Thanks Rick! I'd be okay renting a bike except for the cost --- we'll be biking for something like 5 weeks. Do a couple such trips and I think it could come out cheaper to get a pair of relatively low-end folding bikes and carrying cases, and then do some modest upgrades if they seem warranted. We'll see.

We kind of like the idea of having folding bikes for some closer-to-home situations too. Drive to a weekend retreat somewhere, just toss the bikes in the trunk for local tooling around, that sort of thing.

Using a rented bike overseas while mastering navigation where traffic and laws of the road are far different --- no doubt an issue in some places. We'll be mostly on bike path in Germany and Austria, so pretty benign, comfortable, friendly. In other venues, I completely agree, sometimes it's good especially the first couple of days to have every advantage you can get.