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Renting Your BIKE?


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2 hours ago, NinjaDoc said:

one persons ducati is another person old "common" cbr600.  Based on our financial state and "psycho-social" build we tend to preserve our stuff or neglect our stuff. Be it a car, bike toy what ever. rich guy garage queens a lambo and poor guys wash and wax and maintain a civic just the same way as long as they love their car the same way. IT doesnt matter how rare or how valuable it is. 

That means the average guy who loves their bike doesnt feel comfortable renting their bike. Statistically Bike is more of a personal attached asset/toy/ luxury in these parts compared to car which is considered by most as just a utility. Statistically there is higher chance of people messing up on a bike with lot more damage than the oppsie moment on a car. And basically human beings are flawed and by biological design is looking for self preservation/ asset preservation/ their own family preservation/ ... in short to be selfish. Just the level of it varies from time to time. Its not wrong to worry about  imaginary accidents to your stuff/ imaginary illness to you family over imaginary injury to strangers. 

to summarize the big wall of text. , I do me, you do you and every one else do themselves. There is no right or wrong answer here. IF some one doesnt want to risk renting their bike for what ever reason they shouldnt. Some body else is comfortable renting it so be it. 

I think you are honing in on what I have been laying down - yeah it's not for everyone. I'm not saying everyone should rent their motorcycle, but it's nice to have the option to do so if someone wants. Also for every post like this: 

Quote

NOT IN A MILLION FUCKING YEARS! There are very few people I would ever let ride my machines. And of those people I trust if they fuck it up would make it right.

So Nope ,NOPE and FUCK NOPE! 

there should be someone advocating the other side of it.

I think it is important to have these types of discussions because it allows us to really frame a new opportunity in the hobby with how we view our hobby and what we hope to get out of it.

I also see a lot of flawed logic and how people think about some of these things - take someone else crashing the bike for instance. People thing they are safer being selective about who they rent to because they know the person and that buddy won't sue them. But, really the liability exposure is much greater because there is no agreement as to such in place like there would be in a rental. And maybe your buddy won't sue you if he or she survives the crash with minor injuries but that doesn't mean his or her family won't if he doesn't. And there is the question of whose insurance pays? yours or his? and did you verify his license was still valid when you lent him your bike? All the rental does is put a structure to the otherwise normal act of lending our bikes to other people, it limits liability and makes clear the agreement, and in exchange you make your bike more open to people you don't personally know as well as whomever you have lent it to in the past. 

Which brings me to my next point: Are you here for the community? I have had the great fortune of having people lend me some fantastic bikes. And because of it I have made purchase decisions, broadened my viewpoint on certain aspects, and in come to like it more and more. The motorcycling community is great in part because some of us like to share. That's not a knock on those that don't want to, but it is part of our growth that dealers will let us ride demo bikes, and our friends will sometimes lend us their bikes to try and we will lend ours to them. This is just another way the good stuff from bike sharing in the community happens. If you don't want to do it - fine, no loss, but let's try to limit spreading the false notion that the people we don't know are automatically going to crash and sue us, and let's be a little more reflective about the risks we take with our own bikes and whether they are safe for others to ride. 

 

 

Edited by Geeto67
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ITT, folks that assume everyone can afford to replace their motorcycle if it gets crashed and at least one member that assumes track tech inspection is a solid bet.. even though tech inspection is subject to human error and most insurance companies won't cover your equipment at a track event. 

 

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30 minutes ago, Pauly said:

 at least one member that assumes track tech inspection is a solid bet

 

Nothing in life is a "solid bet" on it's own, have to look at the total picture. 

Nobody is hanging anything on just the track inspection, but rather the sum total of all the things that are required to get out on track on top of all the things required to register the motorcycle as street legal, and all the waiver paperwork in between, plus the multiple insurance coverage. There is a lot there, and if you look at it a lot more than if I just took my bike out on the track.

Does the standard insurance cover it? nope it will require a supplemental policy. Does the riders-share app even allow it as part of the rental agreement? probably not, but that wasn't the question and we veered into hypothetical land a little bit. 

We went into hypothetical land with some of the discussion, but in reference to the rider-share app, according to what's out there on the web they pay the owner for what is owed and initiate collections against the renter if the renter can't pay.  

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I would have a hard time renting my bike. I would also have a hard time enjoying myself on a rented bike. The liability and unforeseen cost would take the fun out of it.

I will demo a bike under the right conditions.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have totaled two street bikes, with that I was put on high risk insurance for three years which is $. Not worth letting someone else put you close to or in that bracket for a few extra dollars.

I have wrecked two demo bikes at manufactures events and I wasn't the only one wrecking at those events. Again, not worth the extra money for the risk. Manufactures can afford the loss way more than the rest of us.

With all that said it sounds like I probably can't ride a bike but I'd venture to guess that any of my regular riding buddies would swap bikes with me knowing that I would do what it takes to make the situation right should an unfortunate event take place.

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1 hour ago, Uncle Punk said:

I have totaled two street bikes, with that I was put on high risk insurance for three years which is $. Not worth letting someone else put you close to or in that bracket for a few extra dollars.

I have wrecked two demo bikes at manufactures events and I wasn't the only one wrecking at those events. Again, not worth the extra money for the risk. Manufactures can afford the loss way more than the rest of us.

With all that said it sounds like I probably can't ride a bike but I'd venture to guess that any of my regular riding buddies would swap bikes with me knowing that I would do what it takes to make the situation right should an unfortunate event take place.

You wrecked two DEMO bikes..... Story? Lol 

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On 3/21/2019 at 5:38 PM, Pauly said:

ITT, folks that assume everyone can afford to replace their motorcycle if it gets crashed and at least one member that assumes track tech inspection is a solid bet.. even though tech inspection is subject to human error and most insurance companies won't cover your equipment at a track event. 

 

I don't carry full coverage on my bike. If I wreck it to the point that I can't afford to repair it...I'm pretty confident I will never be riding again.

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14 hours ago, Steve Butters said:

You wrecked two DEMO bikes..... Story? Lol 

No kidding. I'm curious to hear the story.   Every demo that I have attended has been no more than a parade lap.  The only incident that I have seen is a young lady dropped a R3  in the staging area while grouping up.

I got the stink eye for falling back a bit due to traffic and then catching up to the group at slightly over the speed limit.

Edited by Wojo72
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2 hours ago, Wojo72 said:

No kidding. I'm curious to hear the story.   Every demo that I have attended has been no more than a parade lap.  The only incident that I have seen is a young lady dropped a R3  in the staging area while grouping up.

I got the stink eye for falling back a bit due to traffic and then catching up to the group at slightly over the speed limit.

Ya ought to come down to pony when I'm leading a demo.  We have fun.

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I just got back from Huntsville for business , and when I was down there, I looked around on this app, and could not find a bike I would care to rent for a day. I also noticed another add coming across my Facebook, for another company renting bikes, but the name slips my mind. For me, a company like Turo needs to get into this. Someone that has some better experience with Ridesharing before I get serious with is. 

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20 hours ago, jacobhawkins said:

Ya ought to come down to pony when I'm leading a demo.  We have fun.

When is that happening? I kinda want a ride on a triumph Thruxton R and a Duc supersport since I am curious about both. 

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12 minutes ago, Geeto67 said:

When is that happening? I kinda want a ride on a triumph Thruxton R and a Duc supersport since I am curious about both. 

Whenever the manufacturer truck shows up.  Last year the Suzuki demo was a blast.  Pretty sure Ducati Indy has open demos on everything. But check with Pony about a demo SS, I rode a Hyper a couple years ago they had on demo no problem. 

Dont know about Triumph demos.  If you call them in Georgia, corporate may be able to help you out if no one local has something they want to hand keys over to.

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On 4/10/2019 at 10:16 AM, jacobhawkins said:

Whenever the manufacturer truck shows up.  Last year the Suzuki demo was a blast.  Pretty sure Ducati Indy has open demos on everything. But check with Pony about a demo SS, I rode a Hyper a couple years ago they had on demo no problem. 

Dont know about Triumph demos.  If you call them in Georgia, corporate may be able to help you out if no one local has something they want to hand keys over to.

Was in Pony on Friday, spoke to some delightful woman in the ducati section. It blows my mind that there is a 2017 SS still on the floor, and that Ducati isn't offering a blow out incentive on it like the 2018 just to get it out. Sitting right next to it was a 2019 with ohlins for maybe $3K more full price. I don't know how they are going to move it without discounts. 

The calendar has no demo rides and nobody in any of the sections knows when they are going to happen. Guess I'll have to reach out to Triumph in GA - thanks for the tip on that. 

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18 minutes ago, Geeto67 said:

Was in Pony on Friday, spoke to some delightful woman in the ducati section. It blows my mind that there is a 2017 SS still on the floor, and that Ducati isn't offering a blow out incentive on it like the 2018 just to get it out. Sitting right next to it was a 2019 with ohlins for maybe $3K more full price. I don't know how they are going to move it without discounts. 

The calendar has no demo rides and nobody in any of the sections knows when they are going to happen. Guess I'll have to reach out to Triumph in GA - thanks for the tip on that. 

They aren't going to move it at that price, but maybe they are trying to stave off a repeat with the 2019. Since they are already going to take a hit on it, they might keep it priced at MSRP to make sure the 2019 sells and then lower the price on the 2017. I don't own a dealership, so that is merely a guess. 

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5 hours ago, Pauly said:

They aren't going to move it at that price, but maybe they are trying to stave off a repeat with the 2019. Since they are already going to take a hit on it, they might keep it priced at MSRP to make sure the 2019 sells and then lower the price on the 2017. I don't own a dealership, so that is merely a guess. 

well it's not MSRP - it's marked $1100 off ($12,995 msrp - $11,895). From what I remember selling bikes the profit margin isn't super great on ducati, I think by the time it sits on the showroom it's got maybe $1500-2000 profit margin not counting the vig the dealer has to pay on the floor plan - so it's probably at cost or pretty close to it considering that the dealer had to pay full interest on the unit sitting around. Occasionally the mfg will offer incentives for the bike to clear out inventory, like ducati just did with the 2018 supersport models, which is what I meant by discount, I can't see them selling it without taking another $1000 haircut on it and I don't know how that's gonna happen. Then again they swore up and down they wouldn't go below $6K on the 2017 SCR 950s and I just saw them marked for $5300 online. 

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The two factory demo bike wrecks weren't as bad as it might sound, both were paid for rides at a track.

First bike was a KTM 450 Supermoto. Ktm did a demo day at our local circle track that happened to have a gocart track inside of it. This was around 2005 or so and I think they charged $50 to abuse their bikes all day. I had no idea how to properly ride a supermoto at speed yet that is exactly what I tried to do. Left hand sweeper going about as fast as the bike would go the front end just drifted out from under me. It wasn't a compression lowside like you expect from a lot of front push it was just a nice calm drift out from under me. I know better now and try as hard as I can to put more weight into the front end when riding a supermoto. The bike was put back into service after all of the mud was removed from it. I was not permitted to ride anymore the rest of the day.

 

Second bike was a KTM RC8, this was 2011 or so, also my last time on a track. Ktm trackday at Mid-Ohio you pay to ride a regular trackday only you use their bike. Last session of the day if I remember correctly. I'm basically on the track by myself and a little tired. On the out lap going slowly just kinda casually getting around the track. I get to the keyhole and I'm poking along when suddenly the bike accelerates, some sort of stupid twin tractor governor bullshit that I have no idea about. I'm not going fast enough to worry about being off of the bike and think that I shouldn't be going any faster without being set up for it. Instead of pulling in the clutch to stop the acceleration I tap the front brake which put me and the bike down into a nice slow speed lowside. Completely my fault and a completely wrong reaction to the circumstances in front of me. 

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