Hi, I'm heading to the States for a 3 week West Coast tour with a friend in September and am weighing up various options for wheels. We are experienced riders and were originally going to ship our own bikes out for a longer coast to coast to coast trip but it now it's come down to the shorter tour and the options seem to be that we do a straight hire or a buy and sell back deal. With it only being three weeks common sense tells me that straight hire is simpler but I thought I'd see if anyone has a better idea or can point us towards a good hire company out there.
Thanks for your help.
John

John


I've rented from Eaglerider a couple of times in the last few years. Franchises in plenty of dealers across the States. I rented a BMW from them in Vegas and Miami. Also used Dubbelju in San Francisco last year. No issues with either company.


Regards


Guy

We've been in the States for a couple of months now, have visited a lot of BMW dealers and Eaglerider franchises are in most major cities - can't speak for the price, but they are certainly widespread.

Hey John,
If budget is not an issue then you can certainly rent any bike you want ... for a price. IMHO, they are ALL a bit of a rip-off. NO good hire companies. I have met a few of the owners of the San Francisco rental places. Not my favorite people. For bikes other than HD, try these guys:

Tiger 800

If budget IS a concern, why not put out the word on the HUBB community forums? See if you can find a couple good bikes to rent from HUBB members? I'm sure they could beat the $150/day Average rate of Dubbelju?

What sort of bikes you looking for? Most tourists who come to the USA rent Harley's ... thousands every year. We see them in droves in Death Valley, all in Pirate outfits, eye patches and headed to Vegas!
Hey, it's a free country.

You may be able to arrange a buy back from a local dealer ... It may end up cheaper than renting unless you put a ton of miles on the bike. Dunno. Maybe worth a look? Buy a used bike, a slow mover they can't sell. Make a deal.

Or snag a bike on Craig's list, then consign it to a dealer, they send you money once it sells. You go home. Craig's list is LOADED with bargains. You can save thousands against a 21 day rental going this route. It's more work but could be worth it if on a budget. Set up deal prior to arrival. It's exactly what I did coming into London. Had my bike, all DVLA work done in 3 days after arrival. (lucky)

Dealers:
In San Francisco Bay area I would try Munroe Motors. Talk to Nick, he's a Londoner, one of the owners. Munroe sell Triumph, Ducati, MV Augusta, Norton, Guzzi, Husqvarna. Munroe always have a nice stock of used bikes, wide variety of brands/types, not many touring bikes. Prices are fair.

Also try California BMW/Triumph (Mountain View). Fancier used bikes but good ones ... and they will make a deal. Talk to Carolyn. (a friend ... I bought my 1050 Tiger there)

I know lots more folk in the trade but don't trust them.

Good luck!


http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/mcy/4638527961.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/mcy/4599365105.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/mcy/4612918579.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/mcy/4631058600.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/mcy/4639022042.html

If you want to try a Harley...I know that Oakland Harley Davidson, in Qakland, Ca. has a rental Dept. Not sure if this is the kind of bike you want.

Try a person-to-person rental deal. Zilok is one such company.

I'm in much the same boat as Tinker John except he's now (presumably) on his trip and ours isn't until next spring/summer. The other difference is that I/we'll need something for six or seven weeks rather than three so renting is not really economically feasible, especially as we're looking at using a GoldWing (it's a post ironic conceptualistic retro tour :confused1: . We set off when I figure out what that means ) and they run about $150 / day.

I suppose there may be some east coast dealers open to a sell and buy back deal but I have a typically Pavlovian response to having anything to do with dealers - once bitten, twice shy is probably the mildest way of putting it. Ziloc seems a little light on peer to peer bike rentals so I guess buying from Craigs List or something like that is probably our best bet - unless you know different. Suggestions, hints, tips etc gratefully received but stuff like "use a Harley / BMW / why the fvck do you want one of those" won't be much help. I may be the one at the controls but my dear other half is the one in the driving seat

Oh, and a p.s. - if pirate outfits and eye patches are de rigeur with Harleys, what's the look of the moment with Wings - zimmer frames, blue rinses, ear trumpets?

My two riding buddies on their Gold Wings ... both bikes fairly new in this pic, taken 4 or 5 years ago. Both these guys wearing Aerostich suit, which in the US is pretty much the BMW uniform, sort of a thinking man's Twat Suit! Just kidding. Aerostich is good stuff, but not ideal for US in Summer.

Both have 3 or 4 other bikes. (GS12, Tenere' 1200, DR650's, Scooter, Triumph Explorer, HD)

My advice would be to look for an older, high mileage Wing that's in good shape. They really do go on forever if cared for. Might be affordable? Dunno.

Buy private party. The trick will be reselling at trips end. Here you need help as you won't be able to wait round until it sells ... unless you give it away.
Don't do that!

You could consign to dealer or find a trusted friend in US to sell it for you and forward the cash once done. I did this exact thing in UK and all was good.

The UK dealers would not even consider my 955i Tiger because it had 25K miles on the clock. Seems to me there's a lot of Speedo fiddling in UK

Craig's list is good but don't forget the MANY Gold Wing Specific forums. Can't help with links but I'm sure they are out there. Find the best one and check classifieds. Like the BMW guys, the Gold Wing guys are not enamored with Craig's List, so the best deals might be on Wing Forums? :confused1:

Other alternative is to STORE your bike in US after your trip ... and come back again when you can afford time/money. Maybe do Mexico/Cent. America next trip?

I'm fortunate that I do have a trusted friend in NJ who I've been travelling with since the 60's and may be coming along with us if our dates fit with his business commitments. We did a big Wing tour (early GL1000 Wings) together back.... hmm, must have been at least one wife ago each. How time flies.

Buying an older good condition Wing is more or less what we'd planned to do. Once we've got the dates sorted out I'll probably just send him a load of dollars (or if the pound does its usual trick, a few dollars) and trust his judgement. After all he'll have to help push if things go wrong.

We'll just reverse the procedure at the end - leave it with him to sell as and when after our return. Leaving it there for future trips is something we've thought about but probably won't make a decision on until somewhere near the end. You never know, if things take their usual turn I might need the money for another divorce settlement

Where to find something suitable is an interesting question. There does seem to be a number of them on ebay but spread all over the country and it's unrealistic to ask John to check out a bike in Nevada or Louisiana or somewhere equally remote from the east coast. Wing forums isn't somewhere I'd thought of and is certainly an avenue worth checking out.

Style (life-style more likely) wise they're not really me and I've had no desire to own a modern one in the UK but if we're going to do this you have to put some effort in. If I was going on my own I'd probably just borrow John's KLR but I can't see my other half spending a month on the back of that. If we're going to have to go the big lardy tourer route then why not go as big and lardy as they come.

Pic from back in the days when I thought these were big -