You ride mine, I ride yours?
 

Hi,

Due to a combination of poor planning and high expense I wasn't able to organise to ship a bike to Argentina for my holidays. This has prompted an idea and I would be interested to gain feedback from people on the following idea.

Would anyone be interested in swapping bikes for holidays. That is I fly to your country and use your fully insured and registered bike and in return you fly to my country and do the same.

This arrangement by passes problems such as shipping costs, registration, insurance etc.

Obviously there would be details to work out in terms of trust, care for the bikes and what is a fair swap but in terms of ease of logistics it might work.

By the way I am an Australian currently in London but will return next year and want to come back to see more of Europe on a bike.

Cheers,

Max

Wouldn'y you rather swop the wives? No seriously it sounds like a great idea ..but bikes are so expensive to put milage on.
eg I lend you my Blackbird and you put 10k miles on it..see how difficult it is?
But if you can come up with a loose formula , that would be great.

Nice one. I've just returned to the U.K. from a trip to Australia and suffered all the agravation you mention . I would love to go to Oz again (although not for a couple of years)and this sounds like a better solution than renting.

I am also keen on a bike swap. I am travelling to England and Ireland next year, and the idea appeals to me for a number of reasons. Of course it would save money, but it would also be a good way to meet some people and to get good ideas. What it finally comes down to is there is no obligation on anyone... If you don't like what is being offered, look for someone else or go with other options. Personally, I don't care really what bike I ride. Two wheels and a motor is all it takes for me. I usually have several bikes in my shed, and I am sure there are others like me.

Regards... Nigel in NZ
--"Have you hugged your bike today?"--

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OK. This sounds promising. I'm going to think about this over the next few months while I am catching my buses around Sth America.

It sounds like it could work. Essentially it would be an agreement between two parties. They decide if they want to accept the bike on offer against what they are offering. Maybe people in the same location as the bike could offer their services to check it out and ensure all is as it should be. This may save surprises when you arrive at the other end.

Like I said I will try and get something together over the next few months. I will be in a position to offer a bike in the UK from about May next year and I would be keen to do swap for Canada.

But think about it. The opportunity to pack a helmet and some leathers and jump on a plane. Meet a local on arrival, who is a biker, and go for a few weeks of good adventure without any of the hassles of shipping a bike. Europe, Canada, Argentina, Australia, NZ. Its all possible.

Hasta Luego,

Max

Ok.. here's the rub. We now have the option of going with an established outfit that already does this (check out this group and form your own opinion http://www.cyberset.com/bikeshare )or as Grant suggested to me, start up a group here. What do you think people? I would be happy to be involved with setting up a group or establishing some sort of guidelines.

Regards

Nigel in NZ

--"Have you hugged your bike today?"--

I could easily set up a search and register web site ( it being my bag ) not too time consuming, mind. then anyone could post and so on - it would run itself. I don't mind spending a couple of days on this but would need some good feedback as to what the database fields should be. ( bike, location, conditions etc) my return? satisfaction.

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felix

Hi Guys,

This is a great idea. A simple web-based querie/search facility for country/time/bike etc, and the ability for feedback on good/bad experiences would be helpful.

I think many ppl are looking to ride overseas, but not always to swap bikes ... for whatever reason. Not everyone wants to ride my R65!! But I'd like to rent someone elses.

Best wishes

Vaughn