Hawaii

A friend & I are planning to go to Hawaii in March & hope to include Maui in our trip. While there we would like to do the sunrise at the top of Haleakala & then bike down. Which bike companies have you used? any to avoid? any you would suggest? Which parts were the best - other than of course the sunrise(which I have seen before - when I was 15)! a great stop along the way, a great guide or the breakfast (part way down or at the end?)?

Bill

I would highly recommend the Haleakala Bike Co. (check their website) The big plus to this, or similar outfits, is that you are on your own, not part of a group. They take you to the Park in a van, see the sunrise and tour the park, and then have the rest of the day on your own to get back to the shop. They use good quality mountain bikes. The disadvantage is that this type of tour can't run out of the park, so you go back to the entrance to start on the bikes, but there is still 20+ miles of downhill. The alternative type of tour goes down as a single-group on coaster bikes. I'd rather set my own pace.

Barb Kennedy

Hi! We just returned from Maui and I highly recommend Cruiser Phil. I saw two groups up there that I do NOT recommend Mountain Riders and Maui Mountain Cruisers, both in my opinion very unprofessional. One of them the leader she had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth leading her group and the other which was right behind us was trying to get Phils son our leader to leave before the 5 minutes which is a park rule that the tour groups leave at 5 minute intervals. The group leader behind us kept saying go-go but our leader kept to the rules. But as soon as we left the other group was right behind with no room between groups and even passed us taking his group into the uphill lane putting his group at possible danger with a blind curve ahead. I highly recommend Cruiser Phil! First rate and they put your safety first and dont just race down the hill to be rid of you.
Barb

erin

We just returned from Maui (6/1). We used Maui Mountain Cruisers to ride down Haleakala and would not recomend them! The equipment (bikes, helmets and wind gear) was old- my husbands bike even broke during the ride, as did the bikes of two other riders in out group of 11. Maui Downhill looked to be the most professional and the most popular company at the top of the hill.

May

We just came back from Maui last week and we did the biking down Haleakala with "Maui Downhill" ($99 ea). They are great. Especially the staff. They picked us up at the hotel at 3:00am in a van. There were 10 of us from our hotel alone. Our driver "Jason" drove very skillfully and carefully up the narrow curvy roads. We also had a great guide, "Thom". He made stops to places and introduced us to things that other companies did not. We saw sugarcane fields, pineapple fields, etc. He stopped at nice spots to let us take pictures. It also came with breakfast at a resort (the food was a buffet type breakfast and it was ok) He goes at an easy pace. I would recommend them and would do it again myself with Maui Downhill. They have a website, check it out.