hi im tony i live in norfolk which is quite flat. im doing some research on a new business venture, and need some help. im starting a bike hire and tour business and need advice on the type of bikes to get. i need to keep the number of bikes to a minimium due to cost. but need to cater for every one and all riding conditions and terain. the bikes will mostly do city and road riding although we do have some off road routes. im also not sure about frame size i think it will be mostly adults but they need to cater for large and small. the other factor is ladies and gents bikes or unisex which the later can look a bit gay no offence. any help will be greatfully recived.

Cheers tony, and welcome to Bike Forums.

I'm not sure you can find a one size fits all solution for longer rides... bike rental companies around here offer usually single speed / 3 speed internally geared step-through frames as an all purpose rental bike. They're widely used in Europe for utility riding, so everybody thinks they look quite happy, or "gay" as you put it. They're OK for city riding, and I've done trips in the 40-50km range on one. Anything longer, and I'd rather ride something that fits, has more gearing range, less upright riding position, smoother tyres etc. The rental shops usually have a limited selection of 7/8 speed hybrid bikes too.

--J

thanks for your reply i was thinking on the line of hybrids something with say seven gears. im not sure about the frame size or wheels. i liked to get some thing with easy adjusting seat and handel bars to cater for the difference in hieghts.. if i could find a less happy looking unisex bike i could reduce my outlay by half. but would then have a bigger range of sizes . there u go ive hit a problem with the unisex idea.