Central Park Bike Rental
 

We want to bicycle around Central Park. Which bicycle rental shop is closest to New York HIlton? Bicycle Rentals at Loeb Boathouse, Hub Station, Larry and Jeff's Bicycles Plus, Pedal Pusher or Toga Bike Shop?

Are you familiar with google maps? It's a great tool for planning your trip.

Loeb Boathouse is IN the park -
http://www.centralpark.com/pages/spo...le-riding.html

NO...tell me in a nutshell how google maps work...please

Go to www.google.com
enter the name of a business or address and then "search"
if the search does not show the map, click "maps" at the top of the page

you can "search nearby" for places...like Hilton
you can "get directions" to another place...like the name of the other bike shop - and see where they are in relation to each other and Central park

I think the closest to the Hilton will be the companies at Columbus Circle. There are several located there and the bikes mostly look like they are in good shape. You can negotiate a price depending on how long you want the bikes.

Walking from the Hilton, walk up 6th Ave to 59th Street and Central Park West and turn left to Columbus Circle.

Have a great time.

Seriously, you are better off walking in the Park. You can't take the bike off of paved roads and eventually it will become a nuisance to you.

If you want to bike aournd the park you shuold go to the Central ParkConservancy website to get adetailed map. Please be aware tha you CANNOT (unless a small child on a trike) bike on the pedestrian paths - but have to stick to the bike lanes on the roads. Biking is fun - butto see the most of the park you need to be on foot.

There is a Central Park Bike Rental ( http://www.centralpark-newyorkcity.com/bicycle-rentals/ ) company located 1 and a half blocks to Columbus Circle of Central Park, NYC. I have rented my bikes from them and it was decent. They have bike rental Central Park discounts up to 30%, when ordering online. You can check it out.

So just like there are illegal short term apts for rent, there are also illegal (unlicensed) bike rentals-many found near Central Park.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...al-operations/

I took a tour from the bike shop riseandrise mentions. They are housed at a triathlon shop.

That's why I asked if you are familiar with google maps. The first place on your list is VERY far away and I wondered if you knew where places are in NYC. Playing around with a map is a good way to get idea of where things are - and the distances.

You asked where to rent close to your hotel. I wouldn't focus on that. How are you going to get the bike from the hotel to the park? Walking the bike from the store location 1.5 blocks away was "interesting". I wonder if you have an idea of how bustling the traffic is...and if you really want to take the bike from the Hilton (I assume you mean the one on 6th) and deal with NYC traffic for several blocks.

That's why, the next time I rent a bike for the park, it will be from Loeb's boathouse IN the park. The link I provided above is from the Central Park website (and is obviously an authorized rental location).

Enjoy your trip!

Me and my family live in midtown west and always rent bikes from Bike Rental Central Park. They are located at 348 W 57 ST and their website is http://www.bikerentalcentralpark.com one can book online save a lot. The place riseandrise is talking about is absolute crap. Their location is at the same block where bike rental central park is so one must not get confused and go to the right one. We rented their bikes once and all the 4 bikes we had felt old and we could say they were not maintained. Somewhere in the middle of the park one of the bikes broke down. Ever since when we decide to go for a ride in the park we go to 348 W 57 ST.

I myself like renting from http://www.bikerentalsnyc.com/
They located on 6ave and 58 street, just one block from Central Park. i am too lazy to buy bike for my self)
So i am giving them some business. Nice bikes and friendly guys - fun to deal with. Recently my friends visitng from Chicago were on Central Park bike tour - they liked it too much)
I guess there are a lot of other places to hire bike - you can try them as well...

Agree it's better to rent bikes IN the Park. Unless you are used to riding in VERY heavy traffic getting the bike TO the Park isn;t fun. I ride to the Park - but it's only one block on a residential side treet. But to do so along or across major avenues, fighting cabs and buses is IMHO way too scary. (And no - adults CANNOT ride bikes on the sidewalk, it's a big fine - even if there were room, which there isn't.)

We can personally recommend http://www.centralparktours.net
The guys there were nice and the bikes were great. We received a discount by booking online. However, there are other companies available, we just rented from that particular one and I can say that it's totally worth it!