Passes & Canyons Blog

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.