Europe - bike rental + more questions

**sideshow** · 03-14-2008, 02:17 AM

i don't know where to start so here goes...

a plan is in the making for a trip from Eastern/Southern Europe to Western Asia

the route so far will be (in order):

Austria
Hungary
Romania
Bulgaria

then, through Turkey to Georgia, and finally to Armenia.

the things i would most like information on are:

bike rental (prices, policies, etc...)
traveling across borders with a rented motorbike (what is required? is it difficult?)
a more desirable route?

and any opinions/thoughts from anyone *cough*#42dvasiggy*cough* willing to share their knowledge is greatly appreciated.

this trip is still in the baby stages, but we're determined to go through with it. that's all i can think of so far, but i'll (as well as onrey) will think of more as time goes by. so thanks in advance

**Onrey** · 03-14-2008, 05:44 AM

also, how difficult would it be to get a visa on the spot in post of these countries? I know Armenia won't be a problem, the others however..?

**Onrey** · 03-14-2008, 07:52 PM

As we wait for a reply from Europe, the plight of our nation..

**#42** · 03-19-2008, 04:55 AM

word.

ok, so first off, SPAM: forget eastern europe. come crash at a luxury chalet in the heart of the alps, take your pick from literally hundreds of deals gaps, and shred them on on a factory fresh KTM superduke. (seriously, i'm getting this shizz off the ground in time for summer.)

non-spam:

your best bet for bike rental is probably germany and austria. they always have the most chilled out scenarios for insurance, etc. germany is where i got the cheapest and easiest insurance for my canadian-plated bike and car when i shipped them over.

riding a rented bike cross border within the EU is a non-issue, as there are no borders. its the same as the states. going outside is a different proposition and i would guess in many cases not possible.

my experience with this is mostly from around 2000-2005 so things probably changed with the expansion of the EU, but i know on a lot of the cars that i rented in NL, FR, DE, didn't allow travel into Romania and Bulgaria, let alone Turkey, Russia, etc.

you can drive rentals throughout the EU now, but probably not Turkey and Georgia, especially with bikes. if you haven't, buy and watch the Ewan MacGregor thing where he goes from London through Russia to Alaska. he crosses a lot of borders and its a huge hassle even with his own bike. with the long term cost of a bike rental anyway, it looks like your best bet is to ship your machines over.

my local honda dealership rents bikes. he doesn't have any supersport in stock this summer, but for a 7 day rental of a superduke, including insurance and gear, the cost is about 550 euros ($870).

to ship my CBR over was peanuts -- about $800 door to door from any north american city to any euro city. this was back in 03/04, so it might be out of date now.

the other thing to bear in mind is that the roads in far-eastern europe are craptastic. they will destroy a sportbike.

what are your budgets and "goals" for this trip? how long do you have?

**sideshow** · 03-19-2008, 05:24 PM

i had a feeling making the transition from europe to the east would be a bit of a problem, especially with motorbikes.. but i was hoping there would be a way

i, as well as andre i'm sure, would love to ride the roads in the alps.. but the idea of this trip was geared towards riding through turkey and georgia to our final destination, Armenia. we have family there so we'd be staying there for a couple days. as you can probably tell by now, we're quite determined to reach Armenia

(you can join us if you'd like.. kebab and vodka on me)

as for the Eastern Europe part.. we just came up with that route cause , well, cause we could rent a couple of KTM dual sports from Austria and work our way down while taking in the scenery (kind of the reason why we would be going dual sport.. as you mentioned, the roads aren't all that nice). i don't think we'd go the sportbike route if we were to do the E. Europe thing..

that price for the 7 day rental price is pretty enticing, i must say. a week long rental in CA would cost well over $1200..

as for budget.. that's one of the main reasons why we started this thread.. thanks to you we now know a ballpark figure as to how much a week long bike rental would cost. and it also all depends on the price of airplane tickets to get there, calculating costs for food throughout the trip..etc etc.. but that's later

i'd say more but i need to get back to work, i'll check back after work. thanks for the info though dudeski. as you can tell, we need it!

**#42** · 04-02-2008, 01:23 PM

oops forgot about this thread.

i'd ask KTM directly about eastern europe... they are adventure oriented, so they might have an insurance setup to allow you to go that way.

food and drink can be pricey in europa, but cheaper as you go east. for example a mickey dees meal in France will run you the equivalent of about $11, and gas will hurt. for unleaded 98 it's about $2.30 a liter, so equivalent of $40 to fill up an R6.

a buddy of mine flew out here from detroit to about a month ago for $700 return so that's not so bad.

**2k5adam** · 04-02-2008, 01:55 PM

Any ideas on the rental prices in Italy/France/Germany?

I'll be in Italy this summer for about 2-3 weeks, so I'd like to rent a bike for a day or two and cruise around a bit.

**ultrar6** · 04-02-2008, 02:21 PM

Damn 40.00 to fill an R6? Damn i thought 13 or so was bad!

**#42** · 04-02-2008, 02:42 PM

^^ rental at the dealership down the road is 550 euros for 7 days on a KTM superduke. this is in france, but literally a couple miles from the italian border. probably slightly cheaper in italy.

for a 3 day weekend its 180 euros ($280).

and yeah ultra, its painful... i miss cheap gas. filling up even a small car is pain... $100 a tank from empty.