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French Cycling Holidays – Spares and Repair!

For cycling holidays France is easily accessible from the UK and dropping your bicycle into the bike rack and heading across the channel makes for a great vacation.  At the same time, you don’t wont any hassle with your ride – you just want to enjoy the quiet roads and the great scenery.  It’s Murphy’s law, but at some point something on your machine is going to break – you don’t need to be lost in France when it comes to finding your spares….

 

So don’t fret!  One of the things that surprised me when I first started living and cycling in France was just how easy it was to come by spares for my bike.  We live in a rural area with small towns, but inner tubes, tyres, brake pads, cables, pedals, lights – in fact pretty much all the consumables we go through with regularity can be easily found.  You’ll even find at hand a pretty good selection of greasing and cleaning components for when you’re in the mood to buff up your steed!

 

Certainly, in the Loire Valley where I live, and I imagine we’re not unusual, every supermarket in the Super U and Intermarche chains has, in the aisle that sells motoring equipment,  a well stocked set of shelves dedicated to the bike.  I suppose its not surprising when it seems that most people around here, elderly ladies in particular, rely heavily on two wheel transport of the self-propelled variety.  

 

Better still, if your bike has a pretty standard size of tyre – 700x28 springs to mind, then you should even find a spare one of these hanging up at the store.  As Super U and Intermarche dominate the small towns around our way, you are never that far from an outlet.  

 

It’s worth pointing out that the motoring aisle stocks far more than just vanilla flavoured air fresheners and those compass things that stick to the front of your windscreen.   More usefully you’ll be able to pick up light bulbs, oil, batteries and wiper blades to name but a few items.  Those fluorescent vests are really cheap at the supermarket too – oh and the red triangle!

 

In the larger towns and if you happen to pass one, check out the blue liveried Decathlon stores, usually on the edge of town in a retail park.  These are huge stores dedicated to outdoor pursuits and sport – including shooting, fishing, all the team and ball sports, walking, running and camping.  The tent selection is huge and if you want a small dingy or canoe then yes, you can get that there too.  However, I’m often wandering around in there for the bike selection and the great range of well priced bike spares and clothing.  As befits the country that hosts the Tour de France, if you’re keen on your cycling then you can spend a good hour up and down the aisles.  If you need a bike rack – this is a good place to pick one up as well.

 

Each Decathlon store also has an on-site bike maintenance depot, which will do a wide variety of services on your bike.  The costs are reasonable and some of the work can be turned around in a matter of hours.

 

So, if you’re intending to take your bike to France (and yes, perhaps you’ve not been out on it since you put it away after last summer’s holiday) don’t worry if you arrive at your French cycling holiday with a bike that needs some attention – you wont be short of places to stock up on the necessaries!