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Last updated: October 2026
If you're thinking about renting out sports equipment, you don't have to guess what works.
Retailers, ski shops, fitness brands and startups have been testing rental, leasing and subscription models for years, and their choices say a lot about what customers actually want.
At circuly, we study these models closely, partly because several of the companies below run on our platform, and partly because the best lessons usually come from someone else's experiments.
Here are eight sports equipment rental and subscription examples, what each one does differently, and what you can take from them.
The short version: The companies that do this well match the model to how often people use the gear (days, seasons or months), include the services that remove friction (fitting, maintenance, insurance, size swaps), and plan the product's second life from the start. The big retailers rarely stick to one model. They combine rental, subscription and resale.
At a glance
- Decathlon: short-term rental, a monthly variety subscription, long-term e-bike rental and buyback, all from one retailer
- Intersport Rent: a rental network of 800+ shops renting skis in winter and bikes in summer
- REI: rentals and trade-in resale used to bring new people into the outdoors
- Paceheads: try-before-you-buy subscriptions for premium sports equipment
- Eddy's Adventure: short-term outdoor gear rental with weather-friendly cancellation rules
- Junior seasonal leases at ski shops: one price for a season of kids' gear, with size swaps
- Peloton: month-to-month fitness bike rental with a buyout option
- Kids' bike subscriptions: bikes that grow with the child
1. Decathlon: one retailer, four models
What they do: Decathlon, one of the world's largest sporting goods retailers, has tested almost every model in this article:
- Short-term rental in several European countries, including Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Portugal. In the UK, rental launched across all stores in 2023, with bikes, kayaks and paddleboards from £10 a day, 50% off the second day and cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
- A monthly variety subscription in Belgium. After a test with 70 customers, Decathlon offered three tiers: €25 a month for gear worth up to €400, €50 for up to €1,000 and €95 for up to €2,000, swappable any time.
- Long-term e-bike rental in Belgium, powered by circuly. Bikes start at €38 a month on 12, 24 or 36-month terms, with maintenance, damage and theft insurance and roadside assistance included, and no deposit.
- Buyback in all UK stores, where customers trade in gear for store credit. After the European launch, 251,000 products had been bought back and resold.
What stands out: Decathlon measured what rental does to customer relationships. Its short-term rental customers were younger (16% Gen Z), interacted with the brand around seven times a year and spent €315 a year on average, compared with €257 for regular customers. The e-bike rental can be started online or in store, and customers log in with their existing Decathlon account.
The lesson: Rental isn't a side project for Decathlon. It's a way to see customers more often and keep products in its own loop, the core idea of product-as-a-service. And notice what it chose not to do: its e-bike rental doesn't allow buyouts, because the bikes are meant to be rented again.
2. Intersport Rent: rental at network scale
What they do: Intersport Rent describes itself as Europe's largest rental network, with more than 800 shops in 14 countries. It rents skis, snowboards and boots in winter, and bikes and e-bikes in summer, with online booking and pickup at the shop.
What stands out: Rental is the growth engine. In Austria, where Intersport runs around 170 rental locations, rental grew 13% in winter 2023 and was the main sales driver, and 35% of winter sports participants said they plan to rent on site in future.
The lesson: Pair seasons. Skis in winter and bikes in summer keep the same stores, staff and booking system busy all year, instead of paying for a shop that's dead for six months.
3. REI: rental and resale as a front door
What they do: US outdoor co-op REI offers gear rentals and runs Re/Supply, where members trade in used gear and REI resells it.
What stands out: REI's circular commerce team describes resale as a powerful tool to bring new people into the co-op. Used gear sales grew 86% in 2021, far faster than REI's overall sales, and a rented product can later move into the used-gear business. REI also draws a clear line: it inspects every resold item and doesn't resell used climbing gear.
The lesson: Rental and resale are customer acquisition channels, not just sustainability projects. (If you market them, here's how to do it without sounding like a sustainability cliché.) And be honest about which products shouldn't have a second life.
4. Paceheads: try before you buy
What they do: Paceheads, a German startup founded in 2018, rents premium sports equipment on a monthly subscription for up to 12 months. After a three-month minimum term, customers can return the item, keep renting or buy it. Returned items are refurbished and sold at a reduced price.
What stands out: The model targets a specific fear: spending a lot on equipment that turns out to be wrong. As Paceheads puts it, "High-quality sports equipment often comes with high costs. We keep the entry barrier low." Running this flexibility by hand was the problem: before circuly, orders, deliveries and return dates were tracked in spreadsheets. Read the full Paceheads customer story and our case study.
The lesson: A buyout option turns a rental into a sale without ever touching the warehouse. But flexibility only scales if the rules behind it are automated.
5. Eddy's Adventure: rules built for the weather
What they do: Eddy's Adventure is a German outdoor rental company. Customers rent tents, sleeping bags, backpacks and trip bundles for as little as one day, and can buy the gear they've tested.
What stands out: Its cancellation rule. Outdoor plans depend on the weather, so Eddy's Adventure offers a five-day weather cancellation window at the start of a rental. The option appears in the customer portal only when the customer is eligible, so there are no awkward support emails. Buyouts are self-service too, with the remaining price calculated automatically. Read the Eddy's Adventure story.
The lesson: Put your business rules into the system, not into your support inbox. Customer-friendly and firm can live in the same policy.
6. Junior seasonal leases: one price, one season, right size
What they do: Many ski shops and resorts, especially in North America, lease kids' gear for a whole season. At Grand Targhee, a junior package costs $180 to $280 for the 2026–27 season, includes a free hot wax and two half-price tunes, and gear can be swapped during the season to keep the right size. Park City shop Jans takes a trade-in approach instead: families buy a new kids' package at a discount and get 40% credit when they trade it in for the next size.
What stands out: These programmes solve the parents' real problem, which isn't the price of skis. It's buying new skis every year.
The lesson: For kids, the product is the size swap. Price for the season, include the services that matter (waxing, tuning, fitting), and make swapping easy. See our guide to pricing sports equipment rentals.
7. Peloton: month-to-month fitness rental
What they do: Peloton rents its bikes in the US on a month-to-month basis, at launch $89 a month for the Bike and $119 for the Bike+, including the membership, with a one-time setup fee. Renters can return the bike at any time or buy it, for example $895 for the Bike after 12 months.
What stands out: No long commitment, a clear buyout price and the content included. Peloton used rental to reach "value-conscious" customers who wouldn't spend thousands upfront. Read how Peloton built a business around hardware-as-a-service.
The lesson: For home fitness, the biggest risk for customers is that the equipment ends up as a clothes rack. Rental with a published buyout price removes that risk.
8. Kids' bike subscriptions: bikes that grow with the child
What they do: Kids' bike subscriptions let families rent a bike instead of buying a new one every time the child grows, typically with the option to move up to a bigger size. Several of them run on circuly, including Bike Club in Germany, Revolv in Switzerland and Gromstar for kids' mountain bikes.
What stands out: The bike comes back in good condition long before it wears out, which makes it ideal for refurbishing and renting again, tracked through every cycle with asset tracking. Decathlon's survey shows why parents like the model: 48% said their children use their bikes only occasionally or not at all.
The lesson: Products that are outgrown rather than worn out are the best rental products there are. Read more about how bike subscriptions work and leading bike subscription companies.
What these companies have in common
- The model follows usage. Days for holidays, seasons for kids and locals, months for commuting and training.
- Services do the selling. Fitting, waxing, maintenance, insurance and size swaps are what customers pay for. The gear is almost the delivery mechanism.
- Second life is planned from day one (and makes circular models more profitable). Paceheads, REI and Decathlon all resell returned gear, and that resale value is part of the business case.
- Flexibility comes with clear rules. Weather cancellations, minimum terms, early termination fees and buyout prices are defined upfront, and the best businesses automate them.
- Big players combine models. Decathlon and Intersport don't choose between rental and sales. They use each where it fits.
If you're ready to build your own, start with our guide on how to start a sports equipment rental business, compare rental, lease and subscription models, and work out your pricing and unit economics.
Run your sports rental model with circuly
circuly is the subscription management software behind Decathlon Belgium's e-bike rental, Paceheads, Eddy's Adventure, Line Up and many kids' bike subscriptions. It handles booking, recurring billing, asset tracking, returns, swaps and buyouts from one place, connected to your shop and payment provider. See more customer launches or book a demo.
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