Motorcycle rentals/tours, Europe

[GS Jenn]

Hey all, I haven't been on over the winter, just about to pull the GS out of storage and get back into things, if it would only stop snowing....

Anyway, I'm in the early stages of planning 2 months of bumming around Europe with my fiance. We're trying to keep things cheap which means mostly train travel, but we're hoping to do some of the trip by motorbike.

I'm looking for recommendations/experiences of companies that rent bikes, bonus if they do one-way rentals, or self-guided tours, or places that are particularly good for motorcycle riding in Europe.

I'm interested in doing a self-guided tour through these folks - http://www.cimt.it/tours.htm - probably on a pair of Ducati Monsters. Anyone heard of them?

[Caffeine]

Well, once again someone is taking **MY** vacation.

Just don't try to do too much.   Give yourselves at least a few days in each city, or else your trip will become two months of packing, traveling, and unpacking every other day.   And that's just not fun.

Pick 8 cities, and stay in each one for a week.   Take day trips by bike from a couple of them.

Relax and enjoy the sights!  Where are you planning to go?

[sledge]

Motorcycle hire in the UK is not as popular as you may think and the companies tend to be based in large citys. If you do find someone it can work out to be very expensive. Insurance costs are very high because of the risks involved, and dependent on the hire companys terms people under a certain age, or with driving/riding related convictions and those who havent held a relevent license for more than a few years are usually refused. You are also required to put a huge deposit down before taking the bike and the cost of any accidental damage no matter how slight will be taken from this. I wouldnt like to say if a USA license would be accepted by a hire/insurance company here in the UK but if it is you can expect to pay even more as you will be seen as a higher risk.
http://www.newhorizonsbikehire.com/bikes.php
To give you an idea of prices this is a company based near me. Nowhere does it say insurance is included in the hire rate so its safe to assume it isnt! If you want scooters or learner friendly 125s you will of course pay a lot less.

[GS Jenn]

We're going to France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Croatia. Not going to do the UK this trip because I've been there already. We're old enough and licenced long enough that we shouldn't have an issue with rental restrictions.

I would especially like to find a place that rents bikes in the south of France, and in Croatia. If I could pick up a bike in Dubrovnik and return it in Zagreb it would really make this trip easier.

[Cal Price]

In the resort areas of southern europe I have seen a lot of bikes on offer for hire / rental, usually big cruisers or scooters, sublime to the ridiculous some might say. They are often available on a day rate or a better weekly rate. I can't recall any prices but that probably means they were not-too-bad.

I'll have a sniff around and see if i can find out.

Dubrovnic is a delightfull, if rather small city and the streets of the old-town area are paved with marble, not very bike freindly, some of the old city centres have a lot of cobblestones and tramlines, (Nightmare in Prague, Brussels, Brugge, Ghent and some German towns) again not ideal biker places but don't let that put you off, just take it easy. When I first arrived in Dubrovnic (by sea) there was light rain and the marble roads were shimmering and well slippery but it is a great place for a long weekend or somesuch.