a a cafe latte in Austria could result in a tall thin glass with milk coffee and a straw. I used to rely on an app called Beanhunter but it changed its focus and coffee reviews got older and irrelevant. If you have a coffee app that you swear by, please send me a review with the web address and I will add them to this page. Laundry Laundry is an important consideration when cycle touring. We now each pack three sets of riding clothes when packing for one or more tours. That is three jerseys, three knicks, three pairs of socks three base layers, three caps to keep the sun off our heads. By having three sets we are able to wash a set after a ride and provide two days for it to dry. If you are on a boat or staying at hotels for multiple nights you can leave your clothes to dry in your room while you are out riding, but if you are changing rooms on a daily basis, you have to wash straight after you return to the room from your ride so that the clothes can start drying overnight. Then they go into a plastic bag for the transfer to the next room (unless there is room in the van for clothes to be spread across the back seat to dry during the day) where they can spend another night trying to dry before being used again. A useful tip given to us was to wring out the clothing by putting items in a towel and then twisting the towel to remove as much water as possible. Then hang as much washing as possible on hangers in the wardrobe and close the wardrobe door so that the dry heat of the wardrobe helps to dry the clothes overnight. We have found it rare to have access to a laundry with dryer in our hotels, but we can advise that at the Lake Garda Bike Hotel in northern Italy all cycling guests are given a large mesh bag into which all of a day's dirty cycling gear can be placed and then deposited at reception before 7pm. The clothing is washed and dried overnight and returned before 7am the next day. An absolutely fabulous service which frees you up from the usual practice of washing clothing in the bathroom basin which is time consuming and messy! Joining a Tour For most tours, you are usually required to make your way to and from the vessel or starting point and depending on the departure and arrival locations you may find yourself having to arrange a series of transfers including finding the nearest cheap airline airport, working through train options (noting that in France and Italy for example you can only book three months in advance) and possibly having to get a taxi for the final leg of the connection. Many operators will include pick up and drop off at a range of relatively nearby sites and this can be very helpful. In addition, if you find an operator/guide that you love to ride with, you may find that they will go out of their way to help you get to the start of your tour or to your next point of departure such as a rail station or an airport. If you are looking at options for getting around Europe and the UK before or after a bike tour, I would suggest comparing trains with planes and then look at hiring a car just so that you can appreciate the pros and cons of each. Flying in Europe and the UK can be a cheap alternative with airlines like EasyJet and Ryanair (no connection) but be aware that they often fly out of regional airports and can present a challenge in getting to and from the airports. Try the website flylc.com to identify either airlines that fly out of airports near where you are coming from or going to, or change the enquiry to look at specific airlines and see whether they offer flights at prices that might suit you. For rail options I would highly recommend looking at the webpage called the Man in Seat 61 - the train travel site at seat61.com . It is a fabulous site and was the catalyst for this website. Train travel is a fundamental element of each trip we take to Europe and the UK and I always start by checking seat61.com to find out what train options are available for the places we are travelling to, which class to travel, when to book, where to book, etc. Train travel options are myriad overseas and it can be daunting trying to work out whether, for example, to catch a TGV, an intercontinental train or a regional train in France. Renting a car can also be tricky. Again there are lots of comparison websites, but even so it can be really difficult to compare 'apples with apples' due to the different terminology that rental car firms use for the same event. Also, be aware that the three French car manufacturers (Citroen, Peugeot and Renault) offer car leasing schemes based on a minimum of a 21 day lease. If you need a car for more than 20 days it can be a much cheaper option and has a number of benefits including a better insurance option. If you lease the car is registered in your name and you get normal insurance rather than the tricky insurance with excesses for standard rental cars. Make sure you are fully aware of the terms and conditions (e.g. non serious accidents must be reported to the the leasing company within a specified time for the repair to be covered, but providing you do so there should be no excess payable. We have collected a Peugeot at the airport in Milan (for an additional small fee) so there is no problems with taking a leased car outside France, but I believe they must be returned in France. Further, if your leased vehicle breaks down, it must be repaired rather than being replaced and you will be provided with a hire car till the leased car is repaired. This can create two difficulties, first you have to return to the city where the car is being repaired once the repair is complete which can stuff up your itinerary, and secondly if the repair takes several days and your itinerary had you driving into another country in the interim, you may not be able to as when this happened to us in Italy we were told by the rental car company that we could not take their car outside Italy. Luggage Many overseas operators assume that their riders will be coming from countries relatively nearby or only for the duration of the tour. In addition, many riders come from countries with less generous holiday arrangements than Australians and the combination of these two factors often means that the riders will fly in, join the tour and then fly home. As a result, they can often get away with a backpack or small suitcase and easily meet maximum luggage size of the operator. It may therefore pay to contact the operator before your tour departs to find out how much luggage they will be willing to transfer each day. As Australia is so far away from almost everywhere we tend to arrange 6-10 week holidays with two or three bike tours over the period. This can mean leaving home with a large and small suitcase each and not all operators will transfer this quantum of luggage, particularly if the tour is fully booked out and luggage space in a van or bus needs to be optimised . This is where the itinerary for the whole trip can be important. For example, we have on occasion been able to devise a tour whereby a suitcase with clothing not needed during a ride week is stored in a locker at a railway station or in luggage storage in a hotel where a tour started and finished. Should I take my bike with me? Locally - roof v tow bar? The location of the ride will of course have a major bearing on your decision if you own a bike you would prefer to be riding. If you can drive to the start of the tour, you could take your bike with you. There are lots of racks that can be attached to your vehicle and used to carry your bike. In choosing a rack you need to think about whether you will attach to a towbar or use one of the racks that attach directly to the roof or boot lid. The other thing to think about is the compatibility of your bike(s) to the the rack system you choose. For example, if you have an all steel or an ebike, it will probably be heavy and better attached to a towbar based rack for ease of lifting. A full carbon bike will be light and roof rack options come into play, but you need to check whether the method of locking into the rack might cause long term cracking problems for the carbon. For carbon bikes, many bike mechanics I have spoken to suggest that it would be better to get a rack that attaches to the wheels rather than clamping to the frame. However, this advice has started to change over the last few years. Tow bar racks tend to come with two standard designs - an upright bent bar on which to hang your bike(s) using the cross bar or a full blown rack on which the bike(s) can rest and be attached. The latter are a better option for bikes you want to protect and some, such as the Yakima Click series come with optional ramps that can allow users to roll a bike up the ramp and on to the rack allowing most users to be able to load and unload even very heavy bikes. We changed to a Yakima Click 2 towbar rack when we purchased our Creo e road bikes even though they each only weigh 12 kgs. We have now used the rack for several trips including a tour in Tasmania with AllTrails which included taking the car with rack and bikes by ferry from Melbourne to Devonport and back. It did a brilliant job. Electric Vehicles and Bikes The recent uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) has introduced a new challenge for bike carriage. The addition of a bikes on a roof rack or the addition of tow bars and bike racks at the rear of an EV can impact of EV range through providing greater wind resistance. Theoretically hanging bikes behind rather than above an EV offers the least resistance, but even so a rack carrying two bikes and all up adding 50kgs towing weight can be expected to reduce an EVs range by 15-25% depending on the terrain being traversed. Bigger, SUV style EVs that allow you to carry bikes inside the car offers better range but all EV manufacturers are looking to improve battery range to facilitate all types of towing activities including bike racks. Overseas In my experience, if you are joining an organised cycle tour overseas, the operator will offer to rent you a bike and, if needed, a helmet. Taking your bike overseas with you can be done, but you might want to consider the pros and cons first. I've thought about doing so on a few occasions, but the cons won the day. However, a number of acquaintances have taken their bikes and have benefitted from having a bike that perfectly suits them, rather than renting. So here are my pros and cons: Pros You will probably be most comfortable on your bike. Saves you the cost of renting a bike when you arrive. Your preferred type of bike might not be available on the tour you are joining. If you are flying in to immediately start riding and will be flying home as soon as the ride finishes, many of the cons may be worth putting up with. If and when your ebike batteries can be hired from bike shops or the like at your destination, it might be worth the hassle of transporting your bike so that you both can take advantage of your bike's e features and also avoid the much steeper cost of hiring ebikes as opposed to manual bikes, whether they be road or hybrid. For our 2024 tour in Italy we ended up hiring two Giant e Road Bikes from the tour operator for a week. This cost us just shy of $AUD 1500 and while we enjoyed the ride the price was epic. Cons You will need to purchase a bike box of some description (although if you have the cardboard box that your bike was sent to your bike shop in, you may be able to use that box for your trip). Of course depending on the quality of your bike you may need to buy a relatively expensive metal bike box so that your bike is not damaged in transit. You will need to dismantle and rebuild your bike or pay mechanics at either end of your trip to do so. Depending on the distance between your arrival airport and the start of your riding tour, you will have a bike bag to lug around in addition to your luggage. This can be an issue if you are catching public transport to get around. See Brakes below - if you will be riding on the opposite side of the road to home, you might want to swap your brake levers over so that your bike is consistent with the set up of local bikes. If you are not joining a supported tour, you will probably need to find somewhere to store the bike box while you doing your riding. If you are joining a supported tour, they may not have room to store and/or cart your bike box. If you have an e bike of any type you will need to think about how you will transport your battery(ies) as you will probably be unable to leave them in or on the bike frame in the aeroplane's hold. Apparently batteries need to be carried as hand luggage, but many batteries will exceed the hand luggage weight limit of 1kg. If you are mixing your activities while overseas and won't be located in one spot when not riding, it could be a major hassle to transfer your bike when you are not cycling. If you have any mechanical problems while touring you may have to arrange your own repairs and depending in where you are you may be without a bike for a lengthy period. What are the alternatives to taking your own bike when travelling overseas? The basic alternatives are to purchase or rent a bike when you arrive. Some riders choose to purchase as they will need the bike for extended periods, don't need to worry about transporting their bikes and luggage between different locations and they can purchase a bike that they know suits them. Others want to try bike models that they can't trial at home or they can get a superior purchase price and intend returning home with the bike. However, the bike you want may not be available, the cost of purchase can be very expensive and what do you do if you can't sell the bike before you depart for home. If you opt to buy a relatively cheap bike then resale is much more feasible, but in return you may be opting for an uncomfortable riding experience. Hire Bikes However, in our experience, most overseas riders joining tours in Europe or the USA will opt to hire a bike from the company that is operating the tour. The type of bikes they offer (and most now seem to offer a choice between a manual bike and an ebike with the latter often being twice as expensive to hire) will vary from hybrids to flat bar road bikes to drop bar road bikes with the hire rate climbing as the choice improves. If you are bike and barging, you will often have a choice of a 7 or 21 gear hybrid bike with a rear rack and a vinyl pannier for carrying things like lunch, a bottle of water (usually distributed free of charge at the start of each day's ride), snacks and a rain jacket. Our European tours in 2023 and 2024 had us riding with people who had arranged to hire e flat bar hybrid bikes and e mountain bikes. The hire costs for these bikes were around 200 to 300 euros a week. Panniers and Bags As you improve the quality of the bike, you may be offered a vinyl bag that clips on to the handlebars. Having a capacity less than half of a pannier, you might need to ride with a back pack to carry those items that don't fit in the bag. Both panniers and handlebar bags can be clipped off and used to carry your valuables while you are away from your bike (while visiting a church or a museum, form example) but we found that in the heat carrying heavily laden panniers or bags was an inconvenience and we worked on carrying valuables in a lightweight back pack so that the bag or pannier could be left on the bike with non-valuable items that if stolen could be easily replaced. Brakes In Australia the primary direction signal is the right arm off the handlebar so the primary braking hand is the left hand for the rear brake. If you have your brake levers changed in Europe to match your home set up you will find yourself signalling the primary direction on the left and if, in an emergency, you use your right hand to slam on the brakes you will be putting on the front brake and may summersault over the handlebars. So stay with the European setting and spend the short amount of time required to get used to pulling on the right lever to put on the rear brakes. Bike Computers Whether of not your hire bike comes with a bike computer and its quality, depends on the operator and the cost of the tour. Many low end operators have cheap bike computers such as Catseyes which are good for keeping track of the distance ridden. As the quality of the bikes being hired improved you may find that your tour operator provides a pre-programmed device such as a Garmin 500 so that your route each day is pre-loaded and you can easily follow the route which is by a bold blue line. Trek Travel provided these devices on the two tours we did with them. Many serious riders already have their own bike computers which they always bring with them and attach to their bikes using the temporary attachment fittings provided with the device. If the operator has already fitted a bike computer to the handlebars, there may not be room on the handlebars for your computer too, but not to worry, just start it up at the beginning of the day and slip it in your back pocket and it will still keep track of your essential data. Over the last few years as we have moved up to higher quality bikes the operators are usually quite happy to program your bike computer so that it is the only device you have to attach to the handlebars and you can ride just like you would at home with the advantage of having the route available on your screen if you get lost. If you live in a country that drives on the left hand side of the road, in right hand side roads you will probably be offered the choice of having your bike brake levers set up in the way you are used to them at home - that is your rear brake lever on the left and your front brake lever on the right. I would strongly recommend that you say no!