Reply to Syracuse Bicycle in Syracuse

Hello, June 21, 2021

I am from Syracuse and still own a home and have family and friends there, I live in central Florida now.

My fiance and I want to rent bikes when we come up to Syracuse near the end of summer/beginning of fall to ride a segment of the Erie Canal Trail. Do you rent bikes and how much is the fee (s)

THankyou and look forward to your reply and advice.

David Weston, 1136 Rue De Dore, Tavares, Fl 32778
email - birddetect@yahoo.com

I was looking for a bike to rent in early May, and was not able to find any in Syracuse or Rochester. There are shops that normally rent, but they all said there is a post-pandemic bike shortage due to supply chain issues, and they were having a hard time getting bikes to sell, much less rent.

That was over a month ago; hopefully the situation has improved by now. Here are the places that I know of, that normally rent bikes between Syracuse and Rochester - try giving them a call:

Syracuse Bicycle 315-446-6816
Mello Velo Bike Shop, Syracuse 315-307-3104
Towpath Bike, Pittsford 585-381-2808
Tryon Bike, Rochester 585-413-4444
Bert's Bikes, Rochester 716-837-4882

And here is a list of all the bike shops I know of along the whole Empire State Trail (Erie Canal plus Albany-NYC and Albany-Canada). The web page has an indicator next to the ones that offer rentals:

https://bikeempirestate.com/bike-shops.aspx

Having said that, the bike shortage did not seem to be an issue further down state or in NYC. I ended up renting a bike from Leisure Ride in Poughkeepsie and riding it to NYC. I had also called a few shops in NYC, who all had rentals available.

Good luck - hopefully the bike shortage and lack of rentals is no longer an issue along the Erie Canalway.

Happy trails!