Will be in Christchurch end of Feb and looking to hire a bike, or even a panel van(realistic prices please!!).Does any body know of a good deals to be had, will buy one if it will be cheaper...a Honda 90 would be a laugh.

Recent similar thread here:

http://www.dualsportuk.com/forums/in...showtopic=1108

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Hi John. Like almost everywhere I have been, the cost of bike hire is huge here. The odd thing is that second hand bikes and cars are pretty cheap here compared to most countries. It's the insurance liabilities and compliance costs of running a business that kill it for hire companies. I have a friend who works for a bike hire place (www.gotournz.com) and the cost of fixing bikes dropped by your average punter, especially those used to driving on the "other" side of the road makes it an expensive business to be in. How long are you going to be here for? That makes a difference to what I would recommend. What is the least sort of bike would you be happy with? If you are serious about a Honda 90, then you could do it on a shoestring (and a Honda 90 IS a suitable bike to tour on... just remember what Stephen Wright says,.."Anywhere is walking distance, if you have the time"). There are plenty of older bikes in good order here that you can buy for very little (eg tidy GS500 Suzuki NZ$2500) that you could sell without loosing a lot. But the bargain buys are the older cars and vans. I just got a 120,000km Ford Telstar TX5 (Mazda 626 by another name) for NZ$500. A friend from Germany/Sweden bought a Nissan Largo 4WD Mini-coach for NZ$2000. Both are cheaper than normal but you get the idea. Then there is always BikeShare (www.bikeshareworld.com) and the other one that sponsors this august website. However, I happen to be a member of BikeShare....Anyhoo, let me know what you think of all this. Kind regards

Nigel in NZ

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"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page"- St Augustine

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The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with . -- 2200 BC Egyptian inscription

Nigel,
thanks for your reply .I shall be over for 3 wk's only on a reccy as I have been offered a job, so need to check the place out, cost of living, decent women and the price of fuel...the main requirements in life.
I shall have a few days in the Picton/christchurch area, so will have a look for a cheap mount...yes I will have a honda 90 even an NSU quickly just as long as they have 1500 miles left in them.
A cheap van sounds the way to go as I won't need a tent.
Keep me posted on any ideas you have,
thanks, John F Nottingham.

Worth a look:

http://www.bmwmcc.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=662

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My photos: www.possu.smugmug.com

Hi Steve. It seems you have to be a member to see that link.. any chance of a cut and paste job here?

Cheers

Nigel Marx

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"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page"- St Augustine

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The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with . -- 2200 BC Egyptian inscription