Passes & Canyons Blog

I don’t travel for business a lot, but when I do I try to mix business with pleasure. If I can, I try to arrange it so I can be there over the weekend. Then I’ll arrange to rent a motorcycle. What better way to see a different part of the country than where you usually ride.

Here’s a tip I learned the hard way. I got sent to Nashville a few years ago, and it was only for a day, but I set it up for a Friday. I flew in Thursday night, went to work on Friday, and then, of course, I picked up the tab for my lodging on Friday and Saturday nights, rather than return to Denver.

Saturday morning I went to a nearby Harley dealership where I had reserved a bike and picked up my Road King. I had brought my leather jacket but they had told me when I made the reservation that they could provide me with a helmet and a rain suit. So I didn’t bring my own. Well, it turned out that the only helmets they had were open face. OK, no big deal, in fact, maybe nice. More open and airy, you know.

Well, not so nice. Unfortunately it was a rainy day. The open face helmet meant my face got very wet and my glasses were constantly covered with water droplets, making it hard to see. On top of that, when I pulled out the rain suit they had given me it turned out to be a one-size-big-enough-for-anyone unit. I could get into it, and it kept me dry, but you could have gotten two more of me in there as well.

Lesson learned: Take your own gear. It may be a bother on the airplane but you’ll be glad you did.

Biker Quote for Today

If you don’t ride in the rain, you don’t ride.

Another question I got from Steve in New Zealand, who is coming to Colorado to ride with some friends in 2009, was “Are there any other pure renters (as opposed to tour companies) of similar style bikes?” Steve and the group are planning to rent from www.tourbikes.com.

That was something I’d never really thought about so I did some research. First I checked to see what selection they have at tourbikes.com. It’s a pretty wide selection. They have a bunch of BMW touring bikes but they also have some Harleys, some Hondas, a Yamaha FJR 1300, and a mix of dual sport bikes. All in all, something that would probably suit anybody.

Then I started looking at the others. L2 Motorcycle Rentals has mostly Harleys, but they also have some Gold Wings. Mainly Harleys, though.

Not surprisingly, EagleRider of Denver has only Harleys. It also appears that Moturis also is exclusively Harley.

I list a number of other rental companies on the motorcycle rentals page but can’t check the rest of them out very easily because they don’t appear to have website. So in answer to Steve’s question, no it does not appear that there are other renters of similar style bikes in the area.

If I’m wrong, and someone tells me more than I know at this point I’ll be glad to post the info here and on the rentals page. Thanks in advance.