Renting a touring bike in Paris has turned out to be a bit more complicated than anticipated. The motorcycle rental industry isn't as well established as the car rental industry.
Initial Web searches seem to indicate three main European motorcycle touring businesses that rent motorcycles in France; Adventure Motorcycle (AdMo) Tours, 2wheeltravel, and holiday-bikes.com.
None of them are based in Paris, however. And getting a bike delivered to the Paris airport would add considerably to the cost.
I want a bike no bigger than 800 cc and no smaller than 500 cc for highway driving. And because I'm 5'4" with a 27-inch inseam, I don't want a seat height higher than 31.5 inches.
All three tour agencies averaged about €120 ($182 CDN, or $155 US) a day for rental of a 600-650 cc size bike, which would cost about €840 ($1,290 CDN, or $1,088.8 US) for seven days.
AdMo's charge of a €395 ($607 CDN, or $514 US) each way to deliver a bike to the Paris airport seemed especially steep. An email from them confirmed that, including delivery, a four-day rental would cost €1,258 ($1,912 CDN, or $ 1,630.64 US).
So I kept looking.
I found a post on Craigslist from someone looking for a BMW dealer in Paris. Perfect, I thought. A dealer might know of more local ways to rent a bike. So I wrote the author of the Craigslist post, telling him about the trip I have planned and asking if he'd gotten any responses to his post.
He took it one better, and connected me to Kirk Ratzel, who's active in the BMW air-head group in Paris.
Kirk wrote back very quickly and was very gracious. While noting that it's a lot easier to rent a scooter in Paris than a real touring bike, he pointed me to Business-bikes.com and MotoRail. And he said he'd make some other inquiries for me. Both those had rental sites in Paris, which meant no delivery fees.
So, now I'm waiting on replies to emails I've written to 2wheeltravel, Business-bikes.com and MotoRail, asking for information and prices on bikes that fit my parameters.
Fingers crossed.
If I don't hear from them tomorrow, I'll have to start phoning.
2023-05-07 Sea Cow Head for lunch
11 months ago
6 comments:
www.road2luxe.com : the rental specialist of Honda Goldwing. Marseille, Paris, Nice, Lyon, Genève, Milan, Barcelone.
Thanks, Joel - good to know for next time!
www.rent-bike.fr is an office located in the south of France. Large office. Possibility of one-way between Paris and Nice
www.2-wheeltours.com proposes you to explore Paris & Versailles by Vespa scooter. 4 Tours and a rental scooter service is available. Delivered to your hotel.
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2Wheeladventures offers motorcycle rental service in Sydney, Australia. We ensure to maintain experience and passion by provide high quality motorbikes for bike enthusiasts. Our professional and experienced team of experts will share detailed knowledge about the tours and bikes.
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