When the company I work for wanted to send me to San Jose, California for a convention, reserving a Harley to cruise the California coast was among the reservations I wanted to make. I even tried to get the green light to include the rental fee in my transportation expenses, I mean, why rent a car when you can rent a motorcycle? The people who sign off on such requests played the liability card and nulpted me, so out of pocket it would be.
The first step seemed obvious, find a Harley Davidson dealer in the San Jose area that rented bikes. The next step was to map out the distance on Google maps from my hotel to the various dealerships, to identify the closest renter. Unlike Enterprise, the local Harley dealers won’t pick you up.
The final step in my quest to rent a Harley was comparing available rentals, terms of service, rental rates and deposit requirements. The local Harley Davidson dealers had daily rental rates that were within $50.00 of eachother, offered a variety of cruiser and touring models, supplied helmets for both rider and passenger, and offered a secure location to leave any valuables behind that I didn’t want to take on my trip. The biggest discrepancy I found was in the security deposit, which was as high as several thousand dollars.
After factoring all the variables, including the cost of a cab ride to and from the dealership, I decided to rent from The House of Thunder Harley Davidson in Morgan Hills, California. The House of Thunder was located 15 miles from where I was staying in San Jose, had competitive rates, and didn’t require advanced reservations. The last thing I wanted to do was rent a Harley in advance only to have it be pouring buckets on the day of my planned ride.
Shortly after checking into my hotel room, I was pleasantly surprised to see an advertisement for EagleRider of San Jose. While I had never heard of EagleRider before, we quickly became acquainted.
Calling the rental shop, I learned that their prices and service were the same as the local Harley Davidson dealer I planned on visiting, the bikes they rented were all current and low mileage, and their deposit requirement was reasonable. The best part was that EagleRider of San Jose was conveniently in walking distance from where I was staying.
The folks at EagleRider were great! We got through the required paperwork quickly, performed a walk around of the Heritage Softail Classic that I was renting to note any significant damage to the bike, they demonstrated how to use the supplied wheel lock, and I was on my way to the California Coast!