First time renting
 

I am renting a ride for the first time. hope this goes well. will be riding in flat land Florida. this will also be my first time riding a carbon frame. will be interesting to feel the diff between my alum ride. hoping to see some gators in the Everglades.

I just had a great rental experience out in California. Suggestions: measure your BB to seat height and take the tape with you. consider taking your lights. Next time - definitely - I am going to take my saddle and seat tube to swap in. First day was a 70miler and I kept saying "this is definitely not my seat. this is definitely not my seat...."

Just like steel, aluminum and other types of bikes, one bike doesn't define the ride qualities for another frame of the same material. All it tells you is what that particular model rides like.

Remember those gators can run as fast as a horse for a short distance. Don't be trying to get selfies with them close up.

Good tip on the seat, i'll add that to my "bring list."

i don't know what to expect w/ regards to carbon. just that it is my first time riding it. now i won't expect any major differences in feel.

If the rental does not come with a spare tube, tire levers and a pump or CO2 bring your own. Also find out if it has a bottle cage or two. If you are wearing your cycling shoes see if their pedals are compatible. Check your insurance and bring a big machete to keep the alligators at bay :)

+1 to the above suggestions of bringing, as much as possible, all your own contact points and roadside repair equipment. Last time I rented I even brought my own stem just in case I had fit problems (I didn't, but better to have and not need...) It sure would suck to get a mechanical 2 hours from base in a far-off land, only to find the multi-tool they supplied you with lacks a chain-breaker/torx/10mm allen/whatever.

I've done many rentals in cities for day rides - 90% good experiences just using the bike without bringing anything. That 1 time out of 10 is usually a slow leak in a tire that they didn't noticed when the last person checked the bike in. So, I always ask them to check tire pressure even for those short rentals.

I did the Seattle to Portland 2 day ride a few years ago and rented an aluminum Fuji road bike (my road bike at home is a carbon Trek Domane.) I brought my seat and shoes and Wahoo Elemnt, it came with SPD SL pedals. I had my bottom bracket to seat and seat to bars measurements with me and adjusted to match. I really couldn't tell that much difference in the feel of carbon vs. aluminum. That bike rental worked out great - the bike was even delivered to my hotel by a guy riding a bike pulling a trailer with my bike on it!