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West and South Asia From Turkey to Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Ladakh and Bangladesh
Paul Hurcomb, London to CapeTown, 2007, in Mali

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Paul Hurcomb, London to CapeTown,
in Mali. Trail from Douentza north
leading to the ferry to cross
the Niger, then onto Tombouctou



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  #1  
Old 14 Mar 2012
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Sorry to hear that you got hurt; hopefully you´re back on track now. Anyways, I think what we can take away from this is that
- you don´t rent a bike from an unknown source by e-mail with a deposit paid before you have seen and checked out the bike in person, not in India and not in Daytona Beach;
- you don´t believe that even a 2007 Enfield in an Indian rental fleet would have been "less prone to breakdowns" after five years in rental service;
- you don´t believe that any Enfield will not leak oil in a month of overland travel (which I´d think is one of the "oh shucks" scenarios, not the end of the world).

Chris
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Old 14 Mar 2012
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Sorry you had such a poor experience. I toured south India on an Enfield about 12 years ago, and I have to say the whole "India by Enfield" experience is overrated. I can definitely see going back to India for another tour, but I would rent a small Japanese model, never another Enfield.
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Old 14 Mar 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keks View Post
Sorry to hear that you got hurt; hopefully you´re back on track now. Anyways, I think what we can take away from this is that
- you don´t rent a bike from an unknown source by e-mail with a deposit paid before you have seen and checked out the bike in person, not in India and not in Daytona Beach;
- you don´t believe that even a 2007 Enfield in an Indian rental fleet would have been "less prone to breakdowns" after five years in rental service;
- you don´t believe that any Enfield will not leak oil in a month of overland travel (which I´d think is one of the "oh shucks" scenarios, not the end of the world).

Chris
To add, nor should anyone take on an "upside down" gear change when riding in a new country (and you had not been riding anywhere for a while).
Been there myself, done that and got the scars to prove it.

Regarding the issue of hiring bikes, I would like to see this type of feedback in a thread where it does not become lost with time; for instance, there is a forum for "tours" in here which might be near enough appropriate and this information could be found there in the future.
There is a rather similar cautionary tale with a lesser outcome within the Morocco forum; on futher thought, perhaps there is a better place within the HUBB where such cautionary advice can be found??
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Old 14 Mar 2012
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whant to rent or bay a enfield or pulser

wharning dont rent in delhi go to pusckar 6 auers from new delhi thear yuo have alot off bikes and foringers selening thear bikes around 500 us NEAVER RENT A BIKE IN DELHI
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Old 15 Mar 2012
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What I really wonder about is when people yell: Warning! Don´t ....

A bad experience is one thing, and we´ve all been there. But as well as you don´t hang a bed sheet with a similar warning about your local butcher´s or baker´s products outside of your roadside window at home, since you´re not willing to get into a nasty discussion with that business owner or his lawyer, don´t yell for boycotts on the web either. From my point of view, it´s just unfair and we´ve seen the variety of responses in the Marocco issue recently.
Just my 2c
Cheers
Chris
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Old 15 Mar 2012
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Originally Posted by Keks View Post
What I really wonder about is when people yell: Warning! Don´t ....
...don´t yell for boycotts on the web either. From my point of view, it´s just unfair
I dunno, it can be difficult to find someone good to rent from when travelling and personally appreciate all the data I can get. Renting a bad bike, or even a good bike from the wrong person, can ruin a trip, or at least create bad impressions.

Obviously all such reports should be taken in context, and it would be good to get more reports about good customer experiences, not just bad ones...
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Old 15 Mar 2012
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Renting

I am in Nepal renting an Enfield, & it has been brilliant and Bikemandu could not have been better (so far) I will be in India (Delhi) & will go to this place & give them what for on your behalf & let them know if you shit on one biker you shit on all of us & what goes around comes around, I know you want get your money back, but I will make them feel very, very uneasy about so they think twice before pulling that stunt again.
Cheers
Paul
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Old 15 Mar 2012
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I think we have all had business dealings, not necessarily in motorcycling, that did not go well. Some businesses will let things 'slide' if they are not given constructive criticism.

I think it's fine for folks to post negative comments, as long as they give a clear explanation of what went wrong, and what steps they and the business took (or didn't take) to resolve the problem. I thought WorldlyMaret did this.
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