South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

Life is getting me down recently and I need to do something to stop me from tightening the noose around my neck

I was tinkering with the idea of doing an American bike ride from New York to Las Vegas and thought, what the hell, might as well, but there are some snags I've hit...

... I'd like to ride something other than my 3 least favourite bikes (Harley's, Goldwing's and BMW's in that order) and it seems impossible! I'm taking a passenger so a Harley would be the most sensible option.

... Does anyone know of USA bike rental companies (not tour reps, as we'd like to go it alone)? I've Googled some but wondered if anyone knows of any with a good reputation. I've heard of some that want people to deliver machines from one side of the states t'other as well, but can't seem to find any on Google. Is there an American term for this?

Sorry for all the questions but need to study the feasibility of the trip before getting my hopes up.

Has anyone done this sort of thing before? If someone could point me in the right direction I'd be really grateful.

Take your own bike

Its a lot easier than you think

£500 each way on a roll on roll off ferry from Southampton (just the Bike not yourself)

Its all down to how long you want to go for because at a point it becomes more financially viably to have your own bike rather than hiring

I know two people that are there at the moment on their own bikes.. both with blogs

http://keithoops2.blogspot.com

and

http://uk.geocities.com/gbutler1@btinternet.com

Peter

Would an alternatve be to actually buy a bike over there?

At the end of the trip you either sell it to a deler and take any loss as the cost of the trip, or ship it back here and sell at a (possible) proffit if it's a Harley

Another forum I frequent has a large US member base - I'll ask about the hire question .....

i'd go with the buy it and sell it out there option. I was looking about doing a similar thing in australia and some people wanted as much as £100 a day .

Try http://www.eaglerider.com as they have the usualy, but also some depots have different stuff. You can pick up one side and drop off the other if you like.

I've often though about it, but having the time off isn't an option.

we spent our honeymoon in the US, the first week we hired a goldwing and travelled from LA to san Fransisco and back which worked out about 1200 miles in a week so nice and steady couple of hundred a day.

it was expensive, IIRC about £1000 for the bike alone.

I've been trying to find the rental firm but cant sorry, I do remember seeing a VFR in the rental place along with the wings and harleys and motorhomes etc.

all the bikes they hired were only a few months old and in really good condition as well.

It depends how long you go for. Several years ago I went for 3 months and did coast to coast. Bought a bike in LA and rode to Miami. Bikes are much cheaper in Miami. Ended up shipping it back here. Check prices at your arrival and departure points is the lesson!