USA 2012 - Which bike hire company?

fatal said:
Thanks Jon, will check out those restaurants. We've already checked out the Gunstore (we're all shooters). For our last day in San Fran, we've got Alcatraz booked for the morning and for later in the day a hook up with San Francisco Police, hoping for a ride about town in a squad car.(we're members of the International Polce association)
Six more sleeps to go :D
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There's some lovely female shooting instructors at The Gun Store (women! with guns! :drool)

Get to Alcatraz early as poss. The Rangers run tours to bits of it not open to the public, which can be really interesting (laundry room where Al Capone had to work, etc). Do the guided audio tour & then some of those if you can - you could spend the whole day there.

Take lots of extra camera memory cards for the trip! Agree a signal for stopping to take a scenic pic, etc, or it'll never happen - and there's loads :D If I did it again (probably will) I'd try and leave earlier & give myself more time on the road, even if it's a short distance, so I could stop whenever I wanted.

Have a good trip, let us know how it went :thumb2
 
Jon said:
There's some lovely female shooting instructors at The Gun Store (women! with guns! :drool)
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You sod, I was just off to bed and now you've reminded me of the women with guns.......off to my fav specialist site!
 
Jon said:
Get to Alcatraz early as poss. The Rangers run tours to bits of it not open to the public, which can be really interesting (laundry room where Al Capone had to work, etc). Do the guided audio tour & then some of those if you can - you could spend the whole day there.
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Our plan is to stop overnight in SF on 11th June, visit Alcatraz the following morning and then head down the Pacific Coast Highway to Carmel for the night (123 miles). The main reason for stopping in SF is to visit Alcatraz and see the Golden Gate bridge - how long do the Alcatraz tours take?

Not sure what to do with our helmets and bike jackets whilst we're wandering around - is there anywhere to leave luggage? :confused:
 
sven said:
Not sure what to do with our helmets and bike jackets whilst we're wandering around - is there anywhere to leave luggage? :confused:
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Whenever I checked in anywhere I asked for a late checkout wherever possible - normally free up to about 12/1pm. Just in case you have a beer or two :friday & are a little tardy in rising :D (There's a Hooters in SF.......)

Your hotel in SF probably has an underground/overground but inside the building car park that you'll be paying for daily (check their website). Buy a couple of the curly helmet padlock things (Linky #1, Linky #2) & you can lock your gear to the bike. Or you may be able to leave them behind reception & collect them when you take your bikes out of the car park.

I (we, now Jims found the thread) found a smile, a polite hello & thank you's with an english accent goes miles over there when asking for things ;)

Also, check your map for the location for the iconic bridge pic.......if you're up early you get the fog rolling in & the bridge disappearing & reappearing
 

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sven said:
Our plan is to stop overnight in SF on 11th June, visit Alcatraz the following morning and then head down the Pacific Coast Highway to Carmel for the night (123 miles). The main reason for stopping in SF is to visit Alcatraz and see the Golden Gate bridge - how long do the Alcatraz tours take?

Not sure what to do with our helmets and bike jackets whilst we're wandering around - is there anywhere to leave luggage? :confused:
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The Alcatraz Tour takes half a day and is a brilliant trip. If I recall, you can rent lockers for your gear.

When you go over the Golden gate, stop at the Overlook on the north side but also make you ride up the hill to Golden Gate Park. The views of the bridge and the city are stunning and you'll also get out of the fog!It's called the June gloom and is bloody freezing so have something warm to put on if you are riding in it:thumb

Give me a shout nearer the time because I should be there and we can grab a beer and a clam chowder on Pier 39 :beer:
 
Book the Alcatraz tour as soon as you arrive or you may not get there at all. When we went it was fully booked a day in advance
 
Mutley said:
Book the Alcatraz tour as soon as you arrive or you may not get there at all. When we went it was fully booked a day in advance
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I think we'll book it online well in advance just to on the safe side as it's one of the things on my Bucket List :thumb2
 
Sgt Bilco said:
The Alcatraz Tour takes half a day and is a brilliant trip. If I recall, you can rent lockers for your gear.

When you go over the Golden gate, stop at the Overlook on the north side but also make you ride up the hill to Golden Gate Park. The views of the bridge and the city are stunning and you'll also get out of the fog!It's called the June gloom and is bloody freezing so have something warm to put on if you are riding in it:thumb

Give me a shout nearer the time because I should be there and we can grab a beer and a clam chowder on Pier 39 :beer:
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We've got to ride down to Carmel, so I guess we need to book a 9am trip. Hope we can find the left luggage lockers.

Thanks for the bridge advice - we'll probably head over it on the way in to the city :cool:
 
Eagle did it 4 me

I hired through Eagle Rider in Boston and dropped off in Frisco.
No problems at all. Nice bike and no issues.
I have a GSa here , but used a Goldwing (solo), the big wing was good for upto 450-500 miles a day, and one of 750 miles. Gas is around $4 a gallon, so no issues there.
BM would be great but as there are few fast roads (speed limits), on the east coast, comfort was important. (Rode every day for 31 days).

Added 8525 miles and wore out a front tyre, one way rental. (toatl 32 days).

ONE THING, I travelled in heavy rain, and heat up to 118F so a water cool bike was a good thing. Can u imagine a V twin between ur legs at 118F
If you are going 2 up the wing is the best for distance, you will see lots of Harleys when the sun in out. :thumb

my blog has a few ideas.
www.unitedstatesofamanchester.blogspot.com

At some point our faithfull leader will allow me to add pictures.:ronno
 
fatal said:
We have our first two days in San Fran, then head south down the coast road with a small detour to 'Alice's restaurant' (I bought the LP album back in the early '70's).
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That is not the same place as the song. But on a week end is a good place to meet a lot of people on bikes of all types. At times it is hard to find a place to park with so many bikes.
 
Schtum said:
Ahem... http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2824388&postcount=15 :P

If you hang out at Alice's a lot, you may know some friends of mine, including an Irish guy who works in Cupertino and rides a silver grey GS since he wrote off his yellow one.
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I haven't been up there in about 6 months and have not spent much time there. I usually park across the street from Alice's and look at the bikes and then ride on. I have a blue 05 GS with the three vario bags.
 
dfhepner said:
I haven't been up there in about 6 months and have not spent much time there. I usually park across the street from Alice's and look at the bikes and then ride on. I have a blue 05 GS with the three vario bags.
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Ahh, so you're not one of the Apple mafia, on the big table at the road end of the deck......:D
 
Schtum said:
A bunch of guys who work for Apple and ride bikes. I'm sure they wouldn't dream of describing themselves as Mafia, though.....:D
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Apple----------- hmm Ach well if they bike cant be awe bad :D
 
boatman said:
Apple----------- hmm Ach well if they bike cant be awe bad :D
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When I was there last year, we had lunch one day with the guy who designed the hardware for the iPad. Nice guy, rides a Speed Triple. There was also an English ex-pat who made his $Ms in Google. He was there on his K1200S because his Aston Martin was in the shop. It's a bit of a different world. I love it.....:D
 
People have already mentioned Eagle Rider,

I rented a bike here and it was a pretty good experience. It's a place called Motoquest and they rent BMW's mainly. They just had a grand opening about a month ago.
 
I paid the balance last week and now have the info pack from HC Travel - the bike is being rented from Eaglerider.

There's some good information provided, but they've got the advice about jet lag wrong in my experience (and that of my colleagues who fly longhaul) i.e. they say it's not a problem flying west, whereas I find it easy going east, but hard work flying west (13 trips to China and 2 trips to the States on business) :confused:

I've also bought tickets for Alcatraz, so there's just the helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon to book at great expense :eek: Plus maybe an ATV tour in Moab along the Slickrock Trail :cool:
 
sven said:
There's some good information provided, but they've got the advice about jet lag wrong in my experience (and that of my colleagues who fly longhaul) i.e. they say it's not a problem flying west, whereas I find it easy going east, but hard work flying west (13 trips to China and 2 trips to the States on business) :confused:
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Oh no they haven't. I agree with them, I'm fine going West but coming home knocks me out. You're just weird, Steve.......:P
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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