Renting a bike in the US

[blackbosh]

I'm currently in Florida and there's a Harley shop down the road that does rentals and I'm considering taking one for a day just cause I can. Basic price is about $100 bit there's lots of extra add ons, waivers and whatnots. Has anyone got any advice on these which ones are worth it etc? Any advice in general on renting a bike in the states?

[mentalboy]

Not sure about the rental side of things but make sure it's got the biggest, loudest, fukoff horn you can find.
Floridian drivers are some of the most abysmal I've ever met. In the last three months out here I've witnessed artics wandering over three lanes of the interstate, every other pillock texts and drives, last week a woman crashed on her way to a job interview whilst shaving her fanny (!!!????).
Driving at night is like being fair on the dodgems rides sometimes. One evening a friend of mine rang to say she was bringing another friend over because she'd drunk too much (as it turns out neither would have passed a sobriety test), about half an hour after they arrived I noticed two cars parked out front - apparently she 'escorted' the 'drunk' back to our place, each driving their own vehicle??? (and these are supposedly intelligent upstanding members of society, not any old trailer trash!).

I'm considering never biking out here (a biker and pillion were killed just a mile down the road last month), you can take all the precautions you want but if some pillock wanders into your lane because they're too busy catching up on social media then you'll be well and truly fooked.

As an aside, I've seen a huge amount of people here with missing limbs, far more than I'd expect in proportion to population numbers and would assume that many are the case of accidents. This last two days I've seen two accidents - both single vehicle incidents, both on their sides.
The other thing to watch for is rubberneckers, they really do slam on their brakes and stop to ogle an accident before crawling past then proceeding as 'normal'.
____________________
Make mine a Corona.

[spnorm]

I hired an R1200RT from Eaglerider for 16 days in 2012.

Take out CDW with zero excess as you don't want a $1000 or $2000 excess charged to your credit card if you drop it

[yen_powell]

[Aff]

[gbrand42]

[blackbosh]

Haha love the Harley abuse, I'm not into them it's just the most convenient for choice around here I've been driving here for a week and feel I've been broken in gently to the roads as it's been quite easy going. Not on the level of mentalboy at least. I'm in 2 minds about it now don't want this trip to end up in a hospital but thanks for the help

[-Matt-]

I looked into doing it in Florida last year as well - didn't in the end for mainly two reasons;

1] The cost - particularly when you factor in all the legal/insurance stuff you really need to pay for along with the bike itself in case things go pear-shaped. If you do go ahead with it, be very careful with the small print, some of the excesses for even minor 'damage' etc were eye-watering on many of the agreements

2] Health/holiday insurance - check if it covers you still whilst riding etc, again - if things go pear-shaped it could make the holiday very, vey expensive thanks to the US's wonderful healthcare system

I wouldn't of minded riding there to be honest [although the heat may of been unpleasant after a short while], but i'd agree with mentalboy about the driving standard - the amount of people we saw playing on their phones for long periods was unbelievable. It seems like the fact a lot of the roads are very long and straight gives everyone the impression its okay get distracted from them - which made it less suprising that we saw a lot of bad car wrecks scattered along the highways - the previous time I was over there a few years ago we saw a huge 18 wheeler take someone out at crossroads - ended up being a fatal crash unfortunantely, also down to someone using a phone

[mentalboy]