Hello!
I'm from Russia and I'm in Sydney now.
I travel the world, usually by my own motorcycle - but I could not bring it to Australia with me. :-(
So I'm looking for any cheap motorcycle for hire (for 2-4 weeks, depends on price) from Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne.
If somebody can rent, or lend, or maybe sell his motorcycle after his trip - I'd be grateful for any suggestions.
Thanks. :-)

Sounds like a dream to me... I would love to do another road trip around Aus for several weeks, but the cost of most rentals or buy-backs is prohibitively high.

After quite a bit of searching, about the cheapest rental I can find on the internet was Garners: Motorbike rental Melbourne and Sydney Australia

You can rent a long-term CB400 out of Sydney or Melbourne for about $100 AUS a day. That starts to really add up after about 4 or 5 weeks...

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

I've looked at a rental business a couple of times and I can never get the financials to work - insurance is the killer at over $1000 a bike per year with $2000 to $5000 excesses for third party damage.
The issue becomes would a renter ante up $5000 to me before I let them ride off into the sunset - I don't think so.
I looked at buybacks and the laws about becoming a "motor vehicle dealer" kick in after 3 sales in a year and it all turns to shite again and the costs go up.
Even "buybacks" where we don't register the change of ownership is a legal minefield with owners now responsible for all fines and accidents - who'd offer a buyback with unlimited liability under those circumstances.
The only option that looks vaguely safe for all parties is a coop where buying a share in the coop entitles usage of a bike as a co owner. But that takes a lot of admin effort with probably not even a living wage for the admin person.

Thanks for that, RogerM. No, I'm sure that there are plenty of reasons why it costs so much more to rent a motorcycle than a car - but when the weather is decent I'd much rather be on a bike!

I've thought of doing some kind of buy-back or buying a cheap used bike, but those have some pitfalls too - I don't think it's worth going that way unless you want a bike for at least 3 or 4 months.

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

Hmmmm. Motorcycle rentals are not so terribly bad--cheaper than the USA, at least, for 4 week rentals out of Melbourne. Kit is reasonably priced too. Lots to think about....

Of course, a car is a third the price. Feh.

Mark

Actually, if anything, rental prices in Aus have fallen in the last 20 years if you factor in inflation.

In September 1996 I rented a BMW F650 for 30 days and rode a loop around the eastern half of Australia. The price was about $800 Aus per week then, but the renter cut me a long-term deal because it was the shoulder season.

I paid $2500 Aus for that month. Assuming the rate of inflation in Australia has been the same as the US, that would be $3900 Aus today! I just checked out that Garner link above, and they are asking $3052 Aus for the equivalent BMW today.

Still, when you factor in the price of a round-trip ticket from North America, daily costs, etc. it ain't cheap to plan a month or more on the road in Aus.

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

Nothing is cheap here,unless you have friends,connections and knowledge.

https://www.bikesales.com.au may help,as buying a bike in Sydney and selling it in Perth or Darwin,no garantees,but it often works.

Keep my fingers crossed.

Cheers Rusty

So just out of curiosity - what about just taking a chance without a buyback promise?

Starting and ending in a big town like Sydney or Melbourne - there's gotta be big shops prepared to pay cash for a bike that's just rolled in? Under market value, of course, but I figure if you can tie up the capital, you're quite likely to lose less on a buy-and-sell after a month's ride than the rental cost...

Convenience and time? I've never run a bike shop, but I imagine that if you get a foreigner riding in on a used bike, and asking you for some quick cash because he/she has a flight to catch in the next week or whatever... I just can't see any shop giving you a decent price.

With a buy-back, at least that's prearranged - if you get the bike back to the shop without a major prang, you'll get some cash back and not have to waste precious vacation time haggling over price. I'd rather spend more time on the road, and not worry about how the heck to sell the bike at the end of the trip.

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

Of course. But how decent a price will you get in a buyback? Here's a place that talks numbers for cars - their buyback is up to 50% of the purchase price, in the best case. That's even for something like an old Ford Falcon wagon, which is done depreciating.

I suppose that depends on how much tolerance you have for haggling. That's a personal thing, sure. But consider, I went on the site linked above in the thread and found a perfectly decent touring bike for AU$3k. Add a few hundred for your own insurance and some basic soft luggage.

Now, your basic tourist visa is probably good for 90 days, so 2,5 months and 20k km later, you roll into a major Sydney bike barn and tell them you'll take AU$1500 cash for it? I bet you'll walk out of there in an hour. Meanwhile, you'd have spent $3k a month on a rental, so worst case scenario - you leave the bike in the airport parking lot and you're still ahead, monetarily.

Hi,
The information in the posts is correct but we are not certain whether price or time is your main driver.

I have bought and sold a vehicle in London (UK) and while the price was ok the time it took to get a reasonable price was not. It is ok if you can to stay longer and your accommodation costs are low otherwise it becomes an asset liquidation.

Some recent experience from when I was in New Zealand - I spent some time with a rider from UK who sought a buy back from several motorcycle dealers in NZ(via email) . He chose a near new bike, told the dealer the distance he thought he would travel and used it for several months. I kept in contact when he went back to UK. The purchase/buy back worked out at just over half the rental cost of a similar bike. No time was spent haggling and he was happy.

A previous time in in NZ I spoke to a number of dealers in Auckland (Takapuna) and got a similar response - ,,"get in touch with us by email, we will tell you the bikes we have, you tell us the mileage you will do + how long you want the bike and we will give you a buy back price. Use our address for your registration and insurance". The consensus was that the cost would be about half the rental cost.

Hope this helps.