You need to present a valid driving license on your first day of rental, as well as your passport or EU-ID. Valid driving license means a full license, no learner license. For motorcycles up to 48hp/35kw of power, the european A2-license is sufficient, starting at age 18. For motorcycles over 48hp/35kw, you need an unrestricted motorcycle license, which can be the EU-license A, or your national license written in english, german or french. If your license is non-EU and written in any other language, you need the multilingual International Driving License.
How does the booking process work?
You fill in the enquiry form with all your details and send it off. We check the availability and get back to you. This usually takes less than 24 hours. We will either send you a detailled offer for your dates, or an email with alternatives if your desired motorbike is already booked for your dates. If you are satisfied with the offer, you sign it and pay your first payment (50% of the rental fee). The motorbike is then reserved for you. 6 weeks before the start of the rental period you have to pay the balance (50% = second payment) and the deposit on the first day of the rental.
Your offer usually states how long it is valid. This can be a few days or a week, depending on how long you book in advance. In any case, you will have enough time to fully make your booking. But of course other customers want to book as well, so a longer-term reservation is not possible.
No, sorry, you would have to come to our rental station.
No, sorry, you must return the bike to our rental station.
Yes, of course, just send us an email. We will try to fulfil your change requests as best as possible. We will change bookings within the same year free of charge - availability and mutual agreement on the new booking provided. For cancellations, different fees apply depending on the timeline - you can find the details in our terms and conditions.
Yes, we are a german family with one home in Germany and a second home in Ireland, where we run our motorcycle business in summer.
There can be many reasons why something comes up at short notice. But you remain responsible for meeting your payment obligations under your rental contract. We therefore recommend that you take out your own travel cancellation insurance, which will cover the costs of the cancelled trip if necessary.
For travellers with full vaccination coverage, there should be no travel restrictions in the future. In any case, you remain responsible for meeting your payment obligations under your rental contract. To be on the safe side, you can take out travel insurance that explicitly includes the pandemic/covid.
Despite careful planning, it could happen that the booked motorbike is not available - e.g. because the previous renter had a little accident and repairs are necessary. In this case, we will contact you immediately and offer you a replacement motorbike. You will get an upgrade for free, in case of a downgrade you will be refunded the difference of the rental price. If no suitable replacement motorbike can be found, you have the option to postpone or cancel free of charge (this has never happened before, but it might happen one day).
The cheapest option is usually bank transfer, available to clients within the IBAN zone (most EU-countries). We also work with Paypal and with Sumup online invoices, which you can pay with your credit card. In this case we have to charge you an additional 5% fee.
In advance by bank transfer or on site in cash. Reservation of the deposit amount on credit card is currently not possible.
We will transfer your refund immediately, which technically may take one day or a few days, depending on your country.
Cash payments are refunded directly upon return of the motorbike and equipment (undamaged and complete...). Bank transfers are refunded as soon as technically possible, usually within a day or a few days.
There are rental companies that advertise low rental fees and then only offer 3. party liability insurance with a high excess (deductible) - you can then buy additional insurance to inprove your coverage for a lot of money. We do not believe in this common practice. All our motorbikes have fully comprehensive insurance and this is already included in the rental price an our excess/deductibles are very competitive.
The security deposit covers the excess (deductible) of the fully comprehensive insurance. With us, this is significantly cheaper than with many other providers - feel free to compare!
No, you should have your own accident insurance or get one for the trip.
We don't offer any - but you should get one to cover all costs in case of you falling sick or other unforeseen events.
We do not offer any. If you are insured with an automobile club it may cooperate with the AA, which is the irish auomobile club.
No, this is not possible with a rental bike.
Please inform us immediately. In the event of a puncture (nail, screw), you will find a puncture repair kit or a puncture spray in your equipment. With this you should be able to ride safely to your next accommodation. We will then try to exchange the bike for a replacement vehicle there. When abroad (Scotland) you should drive to the nearest garage and have the tyre professionally repaired or replaced with a new tyre. If the damage was caused while riding, e.g. by a nail in the tyre, you will have to pay the costs. In the event of engine failure or damage beyond your control, we will bear the costs.
If someone is injured, call 999 or 112. If another party is involved in the accident, call the police (Garda) and take a report and photographs for the insurance company. Please inform us immediately and we will arrange further steps to recover the vehicle and transport you back.
Yes, it is called AA and works together with many auomobile clubs internationally.
No, but you can cover this with your own AA insurance.
Many rental companies offer low basic prices for a "naked" motorbike and then charge (a lot) extra for the necessary accessories - we don't think much of that. With us, the full travel equipment is included in the rental price. This includes: Navigation device, luggage system (suitcase and top case or equivalent soft bags), tyre puncture kit, 1st aid kit, motorbike lock and helmet lock.
Yes, we also have helmets, motorbike suits, boots and gloves that you can rent in addition to your motorbike.
On Irish roads you will be riding rather slowly, so engine power is not very important. However, handling is very important because you will often be stopping in gravel car parks or turning around in tight spots. For this, you need to have your feet firmly on the ground to be able to stand and manoeuvre safely. A lighter motorbike will also help a lot. A lighter motorbike and a lower seat are more important than more horsepower.
Some aftermarket solutions for lowering your bike are not great - they may have a negative effect on the handling characteristics. We have several BMWs touring enduros with high-quality factory lowered suspension and have had only the best experiences with them: the suspension comfort is very good and the slightly lower seat height helps most riders stand much more securely. A lower centre of gravity also helps enormously with handling, the bike feels noticeably lighter. So don`t worry, you are making a good choice with a factory lowered bike from BMW.
We want you to be safe. If you are not confident with the bike because you can hardly get your feet on the ground, we may not hand over your rented bike to you (see terms and conditions). Whether we then have a lower motorbike available on site is a matter of luck. To avoid this, please choose your rental motorbike carefully and follow our size recommendations on our rental page. Please tell us your height as accurately as possible in the request form form so that we can avoid surprises on the day of handover.
We recommend a full helmet, e.g. a flip-up helmet, normal motorbike boots and gloves and a standard textile suit (with thermal lining in spring and autumn). If the textile suit is not reliably waterproof, you should also bring a rain suit. An open-face jet helmet with a leather jacket and jeans (without a rain suit) can become uncomfortable in unfavourable weather conditions.
If you are unsure about riding left-handed, or are a beginner or returning rider, we recommend base tours from our guesthouse. There you can slowly familiarise yourself with left hand driving in quiet rural surroundings and you can chose to ride as much or as little as you like. For experienced motorcyclists we recommend the West Coast - the Wild Atlantic Way. You will find several nice tour descriptions on our website, or just ride on your own.
You can easily book accomodation with booking portals like Booking.com or AirBnB. In summer (high season) we recommend you booking well in advance.
Very diverse: motorways and national roads are usually in great condition - but not very interesting to drive. The many beautiful small country roads are often narrow and with varying quality of surface. All in all, you will ride much slower and less distance than you might have expected.
For most people, riding 200-250km is a long day. If you don't do any sightseeing and ride a lot, you might be able to do 300km a day. More is also possible, but motorways and national roads are mostly uninteresting - so that's not recommended for your holiday tour.
Many guided tour operators say that Ireland's road conditions (driving on the left, narrow country roads, varying road quality) are more for advanced bikers - but these guided tours also have set routes that the whole group has to complete every day. If you go on your own tour and take shorter daily stages, you can enjoy Ireland by motorbike as a beginner or re-starter, too.
During motorcycle season, you can expect the temperatures to be anywhere between cool and warm, but rarely hot and rarely cold. Rain is much less of a problem than many people think, but better be safe than sorry - a waterproof rain suit should be part of your luggage.