I wanted to do some bicycle touring to the Angkor Wat temple complex outside Siem Reap, Cambodia, and contacted Hidden Cambodia to make arrangements. They were responsive, and even eager to sell me lots of tours I had not requested. I felt the pressure of the hard sell before I even met the main owner, Paul. When he met me in person, it became clear to me that he did not focus on bicycling tours-- their main business is motorcycles. Fair enough. I decided on a one-day tour; I kept saying I wanted a half-day tour, but he kept resisting and would not actually plan a route for a half-day. In the end, I decided to go with his planned route and see what happened.
The next day a great guide, Yoursuun, met me with two bikes. Both bikes were in terrible shape. Mine in particular had a broken rear derailleur cable (no shifting on the back was possible), it was filthy dirty (even the frame had lots of caked mud on it), and there was a bike bottle in the cage that had a little bit of used water in it. Yuck! There were no tools in sight-- no tubes, pump, patch kit, multi-tool for any repairs, nothing. For an 8-hour bike ride in the country, this is a bad idea. To compare, I rode with Bali Trailblazers in Bali, and they had everything-- clean, well-maintained bikes, tools, mechanical knowledge, snacks, water-- everything one would need for an all-day ride.
We spent the first hour of my tour at a Cambodian bike shop while my bike was repaired. I actually did not mind this, as the guide and I talked a lot about Cambodian history and culture, about which he was very knowledgeable. Finally we got going and had a lovely day. Because the bike saddles were so old and not in good condition, both the guide and I had some major saddle soreness by late in the day (I ride 3--4 times a week and am pretty hardened to this).
When I received email from this company after my trip, I responded, telling Sheila (the other owner) my story about the bad bike condition, and also asked her for some information. No one has responded to me since (it has been about 3 weeks). I consider this pretty unprofessional.
moral of the story: go with your instinct when dealing with tour companies. This one seemed dicey, and it was. The guides they use are wonderful, but their selling tactics and the horrendous quality of their bikes suggests that one should avoid them.
