Tour guide question - Gran Canaria - Greybeard/Tosspot maybe

2 weeks today and a group of us are off to GC. I've been looking at a
map of the place and the roads look like they have a lot of potential
so my mate and I intend to hire a couple of bikes and get about the
island a bit.

I wondered if anyone here could recommend a decent hire firm and
suggest suitable bike for the terrain. Apart from sand on the roads,
anything else to watch out for?

 

Take your own crash helmet and gloves.

A few of us hired bikes there about 6 or 7 years ago and we found that
the crash helmets they'd hire you were crap and the roads had so much
gravel on them your hands got grit blasted within minutes of setting
out.

We hired XT350 Yams and had an absolute riot on them once we'd found a
few dirt roads to play on. The bikes were so choked up after being
toddled around town at 20mph all summer that when you clutched one up
to pull a wheelie they billowed black smoke and left you sensing
seizure was seconds away.

We were stopping in Maspalomas and just wandered into town and found
somewhere that had bikes we wanted, I can't remember the name of the
place but there were several car hire companies with bikes as well as
cars.

 

That's very good advice.
I think you'll be hard pressed to find any decent bikes of reasonable
capacity out there. The tour operators steer well clear of any bike hire
recommendations.
Check your travel insurance as well!
You might be lucky to find, places hiring bikes around the "Shopping
Centres", they may be signed up as "Motos Hire" some car places may be able
to help. If you're staying in a hotel, the desk might be able to point you
in the right direction.
Personally I haven't seen anything bigger than a 350 of recent and only a
few battered 650's many years ago.
Harley's are available (883 sportsters) in the odd place, but will cost at
least one arm and somemore.
If a 125 is all you want then it shouldn't be too difficult to find, they
are, along with scooters etc quite easy to come across.
Mind the roads, as AB says, Maspolomas is fun riding, as is the mountain
areas outside of the resorts. Careful of punctures, the gravel is volcanic
and very sharp!
Good luck.

--
Greybeard

FLHR -03 UK (95 cu-in Stg 2. Big Boy2!)
Trumpet Trophy 1200-03
Garmin Zumo 550, To get me home!

ukrm@foxtails[dot]co[dot]uk

 

I was going to take my own gloves - I think the helmet may be out of
the question.

I found this lot on the web:

http://www.motostivolirent.net/

and they sent me a price list. 250s were about 50 euros per day, then
they seem to go up about 5 E jumps for 350, 400, 600, 650cc. Transalp
is 75 E, V-strom 80 and the HD is 105 per day. I was thinking of
something like an XT.

 

Take it on as hand luggage. It'll fit better than anything from a hire shop
and you know there's a fair chance that it will protect you in a spill. If
you are worried about your £300 Arai then do like Champ did for the
supercross thing: buy a disposable MotoX helmet for buttons. Lidl & Aldi
have stuff in that might do the job.

As Greybeard says: check your insurance exclusions. Some policies limit
medical cover to incidents involving bikes under 125cc. Most stipulate that
you wear a helmet at all times. Policies from the Post Office are very good
value and cover you on any size bike, as long as you have a licence and
wear a helmet.

 

Not everyone will accept a crash helmet in a soft bag as hand luggage,
sleazyjet at Luton wouldn't have any of it when I tried to carry mine
on as hand luggage. In a small rucksack would be ok but not one of the
bags supplied with the helmet.

The cheap Lidl crash helmets could be treated as a disposable and you
might even get a couple of quid off the hire company for it.

 

wessie wrote:
-snip-

I just tried to take out a policy with the post office for myself and
my partner, but we don't count as a couple as we live at seperate
addresses for some of the week (she lives with her mum but stays with
me 3/4 days a week). This means two single policies, which is more
expensive. Nationwide (last years insurers) don't make this
distinction, and the cost is less. Biking is covered (as the form of
transport etc).

 

I think it was you that suggested Direct Travel Insurance a while
back. I went for annual family euro cover, which seemed pretty
reasonable for 46 notes. Bike riding covered (except personal
liability), pregnant wife covered (except 12 weeks from birth). All
pre-existing conditions not (asthma, back probs) but that's standard -
guess I'll have to go EHIC for that stuff should it be a problem.

Chose annual as, though I usually holiday here, my next project is a
bike trip to Cochem, taking in the Nurburgring en route - I'll be
troubling you all for much advice at a later date.

All advice so far (from AB, G & W) greatly appreciated.

 

If you take your own helmet and gloves or go for a ride more than once
you *may* no longer be covered by your travel insurance, as you no
longer come under the incidental risk clause. ie: Type 1 cover which is
the norm. This is because you intended to ride a bike when you got
there.

On the policy details look to see if it refers to the cover for using a
bike as "incidental". That's their let out clause.

You will probably need a minimum of type 2 or what ever level your
particular insurance company accept the liability for what you want to
do.

Me and J are covered by type 2 for SCUBA diving because we go on holiday
with our own gear and *intend* to SCUBA dive on holiday.

Type 1, the "standard" policy, would not cover us.


Never been to GC so I'll be really interested on what it's like what you
get back. Please!

 

Post Office, CN & DTI were happy to accept me at standard rates with a
medical condition (hypertension controlled by medication)

 

ftp://ftp.royalmail.com/Downloads/public/ctf/po/F8760_Travel_Policy_Text_DocFV.pdf

The word incidental is used once, referring to expenses such as taxi fares

p17 has the exclusion clause relating to motorcycles: this seems
perfectly reasonable to me i.e. must wear a helmet and the rider must
have a licence

 

Looks like a good 'cover everything' policy.

Our policy is world wide, year long so maybe that makes a difference.

Still be interested in what GC is like.

 

I stumbled across this while reading up for a recent holiday...

http://www.bmwmotorrad.co.za/lifestyle/pautz/display.asp?Id=147

There's what seems like a recommendation in there for a hire place in
Playa del Ingles. You'll find a leaflet for bike hire in just about
every hotel, and F650s seem common.

 

I've been three times now. It's alright. The south of the island is one
big resort full of brits, Germans and scandinavians. Playa del Ingles is
like a gay Benidorm. Horrible. Puerto Rico's not much better. Maspalomas
a massive set of dunes which are worth a stroll, and an entire area
called Campo de Golf, which tells you everything else you need to know.

The volcanic landscape's great, some of the beaches (in particular Playa
de los Amadores) are very good. Las Palmas is like any small Spanish
city and the archaeological museum's a bit ropey. Don't try and go there
on Shrove Tuesday, it'll be absolutely deserted. If you've been to
Sardinia then as a comparison Puerto de Mogan is like Alghero and Las
Palmas is like a watered down Cagliari. The north of the island is the
complete opposite of the south, very green.

Buses are pretty cheap (about 2 euros each from one town to the next),
the food varies between cracking and fucking terrible depending on how
touristy the place is.

I know you've been to Tenerife so I suspect you've pretty much seen it
all before.