EagleRider expands rentals at Harley-Davidson dealers
Madison native’s business nears 100 locations across the globe
EagleRider motorcycle rentals, founded by Madison native Chris McIntyre, says by April it will have more than 100 locations at Harley-Davidson dealerships.
The Los Angeles-based firm has beefed up its fleet of bikes since last year when it signed an agreement with Harley to include dealerships in the company’s rental system.
EagleRider has grown from four motorcycles in a garage in 1992 to thousands of bikes for rent in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe and Asia.
In addition to Harleys, the company has Indian, BMW, Ducati, Triumph, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, KTM and Royal Enfield bikes in its fleet.
However, the rental locations at Harley-Davidson dealerships rent only Harleys — new models, including high-end touring bikes.
The participating dealerships get a 10% royalty from the rentals, and EagleRider pays them for motorcycle service work.
It also sends some bike sales their way. Harley-Davidson views EagleRider as an opportunity to build its customer base by giving renters a chance to cruise the country on a Harley, hoping they will come back and buy a new motorcycle.
It’s “try before you buy,” said McIntyre, EagleRider co-founder.
“That’s happened many times,” he said. McIntyre said he’s been riding since he was about 8 years old, first on a minibike that he crashed into some rose bushes and a picket fence.
“It was a 15-second journey that ended up with me lying on the grass laughing. I was completely hooked,” he said.
After graduating from University of WisconsinMadison in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, McIntyre landed a job with NCR Corp. in Los Angeles.
“I was a Wisconsin native living the dream on the Pacific Coast Highway,” he said.
McIntyre and his friend Jeff Brown started the rental business after meeting some European tourists who couldn’t find a place to rent motorcycles in southern California. Brown had written his master’s degree thesis on the business model.
They started slowly, investing their profits into opening other locations and expanding the business overseas.
Along the way, they partnered with others in the travel industry, including American Express and TUI Group, which represents thousands of travel agencies.
Renting a bike from EagleRider is similar to renting a car. You show up with a valid motorcycle license, and one-way rentals are available with unlimited mileage.
When you pick up the bike, it’s been thoroughly cleaned and is ready to go. When you drop it off, it can be dirty.
“A bike is supposed to get some rain on it,” McIntyre said.
Most of the company’s short-term rentals are for about three days, while longer trips average two weeks.
“We get some people who go 30 days,” McIntyre said.
Rates start at about $90 a day for a Harley Sportster. It’s nearly double that amount for a Harley Road King or an Electra Glide.
The company offers guided and self-guided tours. For example, the self-guided Route 66 trip from Chicago to Albuquerque, N.M., takes eight days and costs $3,075 per person, including hotel accommodations.
A 15-day guided version of the trip costs $8,160 per person and includes many extras such as a support van for carrying luggage and a Grand Canyon helicopter tour.
EagleRider has a Milwaukee location opening this spring at House of Harley-Davidson on Layton Avenue in Greenfield.
Many motorcycle dealerships offer rentals not affiliated with EagleRider and prefer to run that business themselves.
If they could talk, some of the rental bikes would have fun stories to share.
A while back, McIntyre said, a Green Bay couple rented a bike, rode it to Las Vegas, where they got married, and then said they wanted to buy that particular motorcycle.
“We get those requests, but we leave it up to the dealerships and Harley-Davidson to figure that out,” McIntyre said.