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

[Marcoose]

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.

:thumbup

Tho, it'd make for short rides.

 

[HadesOmega]

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

It depends on where and who you're taking a demoride with. I did triple digits one demo ride just following the leader =P But yea group demo rides are kinda meh but at least you kinda get a feel for the bike. But yeah I think if you could rent the bike you want to buy would tell you more if you could live with it.

Haha I like the Harley Davidson demo rides here's the bike, the keys, have fun.

Also SJ BMW let's you do a demoride by yourself. SF Moto does also.

I've yet to do a demoride at a trackday, I'm not sure but I think they let you take the bike out on the track.

 

[davidji]

Daily rates are cheaper to rent for a few days. More expensive for a single day rental. My guess is multi day rentals are more common than single.

I see 3 rental segments:
1. People who want to try a bike they're interested in buying.
2. People visiting California who want to do a motorcycle road trip.
3. People visiting California who want to do one or more day trips from the Bay Area.

You can't cover the 1st thoroughly.

A bike like the Multistrada 950 the OP mentioned covers the the last two pretty well. Good for trips long and short. Ditto for the Versys. The R1200R as well, but I think some riders are afraid to tour naked.

One segment that's hard to cover is visitors who want to do a 1-way road trip, but I'm sure I've read of someone arranging that through the bike owner.

 

[moto-rama]

I dunnoo Whammy don't like sharing his toys.
Not even to help pay for it.
You never know what the renters mentality is.
He/she could be one of those who totally trashes your bike and brings it back broken.
For that reason alone id not rent my bikes.

Yeah.

I don't even like letting my friends ride my bikes, except the Bonneville, which is impervious to crap riding.

 

[CDONA]

The new Honda 125 cub?
I've heard that a casino in Reno had a fleet on the floor as prizes,
I saw three in two pickups heading south on 395 two days ago.

Just may be retro enough for the return of the "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" and create a buzz, a to do thing.