Of course, I would love to take one of my amazing Triumphs to Europe and ride; however, that’s not in the timeline or the budget.
So we rent. The process is relatively easy, not much different than renting a car. However, the logistics are the real brain teaser.
While planning this motorcycle trip, or from what I understand, any motorcycle trip to Europe is where you enter the continent and plan on exiting. Many of us from the US enter one country and plan on going out of another. We do this to experience more in sometimes a limited amount of time.
I was initially looking to start my rental in one city and finish my rental in another. This made quite a cluster mess when looking at flights, dates, motorcycle rental companies, and the towns they serve; my head was spinning.
I eventually settled on Milan, Italy, as my entry and exit, making choosing a rental company easy. HPMotorrad has an established history in the area..according to the internet at least. They are not paying me or offering free services, so I’ll tell you about my experience. They are not the cheapest or the most expensive, which in my experience, is the sweet spot. While I could not rent a Triumph, I was given two real options, Ducati and BMW.
My rental will include three cases and a helmet. I’ll talk about gear in a later post.
So what model? I have a Triumph Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer so a 1200GS would be perfect. However, I want something smaller and more agile. I don’t want to worry about the weight; I will distribute all my gear between the rental cases and Mosko Backcountry 40L Duffle. I want to ride something easy to maneuver and, most importantly, feel comfortable stopping and starting.
I’ve reserved a BMW 850GS, and my backup is a Ducati Multistrada V2 S, both models will fit the bill perfectly.
These two bikes are the right mix of power and agile riding style, perfect for me. My bikes here at home are more powerful than these, but with gear and riding unfamiliar roads, swapping CCs for easy to manage, is a good decision for me.