bike tours in Paris?

Friends have taken the "Fat Tire"(?) bike tour in Paris and were very pleased.

There is an American expat who goes by French Mystique who does bike tours in the French countryside. He shapes the trip to wishes of the people who book and is great at locating little towns and villages off the beaten track where tourists are less likely to tread. http://www.frenchmystiquetours.com

Lots of people do Fat Bike tours in Paris and they also have one to Monet's Garden at Giverny which involves biking from Vernon to the gardens and also assembling a picnic and having that along the river.

We did the Fat Tire bike tours in Paris....had so much fun. My husband, myself, and my adult son visiting from China.....we all loved it. We had ages 9 to whatever ?? with us, and everyone enjoyed it. We did it at night, and it was wonderful.

We did the Fat Tire tour 2 years back. Anyone can do the tour; Paris is pretty flat, and the bikes have big soft tires.

That said, your enjoyment depends a lot on the guide you get IMHO. We went to the Eiffel tower meetup and there was a guide there named Johnny who was a riot! Tons of personality! Back at the office they split us up into 2 groups and we got a guide that was very outgoing but somehow it seemed forced and not genuine. Nor did she really give a lot of history as we cycled around, although she did have some good anecdotes when we were in front of Les Invalides.

Let me add that the "4 hour tour", in our experience, is really perhaps 2 to 2.5 hours of biking around. The way it worked our day is they had 2 guides at the Eiffel tower and as soon as they got the 1st group of 20 they went over to the office. The 2nd guide waited with everyone else until 11:15, although they have more guides back at the office to get back down to the 20-or-under group size. The guide gave us a Eiffel tower story while we waited. So in one sense that's part of the tour, the history lesson, but in another way its not biking around Paris.

My advice is to get there 10-15 minutes early so you're part of the 1st 20 and head right out. I looked at my watch and by the time we walked to the office, paid for the bikes, got a bike assigned and seat adjusted, etc. and we were ready to actually head out it was noon. And there is a scheduled stop for lunch that takes another 30-40 minutes. To sum up, I was a bit underwhelmed by it and would not do it again if it was with the guide we had. However a different guide may be better; I suspect we would have had a better time with Johnny.

Also don't forget to bring your RS guidebook for a discount.

Another recommendation for Fat Tire tours. Been on three (yes, 3 different trips); Giverny, Paris by Night and Versailles. Enjoyed all of them very much. Our adult kids really had fun on their Fat Tire segway tour.

Although we enjoyed the daytime Paris Fat Tire bike tour, I agree with John. there wasn't a whole lot of actual bike riding. That's fine for most people, but if you're an avid biker (I am) it can be a little frustrating if you don't know this ahead of time. And during the actual "ride" we stopped often... at bridges, at monuments, etc and listened to 10-15 min stories, plus lunch (ours was more like an hour). I do often recommend Fat Tire and it is fun but for a more avid rider I think Janet's rec of French Mystique sounds great.

Thanks everyone - all good recommendations. I think the Paris night tour sounds fun. I will check in to that.