Very friendly and helpful place. Easy process to rent bike - sign a waiver and pay when you return. We rented their regular 24-speed Fuji bikes. The rate was $18 an hour plus an additional $5 dollars for every additional hour and $5 for helmets. They sell water if you need it and have a holder on each bike for a water bottle. We rode first to Whalen and checked out the pie shop and then returned and went back the other way for a while for a total of two hours. A pretty bike trail that is mostly flat. The visitor center is right next-door and has clean restrooms. A very nice experience. read more

Great bike rental place right on the Root River Trail. Mom and I rented two Biria bikes because they looked comfortable and cool. ;) The staff was super friendly and we had the best time on an hour long toodle down the path and back. Would definitely do it again! Seeing all the tubes and kayaks out front of the store made me think it would be super fun to hit the water next summer! read more

Little River General Store - Bikes we rented and took on the Root River Trail - Bikes Near Me - Lanesboro, Minnesota

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This place is classic Lanesboro, in a way that simply makes me laugh. We went canoeing one morning and rented the canoe here. We had no reservation but called right before they opened. A male employee basically said he didn't know anything but his boss should be there when they opened. We came right as they opened at 10, no boss. "Do you want me to call her?" "Yes please, so we know what we need to do." He calls her. "She'll be here at 11, so come back a little before then." So we piddled around town and came back, and he looked at us like he'd never seen us before. Eventually we got all the paperwork done. I asked "do you actually need the driver's license number?" His reply as he took the paperwork away: "I mean, yeah they want it, but I don't care." ‍ A few minutes later his boss arrived, who we followed down to the end point for the 2.5 hr trip. She told us to go down to the bank so we'd know what to look for and "check out the sign. It's a stick with a plastic bag on it." It sure was. We left our car there and she drove us to the starting point, pointed to a canoe, made sure we had paddles and life jackets and left us on our way. It was a silly start but we had an wonderful time on the river. There were very few others on the water, so it was very quiet and peaceful 90% of the time. We saw hawks and eagles fishing/hunting and a bald eagle flew right by us no more than 50 feet away. It was a great way to reconnect with nature for a couple hours. The canoes were nice, relatively clean and had comfortable seats (much better than the metal ones at the state parks). They are stable and slipped easily over the rocky river bottom when we encountered really shallow sections (the water level was really low at the time. We were focused and made the 2.5 he trip in less than 2 hours despite plenty of short breaks from paddling. read more

Lots of bike products, some snacks and general items for camping (did you forget plates/plastic ware?). They also rent bikes. For being a bike shop on a trail we were shocked they didn't know what Chaomis Butter is, but they did stick it! Nice little store in a trail in a small town. read more

Bikes were very nice and felt nearly brand new. Friendly, efficient, right price. Will definitely rent bikes from them again when in Lanesboro for the Root River trail. read more

We cost compared and asked around town and the LRGS definitely is the best place to go for your biking needs. They have really nice new bikes! The rate is the best in town and the staff were very friendly and helpful. They had us on our way in no time! The bikes worked great, no issues, easy to change gears. Very worthwile while you are in Lanesboro. Also, a nice selection of other sporting goods! Thank you LRGS! :) read more

Four of us signed up for an Amish tour to 'learn about the the Amish'. The driver, Holly, was very nice, and did give us some information about the Amish, but for the most part it was a shopping tour. The van pulled up at several of their 'stores' of handmade items. For the cost of the tour, we could have driven our own car to the same places if we had wanted to shop. What would have made it really wonderful would have been the opportunity to talk with the Amish and maybe hear from them about a typical day. Visiting their workshop would have been of much interest to my brother, a finish carpenter. Just saying...it wasn't really as represented. read more

A word of caution to females, if you enter this store without a Y chromosome, no one will listen to you. We wanted to rent bicycles to ride the Root River Trail. I was with my spouse. I am of a certain age, but ride everyday at home and log over 3,000 miles a year. The young male employee at the General Store looked me over and set out a grandma bike with a huge heavy frame, a double kickstand like a motorcycle, and a seat as wide as a Lazy-boy recliner. "Don't you have anything lighter?" I asked. He then proposed a purple bike with a big frame bearing huge welds that looked like it might be from Walmart. The seat was a little narrower. For my spouse, he brought down a Fuji hybrid with sort of weird handlebars. "Can't you give her one of those too?" my spouse pleaded on my behalf. "Something lighter?" But the cocky young male employee replied that there was no difference in the weight of the two bicycles, or if there was, I would not be able to tell the difference. So after signing the "I promise not to sue you if I die" waivers and paying by check for two days' rental, we set off on the trail. About 3 or 4 miles into the ride we realized the tires were severely under-inflated. There are some bike fix-it stations along the trail, but none of the pumps worked. We finally went to a gas station in one of the towns that thankfully had a free air compressor pump and were able to pressurize the tires. So be sure to ask before leaving the store if they will pump the tires for you (but don't expect them to do it if you are a female, as you "won't know the difference"). The derailleur on my bike was damaged and it skipped gears - clunk clunk- clunk. It was also extremely noisy and made a rasping and grating sound in all but two of the gear combinations. Nevertheless, I completed my ride to Rushford and back - 38 miles. I decided that I would like to exchange the bike I had paid to rent for one that was not damaged and noisy so the next morning (Monday) we went to the shop. A sign in the front window said they would open at 3:00. I called the number of a cell phone, presumably the manager, a female who had returned my call when I had previously inquired about rentals. She had invited me to call or text that number "anytime" if I had needs or questions. I will say that this female is very responsive and courteous. She said the store would open at 10:00 (not 3:00) and I certainly could exchange the bike for a different one. "It probably got knocked over and damaged and no one told us," she said. I set off again for the store and this time it was open and a different young male employee was in charge. I told him my story, how the shifting was all screwed up and it was extremely noisy. "Well," he countered, "the noise isn't coming from THERE. I can just fix this one for you." Now my spouse interceded and said, "Can't you just give her a different bike? One more like this?" he asked, meaning a hybrid. The negotiations went on. Young male offered a different purple bike. Finally, he gave my spouse a different Fuji hybrid and I took the one spouse had been riding. This was happening when there was clearly a full rack of hybrids in the store and they supposedly do not take reservations. If you choose to rent from this place and you are female, prepare to be treated differently. read more

Went with a group of 9 friends to LRGS for tubing. No reservations but got there about 945 AM on a Saturday morning in July and were able to get tubes no problem. When you go, go into the store and everyone will sign in and you pay for the tubes which were super reasonable in my opinion for 2 hours (the long trip). They did warn us that their tubes were unfortunately deflating recently (but they removed those tubes and are fixing/replacing them) and to watch out for trees, sharp rocks, etc. We then walked outside to grab the tubes and walk about a 1/4 of a mile to where we started the crick trip. The water was quite icy and we brought string to tie our tubes together including our priority cooler tube (which is extra and can hold a decent side cooler - we put 2 small coolers in it and still had extra room). There were actually some mild rapids that kept us entertained and some trees down that we made sure to avoid. I recommend wearing appropriate creek shoes (not just flip flops) in case you have to stand or walk to help guide the tubes from danger. Also, perhaps finding a solid stick (which was very helpful) as a staff to guide yourself or push off from banks or anywhere you may bet stuck or hit a lull. We did have a deflated tube but thankfully people camping at a campsite on the way had something to patch it with and re-inflate! When we finished the sign is a little hard to see but we got out and only waited maybe 5 mins for the bus to come which times you so you don't have to call. Overall I would recommend it for a group, very peaceful and beautiful! Water may be cold but the sun was warm and it was an adventure. read more

we stopped by the business on tuesday afternoon to inform them we would need 3 e-bikes for wednesday morning. a young boy informed us that they didn't take reservations and we said fine that we would be there at opening time of 10 am. you would assume the owner had hired responsible people to pass the request on and to make sure batteries were charged overnight. we arrived at 10 am and there were no customers there and talked to another young man that informed us he only had 2 bikes charged and it would be an hour before the last one was charged. long story short, we waited 2 hours before giving up and moving on to a hike instead. never going back and will rent bikes in a different town. read more

We wanted to rent a tag-along trailer for one of our bikes. A kid, who works as the mechanic, hooked it up. There were two problems. First, he attached it so tight that it turned my seat. Second, the wheel and pedals on the trailer didn't turn. Thankfully we only got across the street before we noticed these issues. When we returned to the store, the kid didn't know how to fix the issues. Eventually we just left without getting to ride on the trail. They didn't even offer an apology. Poor customer service and product knowledge. read more

Two years in a row now we've had problems renting dual recumbent bike from this group. Last year, the lock wasn't secured and my husband injured his leg and this year the brakes weren't working correctly and we had to bike in first gear, even downhill. Could not even coast. They do not maintain their equipment(AT LEAST NOT THE RECUMBENT BIKES) and provide very poor information on how the equipment works. Would never rent from them again. read more

HORRIBLE experience...would not recommend to anyone! Poor customer service and low quality, unkempt rental equipment. Our experience was renting a tandem recumbent bike. Right off the bat, the first two bikes the young boy (looked to be about 12 yrs old) tried to pick out for us had issues. The first had no working hand breaks, the second had no chain guards. We finally got one that seemed OK. We were surprised that they did not give us a map or any advice on where to ride. We ended up finding our way to the paved bike trail and were happily enjoying our first recumbent bike ride. We wanted to keep our first effort to under an hour, so after 20 minutes we turned around to make the trip back. That's when a loud "POP" happened - One of the front tires burst! Upon inspection we realized that all the tires were completely threadbare. We called the number on the bike's sticker to let them know what happened. The woman seemed to be at a complete loss about what to do. She eventually said someone would be there soon to pick us up. 10 minutes later nobody comes and now it's starting to drizzle. We called again - she said she was unable to reach the driver yet. Another 10 minutes we called again - she said he just pulled up and would be on his way. A gruff young man, early 20's and the young boy showed up about 5 minutes later. Just loaded the bike and told us to get in the back seat of the truck. NO. Apology. Whatsoever. I joked that maybe we should be compensated with free passes to go tubing and his answer: "That ain't never gonna happen." WOW - and then, believe it or not, when we got back to the shop the woman at the counter was estimating the time of the bike ride up until the tire exploded and was going to CHARGE US! We will never go back there and unfortunately the experience with them has made us less likely to ever come back to Lanesboro. read more

Would not recommend using this outfitter for your rental needs. Booked the 2-hour kayak trip for two. We were supposed to meet the driver at 1:45 to follow him down to the river, but he didn't show up until 2. Once he finally did show up, he realized he didn't have the kayaks he needed, so he had to drive back to the outfitter to pick up the kayaks. Overheard the driver saying since we were the last group of the day, finding enough kayaks/canoes is hard. It was apparently overbooked, so he had everyone drive to one location to let half of the group out while the other group had to follow him to park the cars and then ride with him back to the 1st location. We ended up getting in the water about an HOUR LATE! At the end of the trip we discovered I had been riding in about 4 inches of water in my kayak because there was a drain plug missing on the back, so I had been taking in water the whole time! Perhaps this outfitter shouldn't book more rentals than they can supply and should figure out a system of organization to make sure they know how many people they have signed up so as not to overbook tours. Also, staff in the store when we paid were not friendly at all! Definitely would NOT recommend this outfitter and will definitely NOT be going back here! read more

We had a terrible experience with this place. We went canoeing, and the DNR had not removed a dangerous huge tree that had fallen into the water weeks before our trip. Long story short, we got sucked into this tree by the current and we swamped our canoe in deep water. It was a really.scary experience because the water was rushing so fast and we were trying to save everything...oars, life jackets, sandals, etc. Once we finally got back in our canoe, we ran into a couple of guys, and the same thing had just happened to them! What was most disturbing was the guy that dropped us off gave us no direction, thoughts/ advice abt tbe river like "hey, the DNR hasn't taken out a dangerous tree about 1/2 way, so watch for it, etc." Also, when we finally got back to lanesboro, we went to the general store, and the guy seemed unphased by our story, and apathetic about our pleas about how he needed to go back to make sure the other canoers that were safe. Customer service at this place is a zero. We do not recommend it. The other place in town is excellent! We rented bikes from them, and they didn't even charge us for an extra hour. read more