GS Hire

[jackd]

Does anybody know of a place to hire a GS for a few day around the Saltzburg area.
We are travelling down by car to a friend's in Ramsau am Dachstein but would like to hire a GS while there.

Thanks

 

[DrAlf]

I can recommend an excellent bike hire shop in Nice but it might be a little too far. Great scenic route though. They do delivery and have a couple of WC's in stock - one recently well used You'll want the black one. I had the white one

http://www.columbus-international.com/motorbike-hire/france/

Speak to Alex. Top guy and couldn't be more helpful. They also do KTM's, Ducati's and other stuff that wont be of interest. Recommended.

 

[Wapping]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=motorcycle+hire+salzburg&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

First item on list.

Note to self: Do not invent Google. Work as drain unblocker.

 

[DrAlf]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=motorcycle+hire+salzburg&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

First item on list.

Note to self: Do not invent Google. Work as drain unblocker.

I'd rather take a personal recommendation than rely on a commercially driven search giant. Twat

 

[Wapping]

And your personal recommendation is in Nice. Some 500 miles away from Salzburg but at least on the same continent.

When the OP opens the first item in the list he'll find....

http://www.sallerhof.com/en-motorcycle-rental.htm

Which will lead him to....

http://www.salzburgbiking.com/english/unsere_motorraeder.php

And then to....

http://www.salzburgbiking.com/deutsch/bmw.php

In short, BMW GS motorcycle hire in Salzburg, which is what he was enquiring about.

Are they any good? No idea as I haven't needed to hire a BMW GS in Salzburg (which I guess you haven't either) but it's the best potential lead he seems to have received so far.

 

[dave hendy]

Probably not close enough: http://www.hotel-enzian.com/start.php?site=ehome&lan=e&ss=home#top

top hotel as well

 

[The Grey One]

If you are hiring a bike in Austria check the insurance situation. Many companies only have third party cover, as do a majority of Austrian bikers. Bike insurance is expensive here! Best to check what your liability would be if there was a claim.

We have contacted several hire companies to try to get bikes for guests, often they don't reply to Emails for at least a week. It's the down side of their laid back approach to life.

Good Luck

John

 

[Wapping]

Whilst there I have noticed that several of the main BMW (and other make) dealers in Austria offer bike hire as an adjunct to their day-to-day job.

I guess this is becasuse:

(a) There is a demand for the service, as evidenced by the OP's question.

(b) Their natural day-to-day customer base (people who buy motorcycles and have them serviced) is quite small compared with say the UK. So they need to offer more than a dealer in York or London.

(c) Their 'season' is quite short, so they have to maximise their potential.

I also notice that it's the dealers who tie themselves to the hotels and vis-versa, as in the Google search example I ping'ed up and in the link to the Enzian hotel. This works both ways. Punters get a 'biker friendly' hotel and a bike to rent, the hotels and dealerships increase their potential customer base.

 

[The Grey One]

Whilst there I have noticed that several of the main BMW (and other make) dealers in Austria offer bike hire as an adjunct to their day-to-day job.

I guess this is becasuse:

(a) There is a demand for the service, as evidenced by the OP's question.

(b) Their natural day-to-day customer base (people who buy motorcycles and have them serviced) is quite small compared with say the UK. So they need to offer more than a dealer in York or London.

(c) Their 'season' is quite short, so they have to maximise their potential.

I also notice that it's the dealers who tie themselves to the hotels and vis-versa, as in the Google search example I ping'ed up and in the link to the Enzian hotel. This works both ways. Punters get a 'biker friendly' hotel and a bike to rent, the hotels and dealerships increase their potential customer base.

You need to factor in the Austria attitude to business. With a few notable exceptions they just sit back and wait for people to come to them. Most Austrian businesses with eventually respond to an Email-usually a week later! Some simply don't bother. We would love to find a reliable source of hire bikes here but I am simply not prepared to deal with people who frequently do not honour promises. Sadly this is our experience of Austrian companies, if,and it's a big "if", they will accept a booking months in advance they do not feel duty bound to supply the bike as requested. I have always believed that you should deliver what you promise and am therefore careful about what I promise.

The vast majority of hired bikes out here come from Germany, often from Munich. There are a number of reliable sources there that guests have used without problems, sadly the same cannot be said of some Austrian companies.

John

 

[Wapping]

OK, let's see if this is any good as a personal recommendation of a sort.

When my 1600 boiled its guts out on the Grossglockner last August it was recovered back down the pass to a BMW dealer's.

I have tracked them down.

It was: http://www.bmw-motorrad.at/at/de/index.html who are BMW Kaufmann in Kaprun.

http://www.kaufmann.bmw.at/503/index

Landesstraße 30
5710 Kaprun
Tel: 06547 / 8534
Email: [email protected]

They are actualy quite a big car dealership, with the bike section sandwiched on the side. They were very helpful and I recall rented out bikes.

Salzburg to Kaprun is a modest 70 miles, straight down main roads. This is a lot closer than the 500 miles necessary to drive to Nice. You could even take in the must-do site at Berchtesgaden on the way down or back.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?sadd...7CRcSBt3RzE32zPwp4SZ5w&oq=salz&mra=ls&t=m&z=9

The well known 'bikers hotel' Sonnblick sources their rental bikes from the dealership, so I guess the rental facility is still open for business.

http://www.hotel-sonnblick.at/en/motorbike-rental.html

 

[The Grey One]

OK, let's see if this is any good as a personal recommendation of a sort.

When my 1600 boiled its guts out on the Grossglockner last August it was recovered back down the pass to a BMW dealer's.

I have tracked them down.

It was: http://www.bmw-motorrad.at/at/de/index.html who are BMW Kaufmann in Kaprun.

http://www.kaufmann.bmw.at/503/index

Landesstraße 30
5710 Kaprun
Tel: 06547 / 8534
Email: [email protected]

They are actualy quite a big car dealership, with the bike section sandwiched on the side. They were very helpful and I recall rented out bikes.

Salzburg to Kaprun is a modest 70 miles, straight down main roads. This is a lot closer than the 500 miles necessary to drive to Nice. You could even take in the must-do site at Berchtesgaden on the way down or back.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?sadd...7CRcSBt3RzE32zPwp4SZ5w&oq=salz&mra=ls&t=m&z=9

The well known 'bikers hotel' Sonnblick sources their rental bikes from the dealership, so I guess the rental facility is still open for business.

http://www.hotel-sonnblick.at/en/motorbike-rental.html

No mention of bike hire on the Kaufmann website. The dealer in Salzburg does, however, feature hire bike http://www.motodrom.eu/bmw_vermietung/allgemein/
Looks like bikes are fully insured but the excess is 2000 Euros. Unlike Austrian hire cars you can take the bikes into Slovenia and at least part of Croatia. I would be very interested in this if it works out but the company was one of those that failed to respond to our enquiries a few years ago.

John

 

[The Grey One]

A sort of PS

Meant to say a lot of dealers here will rent bikes but it is usually done on a ad hoc basis with maybe just a printed notice in the showroom. Most are not keen on making bookings unless at short notice.

John

 

[Wapping]

No mention of bike hire on the Kaufmann website.

John

The hotel Sonnblik certainly gets their bikes from somewhere.

The bike section of the BMW dealership in Kaprun was quite small, definitely the poorer sister of the much bigger car dealership. However, they definitely rented bikes, as there was the option for me to have one had my 1600 not fired back into life. The hires were advertised much as you say above, through a notice in the dealership window.

On another website I tripped over a thread where a local had commented that many of the dealerships did not advertise that they hired bikes out.... But that they did so. An odd way to run a business perhaps? Maybe it's because they have come to a deal with the 'biker' hotels (like the Sonnblik and Enzian) who get first call?

Either way, it seems that the OP should be able to rent a GS (or a different bike) either in Salzburg, Kaprun or (at a push) Nice.

 

[The Grey One]

The hotel Sonnblik certainly gets their bikes from somewhere.

The bike section of the BMW dealership in Kaprun was quite small, definitely the poorer sister of the much bigger car dealership. However, they definitely rented bikes, as there was the option for me to have one had my 1600 not fired back into life. The hires were advertised much as you say above, through a notice in the dealership window.

On another website I tripped over a thread where a local had commented that many of the dealerships did not advertise that they hired bikes out.... But that they did so. An odd way to run a business perhaps? Maybe it's because they have come to a deal with the 'biker' hotels (like the Sonnblik and Enzian) who get first call?

Either way, it seems that the OP should be able to rent a GS (or a different bike) either in Salzburg, Kaprun or (at a push) Nice.

I think you will find that the hotels with BMW bikes get then through a deal with BMW, they may be supplied through a local dealer however. As we both have said now many Austrian dealers do rent bikes. Most are like our local Ducati/Suzuki dealer, they have a few bikes that they well rent out but if someone comes along to buy them then the bike gets sold. I think this explains the reluctance to take forward bookings, they don't want to commit and pass up the chance of a sale.

And an odd way to run a business-welcome to Austria! We have recently changed our car, we got a quote and when we went in to sign we were asked, by the dealer principal, to come back another day because the young man who gave us the quote had the day off!

John

 

[jackd]

A great help, Thanks guys

 

[Neil W]

www.fot.at based in zell am see about 40 miles from salzburg or alternately try Kaufmann bmw based in kaprun both do gs hire