Best Places To Rent A Bike In Chicago
By Rachel Azark
Summer is right around the corner and what better way to celebrate than by cruising down the lakeshore path on a bike. Across the city there are a few places to rent a bike for a day or just a few hours. If you're from here, it's a great way to spend a day outside. If you're from out of town, it's an even better and quicker way to see the city.
Bike and Roll Chicago
Millennium Park
239 E. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60601
312-729-1000
www.bikechicago.com
At Bike and Roll you can rent all sorts of equipment for a day. For adults, you can rent eight different bikes from a hand cycle with a comfortable padded seat to an electric bike that provides an electric assist that makes it 40 percent easier to pedal, to your normal mountain bike or road bike. If the kids are tagging along for the ride, they offer kids bikes and also wagon attachments and child seats. Looking for a little bit more fun? Rent the tandem bike or the quadcycle. On Thursday nights from 5 – 8 p.m. they offer happy hour where you can rent a bike for $5 an hour. They have 9 different locations scattered through Chicago where you can rent.
Bobby's Bike Hike
465 N. McClurg Court
Chicago, IL 60611
312-915-0995
www.bobbysbikehike.com
Bobby's opened in the summer of 2002 to provide cruiser bikes and relaxed-pace tours. You can rent a 2012 Schwinn Hipster Deluxe, or a high performance mountain bike, and everything else in between. Prices range from $20 to $65. They also offer many different bike tours including a Lakefront Neighborhoods Tour; Bikes, Bites, & Brews Tour; and a City Lights at Night Tour.
McDonald's Cycle Center
239 E. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60601
312-729-1000
www.chicagobikestation.com
The McDonald's Cycle Center is more than just a place that rents bikes. It's a facility that was built for bicycle commuters. It offers secure bicycle parking, showers and lockers, and bicycle repair along with bicycle rentals. Bikes are available to rent by the hour, day, half-day, week or month. They carry all new bikes from top-of-the-line manufacturers. Hourly rates for adult bikes start at $10 and go up to $20. They also offer five different bike tours that take you around to different parts of the city.
Chicago Bicycle Rentals
Across from Grant Park
310 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60604
312-479-2818
chicagobicyclerental.com
Is there a whole group of you going out for the day? Consider renting the Double Row Bench Quadcycle that has enough room for six adults and two children. Or if it's just a smaller family the Single Row Bench Quadcycle allows room for three adults and two children. A quadcycle is a four-wheeled human powered bicycle. Depending on which one you get, they range from $65 to $70 an hour. If that's not your style, they also offer mountain bikes, hybrid bikes and comfort bikes.
Do you have a favorite place to rent a bike or a route you like to take? Let us know in the comments section!
