Discussion
We did two weeks and 3000 miles around Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Death Valley, SF, down the PCH to LA then back to Vegas on a HD Electra Glide in July.
We avoided Harley rentals as they wanted THOUSANDS of dollars, likewise with Eagle Riders.
In the end I found an small indy rental place just off the Strip in Vegas (doesn't help you, I know) but they charged around a third of what some of the national chains wanted. Get on line and do some searching. To give you an idea we got unlimited mileage, no geographical limits on a year old Electra Glide for $900 for two full weeks (collect Sunday, return Saturday).
Granted, Eagle Riders have a support van for all your luggage, (but as a biker packing light shouldn't be a problem) and carry spare bikes on tour. Had we had any issues Scott and Todd were at the end of the phone, and only advised that it might take a little longer to reach us depending on where we were but nothing was more than 24hrs from Vegas. I wasn't worried by that since, as we were free wheeling anyway, no matter where we ended up stopping would've been somewhere new to us and we were on a very flexible schedule.
Jap and German bikes, although popular in the US, are more expensive to rent across the board, top end BMW tourers especially. Why are you trying to avoid the home grown stuff? Although I'd never have one in the UK a Harley is perfect for long, straight, deserted Americwn highways, plus there'll be more local knowledge if you have any snags as every town will have a few Harley owners. Not so with Hondas and BMWs.
And forget any ideas of high speed Euro-style hoons. Cruising is where it's at in the USA.
PM me if you want to chat more. Too much to type.
We avoided Harley rentals as they wanted THOUSANDS of dollars, likewise with Eagle Riders.
In the end I found an small indy rental place just off the Strip in Vegas (doesn't help you, I know) but they charged around a third of what some of the national chains wanted. Get on line and do some searching. To give you an idea we got unlimited mileage, no geographical limits on a year old Electra Glide for $900 for two full weeks (collect Sunday, return Saturday).
Granted, Eagle Riders have a support van for all your luggage, (but as a biker packing light shouldn't be a problem) and carry spare bikes on tour. Had we had any issues Scott and Todd were at the end of the phone, and only advised that it might take a little longer to reach us depending on where we were but nothing was more than 24hrs from Vegas. I wasn't worried by that since, as we were free wheeling anyway, no matter where we ended up stopping would've been somewhere new to us and we were on a very flexible schedule.
Jap and German bikes, although popular in the US, are more expensive to rent across the board, top end BMW tourers especially. Why are you trying to avoid the home grown stuff? Although I'd never have one in the UK a Harley is perfect for long, straight, deserted Americwn highways, plus there'll be more local knowledge if you have any snags as every town will have a few Harley owners. Not so with Hondas and BMWs.
And forget any ideas of high speed Euro-style hoons. Cruising is where it's at in the USA.
PM me if you want to chat more. Too much to type.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 25th August 16:07
We hired a Harley and a Bandit for a day in Maui from Eagle Rider. The price for one day was reasonable, I thought. Wouldn't wanted to have ridden the Harley for more than a day mind (though it was fun for that one day)
FYI don't call them "Jap" bikes over there, apparently it's offensive. Fell into that trap on an American m'bike forum ...
FYI don't call them "Jap" bikes over there, apparently it's offensive. Fell into that trap on an American m'bike forum ...
Couple of other bits...
It's often suggested that flying your own bike to the States can work....and it can, but I tended to find it had to be for a month or more to make it cost effective, or even longer for the other option of buying a bike out there and selling it on.
For a two week jaunt, renting is the way.
Filtering: not allowed in some States, ditto going helmet-less. We wore ours regardless as the traffic (what little there was) could get "interesting" at times.
It's often suggested that flying your own bike to the States can work....and it can, but I tended to find it had to be for a month or more to make it cost effective, or even longer for the other option of buying a bike out there and selling it on.
For a two week jaunt, renting is the way.
Filtering: not allowed in some States, ditto going helmet-less. We wore ours regardless as the traffic (what little there was) could get "interesting" at times.
Crossflow Kid said:
Couple of other bits...
It's often suggested that flying your own bike to the States can work....and it can, but I tended to find it had to be for a month or more to make it cost effective, or even longer for the other option of buying a bike out there and selling it on.
For a two week jaunt, renting is the way.
Filtering: not allowed in some States, ditto going helmet-less. We wore ours regardless as the traffic (what little there was) could get "interesting" at times.
I have a Dutch friend that does this, the trick is to get a few of you to do it to share the costs of the iso and shipping otherwise it gets expensive. He did give me some numbers at one point and it was surprising how much cheaper it was than renting and the insurance was dead cheap as well. You can imagine how confused the septics get when they spot a load of Dutch plated Harleys hooning around the States. He's out there at the moment in Nevada I think.It's often suggested that flying your own bike to the States can work....and it can, but I tended to find it had to be for a month or more to make it cost effective, or even longer for the other option of buying a bike out there and selling it on.
For a two week jaunt, renting is the way.
Filtering: not allowed in some States, ditto going helmet-less. We wore ours regardless as the traffic (what little there was) could get "interesting" at times.
Osinjak said:
Crossflow Kid said:
Couple of other bits...
It's often suggested that flying your own bike to the States can work....and it can, but I tended to find it had to be for a month or more to make it cost effective, or even longer for the other option of buying a bike out there and selling it on.
For a two week jaunt, renting is the way.
Filtering: not allowed in some States, ditto going helmet-less. We wore ours regardless as the traffic (what little there was) could get "interesting" at times.
I have a Dutch friend that does this, the trick is to get a few of you to do it to share the costs of the iso and shipping otherwise it gets expensive. He did give me some numbers at one point and it was surprising how much cheaper it was than renting and the insurance was dead cheap as well. You can imagine how confused the septics get when they spot a load of Dutch plated Harleys hooning around the States. He's out there at the moment in Nevada I think.It's often suggested that flying your own bike to the States can work....and it can, but I tended to find it had to be for a month or more to make it cost effective, or even longer for the other option of buying a bike out there and selling it on.
For a two week jaunt, renting is the way.
Filtering: not allowed in some States, ditto going helmet-less. We wore ours regardless as the traffic (what little there was) could get "interesting" at times.
The only down side that never goes away is doing without a bike for six weeks whilst it's mid-Atlantic.
Crossflow Kid said:
Fair point. I was talking individually. Get half a dozen of you or more and it does start to make sense.
The only down side that never goes away is doing without a bike for six weeks whilst it's mid-Atlantic.
Yeah, I think there's about 7 or 8 of them over there right now but not sure how many bikes they've taken but at least four obviously. He did say that was the downside, having to ship his bike 4 weeks before the trip but the upside is that him and his wife have a Harley each and when they go to the States they go two up on his so they still have one to arse about on in the Netherlands. Not sure how long he's gone for though but suspect it's probably around three weeks or so.The only down side that never goes away is doing without a bike for six weeks whilst it's mid-Atlantic.
Crossflow Kid said:
I think it's a Don't Mention the War thing.
Never heard of it myself.
Neither had I, till I got Admin'd :-)Never heard of it myself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap
Today it is generally regarded as an ethnic slur among Japanese minority populations in other countries, although English-speaking countries differ in the degree to which they consider the term offensive. In the United States, Japanese Americans have come to find the term controversial or offensive, even when used as an abbreviation
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