FJR Rental in the UK

[beemerdons]

Hello Richard,

I know that your topic title reads "FJR Rental in the UK" and I can talk more with you about motorcycle touring in Europe when I see you in Flagstaff on July 25 on our way to WFO in Park City, but I hope that you won't mind some advice from someone who has traveled to Europe every few years to ride motorcycles and who lived in Germany for two years.

If your heart is set on renting an FJR in the UK then I am wasting your time, but I saw "ouch" when you saw the prices that they are getting for the FJR rentals and the cost of bringing your FJR over the Atlantic. I first rode my personal BMW motorcycle through Bavaria in March of 1969 and in all the intervening years of returning to the Alps dozens of times the absolutely most economical way to tour Europe is by using www.knopftours.com Stefan is a personal friend of mine, but I am recommending his services because he provides the most economical means of touring Europe by motorcycle and not because he is mein Freund!

Frankfurt, by being the financial hub of Europe, is one of the cheapest airfares for us flying from the Western United States, there are two flights daily non-stop from Phoenix to Frankfurt and I would believe that Los Angeles International Airport probably has a dozen non-stop flights to to Frankfurt. Knopf Motorradreisen is a 20 Euro and only forty minute train ride from the airport, Stefan's shop is only 250 meters west of the Kircheim train station.

I wanted to make sure that you are aware that the driving time from Frankfurt am Main to Central London is only nine hours and 500 miles; the money that you save is worth the two days coming and going from Germany to the United Kingdom. You will be riding high speed autobahns through Liege - Belgium, Lille - France, and then on the ferry from Calais to Dover.

Stefan's best deal is the BMW K75RT renting for $550 for the first week and only $500 for subsequent weeks. He can obtain Green Card Insurance for only $60 a month. I currently own five motorcycles: 2003 Yamaha FJR1300, 1996 BMW R1100GS, 2005 BMW R1150RT, Harley-Davidson Dyna Glide and a Kawasaki KLR 650. But this fall I will be purchasing a 2008 Yamaha FJR 1300 ABS from D and H in Alabama. My plan is to take advantage of Stefan Knopf's yearly Bike Week Special Shipment. Europeans, especially the Germans, are completely wild for going to Daytona Beach, Florida and Knopf has been providing this service for years. For $775 dollars on the 10th of January every year a special motorcycle transport container is loaded up in the Rhine-Neckar Valley region, then transported to Hamburg by train and onto the docks at Hamburg for freighter shipment to Orlando. On March 10th every year the process is reversed and the bikes return to Germany. Stefan does all of the handling of your bike for you and throws in two months of free storage at his shop for the $775.

I plan to ride my 2003 FJR to Orlando next March and turn it over to Stefan, and fly back to PHX. Then in Summer of 2008 I'll spend two months traveling through Europe and North Africa. Stefan charges just $22 a month to store your bike in his heated warehouse. In January of 2009 I'll fly back to Orlando and pick up my '03 Silver Beauty and ride it home to Arizona.

If you are leaving for Europe this Summer, and need any extra information, please feel free to call me at my home in Chandler, Arizona at 480-917-3863 or at my office at Metro Mechanical in Phoenix at 602-254-1191x148.

Very Best Regards to you and I'll see you in a few weeks at WFO! Sincerely, Don

 

[kaitsdad]

How much would it cost to ship a bike over & back?

Not worth it - you'd have to convert it to right hand drive, since the Brits drive on the other side of the road.

Jill

Oooooo,

I want to import a right-hand-drive FJR! :blink: :blink:

yeah...they are faster (apparently)

Naw - I find it very confusing to brake with the left hand, and clutch with the right. And let's not even talk about the foot controls..... :blink:

 

[keithaba]

I have been searching for bike rentals in the UK for a few day and came across this
Doesn't seem too bad as it includes 17.5% VAT Insurance and unlimited miles. You can also ride it on the Continent (which you can't do with a car).

R

Ouch! That is like $800.00! I wish I could do it though!

It's not that bad. I just paid $200 after insurance and tax to rent a BMW R1200 GS for 1 day in California.

 

[colin]

good point don.

the only good reason to fly to London is if you are heading up into england/scotland. It's pretty awesome if you get up into the scottish highlands.

but if not, start on the continent, don't start having to get there.

for european travel, try to get some advice on each countries habits a bit.... in germany, people don't really like bikes doing things like filtering in town. so that is dangerous there. swiss and norwegian police are rabid. france is great for biking, cars will move out of the way, etc. italy/portugal have very dangerous car drivers for bikes.

**** like that.....

man, i'm jealous.... would love to go back. of course, roads here are pretty damn good too!

 

[Fairlaner]

Hey guys, I just phoned Raceways for you. They have a branch in West London near Heathrow Airport, so a short taxi ride or underground journey off the airplane.
The £395 per week includes insurance and breakdown cover for the UK but you would have to pay extra for European cover.

The good news is they come with panniers (side cases) included, so you could bring your luggage in pannier liners and off you go. There is plenty of info on their website but if you need more info, contact them at [email protected]

or reply to this topic and I can see what I can do.

Fly Virgin and you can get a ride on an FJR there! :yahoo:

Dude Virgin upper class is the only way to fly, and at $1100 (plus miles) round trip from LA it is cheap too.

Don I am going to the UK in 2 weeks with my wife, (friends wedding) and then plan on going back on my own in early October. I may rent an FJR at that time depending on what the weather looks like.

see ya in a few weeks.

Richard

 

[beemerdons]

Colin,

Outstanding and obviously first hand observations on European M/C Travel: We saw more hand held and photo radar in Switzerland last month that any of the other countries that we toured. Don't get me started on vignettes! I feel that the French rural drivers and Spanish drivers on the Mediterranean coast are some of the best in their behavior towards motorcyclists; spent ten days in Andalucia on a bike in February of 2006 and from Barcelona to Gilbraltar never felt uncomfortable. Rode to Lisbon from Augsburg many, many years ago on a R60/2 with only 30 horsepower; way too many close calls on my drum brake Beemer. Five years ago I rented a Ducati Monster in Rome; what a life threatening experience, every roundabout was a crap shoot!

Don

 

[teerex51]

<snip> Five years ago I rented a Ducati Monster in Rome; what a life threatening experience, every roundabout was a crap shoot!
Don

Sadly, it's true... and it's gotten worse in the past couple of years. Riding in Italy has gone from "la dolce vita" to nightmare in less than a decade. :angry:

In view of their total impotence and inability to better educate drivers and riders, the legislators here have chosen an over-the-top punitive course, with the added benefit of pumping up the income of local townships. So it's fixed radars everywhere and "kangaroo" speed traps at every corner.

A campaign for road safety takes money, time and intelligence. All such items are in short supply in Parliament.

The end result for the bike rider is: you have f***ed-up cagers all around you, lawless scooter drivers everywhere in the city and when you finally hit the twisties it's like flying a bomb run on Hanoi :blink: You need a backseater to warn you of all electronic devices pointed at you.

So, I'm taking the FJR to Spain this Tuesday --- thank you very much. Good roads, friendly people and cheaper gas. Vamos! :yahoo:

Stef

 

[beemerdons]

Dear Stef,

Have fun riding your FJR in Spain, what a beautiful country for motorcycling. Say, do you know a lot about M/C touring in Northern Spain. If you draw a line from Lisboa to Perpignan, I have ridden most of the landscape South of that line. But I have never been riding in the Porto, Vigo and Bilbao area, the region the Spaniards call Asturia.

If you head to Northern Spain I would love to read your trip report, in particular the Picos de Europa; I have heard, but not seen, that it rivals the Alps for switchback roads.

Sincerely, Don

 

[colin]

Stef, i just spent 10 days on an MV throughout most of Italy (mostly south, but all over as we eventually went back to zurich). Didn't notice any 'extra' LEO presence, of course we stayed out of all big-ish cities.... but wasn't so bad to me!

 

[teerex51]

Stef, i just spent 10 days on an MV throughout most of Italy (mostly south, but all over as we eventually went back to zurich). Didn't notice any 'extra' LEO presence, of course we stayed out of all big-ish cities.... but wasn't so bad to me!

Glad to hear that Colin.

fftopic: I'm more familiar with the country's north, as I have not been riding (or driving) in the south for over a decade.

Here in the Northwest you want to avoid all the fun roads with twisties at weekends (local LEOs love to ambush weekend riders with hand-held lasers) and

all state-highway approaches to small and medium-sized towns (where concealed fixed radars have been placed by the hundreds).

Ironically, motorways are fairly police-free and only a few fixed radars are placed there (and most everyone knows where they're at).

A novel threat is represented by a system that will monitor your average speed over a given distance. This is still experimental but it seems to work just fine.

Here I must point out that most of my riding buddies and I do not object to speed limits or controls as such. We recognize the need to prevent accidents and save lives. The problem is when you, as a bike rider, become just another revenue item and no holds are barred for the local fuzz. Clearly, a ridiculously low speed limit (say 40 km on a 4-lane divided highway) over a very short distance (say 200 meters) and a speed trap right smack in there are a clear indication that every pretense of accident prevention has been dropped in favor of "hand over your cash and f*** off".

Stef