Bike Hire in Florida

[Mister James]

I'm going to be in Orlando next month for 2 weeks, and have very little planned for about 7 days of that. It'd be quite cool to rent a bike and go chugging around for a day or two, and so I was wondering if anyone has any experience or advice to dish up?

I'm curious as to the license requirements, likely costs/problems, and it would be superb if someone had actually rented a bike in Orlando itself.

Cheers in advance,

MJ
____________________
>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[stinkwheel]

You'll need a full UK bike licence and a credit card with at least $1,500 on it.

When you go in and hire one, they put a 'block' on your credit card. They don't actually take the $1,500 but you can't spend that until they remove the block. This is your deposit. You can still spend whatever you have over and above the $1,500.

They will ask if you want to pay for a damage waiver (yes, unless you want to pay for crash damage yourself), they will ask if you want to take out the personal injury insurance which allows you to ride without a helmet ('when in Rome' I say ).

Then you sign the papers and get the keys.

They will often put restrictions on where you can go with it. You'll almost certainly not be allowed 'out of state', they may have other limits like "Nowhere North of Miami." or something, ask about this.

Worth asking them what sort of gas they want putting in it, you get a selection of different grades at most filling stations.

Carry the insurance papers and your licence on you. Carry some cash. If you are stopped for speeding or something, the copper will expect you to be carrying all the paperwork and the fine to be payed there and then, he'll even escort you to a cash machine. The police carry guns and expect respect so be very polite if you're stopped, call them Sir and do what they say. Don't be afraid to play the dumb foreigner though.

[stinkwheel]

Oh yeah, there are also lots of places that hire out little 125cc 4-stroke chopper things. Just a glorified C90 copy with massive apehangers, forward controls and flames on the tank. They never even asked to check my licence when I hired one of those.

They'll do 55mph flat out which is the speed limit anyway and are an absolute hoot to ride, just do the 'easy rider' thing. The one I rode had had the baffles spiked and sounded like a cheiftan tank. Awesome