Desperately seeking rental motorbike in Algeria
 

Hi Chris Scott, michiel4321, gvdaa, et al,

I want to fly-ride in April for 10 days to Algeria but I cannot (after much googling) find someone who rents motorcycles or even scooters. (I may bring my teenage son as a pillion.)

(BTW I've ridden all the other countries in North Africa and on most continents, and rented many times, and am a big fan of the Morocco Overland book!)

Can anyone recommend (publicly or privately) someone who could set me up with any motorbike of any size? (Ideally a samall dual-sport or Transalp or something affordable and old, but a scooter would suffice at a pinch, and I'm not desperate enough to pay GS1200 rates.)

Regards from cloudy Ireland, Ruairi

As said before: as an international tourist destination Algeria is not like other countries.
It has barely moved forward in all the decades I've been going there and is more out on a limb than Iran (I suspect).

Libya? I'd be surprised, unless it was informal.

Afaik, a fly-ride scene does not exist. You may find websites claiming to rent self-drive 4x4s to foreigners, for example.
We tried recently. As expected, no reply.

Apart from cops, I have never seen anything bigger than a clapped out Moby or a Chinese 125 short-range runabout, though I suppose like many such places (eg: Morocco), locals with connections or loads of money can import anything they like (usually just the north).

Of course you might strike an informal deal for a local's 125 which will last as long as it takes you to reach the first checkpoint. Unless your foreignness is not obvious I imagine you and the owner are in trouble, unless you have some compelling fake ID.

The global supremacy of tourism and catering to their demands has barely touched Algeria.
It can be frustrating but in some ways that's also a good thing.

Thanks for the Algeria advice re renting
 

Thanks Chris!
Yes your appraisal of Algeria is what attracts me. But it seems like taking my own bike is the only option for now, and it is a long ride from Dublin to southern Spain.

Yes I didn't rent in Libya: I was turned away from the border in 1994 en route to Sydney.
Later, in 1998, I rode right around the mediterranean in 1998 it was on a GS100 with hand-made panniers. (I seem to recall that I contacted you then and you kindly introduced me to Mustapha Shibani who kindly got me a fax for Libya. Thanks again!)

I've rented in Marrakech too but from the wrong agency, and I've bought, begged borrowed (but not stolen) in Southern Africa and Central America.

So unless something comes up, it looks like I won't be able to go to Algeria solo for now!