Motorcycle Monogamy Is A Myth!

Lets get it straight. One bike is never enough. And there is no one size fits all solution for motorbikes. Some days you might want to scramble around dirt roads outside the city, some days you want to get a knee down and scrape the tarmac as you lean, other days you might just want to lazily amble around to the rhythmic beats of a classic thumper. Why should you settle for just one of these? And trust me when I say that you can’t really have ONE motorcycle that does it all.

Unless you have a lot of daddy’s money to splurge, it is safe to say that the thought of owning multiple motorcycles at one point of time is nothing more than being fodder for morning wood.

Then, do you settle for the one you possess and make peace while blaming the depth of your middle-class pocket? Or do you have a cyclic EMI for decades that allows you to go through ownership experiences of various genres of motorcycles while being perpetually in debt?

There is another option which is grossly underused by us ‘hardcore’ piston heads, and majorly used by thrill seeker noobs who are gifted weekend escapades by their loving wives. RENTALS!

Lets list down why rentals are the best side chicks –

Bikers don’t have a type. We like options.

Rentals allow you access to a fleet of various segments of bikes. Pick a naked street fighter on days your inner hooligan wakes up. Choose a classic when you want to feel the wind on your face. Also works the other way around, you wouldn’t have to live with fully faired knee toaster in traffic when you want to ride it only on track days.

Ride it like you stole rented it

You don’t have to live with service and repair issues. Who wouldn’t love to rough it out with a Adventure tourer in Ladakh and then not have to worry about the trips to the service centre afterwards? Every off-road adventure road trip necessitates its own set of post-trip spa sessions for the motorcycle that has endured your adrenalin fuelled brashness. This leaves you grappling with a mountain of piled up work at office and visits to service station cajoling your favourite mechanic. In contrast a rental trip ends with you whispering a goodbye to your moto-fling.

Feel like an extinct Dinosaur every time an upgrade of your bike is launched?

Know that annoying feeling, when you are executing aggressive downshifts during a trip to the mountains on your old bike and wishing it had the slipper clutch from the new model? Yes, that. Rentals are a cure for that, because you are not stuck to one make or one year of manufacturing. You have access to every upgrade since rentals keep adding new bikes.

No pains of having to ship your bike

Most of us can not afford leaves from work, that are long enough to ride our motorcycles all the way from our homes to far off lands where we go tripping. Thus arises the helpless situation of having to ship your bike from home city to where ever you intend to start riding. It goes without saying that we absolutely do not trust the railways or cargo companies when it comes to handling our bikes. With a rental you can just fly to a destination and have a bike ready to ride.

Not convinced yet?

Let us produce some mathematical proof based on hypothetical numbers.

Lets try and use some rental costs (approximate, may vary a lot across regions) to find how much you would spend if you are someone who can manage enough leaves to be able to getaway for 1 long trip, 2 medium sized ones and 2 weekend trips.

Adventure touring on the Royal Enfield Himalayan

1800/day * 10 days = Rs 18000

Escape to the hills on a KTM Duke 390

1800/day * 4 days = Rs 7200

Lazy Coastal Ride on a Royal Enfield Standard 500

1800/day * 4 days = Rs 7200

Weekend Super bike craving satiated on a Kawasaki Ninja 650

6000/day * 2 days = Rs 12000

Thumping V Twin weekend with a Harley Davidson 48

6000/day * 2 days = Rs 12000

Under 60000 annually = Rs 5000 a month. Much lesser than the EMI of owning multiple bikes. QED. Hence proved.

P.S. For the romantics who thrive off their long term relationships with their machines, please feel free to leave comments about why riders should stay married to ONE motorcycle and follow Motorcycle Monogamy?