I dunno...I don't consider sucking down diesel fumes and waiting for a break in the endless stream of oncoming traffic to pass the 257th bus of the day to being challenged on the bike. But that's just me. It sounds like you just did some day trips, if so your experience was probably different.

Fair comment. I was just saying that the experience I had was generally positive and the negative aspects didn't put me off. I spent 3 months there and I rode bikes, drove a tuk tuk, walked, hitched, narrowly avoided two suicide bombings, fell for someone and met some beautiful people along the way.

Well, quite the adventure, sounds fun! I had some really cool moments, but overall I've ridden in better places. In any event, if anyone wants to go there, I wanted to pass on my positive experience with Hanees at Yellow Fleet.

I rented in Negombo, just walked into a shop, was $15US a day. When i got out and spoke to other place i found out it should have been about $10, Negombo is a tourist trap so everything is more expensive.
sim card is only 100ruppe

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Mr.Motoreiter is wring this forum about my business. what i have to tel the people who reading this forum is : This guy is trying to get his revenge from me. He booked the bike with me, But i had to cancel it due to past booking from Russian bike tour organizer. I offered him Road bike, But he refused. He wants only Off road bike. then i said sorry.
But i didn't cancel his reservation at last the moment. As i remember, it was about 2-3 weeks early notice. So he had enough time to find another company. Instead of finding another company he was complaining me, Complaining friends who recommends me, Writing to all blogs & asking people to avoid hire bikes from me. Looks like this guy pretend to be an international lawyer

Motoreiter NEVER pretended that. He cannot pretend it, because it is true!

He NEVER stated that, even though it is true.

It was I that stated it, because it is true!

BUT

If anyone reads the posts again, they will see he was not going to waste his time bothering telling you, or anyone, what is his profession.

He very generously (in my view) preferred to only report to HU readers who might be interested exactly what happened and that you broke the booking. He then wanted to just 'move on'.


There is nothing revengeful otherwise he would possibly be taking other more positive action.

Your response, repeated below, helps HU readers be aware that dealing with you is not certain as you will happily cancel existing bookings to get your hands on bigger money of Russians - exactly as you admitted!

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Thanks for confirming what I've already said: I booked with you, and then later you cancelled because you wanted to rent the bikes to someone else. And I didn't want a road bike because I am too tall to ride a 150cc road bike comfortably, and it is not the bike I reserved.

As to my profession, I don't think it is any of your concern. I did, however, want to warn other travellers that they should not rely on any reservation that they might make with you. I've always found that life is much simpler if I just do what I tell people I am going to do, I encourage you to try it sometime.

Does anyone have any contact details for Yellow Fleet? Google struggles to find anything.

sent you a PM with Yellow Fleet's e-mail. The guy's name is Hanees.

Thanks for the quick reply motoreiter, hopefully it will be a great trip. Looking forward to it.

Chaps,

Just got back from a couple of weeks in Sri Lanka and thought I would give you my two cents - I hired an XT600 from Suranga at Sha Lanka Tours, $30 a day, $25 for delivery to my hostel in Kandy from Negombo (paid in full, in cash, on delivery, with my passport as deposit).

I have to say, the whole experience was good. The bike ran well, started first time every time. One indicator bulb was blown, and the brake light didn't function from the brake lever (worked fine from the pedal) but it was agreed that I could fix that and he would reimburse me for the cost. In the end, fixing it seemed like too much hassle, so I left it.

The speedo cable snapped, again I didn't fix it, but there were no questions, no arguments, simply a "yes, don't worry about it, these things happen".

I added a few scratches to the bike and voluntarily gave him a bit of cash towards that.

Really a pretty good experience. The bike needs a little work (and it needs its forks straightened properly - someone clearly had a massive crash on it at some point in the past) but nothing that actually diminished the enjoyment of taking my girl around the country on a motorcycle. Good times.

Happy to give more info if anyone wants it!

Well have just returned from 3 weeks travelling around Sri Lanka, great country with terrific people and even better food.
Found the riding to be a good mix although city riding is a bit bothersome. Best bit of advice I can give is keep your eye open for bus's, be it from the front, back or side they are all out to get you (so it appears).

We initially hired 5 bikes from Yellow Fleet, by the end of the trip that had escalated to 8. Out of the 8 we had only one caused no issues.
So where to start?

Honda XR250 - no issues

Suzuki XC250 Djebel - clutch cable, purchased a new one in a little town, cost fitted was 500 rupees ($4). On return Hanees didnt think he need to pay for it as it is normal wear and tear and that it should have cost only 100 rupees. After much arguing he reluctantly agreed to pay for it.

Yamaha Raid - failed to start after the second day, resulting in push start, returned mid trip to Negombo and swapped out for an Djebel.

Honda XL250 Degree - Charging system failed and required new battery to get back to Negombo mid trip. Hannees at Yellow Fleets only concern was where was the old battery which we left behind, then bitched that we put in an inferior battery. We left him with the bike to repair to pick up the following morning. Said that it had all been fixed. Returned the bike within half an hour with the same issue. Swapped for a DR250.

Suzuki DR 250 (#1) - Pick up the bike and had issues starting the bike. 'No problem' stated Hanees 'just wiggle the handle bars until it starts'. No entirely happy with it, rode off for the bike to blow a main fuse 2 km down the road. Swapped for a second DR 250.

Suzuki DR 250 #2 - This was the eventual replacement for the XL250 Degree, not an ideal bike as it had to be ridden by a 5' 2" lady (the XL250 was a great size). picked up the second bike, rode down the road about 1 km turned around and returned to the shop. Chain was way overtight. Loosened chain only to find that it had 2 seized links, quick bit of engine oil and Hanees reckoned it would be fine. Dont know how but 1000 km later the links were still seized, made for uncomfortable lumpy riding. Didnt think it would last.

Yamaha Serrow - This we nicknamed the 'Exxon Valdez' due to the HUGE amounts of oil it would leave behind wherever we stopped. On returning this to the shop Hannees said that we had put too much oil on the chain and there were no issues with it. Continued with it for the remainder of the trip. Sorry Sri Lanka for the oil trailed left across the country.

The issues we had with the bikes meant we had to return to Negombo mid trip to replace/repair the bikes. This meant a loss of a day on the bikes. We requested a days rental returned and this was reluctantly agreed to by Hanees. Returning the bikes at the end of the trip this story changed to 'No No I said you can have the bikes for an extra day free'. No really helpful when they were being returned the day before we flew out of country.
The return to Negombo meant a loss of 2 days on the road and and much changed and long planned itinerary, Hanees could not have cared less. We found him in the end to be highly mistrustful and by far the worst person we dealt with in Sri Lanka.

In the end we found out the bikes were not his and had been borrowed/lent/rehired from different people around the town. Level of basic maintenance was deplorably low and we no way felt confident to take the vehicles off road. Yellow Fleets mechanical/electrical skills are beyond anything more than the most basic of requirements, after all how can you possibly fault find a charging issue if you dont possess a meter or test light.

Yellow Fleet also does not have Paypal so the initial deposit was via bank transfer which ended up being a task requiring two visits to the bank. Hanees required payment in full for all bikes and an additional 20 000 rupee deposit that was not mentioned at any time. This resulted in a trip to the ATM to withdraw 140 000 rupees over 3 transactions. This I will at least take the blame for for not inquiring about payment (credit card facilities, what was I thinking????).

Overall riding in SL was a unforgettable experience, it is a great country with fantastic helpful people who quite often want nothing more than to meet and talk to you. You need to be on your toes but it was definitely rewarding.

Would I recommend Yellow Fleet, no way. There are quite a few places to hire in Negombo so do you homework. We didnt expect a clear run but to have 6 of 8 bikes have issues Yellow Fleet you are definitely doing something wrong.

Hello everybody!
sorry my post might be a bit off topic....

We've been in Sri Lanka since january with our Italian registered Transalp 600.
We obviously love the place, the people, the food and expecially love the roads and the landscapes! So much fun to get lost in the paddyfields and the middle of huge tea plantations... a bit too hot on the sea side though...

Anyway....
since one month ago the law has been changed and big bikes (1000cc) are now legal in Sri Lanka!

Colombo City Life: 1000 cc ‘big bikes’ on public roads despite police warning

Hope to see many more riders on the island from now on!

Enjoy
Agata

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