Visiting Australia Melbourne first

[BillO]

Hi My wife and I are visiting from the US next week and want to do some cycling can you rent a decent bike in Melbourne? We do road bikes at home but would consider a good mountain bike. Will be in the area about 6 days starting Monday.

[rtwbikerider]

Bill,
   I'm an American who has only cycled through that area once, so a local will probably give you better advice. IMHO, you will enjoy cycling along the Great Ocean Road. But, first you have to get out of Melbourne. You should consider taking the train from Melbourne to Geelong, finding a shop that will rent you a couple of bikes, and then heading down to the coast. I wish I could help you with the Geelong bike shops; maybe an Internet search will turn up a shop that will help you. Good luck, and bring along a good camera for the Great Ocean Road.

[GrumpyWookie]

This question was 4-5 years ago, but I thought I'd answer anyway !    I live in Melbourne, Australia - and there are some great trails around, but YES - need to get out of town a bit.

The Beechy trail + RailTrail stuff is awesome...>    http://www.railtrails.org.au/states/trails.php3?action=trail&trail=30

And, I recently did a Mountain Biking day at Mt.Buller (summer only - it's a snow-ski place normally)...>  http://www.allterraincycles.com.au/tours/2010_xc_mtb_tours.html

Or - there's the "National Trail" - can do part of all of it...>    http://www.nationaltrail.com.au/
(NB.  Australia is bigger than you might think - the 'National Trail' is FURTHER than Seattle to Miami - seriously !!)