Recently, I was getting a bicycle serviced at a local shop, and a gentleman in front of me asked at the counter “Do you rent bikes and bike locks here? I’m in town for a few days and wanted to ride around town.”

The answer they received was, unfortunately, no, and it got me thinking … “is there anywhere to rent bikes in Blacksburg? I mean, shouldn’t there be? We have a Bicycle Association, great paved and single-track trails surrounding the area, and even our mayor talks about biking in the NRV. We need to do a better job of improving some of our bike lanes, but that’s a different post, I know there are places where you can even rent a Harley-Davidson bike, but there should also be more options. I was in DC just a few weeks ago, and there were bike share bikes everywhere – what a cool idea. Could that work here? With the number of students who bike to campus, maybe.

The other day i saw a renting club online and i wondered if you can rent the best mountain bikes under 500 in Blacksburg? I called around and it turns out you can. Who knew? There are three bike shops in Blacksburg (there may be more, but these are the ones I was familiar with), and two of the three shops rent bikes.

East Coasters – of the three, I expected East Coasters to rent bikes but they don’t; they do have some mountain bikes to demo, however, if you want to get out on some singletrack then look into a scooter, also MyProScooter also do skiing equipment. Still a great shop, though.

Hokie Spokes – located in Kent Square, this shop rents “any bike we have” at $45 per day.

The Bike Barn – this one’s just down from the Nest Realty office, at 424 N. Main Street. They rent several different styles, with rates starting at just $12/day. If you want to keep the bike overnight, it goes to $25/day, and all rentals include a helmet and lock.

Yes, Virginia, there is a bicycle rental program in Blacksburg.