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Europe Topics specific to Western and Eastern Europe, from UK to the Russian border, and south-east to Turkey.
Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon



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  #1  
Old 24 Feb 2013
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Bike Rental Europe
G'day All,

I was hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction of a decent bike rental outfit in Europe. While there are plenty to choose from, I can't find a company that will allow me to pick-up in Italy and drop-off in London.

Doesn't even need to be Italy and London really, i just need a company who will let me tour europe and drop the bike off somewhere else other than where I picked it up.

Cheers in advance!

Andy
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  #2  
Old 24 Feb 2013
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G'day Andy,

I think you're going to find it difficult, you can offer to transport the bike back to the point of hire through a reputable company, still very difficult not to mention expensive. The thing is the shop hiring you the bike cant check it once your done with it. Leaving you open to all manner of drama.

Depending on how long you are going for it might be cheaper if you just buy a bike. The other thing to consider is, if you intend to return and do it again (be warned its addictive) you have a bike there waiting for you, provided you can find somewhere to store it and an address to register and insure it.

I did exactly that back in 07 and it was cheaper to buy, admittedly I was fortunate to have found friends to help me out, now life long friends :-) I now keep 2 bikes in Europe, off road and on, the next and third will be in the USA. Its not as hard as you may think and with some tenacity and good fortune it will work and work well.

Heaps of threads on the subject throughout HU, plenty of people are willing to swap bikes too, if you have something to offer, good luck!

Cheers Dave
Last edited by Drwnite; 24 Feb 2013 at 11:39.
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  #3  
Old 24 Feb 2013
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Hi Andy,
I agree with Drwnite, it might be a whole lot easier to buy a bike.
It is addictive, I can tell you, you will be wishing that you had a bike for the following year to see the things you didn't get a chance to see or to enjoy the roads again.

My bike is spending a 9 month break at the moment until I get back there to France in June. The excitement of another adventure is starting so I better get planning I guess.

If you know how long you are planning to be in Europe and roughly how many kilometres (or miles if that's your measure) then you might find buying could well be cheaper in the end, and you still have a bike you can fully mod the way you want and use how you want and then sell it if you wish.

Cheers,
Paul
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  #4  
Old 24 Feb 2013
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Just a suggestion......

Motorcycling in Europe - ADVrider
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  #5  
Old 24 Feb 2013
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Hi Andy,

You can try MotoXplorers in Lisbon Portugal, depending on your start and end dates, they may be able to provide you with a bike that you can pick up in Lisbon and leave in Munich, talk to Carlos or Ricardo.

PS. Depending also on your travel dates and if you've a dual sports bike to swap, you could use one of mine
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  #6  
Old 24 Feb 2013
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Giacomo View Post
Just a suggestion......

Motorcycling in Europe - ADVrider
Wheatwhacker is on the HUBB with the same offer; somewhere in here - probably best found by searching for him by his user name.

There is at least one dealer in the UK who has started to offer a buy-back scheme:-
Stafford Motorcycles Ltd Showroom | eBay Motors Pro
They don't say in their advertisement if they can handle a buyer from overseas, but such schemes used to be commonplace back in the good old days.
ps. This dealer is not related to me, but I just keep noticing on ebay that they have some interesting bikes in stock from time to time. Their asking prices tend to be at the top, but if their buy-back price is also good then "not so bad".

I agree with others; renters who are prepared to offer one way rental must be few and far between; maybe, a big, big organisation can provide such a service (the equivalent of, say, Hertz car rental) but most businesses just are not that big.
pps. I have a dim memory that BMW used to have some kind of "pick up here and drop off there scheme". As a manufacturer, they definitely use a network of "authorised test outlets" for test riding their bikes, across Europe - it might be worth searching for them.
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Last edited by Walkabout; 24 Feb 2013 at 13:14. Reason: ps and pps added
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