I did my dream trip to Prudhoe Bay from Anchorage this July and used Motoquest instead of riding up from CA on my own bike because of time constraints and implied safety in numbers on the Dalton Highway. I rode the base GS 750 as did 7 other riders plus the guide. On day 2, the rear brake light stayed on all the time so at the end of the day in Fairbanks, the tour staff swapped it out for another GS 750 from the accompanying trailer. There had been less than 100 miles of offroad till this point and it was all tame, hard packed dirt. I then rode the second, replacement GS 750 for the remaining 6 days of the tour to Prudhoe Bay and back to Anchorage that was mostly very tough offroad filled with mud, gravel, rocks and potholes. I never dropped the bike or hit any significant potholes during the entire trip on either bike. When I returned the bike in Anchorage, it was checked out and marked clear without damage. 3 days later, I got an email from Motoquest that my full $3000 deposit was being held as there was rim damage on the bike. Not on the bike I rode through the Dalton Highway filled with rocks and potholes for six days but the first bike that I rode on mostly paved roads for just two days! This bike was bouncing along on the accompanying trailer for the remaining 6 days till it was dropped off in Anchorage. I tried to reason with the tour rep who completely ignored my logic and said “you ONLY have to pay $1500” since I paid extra for the very misleading “level 2 damage waiver” I foolishly took this extra coverage to mean that any routine wear and tear, particularly on wheels and tires, would be covered and I would be responsible for any non-routine damage like crashes etc. I also foolishly didn’t videotape/ photograph every inch of the bike as I like the other riders was so excited to get going on this dream, epic ride. I later learned that 6 of the 8 GS 750s had bent rims, all with cast wheels! Including the GS 750 used by the very experienced tour guide! These are supposed be off road prepped bikes! None of the other bikes, a GS 850 and four GS 1250s with spoked wheels had any rim issues even though some of those went down during the trip. I am so disappointed with Motoquest for their dubious business practices by renting bikes inappropriate for the conditions and getting their routine maintenance costs paid for by trusting riders like myself and the 5 other riders who were victimized. I even wrote to the CEO of the company who send me a patronizing and dismissive two sentence reply. I was thinking of going on additional Motoquest tours in Europe and Asia but will never spend one penny with this outfit or refer anyone from my rider network. Their employees in Anchorage were friendly but the culture of the organization is rotten and shortsighted. AVOID Motoquest!!!

Well, that really sounds like a typical case of "enshitification" in today's profits-over-everything world. Proper "cut your nose off to spite your face" kind of stuff.

Thanks for posting this up, I'll remember to avoid them in the future!

__________________
FreeBSD fan since before it was cool ...

They seem to give a rat's ass about repeat business as there are multiple disgruntled riders from this group and Motoquest couldn't care less. Stay away from these scammers!