Thursday 6 September 2012

Checklist for hiring motorbikes in India


I've always wanted to just jump to my bike (Royal Enfield 350 CC) and go, but unfortunately it was too difficult and quite costly to ship my bike from Orissa to Delhi to start my Ist Leh expedition trip. It was my first big road trip, the one I've always dreamed of taking – I was excited and intimidated all at once.

Being a woman who has lived in the city my whole life, I've always wanted to make an escape and go on my own adventure road trip. This is the only thing on my list of what I wanted to do before turning 30 (which is right around the corner).

Anyways, finally I decided to hire a Royal Enfield Electra 350 CC from Delhi and started my search for reputed bikes rental vendors. I have spoken to many bikes rental vendors in Karol bagh and other individuals too but wasn’t satisfied with their late responses and quotation. And most important thing, most of them said; “after taking the bike, it’s your baby and we will be not responsible for any mechanical problem”. And I was wondering, how can someone check/inspect the bike in just one go and can rely on the same for the entire trip. So again I started my search again and found another vendor called Stoneheadbikes.com. I have checked their reviews on Lonely Planet & Horizons Unlimited and found them good.

I sent an enquiry to Stoneheadbikes.com and they revert to me in just 1 hour with all the quotation, terms & conditions, etc. The best part was that they give you in written “We are totally responsible for the mechanical part of the bike, you just need to take care of exterior”. Still I had few doubts in my mind regarding bike model, year & condition. They sent me the pictures and also the past history of the bike and that was enough for me to take a call. I decided to rent a bike from Stoneheadbikes.com only.

Stoneheadbikes.com asked me to deposit 3000 INR in advance and rest had to be pay at the time of bike pick up only. I did it via netbanking!

I have visited to Stoneheadbikes.com sales office on 02/07/2012 to pick up my bike and they took around 30 mins to fulfill all the formalities. They have provided me the spare parts, puncture kit and Laddakh carrier too. They have given me all the enroute local mechanics no’s in case of any emergency.

Finally I started my journey in late afternoon on 02 July and took my first hault at Chandigarh. Oh I forgot, things that I was carrying with me;

Gloves
Helmet
Armored Pant & Jacket
Tank bag
GPS
Sleeping Bag
First aid kit
Bungee Cords
Water proofing
face mask
Petrol Container

On the second day, I started early in the morning around 05:00 AM as I wanted to reach Manali on the same day. Thanks to Stoneheadbikes.com who has given me the superb bike which didn’t stopped by any means for almost 400 KM’s starting from Chandigarh to Manali. Though I took very small breaks of 15-20 mins around 5 times. I reached Manali in the evening and hopped in a hotel near mall road. I didn’t do much that day in the evening as I was tired!

Anyways, I have completed my first road expedition in 13 days and was very happy about smooth completion of my trip. I would recommend all the riders to check the following things before finalizing your bike from any vendor, especially in Delhi;
1)      Model/year of the bike
2)      Gear shift (if you are not comfortable with right side gear shift)
3)      Refund Policy in case you don’t like the bike by any means
4)      Tyres & alignment should be in good condition
5)      Battery condition (should not be more than 6 months old)
6)      Clutch wire & throttle should be new
7)      Break show should be new
8)      Disk oil level
9)      Chain sprocket
10)  Engine, clutch & typid packings
11)  Engine oil thickness (should be new)
12)  Block the silencer outlet to hear any weird engine sound
13)  Wiring
14)  Check all the indicators, tail light & headlight too
15)  Do make a note of all pre-existing damages on the bike and show them to vendor too
16)  Do remember to take original RC, Insurance & PUC of the bike
17)  Read the agreement carefully regarding security deduction & mechanical breakdown.
Rest you need to search, inspect and decide!

Bikes rental in India, Bikes on rent in Delhi, Motorbikes on rent in Delhi, Bullet Bike Center, Rent Bullet in Delhi, Rent bike in Delhi, two wheeler rental in Delhi, Bike hire in Delhi, Renting motorcycles in Delhi, Bike rental, Motorcycles Rental, StoneheadBikes review, Stonehead bikes review, Motorbikes rental in India, Royal Enfield rental in India, Royal Enfield bikes rental in Delhi,

3 comments:

  1. how much did stoneheadbikes charge you for the rental for 13 days ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry for the delayed response. They charged me 800 INR/day along with a security deposit of 10000 INR. Let me know if you need any other information.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, was 800 inclusive of the accessories you mentioned you rented out or was it just the bike?

    ReplyDelete