Straw Bale Paradise Reviews 3

Sadly, I can’t recommend twisted road. Let’s start with the price. They are anything except up front. Rental, insurance, tire hazard, mileage, road side protection, delivery fees or ride share if you need it, adds up quickly. That $79.00 / day will become $250/day real quick. That’s a luxury suv at enterprise. Let’s discuss that nonsense with roadside. If their bike breaks down, that’s not my problem. All they should expect from the renter is notice that the bike failed to proceed and an accurate location where it may be found. Fortunately that did not occur on my rental, but I was given the impression it would indeed be my responsibility to get a broken bike home. You the customer can pay for tire hazard at $10/day or accept responsibility for tire damage. My feeling is that you the owner put your bike up for rent and need to accept all that goes along with that. I’m not buying your bike and don’t need to take responsibility for your tires. The insurance is spendy and they charge the deductible up front then return it after the rental contract ends. ( that remains to be seen ) The person I rented from was not present, I completed the transaction with his (apparently ) teenage son. That was insightful. They have a handful of bikes for rent. Making small talk I inquired if the rental income was really worth the trouble? He informed me that some months it was, but mostly you made out on damages. He related how they turned paint scrapes on a crash bar into nearly $7000.00. I doubt his father would have been so candid. Perhaps he was also embellishing. Be that as it may, I was persuaded to carefully take a high definition video of the entire bike with the son in the video, before I left with the bike. Let’s discuss those mileage fees. The bike I rented included 150 miles per day and $0.50/ day above that. I racked up ~$80 in mileage fees. The renter tells me that it cannot be paid through the app. I find that hard to believe. He insists I need to pay him, not the app. That’s a questionable practice. I have not yet verified this with twisted road. Last item, my first selection for rental was agreed upon, set and paid for 3 weeks in advance. About a week out, the owner informed me that he sold the bike and I would need to find another rental. I was dumb struck. We had a rental agreement. Nowhere in that agreement did it state that his bike was for sale and could be sold before the rental contract was satisfied. It was difficult to get another rental set up, I couldn’t find another one close to my hotel. The new rental required me to uber for pick up and drop off. That added $70.00 to my cost and a considerable amount of aggravation. All in all, I felt used. Nobody is looking out for the customer. Each step of the way, there was a hand in my pocket. I will not be using their services again.

Think very carefully about the possible pitfalls before renting a motorcycle through Twisted Road. If you rent a motorcycle without any incidents then hopefully a happy experience however if you suffer any damage then you risk possible financial exploitation. I feel that their rental insurance is inadequate and no matter which level of insurance cover you take out with them you will be liable for any damage up to $1000 or $2500 depending upon which level of cover you choose from their offering.
Having had the misfortune of catching and snapping a clutch lever against a wall and on inspection no other damage was evident. My credit card was then subsequently debited by Twisted Road for $2,000 which I understood was their procedure and that the repair would be a couple of hundred dollars and I would get the balance refunded.
I then received the repair invoice totalling $1,478.62 to replace a multitude of parts on the bike and I was also charged a Twisted Road administration fee of $100. There was no way I did this amount of damage. Unfortunately it is my word against the owners and now being back home in the UK I have no recourse.
I never had the opportunity to inspect the motorbike with the owner prior to me setting off, the bike had been left unattended for me on a driveway with texted instruction as to where the key was hidden. Taking pre-rental photos may have prudent however there was no owner present with whom to have a discussion as would be the case with a regular car hire company.
Needless to say that in this case I feel I was exploited and any future US motorbike rental will be with a company offering full theft and damage waiver. As is said, Caveat Emptor.

Twisted Road appears to have been set up to support motorbike owners looking for an upgrade to their motorbikes.
I rented a Royal Enfield Interceptor for 2 weeks, the bike was rented out clean, slightly scuffed but generally in good condition.
Whilst renting, I dropped the bike in an unfortunate incident approaching a junction. Luckily, only scratches were sustained to the clutch lever, wing mirror, protective cage and a small scratch on the exhaust. Total cost from Twisted Road? An earth-shattering, eye-watering $2,197 - on top of the eye-watering rental and compulsory insurance costs to rent the bike in the first place. The owner REPLACED the whole exhaust for $1k as just one outrageous cost despite the fact she couldn't even see the scratches when I handed over the motorbike (true) - there were other parts which I did not damage that I was charged for as well.

The worst of this whole process was: no conversation, discussion or customer service from Twisted Road, just a big fat bill via email with an invoice attached from the scam artist renting her bike - she certainly got a nice upgrade at my expense.

So, my advice: Never, ever, rent from Twisted Road. Absolute 100% rip off. They are nothing but scam artists looking to fleece renters on behalf of precious motorbike owners who should not be renting out their motorbikes in the first place. TBH, I should have purchased a motorbike for the trip, it would have been more cost effective.

Avoid avoid avoid, I implore you. It ruined a really incredible experience and road trip of a lifetime around the US. I would go to Eagle Rider or another outfit - Twisted Road is a completely lazy, unprofessional entity with no concept of customer service and devoid of integrity.