In 2018, I started renting out my motorcycles on what was then a new app, Riders Share. It was a very interesting experience, so I wanted to write this Riders Share review to share some ideas about how to use the platform to earn passive income. Well, somewhat passive.
“Rent out your motorcycle?? You’re crazy!” you cry. I agree. But in my defence, I had already decided to sell my motorcycle.
And it wasn’t a V-Rod (though I’ve rented one of those myself!), nor a used Ducati Superbike. It was a beater. And I was going to make a few bucks off it!
Since then, I’ve not just rented out my own bikes, but also have rented bikes from many owners on Riders Share, and had a chance to speak to many of them about their experiences.
The summary is that renting out motorcycles is a great way to earn side income on your unused motorcycles. You aren’t going to get rich, but this is a way to make it affordable to own too many motorcycles — as long as you’re willing to do basic maintenance.
You already know that motorcycling is a money pit of a hobby. Generally speaking, you can spend anywhere from a minimum of hundreds to many thousands a year on regular upkeep (chain, tires, oil etc.), major services, registration, insurance, gear, parking tickets, and undercover parking — and that’s before you buy those new motorcycles you’ve lusted after. It really adds up!
But renting out motorcycles, even if they’re not your main steed, is a way of making motorcycles less painfully expensive. And in some cases, you might even make it profitable!
Sign up to Riders Share. Make some cash, meet some riders, and get a discounted first rental.
Here’s how to rent out motorcycles easily — a magical new(ish) startup based in Los Angeles called Riders Share.
Founded by Guillermo Paco Cornejo, it basically works like Getaround does for cars, but for motorcycles. You make a listing, add pretty photos of your motorbikes and pricing, and then (if there’s any demand for your model and at that price), watch the bookings come in.
Here’s how it worked for me, plus a business case for how to do it.
Are you obsessed with motorcycles?
Well, I am. That’s why I created this site — as an outlet. I love learning and sharing what others might find useful. If you like what you read here, and you’re a fraction as obsessed as I am, you might like to know when I’ve published more. (Check the latest for an idea of what you’ll see.)
The business case for renting out motorcycles on Riders Share
Most people ride just on weekends. Some, not even every weekend. There’s a popular statistic that John Zimmer of Lyft likes to mention, that cars are > 95% unutilised — just sitting around in parking spaces. This number must be SO MUCH HIGHER for motorcycles.
On the other hand, demand (usually by out-of-town travellers) is high. You can buy a popular older motorcycle that is low maintenance, of generic appeal and reliable, and have a reasonably high ROI.
The profit target for renting out motorcycles on Riders Share
How much money can you make? It depends on the model and pricing (see the tips below). But you can make around $1–2K per year per motorcycle, which is pretty amazing considering it’s something most people SINK a lot more money into.
Here’s a simple model I made to show this.
Investment required to rent out motorcycles
You’re going to have to buy a motorcycle. Maybe a second one, if you don’t want to rent out your first (it’s your baby/it’ll be too nightmarish dealing with a crash/you don’t want people to thrash your R1).
There are two ways of doing this.
Firstly, you might want to rent out an older motorcycle, one that is worth $2–3K — generally anything that has stopped depreciating but that isn’t too old or the platform.
Motorcycles stop falling in value and maintain it at a certain point. They become valued as something that runs, is regularly serviced, and is in roadworthy condition.
Alternatively, you might also want to buy a newer motorcycle, and consider your investment to be the purchase price minus the eventual sales price — it is possible to factor in selling the motorcycle in a few years for a lower price.
For example, I could justify buying a newish Triumph Bonneville for $7,000, then selling it for $5,000 in two years time.
Ongoing costs of running a motorcycle rental business
Ongoing costs include two major parts. One is regular maintenance (tires, chain/sprockets, oil, plugs, filters), and one is major service (valves). Most regular maintenance you can do yourself, but you can even outsource that if you need to.
Few people choose to do valve inspections and adjustments on a range of motorcycles (unless they LOVE being a mechanic), so feel free to outsource that to a competent local mechanic.
Return on Investment of renting out motorcycles
Here, I look at EBITDA — i.e. not factoring in depreciation costs or the amortisation of major spend.
This is because I presume anyone renting out a motorcycle would be renting out something slightly older, which has negligible depreciation costs (the value is maintained and directly relative to how well maintained they are).
Also, EBITDA is the best way to understand payback period relative to your investment (either the total purchase price of an older vehicle, or the depreciation of a newer one).
How to hit profit targets — tips
Here are some tips for making your listing attractive.
Have a great listing that appeals to the target market. If you’ve sold motorcycles before, this is a different style of writing. Think of your target market: probably from out of town, many just looking for fun. They’re not looking for a dream ride, they’re just looking to blast around.
Things that help are
- Having a cheap, versatile, reliable, and fun machine
- Options like luggage, a throttle lock, heated grips
- Having gear to rent
- Being available at various hours
I’ve rented a 250cc single cylinder in random countries and had a BLAST compared to the alternative (a buggy or car). Depending on the part of the country, they might want to get to some of the long roads out there.
So write a listing with copy that bears this in mind. Sell the feeling, don’t sell the motorcycle. You don’t need to worry about dings in the paint.
Buy some cheap gear (helmet, gloves). You know those $100 helmets you’d never wear yourself? Well, as long as they’re DOT-approved and in good condition, those are the difference between life and death, and in many states, between legal and illegal.
Having helmets on hand will help the rental happen with those many out-of-towners who didn’t even think to bring a helmet (90% of them), or those who would rather not because they’re huge. Buy size large. It’ll do for most people.
(You can lend your own gear, but that’s even more intimate than sharing your motorcycle. Gross!)
Offer services to help, and make this explicit in your ad. Let them store gear at your house if they over-packed. Give them tie-downs for their luggage and locks. Make sure your motorcycle is equipped with a phone mount and charger. Offer a ride to/from their hotel or AirBnB if practical. All this stuff helps!
Be strategic with pricing. Check other ads in the area. Don’t price based on cost to yourself; price based on what is likely to be attractive to a potential renter. Just one more reason not to rent out that 2018 model BMW R 1200 GS.
Do your own basic maintenance. After every renter returns their motorcycle to me, I clean and lube the chain and wipe it down. I start it, check the miles, see if it needs an oil change, and look at the brake pads. Aside from that, motorcycles don’t need much. When it comes to major service, you can opt to do your own valve inspections or outsource the job.
Buy models popular with renters. Buy only cheap but cool models that need infrequent major service, low insurance and cheap tires.
According to Riders Share, some of the more popular models are Ducati Monsters, Triumph Bonnevilles and adventure bikes. This mimics what you see on the larger rental sites, so think about buying the older, cheaper versions of those.
If you can, prioritise models with things like
- Luggage
- Heated grips
And throw on a cheap throttle lock so people have something like cruise control without spending big money.
Do your own marketing & promotions. I don’t actually know what benefit this had, but I opened a Google Business site and made some posts. I took my phone number off (I just got a lot of phone calls that went nowhere).
FAQs
Here are a few things people keep asking me, so I’ll answer them here.
How do you let some random person ride your motorcycle?? I would never do that!
It’s quite hard to watch your baby go the first time. No matter how attached you are to your motorcycle, it’s difficult watching someone else ride it off. Even when you sell it! Aside from this, bear the following in mind.
Firstly, most motorcycle renters are like you — lovers of the hobby, people who pay attention to their machines.
To most people who I’ve met through Riders Share, I’d have lent the motorcycle anyway. I’d probably have been their friends or riding buddies. They seemed cool. I bet they’d have done the same for me whenever I visited their hometown. I’ve never met any bad riders.
Secondly, you could consider buying a ‘backup’ motorcycle to rent out, something you’re willing to let go.
One person dropped one of my bikes and scratched up the clutch cover and broke a brake lever. On anything unscratched, especially a new and expensive model with fairings, this would have been a major hassle.
But this was an old motorcycle that cost me less than $2K, had a salvage title (at the time, salvage title bikes were covered by Riders Share’s policy — this has changed). And the best part — the rider replaced the brake lever before returning it to me with a new item. (These are good people.)
Be sure to make claims for any damage through Riders Share. They’re quick and very fair with claims. They won’t fix tiny scratches that can be deemed wear and tear, but for anything significant, you’ll get a payout.
So think of all those motorcycles you’d buy if you could afford keeping them. Older machines that aren’t a Panigale V4.
Around the SF Bay area, some popular machines (that I like) are:
- Triumph Bonneville/Scrambler ($4–6K for a nice example)
- Kawasaki KLR650 kitted out for adventure ($3–4K, kitted out for adventure)
- Harley Davidson Sportster (older one) ($4–5K if stock-ish, well maintained)
- Suzuki SV650S or Ninja 650 ($3–4K for well-maintained)
- The list goes on…
These are all machines that are reasonably reliable and unlikely to completely cark out on you (which is why I didn’t have a Ducati in the list, as much as I love them. I don’t want to do that much valve maintenance, as renters can put hundreds of miles a day on machines).
What about insurance? If they crash it, is it going to hurt my premiums?
Riders Share has a third-party insurance policy with no risk to you, the motorcycle owner. Read it. Basically, the rider is liable for up to $2,000 themselves, and then after that it’s covered by their insurance policy.
If you’re a rider and renting from Riders Share, then you can use insurance to reduce your deductible. For travellers like me, I recommend World Nomads but with the Explorer plan. Here’s my review of that experience. (Disclaimer: Read the PDS.)
I’ve never used this website. How do people find out motorcycles what you have to rent?
Every person I rented to was been using the website for the first time. They all had a similar story: They wanted to come to the Bay Area (where my motorcycle was), they wanted a motorcycle, but didn’t want to fork out $150+ for a motorcycle from one of the major shops. So they found the website and found my machines.
In putting this post up, I’m hoping more people will find mine (and yours). Write about it! Publish about it on your local motorcycle forum! Every link helps the community grow.
Has anyone damaged one of your bikes?
I have my own story, but I also have stories from other owners whose bikes have been damaged or even totalled (more below). In short, I would expect damage to happen at some point.
There was one time someone damaged one of my bikes. They told me, but I didn’t know the extent of the damage until I went to sell it (back to the mechanic who originally sold it to me).
The person admitted they dropped it at a standstill. They broke a brake lever. To their credit, they told me that they had, and got another brake lever and replaced it.
But they didn’t tell me that the handlebar was bent. I didn’t notice, and the person who bought it from me did notice. How do I know that this rider did it? The mechanic swore that it didn’t used to have a bent handlebar, and now it did. I trusted him (definitely more than some random renter who crashed my bike).
Another thing that was wrong with the bike was that its fork seals were leaking. I suspect one of the people who rented it did wheelies. I never knew — I had omitted to check the fork seals when picking the motorcycle up again.
Both of these issues were fairly trivial for an older bike. They added up to a few hundred bucks of damage — basically, what I had earned on those rentals.
I probably could have claimed it from Riders Share’s insurance, but it was after the contracts had ended and I didn’t have enough evidence.
Both of these incidents are enough to convince me that if I were to rent out motorcycles on Riders Share again, I would definitely not rent out my pride and joy.
What happens if they crash your bike?
This didn’t happen to me, but I’ve now rented other people’s bikes off Riders Share. I know how this goes.
Riders Share (their insurance, anyway) is very fair with payouts. They’ll pay you the market value of your bike and also other ancillary costs associated with registration.
Because people renting bikes on Riders Share are often from out of town, unfamiliar with the bike and roads, and sometimes having a little too much fun… incidents happen. They’re not common, but they’re more common than they would be if you were riding your own bike in your own area.
So — assume that your bike may be written off. You have to be comfortable with a small chance of that. And if it does, there’ll be a small amount of paperwork, and then a fair payout.
Is renting out on Riders Share “passive income”?
I don’t really like the term “passive income”. I guess it means “income with minimal effort”, like dividends or trust disbursements.
I would not call renting out on Riders Share to be passive income. At some point, it becomes minimal effort once the work becomes mechanical.
There is, of course, the set-up time and cost. You have to learn how to take good photographs of your bikes, advertise them well with good text, get the gear you’ll have to lend to renters who forgot gloves, and set up your profile. Let’s put that to one side.
Once you have your listings up, there’s definite stuff that goes along with every transaction.
Firstly, for every booking, you’ll have to communicate with a few people (or maybe one, if you’re lucky).
You’ll have to make sure they don’t sound crazy, see that your schedules align (you’re not out of town when they’re picking up a bike) and so on.
Then every time someone picks up one of your motorcycles, you have to do a few things. You have to
- Communicate to arrange a meeting
- Meet them for key handover
- Do an inspection and get both parties to sign the doc
- Communicate to arrange drop-off
- Meet to do a final inspection and sign-off
- Do a minor service (for chain-driven bikes, lube the chain and clean it, check the fluids, etc.)
All of that really adds up! That’s why I would call Riders Share less “passive income” than most other things people tout — like owning a blog, or renting out your house on Airbnb. At least with Airbnb you can put a key in a lock box, and hire cleaners and charge it to the renter.
So no, Riders Share isn’t “passive income”. It’s more a way of at least not losing money on the motorcycles you own — making motorcycle ownership more break-even.
Can overseas riders use Riders Share?
In short — Yes! I started using it while living in the US with a California license, but now I continue to use it with an Australian drivers license and credit card.
You may have to send more paperwork to prove your riding history to Riders Share, but it’s fine. At check-in, I show my weirdly shiny Australian license to the owners, and they don’t bat an eyelid. (See? I’m foreign. Americans say “bat an eye”.)
Riders Share vs Twisted Road
There’s an alternative to Riders Share — Twisted Road. Owners often have their bike on both, but get more bookings through Riders Share.
I’ve used Twisted Road only as a user. I find the check-in and check-out process to be much easier (as a user). The pricing is comparable, but Twisted Road motorcycles often have unlimited mileage, which takes one element of stress out of my day (though I rarely exceed 150 miles/day anyway).
Owners don’t really have a strong preference one way or the other. It’s very low effort to have your profile on both, and you can compare yourself.
Conclusion
In summary, this isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s simply a way of saying you can own a motorcycle to have fun with sometimes and let others have fun with it on occasion, too.
And you might want to rent one out yourself to see what it’s like. I don’t need to own every motorcycle, but I’d love to try a bunch out for a day. I know there’s a Honda CBR600RR in San Jose I have my eye on…
Anyway, if you have something vaguely rent-worthy in your garage, I recommend you give Riders Share a try.
Thanks for the great review/analysis/advice. Note that RiderShare requires rented bikes to be MY2000 and newer.
Interesting! Must be an insurance requirement. I snuck in with my 2001!
Personally, if I were setting up a Riders Share fleet these days, I’d do it with a fleet of CB500X motorcycles. I spoke to a rental owner once who said of everything in his fleet, those were the only ones that never gave him trouble. Presumably the same of the other CB500 engined bikes (CBR500R, CB500F).
You mention using a bike with a salvage title but I was checking out the rider-share web site last night and they specifically mention that a bike be 2000 or newer and with a non salvaged title.
I’d also caution against loaning out old or ill-fitting helmets. Ethically speaking you could get someone injured. Financially speaking you can open yourself up to liability.
I do think you could have a couple of helmets you pick up on sale and offer them as loaners.
Thanks. I think their terms have changed a few times since I made this post. Ray, I’d be curious to know how your experience goes if you want to write me an email.
That’s the bike I have and have been renting out ! I can barely keep up with the bookings its insane !
Where? I’ll rent it out one day if I’m in the area, I miss the thing!
I have a 2015 CBR600RR that I’m thinking of putting on RideShare…how many bookings have you been getting on average?
Hey bud, best you contact Riders Share to get estimates. In my experience, bikes with things like luggage got more bookings. That said, if you’re in Greater LA, I might rent your bike!
Where do you live? Thinking of hosting on ride share but don’t know if I live in a lucrative town. I’m in Huntsville Al.
I used to live in SF when I did Riders Share. I’ve rented bikes in LA, too.
A quick way to assess whether it’s a place that’s in demand is to check out the Riders Share and Twisted Road sites… I just did, and I see one KLR650, and I don’t think it has been rented out. There may be others who’ve had bikes on but removed them. There may also be other rental agencies in the area. If they’re busy, it’s a good sign!
When I started out renting my bike out, the owners of these sites said that I could help out by promoting my own listing. You can advertise it, tell your friends, or tell people on forums. Looks like there’s good riding in your area, so maybe someone will take you up on an offer.
Good luck!
Hey Dana this is great information. I live in New Zealand and I have had this idea for a while however that app isn’t yet available here so it might be a matter of promoting it in a different way.
Hey Dana.
Thanks for writing this. Would’ve never rented out my Suzuki B-King 1340, but the Honda CB500X sounds interesting.
I live on Whidbey Island, and we have a ferry system that gets you to the mainland & back, but summer ferry wait times can be HOURS, unless you have a motorcycle. And people have to go the the mainland often for things like medical appointments they can’t get here, even though we have a hospital. But some also commute a couple days, but don’t necessarily know HOW to ride a motorcycle. Have you run into anyone that owns a Polaris Slingshot (now they offer automatics!) that’s rented it out with this app? Because they’re registered & considered/titles as “motorcycles,” they are allowed to go to the FRONT of ANY ferry line, so there is no multiple-ferry wait to get on, some lines can add up to another 2.5hrs on each side.
The used ones can run in the mid-to-high teens, but most have the stick shift. The new automatic ones start at about $22K. And they’re offering some fairly reasonable financing for 48mo. Just thought it could be a service you could offer in the dry months, even though basic tops can be added … not that that would keep out all the rain. But the basic design seems pretty reliable. And it would be a more value-added use, so you could charge more per day, like $150-200. Obviously, you can’t guarantee demand, but spring/summer/fall ALSO brings thousands of visitors to the island for sight-seeing & adventures. Thanks for any thoughts. Barry
Yes, I’ve seen one Polaris Slingshot that I’d like to try myself next time I’m in LA — https://www.riders-share.com/listing/bawpMrfGoGdJ2HMA6. As far as I understand you do need to still have an endorsement to ride one, plus a helmet etc. Sounds like an interesting hack, but depending on your geography, sounds a bit complicated and potentially expensive. How about bicycles, ebikes, or electric scooters (the kind that Lime etc. rent out)?
Or maybe car rentals on the other side would fix it, if that doesn’t exist.
If you’re just looking for an excuse to buy a Slingshot, please don’t let me and my bright ideas get in the way… I’m confident you have an excellent business plan. Approved.
Great idea keep up the good work for sharing motorbike
I appreciate the info on profitability, but would love to see an actual break down of a net profit per day of rental. How many rental days did you need to reach to have the profit you mentioned? And what is the average number of days a rental lasts? This would affect the amount of time you have to spend, as longer rental periods would be much more profitable for your time spent than a single day.
Thanks again!
That’s an interesting bit of analysis, but the implication of the question becomes: “Is motorcycle rentals a good business idea?” And personally, I’d say “no”. If I wanted to start a business for passive income, I’d think more low-capex, high-return businesses, like Amazon FBA, or niche apps, or a yoga studio (it’s just mats in a room!). But that’s another subject of conversation…
I also did some consulting work in the scooter industry (i.e. electric two-wheel e-mobility things, like Lime, Bird etc.), and let me tell you — everyone looks at per-day economics but ignores the fact that after a surprisingly short period the things are destroyed. You end up building an entire workshop and hiring mechanics / technicians just to keep your ailing fleet on the road. The early business models presented to investors would say “Payback period is just 2 months! And the battery lasts two years!” and then guess what, kids do wheelies, jump them off kerbs, throw them in the river, etc.
So a fleet of highly reliable CB500 motorcycles may seem tantalising, but I would expect you’d have to price high and be very shrewd to get it to work long-term and give you a living income.
This was an incredible amount of useful information, Thanks!
I was wondering why it was so hard to find out how much the renter (me) had to pay for insurance with Riders Share. It made me very suspicious. I’ve rented bikes from rental agencies before and the insurance fees and deductible were significant so I imagine they’ll be at least as much or more with Riders Share.
The other concern is how do you, the owner, manage tire wear? My Kawasaki 1000 goes through Michelins and Bridgstone Battlax’s quite fast and before they’re toast they have flat part down the center from the interstate riding.
That’s it, thanks again – Joe
Hey Joe, it has been a number of years since I rented out with Riders Share, though I do stay in touch with the founder / owner. I have browsed it as a renter recently (every time I visit a new area) and they do make insurance fees plain once you go to make a booking.
On tire wear, I’d factor it into the rental/mileage pricing. If it’s your own primary bike, I can understand you probably put on sportier tires that are more fun. If it’s a bike you primarily rent out, then you may want to put on longer lasting sport touring tires.
I can definitely encourage you to email them and see what they say.
Plainly speaking, if you are hesitant, use your bike as your own primary transport, or run a tight budget, don’t do it. I’d really only suggest you rent out bikes on RS if you can a) afford to see your bike crashed without shedding a tear, and b) afford to make a small financial mistake – e.g. realising you were renting out too cheaply — and learn from it and adjust.
Thanks for all the info!
I have a situation that you haven’t mentioned, but I think it would work for this. I have a 2003 Honda VTX 1800c that I bought brand new in 2004. It sits now with 109,500 miles on it. I still get it out every 2 or 3 weeks and take a ride, but I got a 2020 Yamaha Star Venture, so that is my main bike.
I’ve been trying to sell the VTX, but people shy away from the mileage. I have it down to $3000, I figure if I can make that renting it out, or even half of that, I can lower the price and still pretty much come out even. The big runs great, low maintenance, and has saddle bags, a trunk, throttle lock, USB power connection and place to mount a phone.
Any thoughts or suggestions? I’m in the middle of North Carolina, a few hours from the mountains and a few hours from the beach.
I think that’s an excellent way to put a bike out to pasture. It’s true, I sold a perfectly good Ninja 650 with 60,000 miles and couldn’t get more than $1K for it. But as another unbreakable bike, I’d happily have rented it out for $40 a day.
One benefit of Riders Share is also insurance. So you could also list it for a nominal $20 for anyone interested in buying it, to rent for a maximum of a day, and people could really try it out that way with a proper test ride. If they like it, they buy it (and you could even refund the rent).