Mark

My first trip to Maui is coming up in February '03. does anyone have experience and or reccomendations as to the best tour company to do the Haleakala National Park downhill bike thing?

Any advice and experiences with specific tour operator information is greatly appreciated!

Thanks Fodors Forumettes!

BC

My family and I, are also going to Maui in Feb.. I booked our downhill tour with Maui Downhill. We are doing the 7:00 a.m. hotel pick up. My husband did not want to get up at 2:00 a.m. for the sunrise. We booked our excursions through Activity World 18006247771. They offer different bike tours at discounted prices. With these discounted prices you do not have to go to a time share presentation.

Good Luck! Have a fun trip.

Kristin

We skipped the bike ride and drove up; felt like we got to enjoy the scenery more without whizzing down on a bike. JMHO.

Enjoy Maui! If you're looking for some amazing snorkeling, check out La Perouse (sp?). You've got to hike over some lava fields, but unlike Molokini, you'll see more fish than people.

been

Beware of the bike rides. Lots of accidents -- they don't tell you (until you get there) that you must ride no slower than 20mph, so traffic will not be impeded. That's pretty fast when you're trying to stay far enough off the road to avoid getting clipped by a car . . . and you're trying to actually SEE the scenery while not veering off the road . . . NOT RECOMMENDED! Be smart and drive up, see the sunrise, do a hike, take your time. There are people injured all the time on those rides, it's quite dangerous.

scigirl

Just a note on the danger of the bike rides. One of my best friends was injured on this ride. She wobbled and ended up tumbling off the bike and down a VERY steep hill. She had to be rescued by a helicopter. She was quite banged up, fortunatly without broken bones or other internal injuries. However, the brusies and muscle pain put a major damper on the rest of what should have been a really special trip to Maui. I don't know what the incident rate is for injuries, but do use caution if you do this ride.

The drive is nice and allows you to set your own pace. Plus, you can warm up in the car while you wait for sunrise (if you can tear yourself away from stargazing). IMHO the bike rides are extremely expensive and take away from being able to view the scenery and site see at your own pace.

Pay

Your choice is good for the 7 am hotel pick-up. The sunrise ride can be ugly in that there may be 15 sunrise bike groups but the only allow one group to descend every 20 minutes; so, you may have a looooong wait at te freezing top before getting under way. Not many groups opt for the later trip. The ride is a blast; don't let the fraidy cats scare you off. Pay attention to what you're doing and use common sense. I'm 66 and will be doing it again next month.

Russell Farquer

Did the ride several years ago
Think it was Maui Downhill....
Did the sunrise ride...very enjoyable.
Pick up at 3am...go to bike office get equip...coffee,juice, rolls....travel up to summit in vans.
Fairly cold before sunrise....seeing the crater at sunrise....you see the clouds rise out of the crater.
There can be many groups going down the mountain....so the wait can be up to 1 1/2 long, but usually not more than 45 mins.......Yes it can be unsafe, but follow the directions of the tour leader and you will have lots of fun.
About 1/2 way down you stop for breakfast and remove your "slickers"...raingear... and you get down to the bottom about 12-12:20pm.
Take a chance...Columbus did!!!

dan

I'm looking to bike around one of the islands and camp for 3-4 days. Any suggestions for something more than a sunrise ride?

whatsthedifference

We loved the bike ride and we are baby boomer age. I think the company was Maui Bob's. The guide was really a nice guy and we did have perfect weather. The only complaint was that they kept stopping to wait for the group to catch up. The next time we would rent bikes and go on our own.

Bill

Skip the usual downhill bike companies and go with Aloha Bicycle Tours (http://www.mauibike.com/).

All of the other tours start within the national park at the top of the volcano. Aloha will van everyone up to get their fill of the caldera, then drive back down out of the park. Apparently regulations within the park are stricter for downhilling. Translation: the in-park rides force you to suit up in a lame jump-suit and look like an idiot.

Aloha provides excellent bikes, helmets, and plenty of protection. Enjoy some island breakfast snacks, head up the mountain, bike down at your own pace - then bike on to a Protea farm to see the flowers in bloom. Carry on to a local winery where a deli lunch is served.

This was the best thing I did in Maui. Everyone does Haleakala - but this tour takes you beyond that.

There was only one 'tough' hill and during the rest of the ride the group broke into smaller groups - enthusiasts went on a tougher route and those of us in the couch potato group took a more liesurely route.

The views were amazing and the roads were perfect - just enough downhill to get you up the next uphill.

Check this company out before you decide on any other. I can't say enough good things about them!

Dick

We did the sunrise bike tour several years ago and loved it.

A good site for info ( and links to several companies) is:

http://www.bike-maui.com/index.html

boona

Did the downhill biking with Maui Downhill in 3/00. We did the sunrise tour which was worth the getting up at 2am! No problems with biking down the mountain. If you get tired or think you can't make it all the way down just jump the van at any time and ride the rest of the way.