Renting on two wheels: Loaner motorcycles provide the ultimate open-air experience

Chris Holman and his 77-year-old mother, Betty, ride a rented motorcycle in Valley of Fire State Park, near Las Vegas. (Janet Holman for The Associated Press)

If touring by motorcycle is on your to-do list this summer, but your destination is too far from home to take your bike, a rental may be the perfect alternative.

Motorcycle rentals are available almost anywhere worth seeing, whether it's riding from Chicago to Los Angeles on Route 66, through northwest Canada to Alaska -- even in the Himalayas or the Alps.

Tom and Annie Holman rented motorcycles to tour Valley of Fire State Park, near Las Vegas last summer. Domestic and international motorcycle rentals are becoming increasingly easy to find. (Chris Holman for The Associated Press)

My choice was a Harley-Davidson for a ride through an expanse of desert in southern Nevada, where the scorching summer temperatures were matched only by the breathtaking vistas. Petrified sand dunes have been shaped there over the millennia into red formations with illusions of flames that give the place its name and feel: Valley of Fire.

My trip started in Las Vegas, where no fewer than three dealerships offer motorcycle rentals. The 1,500cc bike I rented was twice the size of the 750cc BMW I've driven for 33 years. But as I became accustomed to the feel of the big machine, I was grateful for its power and weight, which kept the machine stable as it cut effortlessly through gusts of blast-furnace wind that whipped across the highway.

A desert ride is just a taste of what the avid biker can sample on a rental. My trip was fairly simple, with no set itinerary and just a bike for 24 hours. My bill, including taxes and $30 supplemental insurance, came to $196.56.

Alternately, several outfitters offer rentals with self-guided or guided tours that can be as elaborate and boundless as the American West.

Los Angeles-based EagleRider has 85 locations worldwide, including two in Seattle. The company started in 1992 with four motorcycles, and now has a fleet of 3,500 bikes, company marketing manager David Goff says.

"In the last five years, business has doubled," he says.

EagleRider's 16-day Wild West tour is one of its most popular, following a loop that swings through Palm Springs, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park and San Francisco. The cost for a guided tour -- about $4,800 -- covers one bike, hotel rooms along the way and a support van to haul the riders' gear.

Ayres Adventures books tours in Africa, South America, New Zealand, Europe (including the Alps) and North America. Its 17-day Escape to Machu Picchu winds 2,500 miles through Brazil, Argentina and Chile before reaching Peru's Lost City of the Incas.

Ayres takes up to 10 motorcycles in a group and also supplies support vehicles. The price for a single rider and motorcycle rental, including lodging, breakfasts and dinners, is $8,975 for this season.

Alaska Riders offers guided and self-guided tours in Alaska and Canada's northwest. Hoping to promote its international reach for adventure trips, the company created MotoQuest Tours, which go to 11 countries, founder Phil Freeman says.

Perhaps its most demanding is MotoQuest's 12-day India Himalayan Adventure, a ride that ascends 16,000 feet on dirt and paved roads and comes within a mile of Tibet. It starts at $5,600, including bike rental, lodging, meals and support vehicles.

"We try to offer tours that are on the adventurous side of life," Freeman says.

Motohaven, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has a less-formalized approach and tries to customize its rentals to its customers, co-owner Justin Kurland says.

Motohaven will arrange to pick up renters at the airport so they can hit the road sooner, and will negotiate packages with larger groups, he says.