Flying out to Canada on a working holiday :) looking for advice

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Flying out to Canada on a working holiday :) looking for advice
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flag Joe456
Posted: Jun 4, 2018 at 16:53 Quote
Hi guys,

Im very excited to be flying out to Toronto in a week for a year long working holiday in Canada with my girlfriend. I'm looking for advice from both locals and others from the uk that may have have done the same or similar.

We will be moving around a fair bit to begin with (hopefully ending up somewhere with a bike park like whistler if I can persuade the girlfriend lol) so at the moment I'm swaying more toward selling my bike and buying something from the buy sell on here/ new in canada if I can afford it when we settle down for more than a few weeks.

But, if I was to bring my bike with me, does anyone have any experience or advice relating to what its like travelling across country by bus/plane/train and staying in hostels with a bike? Is it likely to be a massive PITA if I do this alongside carrying my travel bags?

With regards to my current bike, it's a 2013 NS soda (on my buy sell page atm if anyone's interested).I absolutely love it and it's in great condition, so if I were to keep it, I would be looking to spend some money on upgrading the rear shock to something like a cane creek DB air to get it set up just right for me... possibly longer travel forks on the front.

This being the case what are part prices out in Canada compared to the UK? (Anyone from the UK with experience) Am I better off waiting til I get there to buy bits? Also are there any NS dealers out there that I can pick up shock/pivot hardware, rear derailleur hangers etc from?

I know I have asked a lot of questions here, but any input would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers, Joe
flag Adamrideshisbike
O+
Posted: Jun 4, 2018 at 18:35 Quote
There are a lot of mountain bikers in and around Toronto, so you'll find a decent amount of used bikes for sale if you are thinking of buying here. Most Ontario bikes are considered lightly ridden compared to something that gets flogged down bike parks in BC. I'd suggest buying in the east in you don't bring your bike.
flag gramboh
O+ FL
Posted: Jun 5, 2018 at 9:47 Quote
Honestly it will be a pain in the ass and/or expensive carting a bike around the country if you don't have a car to do it with. I'd also be worried about safely storing an expensive bike in random hostels across the country. There isn't really any mountain biking worth the effort until you get to the Alberta/BC border so I would just pick up a bike when you get there.

What are your travel plans? Quebec and the maritimes are absolutely worth a visit, but then I would just fly to Calgary or Edmonton and then work your way through AB/BC for the rest of the time.There's not a ton of interesting stuff west of Toronto to Calgary in my opinion.
flag Joe456
Posted: Jun 6, 2018 at 16:37 Quote
Adamrideshisbike wrote:
There are a lot of mountain bikers in and around Toronto, so you'll find a decent amount of used bikes for sale if you are thinking of buying here. Most Ontario bikes are considered lightly ridden compared to something that gets flogged down bike parks in BC. I'd suggest buying in the east in you don't bring your bike.

That's a good point I hadn't considered, thanks for the advice!
flag Joe456
Posted: Jun 6, 2018 at 16:53 Quote
gramboh wrote:
Honestly it will be a pain in the ass and/or expensive carting a bike around the country if you don't have a car to do it with. I'd also be worried about safely storing an expensive bike in random hostels across the country. There isn't really any mountain biking worth the effort until you get to the Alberta/BC border so I would just pick up a bike when you get there.

What are your travel plans? Quebec and the maritimes are absolutely worth a visit, but then I would just fly to Calgary or Edmonton and then work your way through AB/BC for the rest of the time.There's not a ton of interesting stuff west of Toronto to Calgary in my opinion.

Yeh that's kinda what I was thinking, slightly different... but I work as a carpenter and when I did a working holiday in Australia; I took a few of my chisels/other expensive but small hand tools with me. My thinking was that I'd save money by not having to buy them when I got there... But instantly regretted taking them with me when I had to drag them around from place to place while travelling with the constant worry that someone might steal them. As you say there's not much worth riding until Alberta/bc it kinda sounds like the bike would be uneccessary for much of the trip.

We had considered getting an RV to drive cross country from Toronto, but flying to Calgary then driving from there looks the better option in that case...

We've not made any solid plans as such with travelling yet; as we wanted to just take it as I comes with an open mind, staying for a while at places we like. Quebec is definitely on the to do list though along with Vancouver, maritimes also look good, when would you say the best time is to visit these?
flag Adamrideshisbike
O+
Posted: Jun 6, 2018 at 18:44 Quote
If you don't mind a long drive or have the time, you might find the drive from Ontario to Calgary worthwhile.

The best time to be a tourist in Canada is spring, summer and fall. I'd suggest finding a town in BC for the winter and getting the ski gear out.
flag gramboh
O+ FL
Posted: Jun 8, 2018 at 9:54 Quote
Joe456 wrote:
gramboh wrote:
Honestly it will be a pain in the ass and/or expensive carting a bike around the country if you don't have a car to do it with. I'd also be worried about safely storing an expensive bike in random hostels across the country. There isn't really any mountain biking worth the effort until you get to the Alberta/BC border so I would just pick up a bike when you get there.

What are your travel plans? Quebec and the maritimes are absolutely worth a visit, but then I would just fly to Calgary or Edmonton and then work your way through AB/BC for the rest of the time.There's not a ton of interesting stuff west of Toronto to Calgary in my opinion.

Yeh that's kinda what I was thinking, slightly different... but I work as a carpenter and when I did a working holiday in Australia; I took a few of my chisels/other expensive but small hand tools with me. My thinking was that I'd save money by not having to buy them when I got there... But instantly regretted taking them with me when I had to drag them around from place to place while travelling with the constant worry that someone might steal them. As you say there's not much worth riding until Alberta/bc it kinda sounds like the bike would be uneccessary for much of the trip.

We had considered getting an RV to drive cross country from Toronto, but flying to Calgary then driving from there looks the better option in that case...

We've not made any solid plans as such with travelling yet; as we wanted to just take it as I comes with an open mind, staying for a while at places we like. Quebec is definitely on the to do list though along with Vancouver, maritimes also look good, when would you say the best time is to visit these?

Is mountain biking the main point of the time here? If so I would get out to BC immediately and start riding. You can ride pretty much year-round on the coast/Vancouver Island but it typically starts raining heavily in mid October and will snow down to sea level now and then. The best time to visit Quebec/Maritimes is also in the summer, so it depends what you value more I guess. You could always take a trip out that way next spring before you go home... or head to Quebec/Maritimes right after you land then fly to Calgary and drive through BC biking the rest of the summer/fall. Ski all winter and bike all spring. If you don't ski/snowboard and want to bike all year then I would suggest Vancouver Island or the Sunshine Coast.
flag Joe456
Posted: Jun 8, 2018 at 17:13 Quote
Adamrideshisbike wrote:
If you don't mind a long drive or have the time, you might find the drive from Ontario to Calgary worthwhile.

The best time to be a tourist in Canada is spring, summer and fall. I'd suggest finding a town in BC for the winter and getting the ski gear out.

Yeh that's what I'm thinking, not too experienced with skiing but will have plenty of time to get into it over the winter! Where would you rate as the best ski resorts? Does winter there tend to be gloomy and grey like in the UK? (Obviously much colder!)
flag Joe456
Posted: Jun 8, 2018 at 17:28 Quote
gramboh wrote:
Joe456 wrote:
gramboh wrote:
Honestly it will be a pain in the ass and/or expensive carting a bike around the country if you don't have a car to do it with. I'd also be worried about safely storing an expensive bike in random hostels across the country. There isn't really any mountain biking worth the effort until you get to the Alberta/BC border so I would just pick up a bike when you get there.

What are your travel plans? Quebec and the maritimes are absolutely worth a visit, but then I would just fly to Calgary or Edmonton and then work your way through AB/BC for the rest of the time.There's not a ton of interesting stuff west of Toronto to Calgary in my opinion.

Yeh that's kinda what I was thinking, slightly different... but I work as a carpenter and when I did a working holiday in Australia; I took a few of my chisels/other expensive but small hand tools with me. My thinking was that I'd save money by not having to buy them when I got there... But instantly regretted taking them with me when I had to drag them around from place to place while travelling with the constant worry that someone might steal them. As you say there's not much worth riding until Alberta/bc it kinda sounds like the bike would be uneccessary for much of the trip.

We had considered getting an RV to drive cross country from Toronto, but flying to Calgary then driving from there looks the better option in that case...

We've not made any solid plans as such with travelling yet; as we wanted to just take it as I comes with an open mind, staying for a while at places we like. Quebec is definitely on the to do list though along with Vancouver, maritimes also look good, when would you say the best time is to visit these?

Is mountain biking the main point of the time here? If so I would get out to BC immediately and start riding. You can ride pretty much year-round on the coast/Vancouver Island but it typically starts raining heavily in mid October and will snow down to sea level now and then. The best time to visit Quebec/Maritimes is also in the summer, so it depends what you value more I guess. You could always take a trip out that way next spring before you go home... or head to Quebec/Maritimes right after you land then fly to Calgary and drive through BC biking the rest of the summer/fall. Ski all winter and bike all spring. If you don't ski/snowboard and want to bike all year then I would suggest Vancouver Island or the Sunshine Coast.


Umm if I was travelling alone it would be a case of visiting the big cities/ tourist attractions for a month and then taking the bike and heading for the hills for as long as possible haha!

However as I'm travelling with the girlfriend and she doesn't ride, then it won't be fair to spend the majority of our time with me on the bike and her in the hotel... so will be trying to balance the riding with other activities, she's booked crankworx for my birthday though so will definitely be in whistler by august :-D

Doing the maritimes first sounds like a good idea, is Vancouver island fairly cold year round though? I did a quick Google on the average temperature there, and the site showed an average temperature never getting much over 15 Deg through the year?
flag Adamrideshisbike
O+
Posted: Jun 11, 2018 at 17:25 Quote
Joe456 wrote:
Adamrideshisbike wrote:
If you don't mind a long drive or have the time, you might find the drive from Ontario to Calgary worthwhile.

The best time to be a tourist in Canada is spring, summer and fall. I'd suggest finding a town in BC for the winter and getting the ski gear out.

Yeh that's what I'm thinking, not too experienced with skiing but will have plenty of time to get into it over the winter! Where would you rate as the best ski resorts? Does winter there tend to be gloomy and grey like in the UK? (Obviously much colder!)

There are lots of great ski resorts in BC. My preference would be a smaller, interior BC town, as opposed Whistler or Big White. Don't go to Banff. It's full of tourists, freezing and gets less snow.

I'd go to Revelstoke, Fernie, Rossland, but there are tons of other places I don't know.
flag gramboh
O+ FL
Posted: Jun 12, 2018 at 9:35 Quote
Joe456 wrote:
Umm if I was travelling alone it would be a case of visiting the big cities/ tourist attractions for a month and then taking the bike and heading for the hills for as long as possible haha!

However as I'm travelling with the girlfriend and she doesn't ride, then it won't be fair to spend the majority of our time with me on the bike and her in the hotel... so will be trying to balance the riding with other activities, she's booked crankworx for my birthday though so will definitely be in whistler by august :-D

Doing the maritimes first sounds like a good idea, is Vancouver island fairly cold year round though? I did a quick Google on the average temperature there, and the site showed an average temperature never getting much over 15 Deg through the year?

Makes sense re: the girl. The good news is there is lots of non-mtb stuff to do in a lot of the places with good riding so she won't have to sit around waiting for you. I'll leave it to you to research that aspect.

Vancouver Island is a typical coastal climate, it's not cold year-round and temperature does vary by area as it's a pretty big island. It definitely gets up into the mid 30's during heat waves in the summer. It's typically a few degrees cooler than slightly inland areas like Whistler/Pemberton and the Fraser Valley. Interior BC is definitely hotter/drier in the summer. It does snow down to sea level on the coast/Vancouver Island but most winters the snow doesn't stick around long and you can ride year-round other than a month or so (but it does get very wet, which you are probably used to from the UK).

For skiing, there's been some good suggestions. Nelson, Fernie, Revelstoke, Rossland, Golden are all good places and of course Whistler but it's $$. It really depends if are willing to go all-in on winter (snow/cold) or want a balance in which case you should be looking at coastal BC/Vancouver Island for the winter.
flag terribleone1982
O+
Posted: Jun 13, 2018 at 1:08 Quote
Just commenting to follow this as my girlfriend and I are doing a similar thing this August for a couple of months. We're only staying in the BC area.

She rides, so we're both looking at taking our bikes and picking Airbnb accommodation that is specifically 'bike-friendly'...quite a few hosts will say they're into mountain biking themselves and we've found they work out cheaper than hostels for a couple.

Looking at going to Whistler for a week and it means blowing our budget! We'll have to scrimp for a couple of weeks to offset the cost...Confused
flag gramboh
O+ FL
Posted: Jun 13, 2018 at 13:38 Quote
terribleone1982 wrote:
Just commenting to follow this as my girlfriend and I are doing a similar thing this August for a couple of months. We're only staying in the BC area.

She rides, so we're both looking at taking our bikes and picking Airbnb accommodation that is specifically 'bike-friendly'...quite a few hosts will say they're into mountain biking themselves and we've found they work out cheaper than hostels for a couple.

Looking at going to Whistler for a week and it means blowing our budget! We'll have to scrimp for a couple of weeks to offset the cost...Confused

Pemberton is close enough (and has legendary riding in it's own right), you might save some money if you stay there and just drive to Whistler to bike.

Sunshine Coast, Cumberland, Rossland, Nelson, Revelstoke are other areas to look at that may not be totally insane for accomodations!
flag terribleone1982
O+
Posted: Jun 14, 2018 at 0:45 Quote
gramboh wrote:
terribleone1982 wrote:
Just commenting to follow this as my girlfriend and I are doing a similar thing this August for a couple of months. We're only staying in the BC area.

She rides, so we're both looking at taking our bikes and picking Airbnb accommodation that is specifically 'bike-friendly'...quite a few hosts will say they're into mountain biking themselves and we've found they work out cheaper than hostels for a couple.

Looking at going to Whistler for a week and it means blowing our budget! We'll have to scrimp for a couple of weeks to offset the cost...Confused

Pemberton is close enough (and has legendary riding in it's own right), you might save some money if you stay there and just drive to Whistler to bike.

Sunshine Coast, Cumberland, Rossland, Nelson, Revelstoke are other areas to look at that may not be totally insane for accomodations!

Thanks for the recommendations, some of those are on our list of places we'd like to see. One of the biggest costs appears to be car rental which surprised me; over here you can rent a small van for under £100/wk but I'm struggling to find anything cheaper than $100/day for a tiny car over in BC! Eek

Sorry @Joe456, hoping this is all relevant to your original post and not thread hijacking tup
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