Bike hire in Norway?

Planning a 7 to 10 day trip in Norway in may. 2 riders, 2 bikes.

Hang on a minute, thats the very thick end of £500 plus nearly 40 hours combined on gut wrenching ferries

So i'm thinking.

1, any way of cheaper ferry crossings, or

2, fly over and hire the bikes in Norway.

i'm struggling on both questions, cant find anywhere on the web that will hire a bike in Norway, and that one company seems to have a monopoly on the ferry routes.

Any idea's/ comments greatly received

Do a big loop , take the ferry across to Stavanger but come back via Denmark/ Dover ?

Rushy said:

Do a big loop , take the ferry across to Stavanger but come back via Denmark/ Dover ?

Click to expand...

Which is what i would like to do, but with plans to spend a month touring Morocco in October, holidays from work are in too short supply

Last time I tried to find out where to rent a motorbike I struggled a lot!
There is not many who do this over here, and thos who did when I asked asked for a lot of money for it.
The cheapest way for you to have a holiday riding a motorbike here for you is:
DFDS ferry to Norway, bring your bike, share room at the ferry with one person, bring your tent and put it up for free almost all over Norway.
That way you can go in direction good weather every day - no prebooking!
And, before you ask me; yes, all main roads are tarmac, best views and hairpins are close to the fjords like Sognefjorden, and do not think you can go 500 km every day on our narrow roads packed with tourists with campers.
-When all clothes are dirty and your wallet is empty, then go back to Newcastle with DFDS from Norway.
If you find a good topograpic map you'll see that Sweden & Denmark is not like Norway when it comes to mountains.
I have been in Scotland and Wales; I love it there! But if you think there is big mountains in Wales & Scotland... -and waterfalls! Neh, Sweden does not have much of it either.
Do the south part of Norway, go west if the weatherforecast is good as it often rains in the west, -it's not that wet in the east part, but the funniest roads are in the west, so... -your choise!

Camping in the woods are free in Norway!
We do have elks, bears and wolfes, but they do not eat bikers.
The most dangerous animal is a small snake, huggorm. But if you are not allergic you wont need a doc if it bites you.
(Vipera berus = huggorm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipera_berus )

Ta-raa!
Liv.

Thanks Liv, reply much appreciated

What i didn't make clear in the earlier post is hat the "other rider" is my wife so shareing a room saves nothing on the family bank accout

It's just that £500 to get to the start point of a one week holiday seems excessive to me Particulary when this is not planned to be the main trip for us this year.

Just how bad is the rain over there in May? For a moment i even found myself considering getting a cheap flight and car hire Then i came to my senses.

Hi!

''Rent-a-wreck'' is or cheapest firm for renting a car. I don't know the cost, but the cars is not new & goodlooking, but they should do the job. The cars have to be legal and in a good shape because of our laws, so don't be afraid to rent one.

Rain May?
I only I could tell... But I know many of the best hairpins are still packed with snow in May = still closed after the winter.
If you a road you want to ride/drive is on a list at www.vegesen.no (I'll show you) then translate it and find out if it is closed or just having bad weather for a day or two.

I'll be back with more info from www.vegesen.no if you like! I'll keep an eye on this thread.

Liv.

Thanks again Liv, I've had a long talk with my good lady last night and the bottom line is that for a short break we both consider the whole ferry thing to be disgracefuly overpriced.

Since i have been waiting to visit Norway for over 20 years now it looks like i will go for a few days using the Fly/drive option. We can save around £300 pounds by using air travel and cut out approx 3 days of traveling just to get there and back. An option of cheaper car hire makes it even more attractive.

I'm really sad about this, i would love to ride the area by Motorcycle, and if i had 2 or 3 weeks i would stand the ferry prices, but for a few days of sight seeing i'm afraid they have priced this option out of the market

Looks like another week in France and Germany then

By the way Liv, that website does not work for me. Is the link correct?

Hi!

I forgot an v in the link!
http://www.vegvesen.no/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1042188916512&pagename=vegvesen/Page/SVVhovedSideMal or just www.vegvesen.no
The English version does not give you updated info about closed roads, so you have to do this:
The link above,
At the top of the page you'll find a box called ''Hurtigmeny A-Å'' - pick ''vegmeldinger'' on the list,
then you'll fina a lot of klickable lines, like ''Vinterstengt'' and more.
-Now you need to learn some Norwegian!
-Stengt = Closed, so Vinterstengt means it is closed in winter.
-Kolonnekjøring = column = a large snowplow are driving first, and then the cars are following. I don't think they would be happy to see a motorbike in the line...
-Nattestengt / Nattestengninger = closed at night.
-Midlertidig stengt = temporary closed.
- Fjelloverganger i Sør-Norge / Fjelloverganger i Nord-Norge = mountain passes, south part and north part of Norway.
-Viktigste Nyhetsmeldinger = Most important news about the roads.
-Kjøretøy = vehicles.
-Totalvekt = the weight of the vehicles, including people & luggage and everything inside/on/after it.
-Uvær = bad weather.
-Glatt veibane = slippery road (often because of ice, hard snow is not normally slippery!)
-Vei / veg = road.
-Glatte partier / stedvis glatt = slippery parts.

''Ev 39 FERGESAMBANDET MORTAVIKA - ARSVÅGEN
Stengt på grunn av uvær.
Sist endret 31.01.08 kl. 10:48 ROGALAND
MIDLERTIDIG STENGT ''
= ''Ferge = ferry, closed because of bad weather. ''sist endret'' = ''last update''. Temporary closed.''

''Another example:
Rv 7 HARDANGERVIDDA
Stengt for kjøretøy med totalvekt under 7,5 tonn, kolonnekjøring for kjøretøy med totalvekt over 7,5 tonn på grunn av uvær.
Sist endret 31.01.08 kl. 11:41 HORDALAND /
BUSKERUD
MIDLERTIDIG STENGT ''
= ''Closed for vehicles weight over 7,5 tonn, drive after a snowplower for vehiles under/less then 7,5 tonn, because of bad weather.
Last change/update 31.01.08 kl.11:41. Area Buskerud county & Hordaland county. Temporary closed.''
= and the above means if you do not have to go there right now, please check the weather and find out if the road might close because of the weather, and do not go with bad tyres.

You do not need studds if the tyres are the type for winter, not ''all year-type'' or summer rubber. Winter rubber is special for cold days and snow!

Cleaning the tyres might help on snow, and there is a box at petrol stations you can buy - the box is what we call ''dekklister'' = we call it glue for the snow&tyres. Just shake the box and spray it on, wait 3 minutes, go.
Dekk - tyre, klister = glue. Lim = glue too, but this is not that sort of glue!

And here is your limosine: http://www.rent-a-wreck.no/

Cheers!
Liv.

Superb again Liv, Thank you very much

I went last year in July - did the ferry which was a bit of a pain - take a good book! However, it is fantastic when you get there. In the run up to going I kept getting emails from DFDS advertising REALLY cheap ferry crossings if we took the Sunday ferry. Might be worth checking with DFDS to see if anything is planned.

Ferry to Norway 100 times nicer than France. Main reason was because it was so quiet.

DON'T ride down to Denmark! Having researched it carefully last year, the scenery will leave you very flat after the 'wow' factor of Norway.

We did 10 days - Ferry to Stavanger and then a basic horseshoe shaped trip into the hinterland of Norway and round and up to Bergen and got the ferry back from there.

Be warned - it does rain on the coast - but when it's nice, there's no where else like it in the northern hemisphere! If you Google you'll find precipitation charts.

My biggest concern about going in May would not be rain but temperature and how many roads will be closed.

The only country I've ever been to where I've taken more alcohol in than I've brought back!

If you need inspiration look at this! It's all true!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSl-bshjARA

Andy B said:

In the run up to going I kept getting emails from DFDS advertising REALLY cheap ferry crossings if we took the Sunday ferry. Might be worth checking with DFDS to see if anything is planned.

My biggest concern about going in May would not be rain but temperature and how many roads will be closed.

Click to expand...

Thanks Andy, the roads in May look like they may be the deciding factor here, but for the record can you remember how Cheap was Really cheap

Not specifically I'm afraid. Though memory says about half price.

Andy B said:

Not specifically I'm afraid. Though memory says about half price.

Click to expand...

Which would do it for me....Thanks

Too late for you, I'm afraid, but here is at least a list for the next guy looking:

http://http://www.finnalle.no/mc-utleie.html

All in the boonies, and I have a feeling that some of them may be "tax shelters". This one I know is for real:

http://http://www.buskerudmcutleie.no/

They are a bit off from Oslo Airport, I suggest that renters contact them and see if transport can be organized. Couldn't find an e-mail adress, but phone +47 91 39 45 59. Honda only, sorry...

MC-rental in Sandefjord

By pure luck I found this one: http://speedmc.no
They reant out demonstration models. In particular, they have a BMW R1200GS (anyknow if it is a reliable bike?) with tank bag and side cases. 6500 NOK per week.

It is rented out in mid August (to me )

[TaSK]

Hi! I'm new here and in the US across the "channel" from most of you. I'm looking to go to Norway in the beginning of August and was curious what I should expect for weather? Seems like it is on the tail end of the peak season and could still be nice for a west side trip. Will the traffic of tourists still be in full swing at that point, or will it be dying down by then?

Take a look at the Norway Norway Norway thread that is a sticky at the top of the forum. If its not in there or linked to from it, you don't need to know.
http://ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71865

Thanks! I'll check it out. I found this site through a google search and landed on this actual thread. I'll check out the post.

Norway is a long country. From North to South, the distance is like Fairbanks to Seattle. Flip Norway around on the map, and you´ll end up in Italy. So where in Norway you are going would be useful info. Generally higher chances of rain in the West and obviously colder in the North and on the mountains.

That said, there is a good chance of nice weather in August, but always bring rain gear and some warm clothes.

Most tourists actually come in July, see graph her: http://www.ssb.no/reiseliv/fig06_mnd.gif

Enjoy your trip!