Motorcycle rentals perfect for high-adventure touring

VALLEY OF FIRE STATE PARK -- If you love touring by motorcycle, but your destination is too far from home to take your bike, a rental may be the perfect alternative.

Motorcycle rentals are available almost anywhere worth seeing, whether it's riding from Chicago to Los Angeles on Route 66, through northwest Canada to Alaska, or even in the Himalayas or the Alps.

My choice was a Harley-Davidson for a ride through an expanse of desert in Southern Nevada, where the scorching summer temperatures were matched only by the breathtaking vistas. Petrified sand dunes have been shaped here over the millennia into red formations with illusions of flames that give the place its name and feel: Valley of Fire.

My trip started in Las Vegas, where no fewer than three dealerships offer motorcycle rentals. I took a deep breath when I first gazed at the 1,500-cubic centimeter bike I rented, twice the size of the 750-cubic centimeter BMW I've driven for 33 years -- and a tad bigger than the motor in at least one car I've owned. But as I became accustomed to the feel of the big machine, I was grateful for its power and weight, which kept the machine stable as it cut effortlessly through gusts of blast-furnace wind.

The desert ride is just a taste of what the avid biker can sample on a rental. Companies such as EagleRider, Ayres Adventures and Alaska Rider offer rentals, self-guided or guided tours on a variety motorcycles in an array of settings.

Ours was a fairly simple rental, with no set itinerary and just a bike for 24 hours. My bill, including taxes and $30 supplemental insurance, came to $196.56.

But rental tours can get a lot more elaborate in an industry that seems as boundless as the American West.

Los Angeles-based EagleRider, which started in 1992 with four motorcycles rented out of a garage, now has a fleet of 3,500 bikes from Harley-Davidsons, Hondas and BMWs to Vespa scooters, said company marketing manager David Goff.

EagleRider's 16-day Wild West tour is one of its most popular, following a loop that swings through places such as Palm Springs, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park and San Francisco. The cost for a guided tour, about $4,600, covers one bike, hotel rooms along the way and a support van to haul the riders' gear. For information on Las Vegas area EagleRider locations, visit www.eaglerider.com/lasvegas/lasvegas.aspx

Another popular run, said Goff, is its Route 66 tour from Chicago to Los Angeles. The tour passes through places including the Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, N.M., and the cemetery where Abraham Lincoln is buried in Springfield, Ill.

The company operates on a franchise basis from locations that include Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the United Kingdom and other nations.

Ayres Adventures books tours in Africa, South America, New Zealand, Europe (including the Alps) and North America (especially Canada and Alaska).

Its 17-day "Escape to Machu Picchu" has an itinerary that sounds like it was borrowed from "The Motorcycle Diaries," winding 2,500 miles through Brazil, Argentina and Chile before reaching Peru's Lost City of the Incas. The price for a single rider and motorcycle (BMW) rental, including lodging, breakfasts and 16 dinners, is $8,975 for this season.

Alaska Riders offers guided and self-guided tours in Alaska and Canada's northwest. Hoping to promote its international reach for adventure trips, the company created MotoQuest Tours, which go to 11 countries, said founder Phil Freeman.

Perhaps its most adventurous is MotoQuest's 12-day "Himalayan Adventure" on dirt and paved roads in India, a ride that ascends 16,000 feet and comes within a mile of Tibet.

Motohaven, from the San Francisco Bay area, has a less-formalized approach and tries to customize its rentals to its customers, said co-owner Justin Kurland.

Motohaven will arrange to pick up renters at the airport so they can hit the road sooner, and will negotiate packages with larger groups, said Kurland.