It’s way easier than you would have guessed! There are many different ways to rent a motorcycle these days. You can rent from a franchised operator like Eagle-Rider, a motorcycle rental and tour provider. Or if you’re a bit more adventurous, you can rent using a peer-to-peer (P2P) motorcycle rental platform like RiderShare, Twisted Road, or EagleShare. Each method has its benefits and drawbacks, but there is an abundance of options for you to find a suitable motorcycle rental. We’ll go over brief descriptions for each platform, some pros and cons, and some other supplemental pieces of information in the featured article below.

All You Need To Know About Motorcycle Rentals

As you can see, there is slowly becoming a new subculture in the motorcycle world, a world of motor bike rentals filled with entrepreneurs, handy bike owners, and everything in between. However, we’ve noticed there is a lack of available information on the topic, so we’re here to shed some light on it today. Funny enough, a question that we get asked a lot is…

Does Turo Have Motorcycles?

No, Turo does not have motorcycles. Turo is, at this point in time, an automotive rental platform only. In the motorcycle rental world, there are talks of Turo considering an acquisition of a P2P rental platform, but it is ultimately unknown at this point. Whenever I’m introducing someone to the concept of renting a motorcycle, I happen to describe it as “Turo but for motorcycles” to get the point across.

Turo vs RiderShare | Homepage Booking Comparison

As you can see, the landing page of Turo and Ridershare alike are very similar. For whatever reason, you’ll notice this is the case with most P2P rental platforms. I often wonder if there is a single service provider that is hosting all of their sites. Ultimately the answer to the questions “Does Turo rent motorcycles?” and “Can you rent motorcycles on Turo?” is no, on both accounts.

Should I rent P2P or via EagleRider?

I ask you in return, what is important to you? EagleRider is definitely more expensive, as there are higher rates for daily rentals, insurance charges, and other fees associated with renting through, what is essentially, a motorcycle rental dealership. On the other hand, Riders-Share, Twisted Road and EagleShare are more affordable and also give you a larger variety of motorcycles to choose from. Services like EagleRider typically stick to traditional touring motorcycles and the like. Think of Harley-Davidsons, BMW R 1250 GS, etc..

As you may have noticed, I’m a huge proponent for the Riders-Share platform. So much so that after speaking with their CEO Guillermo Cornejo, I’ve begun spreading my affiliate link to grow the platform! From my own personal experiences and those of whom I’ve spoken, Riders-Share appears to be the most promising platform in the motorcycle rental space.

[recent_post_carousel design=”design-1″]

Riders-Share In Comparison

To confirm my overall sentiment, I’m a huge proponent of the Riders-Share platform. I recommend Riders-Share over every other P2P rental provider. This includes the likes of Twisted Road and EagleShare. I’ll tell you why below.

In the Rider-Share review we featured above, you’ll notice that Riders-Share is the most robust company relative to their competitors. They offer the highest level of protection and consistency from their insurance program and offer a direct reimbursement functionality should your bike get damaged in either case. This is good for the bike owners, but how does it benefit the renter? Riders-Share uses uniquely programmed machine learning algorithms to calculate the risk of each individual renter. This means that each person will have a variable rate for insurance depending solely on their background. This background is calculated through things like credit history, driving record, how long they have been riding, and what kind of bike they would like to rent. Some of that is unexpected, but things like a supersport motorcycle being more expensive to rent than a cruiser is pretty much common sense.

Twisted Road does have a more modernly designed platform but…

Overall reports are that Twisted Road does not have the same robust process for reconciling damage compared to RiderShare. Additionally, there have been many reports of accidents, both mundane and severe, on the Twisted Road platform. I speculate that this is due to the audience, or the clientele, that the platform attracts. RiderShare is geared towards a broader audience, whereas it seems that Twisted Road, by visual design and functionality, would appeal to a younger clientele.

Personal Gripe with Twisted Road

A big complaint that I have with the platform is that you are required to request a rental from the owner. This means that you can be denied the chance to rent a particular bike, and it also means that there is some delay between your request and acceptance, which makes it difficult to plan around your booking. This functionality is optional on Riders-Share. In most cases, you can instantly book on the Riders-Share platform. Some owners still decide to require a request prior to acceptance, but at least you have the option. Twisted Road appears to be a less viable option for those who are more serious about making money with their rentals solely based on the lack of functionalities like this. Many RiderShare owners I’ve spoken with have told me that most of their rental volume comes from the Riders-Share platform. In most cases, these owners have claimed that Twisted Road only creates more hassle for them, ultimately leading them not to use the platform. In other words, the small amount of relative traffic, when compared to Riders-Share, is not worth the effort to maintain rental listings on the site.

What About EagleShare?

EagleShare is somewhat the new kid on the block. They’re backed by the franchised rental company Eagle Rider Motorcycle Rentals & Tours, but have yet to see much success in the market relative to their peers. You would expect more out of a platform like this, especially when backed by a prominent parent company. The issue seems to lie in their insurance provider. Different from their peers, EagleShare’s insurance providers require that each potential renter be evaluated individually. This means that while Riders-Share uses algorithmic calculations to determine a renter’s risk level, EagleShare’s insurance provider manually reviews each candidate which often leads to denial – almost fifty percent of the time.

Something I’ve come to learn from my time in the space, P2P rental providers make most of their money from the hosts on the platform – not the renters. So what does this mean for EagleShare? EagleShare is currently offering zero commissions for 12 months, for all new hosts on the platform. While they may have some kinks to iron out in terms of their usability, there may be some potential for the curious entrepreneur. I plan to continue using the RiderShare platform but will be keeping a close eye on EagleShare developments. Like I said earlier, having backing from an established parent company can become quite the edge in the market.

Did I miss anything?

Be sure to give those featured articles a read, they are much more in-depth than what I can provide here.

Already have a trip planned? Get some motorcycle touring ideas from the midwest and Europe or take a look at our handpicked motorcycle destinations!

Featured article from Behind The Wrench, The Seasoned Wrench