If the bike rental cost is less than the cost of travelling with my bike, I will usually rent at my destination. And even if I do travel with bike, I bring one of my older road bikes so that I won't get too upset if it gets squashed or otherwise beat up. I have been using a BD aluminum Motobecane with DA7800 for the past few years of travel.
Spotty service from rental companies inspered me to set up my own rental company, so if you ever find yourself in SoCal, look me up. My website is in my sig.