Passes & Canyons Blog

Judy shot this from behind me as we cruised through British Columbia on the rented Harley.

Judy went straight to the core: “The worst thing about renting a motorcycle is that it’s not your own.”

She was right on the money in two senses. First, unless you rent a bike that is just like the one you ride at home, you’re on an unfamiliar machine. Second, if you damage a rented bike it’s probably going to cost you a lot more money than if you did the same damage to your own.

This was all very much on both our minds a few years ago as we spent two days riding in British Columbia on a rented Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Classic. We chose the Electra Glide because it was the only bike the company had that came with full passenger accommodations and I wanted Judy to have the ultimate in comfort. The consequence of that choice was that we were not only on an unfamiliar machine, but on an extremely heavy unfamiliar machine.

I consider my wife to be the most precious cargo I ever carry and I had never before taken her on a bike I was not already thoroughly familiar with. The idea of climbing on this bike for the first time, her climbing on behind me, and riding off made me a bit nervous. But I took it easy, and was cautious, and all went well at the start.

I quickly started learning about the quirks of the bike, however. I’m accustomed to coming to a stop and putting my feet down at a point where I can plant them for maximum stability. On the Electra Glide, I would put my feet down and think I had solid footing but with the bike still rolling just a bit the passenger floorboards would run up against my calves and push my feet forward. That doesn’t happen on any of my three bikes. The buddy pegs are back further on all of them.

Things like that I could adjust to but I never adjusted to the extreme weight of this bike. It has a low center of gravity so it’s very stable on the highway, but at slow speeds it can tip and if that much weight once gets going sideways there’s nothing I could do to restrain it.

The issue really presented itself in the parking garage at the place we were staying in Whistler. The floor was very smooth, slippery concrete and the turns to get to where we needed to park were numerous and very tight. With either of my bikes I could navigate that route easily, and with a lot more experience on the Electra Glide I could probably do the same, but I didn’t have that experience. After a couple times we made it easier by Judy getting off or on at the entrance to the garage.

The issue of cost was also ever present in my mind. My Honda is old and is only worth maybe $700. If I did damage to it that would cost $2,000 to repair I’d probably just buy another old, used bike for a lot less. My Kawasaki is also getting older but I carry collision insurance on it, with a $250 deductible. And I only paid $3,000 for the Suzuki.

With this rental we had the option of paying $18 a day and having a $2,000 deductible, or $24 a day and having a $1,000 deductible. We went with the lower deductible but that still meant we could be liable for $1,000. Our rental was costing us $350 for two days already and the thought of it costing $1,350 was not comforting.

Of course, I never expected to do any damage to the bike, but that’s why they call them “accidents.” And while we never did have even any close encounters with other vehicles, there was one time when I came perilously close to dropping the bike.

We were on a very scenic stretch of road and turned into a pull-out to have a better look. The pull-out was gravel, and the gravel turned out to be deeper than I anticipated. With that big, heavy machine that I was not all that familiar with, it was an incredibly tense moment.

Within the space of six heartbeats I alternated between believing we were going down, to profound relief that I had recovered it, to certainty that we were going down, to elation that we weren’t, to horror once more, and finally to breathing a huge, huge sigh of relief as the bike finally came to a stop upright. I’m sure the only thing that enabled me to keep that bike up was adrenaline.

Bottom line: We’ll never rent that heavy a bike again. And while it’s great to be able to fly off somewhere far away and then have a bike to ride, it’s not all pleasure. We had a great time but next time we’ll have a much better idea of what to expect.

Biker Quote for Today

I’m not addicted to my motorcycle, we’re just in a committed relationship.

I wrote for Examiner.com for eight years but they went out of business and took everything down from the web. A lot of stuff I wrote–I think–was good and is still relevant. That’s what these Examiner Resurrections are.

Judy climbs on board the Electra Glide while we were stopped in a canyon.

For two days last week my wife, Judy, and I rented a motorcycle so we could do some riding in British Columbia while we were there on vacation. Renting is something I’m sure a lot of people have considered so I figure I’ll go through the pros and cons and how these things play out in the real world.

Our first decision was who to rent from. We identified two outfits, Cycle BC and EagleRider, although I see now that there were other options. While EagleRider charged more per day for the kind of bike we wanted than Cycle BC, I knew we could get one day free from EagleRider on my birthday, which coincidentally fell during the time we would be there. Plus, Cycle BC offered only 300 km per day and 20 cents per additional km, whereas EagleRider was unlimited km. Cycle BC offers a variety of bikes, while EagleRider only offers Harleys in its Vancouver office.

The Cons
Then we found the true cost. I haven’t had the chance to check this but I believe it is because we were in Canada. Taxes were incredibly high. On the $199 one-day rental (with the second day free) we paid taxes of about $100. Add to that the insurance we purchased and our two-day rental came to more than $350–and that’s with one day free! Yikes!

Oh well, we were determined to do this so we gulped and made the commitment. Of course, from that point forward there was no cancellation allowed. If medical reasons dictated a delay we would have up to one year to use what we had paid for, but no refunds.

We arrived to pick up the bike and the manager, Stephen, was very good. He had the Electra Glide Classic all prepped and ready for us and offered to leave the GPS unit on it at no extra charge if we desired. We figured what the heck, and were later glad we did because it definitely helped us getting around in Vancouver.

Before setting out, Stephen and I went over the bike carefully looking for any damage. I found it a bit unnerving that he made note of several very minor scratches that I could hardly see. If that was the kind of attention he paid to even those things that would generally be considered normal wear and tear, would he ding us seriously for any new nicks when we brought it back. I mean, rocks do get kicked up and cause tiny scrapes, but that’s life on the highway. And he gave us a sheet where all the charges related to different damages were spelled out in detail. Plus, he noted that the crash bars up front were unscratched, indicating this bike had never been dropped.

For the next two days it was never far from my thoughts that an already expensive rental could cost us a whole lot more if anything happened. And the insurance we paid for didn’t exactly put me at ease. For $18 per day we could have bought insurance that carried a $2,000 deductible but we paid $24 per day for insurance with a $1,000 deductible. That meant that theoretically our two-day rental could still end up costing us as much $1,350 in total. Ouch!

And it’s not as if I never came close to dropping that very heavy bike. I did come very close. One time in particular on some deeper than expected gravel in a turn-out along the highway I could hardly believe I got the thing stopped and we were still upright. There I was carrying what I consider the most precious cargo there is (Judy) and I’m sure it was only adrenaline that enabled me to keep it up. Afterward she patted my arm in recognition of the difficulty and all I could say was, “That wasn’t fun.”

The Pros
On the positive side, when we turned the bike in Stephen didn’t do the meticulous examination he had done before. He merely gave it a quick once-over and said “No damage.” And that was that. Of course, I hadn’t dropped it, and the only damage there could have been was, as I said, the normal wear and tear.

More importantly, we got to spend two days riding around in the awesome beauty of British Columbia on a motorcycle. We drove some of these same roads later in the car we rented and I was acutely aware of how constricted my vision was. There’s just no comparison between a TV sort of view and a total 360-degree view of everything.

And it was fun. That’s why we all ride, isn’t it? Because we enjoy it so very much? Take away the few less-than-wonderful moments and we had a great time. It’s the sort of thing you just can’t do on your own bike if your time is limited. Sure, it would have been great to have taken several weeks, ridden out, ridden around, and ridden home. And someday maybe we’ll do that. But if you don’t have that time you can still do the riding around part, it will just cost you a bit.

So if you can afford the bucks, renting can be a good option. Just plan on paying some serious bucks. And next time, we’re going to go with something lighter than an Electra Glide, even if the passenger accommodations aren’t as cushy. Of course, that’s another benefit of renting. You can try a bike out and see if it’s right for you or not. The Electra Glide is definitely off my list for good.

Biker Quote for Today

Your wits and senses fade after a long day in the saddle. On the freeway you don’t really need either, but on a two lane the wage of sin is wadding your skeleton through the grill of a Kenworth.

I told my friends that Judy and I were going on vacation in British Columbia and would be renting a Harley Electra Glide Classic with full passenger accommodations and they said Judy would like it so much she’d probably buy me one when we got home. I said that would be unfortunate because I don’t want that kind of bike and now after having ridden it for two days I’m really, really clear I don’t want one. Plus, Judy doesn’t want one either. She says they’re too loud. She did like the passenger accommodations, however, and this particular one was in her color, as you can see in the photo above.

The Glide was fine on the highway, no question about that. It was slower speeds where I grew to hate it. First off, it’s very heavy. Very heavy. Maneuvering in parking lots was hard and in heavy traffic, filtering onto the bridge that crosses from North Vancouver into downtown Vancouver, it was absolutely the worst. In our parking garage in Whistler the floor is smooth and slippery, the turns are numerous and tight, and winding through there was horrible. I mentioned all this to the EagleRider guy when I turned the bike in and he agreed, saying that while it’s a good highway bike he would hate to ride it in the city.

Well, you know, I do a lot of my riding in the city. I’m not going to own a bike just for the highway, and even when you travel you still end up going through towns.

Nope, no Electra Glide in my future. Thank goodness.

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Biker Quote for Today

Never lend a friend your Pacific Coast. Unless you like scratches and want a beer annuity.