Renting a bagger - Laguna Seca MotoAmerica

tl;dr I want to rent a huge, comfortable couch with cruise control, a windscreen, navigation, and hard bags. My options are to rent from a dealer (e.g. Indian or Harley directly), or from an owner through a site like Twisted Road. What are the pros / cons of each, and should I favor one option over another? I searched a couple of threads and couldn't find what I was looking for.

For a little context, and the long version: I am going to Laguna Seca with some buddies in July to watch the MotoAmerica races. We're going to ride motorcycles up and tent camp on Fox Hill. We've done this twice before. However, I no longer have a street legal motorcycle, and I like the novelty of riding a bagger up there. I've spent about 10 minutes on a friend's small Harley Sportster, and all of my other time on bikes has been on a more performance-focused machine. The trip is a little under 400 miles one-way from San Diego, and the idea of a big touring bike sounds really appealing. We've done a 3,000+ mile (total) trip to COTA a couple of times as well for MotoGP, and I've spent hours in the saddle wondering what a nice touring bike would feel like.

I'm looking at something like an Indian Chieftain Dark Horse or a Harley Street Glide. I've found that both manufacturers offer rentals through select dealerships. The problem is, the dealerships that rent are closed on Mondays - that's when I would return from Laguna, so I would need to pay for another day to return on Tuesday (not a huge deal, but ~$200 extra). More significantly, the Harley dealer is ~40 miles in the exact opposite direction of Laguna. The Indian dealer is ~60 miles in the opposite direction. That tacks on quite a few miles on a trip that is already pretty short from Friday - Monday.

I also found some local options. The main site that pops up no matter what I Google is Twisted Road (Air BnB for motorcycles). I happened to find a guy with exactly what I am looking for, and he lives really close. The price is cheaper than going through Harley or Indian directly.

Questions are:

• Anyone have a compelling reason or opinion why I should consider dealer-direct versus renting private party? To be fair, the private party is still through a third-party and lends protection to the renter and rider.
• Am I missing a better option other than what's described above?

edit: And in case it wasn't obvious, I'm renting to go watch MotoAmerica - not race in King of the Baggers. Although, now that I think of it...

 

No input on west-coast stuff but sounds like fun...enjoy.

 

Good luck getting your security deposit back.

 

Riders Share is another option similar to Twisted Road

 

Damn shame the place in SF went out of business. I rented there a few times and got nice bikes. Mostly euro stuff though.

 

Isn't there Eagle Rider in LA? https://www.eaglerider.com/losangeles/rental Also an address in San Diego. https://www.eaglerider.com/sandiego

Curious if anyone has used them. I was more thinking about renting a Yamaha 900 and hitting the Santa Monicas, but they seem to have a ton of Harleys too.

 

I just did the Twisted throttle thing in Clearwater. It was easy and reasonably priced.

That being said, tech the bike. Any bike. Air pressures were 10lbs off and the rear suspension was set for who knows what.

I rented a Harley Road King.

If you rent the Harley line and you have a passenger, rent an Electra glide or Road glide. Your passenger will have a much better experience.

 

I rented a Street Glide from Eaglerider in Newport Beach and had a good experience.

 

Watching. I'm headed to the Bay Area for Memorial Day and want to rent a bike for a couple of days. Nothing special. Anything from strom to a harley would be fine. A buddy and I (He has an electra-glide) want to do a day trip. Last time I rented from Doubleju but its now showing Permanently Closed on its FB page.

 

That’s the place I was talking about. They closed up shop and retired when the rona hit.

 

Yep! I was looking at them. The issue there is that they were ~$200 - $300 more expensive for the same rental period than other options I looked at, and they're 40 miles south of me whereas Laguna is north. I did like their overall selection and would have been more inclined to go with them if they were located more conveniently for me (obviously not their fault).

 

Good advice! I'll definitely be checking over the bike really well. I am heading up with some buddies but riding the bike solo.

Last night, I decided to give Twisted Road a shot. I pored through their website and found some other rider reviews in other places, and I feel pretty comfortable with it.

Even with their 'premium' insurance ($45 / day), it's considerably less expensive than if I went through a dealer. I'll add that some of the dealers had some daily mileage limits that would have negatively impacted me as well. And in this case, it's even a bigger score because it's a 2021 Street Glide, and the owner lives 6 miles away from me. That makes the logistics of everything way easier for me, and the bike isn't some clapped out dinosaur that was built back when Caitlyn Jenner was still Bruce.

Here's what I got: https://www.twistedroad.com/bikes/us/ca/murrieta/2021-harley-davidson-streetglide/m-ezgp8z9

I've ridden a ton of different motorcycles, but never anything remotely close to this! It's well over 800lbs loaded, and I promise I am one of the smallest guys you will ever see throw a leg over one of these things. The owner of the bike isn't super tall and only weighs 135lbs, so that's reassuring. Nevertheless, should be interesting, and I'm looking forward to it! I might post up closer to the date to see if any fellow club racers want to grab a beer. I'll also update this thread down the line to let everyone know how the experience was with Twisted Road in case the inquiry comes up in the future.

 

By the way, in all of my ignorance, I didn't realize how much these things cost until I started doing some research. The Street Glide I am renting is $26k; that's RSV4 1100 Factory money! You've got to really like putting in some miles in order to put that much money down on something that wouldn't fare well at a race track.

 

Nice! New is best. 38/38 cold for pressures. If he has a preload adjuster for the back or air shocks, raise them. Raising the rear will help that bike not handle like a pile of shit.

 

So I mentioned I'd update this thread in case anyone else does a search on this topic in the future.

tl;dr My experience with Twisted Road was phenomenal from end-to-end. I'd highly recommend and would absolutely use them again. To be fair, your experience may differ, as it probably depends on the bike you're getting and the owner you're renting from.

I rented a 2021 Harley Street Glide. A couple of buddies and I headed up to Laguna Seca from Southern California. The trip was ~400 miles each way. We took the scenic route and rode Highway 1 (Big Sur) in both directions to get out of the oppressive heat inland.

This was my first time riding a Harley. I've basically ridden every other style and category of motorcycle, but a Clydesdale-sized bagger was not one of them. I'm a tiny guy, and I was concerned about the overall size of the bike. The owner let me stop by a few days before the rental to sit on the bike and get a feel for it. The bike was definitely a beast. but my concerns ended up not being an issue. Slow speed navigation in and out of parking lots required a bit more effort and planning, but at speed. the bike was incredible. We hit quite a few twisty roads, and I was very, very surprised at how well the bike did. It stopped better than I expected as long as you used both the front and rear brake. It got unsettled a bit on bumps - especially when going fast - but I kind of expected that given the limited suspension travel. The Infotainment system was awesome - it was nice having full navigation available and music for the ride.

Twisted Road made the reservation process incredibly easy. I purchased their 'premium' insurance since I was riding a pretty much brand-new bike with an MSRP north of $20k. The owner was very responsive via phone and text and made the pick-up and drop-off process very easy. The bike was exactly as advertised. It was purchased new in March of this year and still looked the part. Everything worked flawlessly.

For reference, my total price for 4 days was $660. Money well-spent. I feel like I got a really good taste of the 'bagger experience'. Logged just shy of 900 miles. Super-slabbed it on the freeway, and also did some twisties with some incredible views of the Pacific Ocean. So, from my point of view, the price paid was an excellent value relative to the experience I got out of it. I got more compliments on the bike than I've ever gotten with a sport bike. I will also point out that the fan demographic had a very heavy cruiser contingent. The bagger class is bringing a ton of new fans into the paddock, and I can only assume that's a good thing. I have a much bigger appreciation for this style of bike and may or may not have one parked in my garage at some point (next to the race bike, of course).

 

Glad you had a great experience!

As a result of this thread mentioning Twisted Road, I used them to rent a Vstrom over Memorial Day weekend for a Napa/Marin/Sonoma ride with friends.
I chose Twisted Road because their web site had more professional feel to it and more complete info on the process and offerings than the Rider Share web site, which had the feel of a few teenagers throwing together a site.

Notes on Twisted Road rentals:
One day rentals are higher than the advertised price (which are for 3 day+ rentals).
The required Insurance, even at the basic level is not included in the advertised price.
There is a Twisted Road admin fee, also not included in the advertised price.

The reservation process was simple and smooth. I contacted them with a question and they were quick to respond and make the resulting change to the reservation.

With these peer-to-peer rentals, the bike is maintained by the owner, and TR doesn't have any knowledge of the condition.

The bike I rented:
A 2011 Vstrom with about 43,000 miles on it.
had only about 1-2mm of rear brake pad left.
The front brakes had a stuck caliper, and the front brake alone would not stop the bike even though the lever was firm.
The chain was tighter than a g-string on a large dancer.
The tires were worn well past the time to replace, but still held air.
When I rolled away, it became apparent that the steering had a severe detent/sticky point at the center of travel, making any quick/sharp turns "interesting".

Given the options (ride this or no ride at all), and the ride planned (not a challenging route) I rode the bike anyway, but did tell the owner when I returned it that the bike needed a mechanic's review and some basic maintenance. From talking with the owner at the return (or at least the person who said they were the owner) I think he just owned the bike to rent it and is not a rider.

The total cost was maybe $20 less for the day than I would have paid at Doubleju had they still been in business.

So, do a tech check on the bike before you ride off, and be prepared to walk away if it is not fit to ride. The bike I had was barely rideable, and a novice rider would have had some real issues with it.

TL:dr Renter beware

 

Your experience definitely confirms that the owner / bike plays a big factor. As I mentioned, I got a pretty much brand-new bike, so everything was great. It was purchased in March 2021, but it did already have 6,300 miles on it when I picked it up. In my case, the owner mentioned being diligent with general maintenance and tire pressures, and that seemed to be the case.