Joel Caine

I have always been connected to France. My mum was born near Brive la Gaillard and every holiday was somewhere in French. At the tender age of 15, I completed a circular ride of about 1500km around the edge of France and coincidently passed through the Dordogne at one point.
Life carried on. I studied engineering at Sheffield Hallam University, but struggled to enjoy working in a factory, so I decided to make a break for it and take the first job that came along in France.
So in 1999, Headwater Holidays sent me to Souillac. I instantly felt at home, decided to stay and bought 10 bikes on a credit card to rent them out … That was the business plan done !!

Scoot forward 18 years and I still enjoy the inevitable challenges of France’s blinkered bureaucracy, I still immensely enjoy the thrill of running my own business in such a beautiful part of the world. All our customers are such wonderful and interesting characters and I love taking the time to chat at every opportunity.

Now living permanently in the Dordogne, I have 18 years of Dordogne cycling to my name and so I am idealy positioned to both advise our customers on routes to suit their wishes AND to know what bikes are best for cycling around the Dordogne. So whether you want to cycle for several days hotel to hotel, ride road bikes until your legs fall off, or just get the most out of your halfday jaunt on a sunny day, I can help you with a direction to set off in, some maps for routes that I have already tried (many times with my daughter), or some route advice on how steep the hills are .. how many cafés for you to quaff at .. and how you can get to see the most chateaux without wearing yourself out ..

A quick note about our rental fleet. You may have noticed on this site that we don’t stock any of those bikes that you can buy from a supermarket for twice the price of a baguette. Those sorts of bikes wouldn’t last more than a week in a rental environment. My intention for Bike Bus was to provide easy access to bikes that make YOU feel amazing and for a reasonable cost. Afterall, a GREAT cycle ride begins with a GREAT bike but you wouldn’t want to pay the earth for just one day out. Our bikes have retail costs ranging from 699 to 2599 euros, and our rental prices range from 5 to 35 euros.
Furthermore, Bike Bus is the only rental company in the Dordogne to have a time-qualified bike mechanic and he makes sure that all our rental fleet is in tip top condition before EVERY rental.

So now, you can be sure that you are riding an excellent, well maintained bike, on routes that are suitable for your individual wishes and a fantastic service to clean up the wobbly moments.