Bike hire around Edinburgh

Since Hilary and I will be flying to Edinburgh for the WeeMac we'll need to hire bikes in the area.

Some Google-ing got me these options so far...

BMW Motorcycle Rental
Saltire Suzuki
Kircaldy Kawasaki

Anything else out there?

Hi Thomas

Edinburgh Airport isn't too far from me.
I can try and help you out with transport to and from there.
Accommodation (you can stay over with us the night before / after if you want to)

No idea about bike hire though.

Cheers
Ross

kirkcaldy kawasaki, do bike hire but there site is down at the moment....

Will have another looky later....

Davie.............

DOH, Just noticed it was in you're link    

Yeah I was gonna say Cupar motorcycles but they're website is down. Think they maybe have the same franchise as Kirkcaldy.

http://www.edinburghharley-davidson.co.uk/Rentals/
http://openroadscotland.com/motorbike-hire/

Dirt Bike Dave wrote:Yeah I was gonna say Cupar motorcycles but they're website is down. Think they maybe have the same franchise as Kirkcaldy.

Cupar/Perth and Kirkaldy, are all part of the same group......................

I thought Ross might have been able to cobble a couple of bikes together from the parts he has.  

Unless everything goes completely pear shaped for me, I'd be willing to lend you mine and save the pair of you some cash.
The MOT is due at the end of April, but I can hand it over to Ross for a few days, a month in advance of Wee Mac, to vouch for its mechanical integrity. All you need to do then is sort out your insurance and stick fuel in it.

I will hopefully have stevecat1 up and on the road by then as well. Will confirm nearer the time your welcome to use it if its ready to go by then.

Hi this is Hilary (Thomas' wife) - wanted to say a big thank you for the offer of bikes to borrow!  

Thomas is definitely interested  (obviously we have to do some research into the issue of insurance, and how that'll work as we have non UK addresses and licences).  

I am a bit nervous of accepting the really kind offers of borrowing a bike, as I am newly back to biking and my bike is not insured over the winter, so I won't have ridden between November and April!!  I'd be worried about borrowing a shiny bike to be honest - unless anyone has a battered old winter commuting hack they'd be willing to lend out :)I wouldn't want to risk dropping lovely cat or anything like that!  So I think I'll be hiring something "basic" and bimble-appropriate this time (probably going to avoid joining the main group ride out this time and go off for a little ride on my own - or with anyone else who prefers to bimble :)each day) !

   

Wow! Thanks a lot for those very kind offers  

Just did some more google-ing and it looks like the insurance will be a big problem. Apparently all the day- and short-term insurance companies require us to be UK residents and to be the owner and registered keeper.

Seems like people on other forums found that too: Pistonheads  

So I guess unless anyone can come up with a plan on how to get round this we'll need to hire bikes from a company...

ADAC . . . Holiday insurance perhaps Thomas ??? I know that usually only covers 'hire' vehicles (motorcycles) . . . But you could always . . . het hem . . . "Hire"   those loan bikes for the weekend

Just a thought

Thanks for that Tel... can't find it though... maybe they stopped doing it?

Only things I can find is additional insurance that covers the excess on hire vehicles  

You could check your own insurance to see if it covers you to ride other bikes, now I know this is generally on a third party only basis but at least it covers you to ride. If you come to the usual "you break it you buy it" contract with the prospective lender that'll cover you nicely.

And Hilary if you are looking for a "battered old winter commuting hack" see if Ross will lend you his.

Sorry Ross pal it was served up to me!!

Snowcat wrote:And Hilary if you are looking for a "battered old winter commuting hack" see if Ross will lend you his.

Sorry Ross pal it was served up to me!!

 

There's plenty of time to look at various options.
Another option would be to put you down on our own insurances as named riders for a week and you pay the extra.
(surely far less than the cost of hire, insurance and accident insurance excess on a rental? ..given some rental companies will screw you out of a deposit for a stone chip.)

My bike isn't a shiny new job by any means, but it's been reliable over the years..and if you drop it then we just let the insurance take care of it.
Something we can look into surely.
I don't have any special attachment to it..it's only a machine at the end of the day.
..one year it's doing 150mph, a decade or so later a bit of it is a spoon in a kitchen drawer.

-edit- Or In Rosco's case, 150mph cutlery that may become a bike again in a few decades.

Snowcat wrote:You could check your own insurance to see if it covers you to ride other bikes

Unfortunately German insurance companies don't seem to do that. Here the insurance covers my bike, no matter who rides it, but won't cover me on any other bike. Same with cars too...

Agree, plenty of time still and we're really grateful for the kind offers as rental looks to be at least 70 quid /bike/day.

That's not too bad tbh, if it covers everything.

What about getting a courier to take you're own bikes to an address in Scotland, and then collecting them again when you are finished, and ship them back home?? or is that a stupid idea................

Davie trying to be helpfull  

I know people here with contacts in the haulage industry who've done that before going to Europe and it cost them nothing.


I used some guesswork on my policy to get Thomas added as a named rider on my bike and the quote was £165 for fully comprehensive, but it's worth bearing in mind that I can only get a quote for within 30 days of today and runs until the policy ends in May next year. Given Wee Mac is in the last month of the insurance period I currently have, it'll probably be a fair bit cheaper.

Guess shipping the bikes is an idea but not sure it's any cheaper than hiring tbh... Will look into it though...

That insurance quote sounds good... you'd need to check the small print though as I think many have a clause that says the named driver needs to have been UK resident for more than 12 months or something like that.

I got your date of birth from your forum profile, assumed you had a full licence issued in the EU and just guessed the rest.
i.e you had a licence for 15 years, ridden bikes up to 1300cc, have no motoring convictions and haven't been refused insurance in the past 5 years.
It might be a fair bit off, but they didn't even ask for your address.
(..they have mine, and that's probably all they care about.  )

-edit- A quick check around seems to show that some of these short term named driver policies don't affect our own 'no claims' bonuses.  

I've had the same problem with trying to get my daughter insured on one of my bikes. Although she took her full, unrestricted, licence in the UK, she's been resident in France for over a decade and it's impossible to get her added on.

It used to be possible to get temporary insurance via Flexicover, I think, but they don't do it anymore, they say they can't find an underwriter that will take it on.

There is definitely a mismatch between the UK and elsewhere in Europe on this. I can ride her bike (and drive her car) when I go there, no problem. Maybe this is something where the EU could actually be useful if they tackled it - but don't hold your breath.

To be honest, in the UK we do get insurance at bargain prices, though the downside is that T&Cs are very tightly restricted. But it's particularly galling when you consider that there are only a few big underwriters in this business, at least two of which are French (AXA & Groupama) and they say they won't insure somebody who lives in France!

Ebike use Groupama, that's where I got that speculative quote from.
The devil is probably in the detail though, as you said.

Didn't know an old nail was classed as cutlery