What bike would rent well? (for a ride-share)

[bpw]

From Twisted-road FAQ, sounds like your screwed if the renter doesn't bring the bike back, and I really doubt your normal insurance will help either.

"If a motorcycle that you rented through Twisted Road is stolen, please immediately file a police report and cooperate fully with law enforcement, Twisted Road, the motorcycle owner, and any other authorities related to the investigation. If you are the owner, please immediately contact a Twisted Road representative and follow his or her instructions. Owners should be prepared to file a police report if instructed to do so. You will be able to provide law enforcement with the driver’s license of the rider, the plates, and other important information needed to locate and return your bike.

If you are concerned about having your bike stolen while it is being rented, we encourage you to place a GPS tracker on your motorcycle before each rental."

 

[dravnx]

Make sure your bike is not worth more then $15,000.
What happens if your bike is damaged by a third party who does not have any kind of insurance?
Does the Ride Share insurance cover legal fees?
I guess if you have nothing to lose now or in the future, this might work for you. Too much liability for my tastes. Motorcycles are dangerous and the liability exposure is very high.

 

[mrzuzzo]

Seems like a lot of risk for little reward.

What happens if someone dies or kills someone on the bike and their family sues you?

Total nightmare.

Even if they scratch it up, you still have to deal with Twisted Road's insurance. Dealing with insurance is not fun.

 

[flying_hun]

I think the RE 650's are a good idea. In general, I would stay away from too much plastic. The Honda NC might be a good choice too, especially with a DCT.

 

[vizcarmb]

Triumph street triple or Suzuki SV650

 

[Marcoose]

Once I imagined that if I retire in a country/touristy area, I could offer hammocks, towels and chain lube to fellow bikers. I also imagined renting bikes. Two come to mind: the V-Strom 650, and the GSX-R600. Both 10+ years old, stock, touring tyres, soft suspension, etc. They’re bloody popular, cheap, loads of replacement parts, easy maintenance, etc. They’d also be cheap, under $100/day. That’s just me.

 

[norcalkid]

Once I imagined that if I retire in a country/touristy area, I could offer hammocks, towels and chain lube to fellow bikers. I also imagined renting bikes. Two come to mind: the V-Strom 650, and the GSX-R600. Both 10+ years old, stock, touring tyres, soft suspension, etc. They’re bloody popular, cheap, loads of replacement parts, easy maintenance, etc. They’d also be cheap, under $100/day. That’s just me.

Quick look on Twisted wrist showed a 06 DL650 for $75 a day, you'd get $52(70%). Hardly seems worth the trouble of meeting someone, geting the 1M liability coverage, bike maintenance and liability for 50 bucks a day.

 

[russ69]

Harley had an extensive dealer rental program. Operative word HAD. Obviously it wasn't making money.

 

[Marcoose]

Quick look on Twisted wrist showed a 06 DL650 for $75 a day, you'd get $52(70%). Hardly seems worth the trouble of meeting someone, geting the 1M liability coverage, bike maintenance and liability for 50 bucks a day.

Perhaps I have a different take on this. This would be a retirement thing, not a source of income. Pensioners often get behind on physical, mental and social activities. If I owned a couple of older, detuned, twin-looking Wees and maybe a GSX-R600, and had 3-4 rentals a month, that would keep me plenty active, in addition to the old fart blues guitar playing, the pony, the dogs, the reading, the tutoring, the volunteering, etc.

The reason I'd pick the Wee and the GSX-R600 is that they're popular, forgiven, and you can buy cheap Chinese parts all day.

But that's me. You and others have different takes and goals out of this. And I respect that.

 

[mrmarklin]

Harley had an extensive dealer rental program. Operative word HAD. Obviously it wasn't making money.

Not sure it was Harley per se. There still is a rental program that many dealers participate in. I think it's called Eagle Rider.

There is a reason that BMW and Harley dominate the rental market. Reliability, lots of dealers and big buck older riders that can pay the freight for insurance etc.

The insurance alone must be astronomical. If someone dies or becomes a vegetable, all the disclaimers in the world won't save you from lawsuits.:wow

 

[needles]

Just checked it out.
In addition, all owners are covered by for up to $100K in liability insruance. Interested owners can increase this to $300K or $1M for a small fee.

Renter rides bike. Mechanical issue pops up and the renter gets into an accident (be it related to the mechanical issue or not). Rider gets seriously hurt or killed. The next of kin and the rider's insurance company are going to start looking for retrubution.

The only answer here to me is $1m in protection.

Dan

 

[Smash Allen]

i rented a 2017 bmw r1200rt from thursday afternoon through sunday afternoon for $365 all in, through rider's share. they didn't put a large hold on my cc or anything, just charged the card at time of reservation. the guy i rented from was cool. i felt like i was ripping him off, putting 1000 miles on his 3,000 mile bike in three days for so little $$$. i took good care of it by going wfo all the time and blasting the stereo. i wasn't sore at all after riding 10 hours for three days straight, so that was cool. the only problem with that bike is that it lacks about 100hp

 

[usedtobefast]

For me, I certainly don't think I'm going to be making serious $$$$ doing this.

And no way would I rent out my bikes I currently own ... rent my Griso? Haha, no way!

So my thinking is to buy a bike I think would be fun to ride (for me and a renter), and try to make it a zero dollar thing ... own and ride a bike for "free" by renting it out enough to cover all costs.

I'm zeroing in on the Royal Enfield 650. I could see guys wanting to rent one, check it out, see what it is all about. Mellow bike would probably not be rented by the crazies (like an R1M).

I like the KTM 390 idea.

Not sure how often I could rent a V-strom 650, and there are a number of them on those 2 sites already.

A Tuono v4 would be awesome ... but might be more risky due to guys renting them to try them out ... which means "how does it wheelie at 80 mph?".

Another thought is to get the first bike of a hot new popular model. Like get one of the first Yamaha tenere 700 when it comes out. With no demos on Japanese bikes, this might be very popular with guys wanting to check them out.

A touring bike might be a good idea, but I don't really want one. And they take up a ton of garage space.

So I could try the RE 650 ... if it is going well then add a Tenere 700 ... that sounds like a decent plan.

I really like a Multistrada 950 ... but another level $$$$ wise. Basically I would need to rent out the Multi way more often than an RE to hit the break even point.

I liked the Ninja 650 idea, but I can see that would be a low interest rental bike.

I was checking out bikes in the LA area (was down there on a trip) and a guy had a Pikes Peak Ducati 1290 with 1000 miles on it for rent!!! Crazy. I think it was $150 a day.

I think I'll check out the RE 650s on Friday.

 

[hophead]

My guess is that people will want to rent bikes that they couldn't easily afford to try or buy. Which probably means that more expensive and larger-displacement bikes are in demand. I'd be more likely to rent a Yamaha R1, Kawasaki H2, Ducati V4S, or Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 Factory than a cheap readily-available bike like a Ninja 650 or a WeeStrom.

Lots of informative posts, I like this one though because it aligns with what I was thinking....:thumbup

 

[fubar929]

The only answer here to me is $1m in protection.

When Johnny Startup gets his M1, rents your bike the day his license arrives, and immediately flys off a cliff during his first ride through the Santa Cruz mountains do you really think his family is going to be happy with $1M? I've already got $1M in liability coverage and I'd want a whole lot more than that before I'd be willing to rent a motorcycle to anyone...

 

[NoTraffic]

I would get a bike that is somewhat interesting but easy on the wallet for maintenance and replacement parts for driveway drops, low speed crashes.

Africa Twin, Tenere, FZ07, CB300 are types of bikes I would consider where it would be a great backup but also an easy rental to those who are interested in riding these types of bikes.

Used ADV or standards in the Japanese mftr range would be my suggestion.

 

[norcalkid]

It would be nice if you were somehow able to see what's renting and how often on the sites before investing. It's kind of a guess as far as I can tell.

 

[HadesOmega]

Yamaha is actually the easiest to demoride a bike just to let you know.

 

[NoTraffic]

Yamaha is actually the easiest to demoride a bike just to let you know.

Demoride meaning 3 miles of pure senseless stop and go city traffic or 8 hrs of whacking the throttle open?

 

[KooLaid]

Anything from Zero or ebike manufacturer would be a good start. Extremely low maintenance and basically only replacing brake pads. No burned clutches. No oil changes. No filters. Easy for renters to use, no gears.