Tag Archives: Europe

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Hertz Introduces a New Way to Rent BMW Motorcycles

When it comes to renting motorcycles, you typically don’t have that much freedom. There aren’t that many motorcycle rental services available and America, and those that exist either have a limited selection or rely on peer-to-peer rentals — which may be off-putting to some. A new service from Hertz, however, shows this may be starting to change.

Hertz Brings Hertz Ride to the U.S.

Last year, the Hertz Ride program finally arrived in the United States. The program — which allows customers to rent motorcycles at certain Hertz locations — was initially available in Riverside, California and Las Vegas. Over the past few months, Hertz expanded the program to two new locations in Long Beach, near Los Angeles, and New Jersey.

The Hertz Ride fleet is made up entirely of BMW bikes. There are six to choose from. The F 750 GS and R 1250 GS will work best for adventure rides and any tour that features on- and off-road riding. The K 1600 B, R 1250 RT and K 1600 Grand America will be most suitable for long-distance touring and road trips.

The R nineT Scrambler will be serviceable if you need to go off-road — but, despite its name, it is a better fit for city streets. It will be the best option of the six if you just need to get around town in Miami, Los Angeles or Vegas.

The program also allows customers to rent top-level riding gear — right now, riding apparel from Rev’It and helmets from NEXX, two top-of-the-line motorcycle apparel companies. If you like your gear, you can buy it once your rental period is over, and Hertz will ship it to you.

Hertz Ride also offers tours, although its American tour list is much more limited than European offerings. There’s only one U.S. tour right now — a 14-day, 2,100 mile round-trip tour of California. The tour package includes your bike, accommodations, meals and guidance from a tour leader. 

If the European tour options are anything to go by, your options are likely to expand in the near future.

Why the Hertz Ride Program Has Motorcyclists Intrigued

One of the reasons the service has drawn attention is how few motorcycle rental options there are across America.

Car drivers outnumber motorcycle riders by a significant margin and motorcyclists tend to be more vulnerable than other motorists — so while it’s easy to rent a car just about anywhere in America, motorcycle riders are typically limited to a handful of services or their local dealer.

This is typically a Harley-Davidson dealer that will feature a limited selection of bikes. Often, these dealers and rental services will only have motorcycles from big-name American brands like Harley-Davidson, and maybe the addition of a few Toyota or Honda motorcycles.

If you’ve ever wanted to rent a BMW bike, you’ve probably been out of luck. Now, there’s a service that’s effectively dedicated to letting customers rent BMW motorcycles.

While peer-to-peer rental services like Twisted Road exist and typically feature a much wider range of bikes to choose from, your options are limited if you want to rent from a business. Hertz Ride is a sign that this may be changing.

Editorial

Check out These European BMW Car Seats

Car seats are an essential tool to ensure our youngest passengers are safe and secure, especially in the event of a car accident. Unfortunately, they’re not exactly fashion-forward — most of them have kid-friendly colors and cartoon characters which can look pretty silly in your snazzy BMW. Thankfully, the German car giant is on top of that, too — they just released some BMW-branded car seats that will look good in nearly any car. Let’s take a closer look at these seats and the brilliant configuration.

This design lets you fit 3 car seats in a normal back seat, giving each one plenty of room. We just wish this happened in the US.

Baby Seat Group 0+

These car seats are currently only available in Europe, but hopefully, we’ll be seeing them in the States before too long. BMW currently lists three seats as part of its BMW accessory line — The Baby Seat Group 0+ is an infant car seat, the BMW Junior Seat Group 1 is for children from 12 months to 4 years, and the BMW Junior Seat Group 2/3 is an adjustable booster chair for children age 3 to 12 who are too large for the previous two seats.

BMW writes all the names in caps, but we felt like we were screaming so we skipped that part.

Car Seat Safety

Car crashes aren’t just dangerous for adults. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car crashes are the leading cause of death for children under 13. They also estimate 71 percent of these accident-related fatalities would have been preventable if the driver adequately secured the child.

Child restraint laws might vary from state to state, but in general, you need to ensure:

  • You have appropriately restrained all children under age 4 in a car seat
  • All children under 2 are in a rear-facing car seat
  • Children over 4 but under 8 need to be in a booster seat and a seatbelt
  • Children over 8 and under 18 must be in a seat with a belt that fits properly

The American Academy of Pediatrics takes these rules to a new level to include height and weight restrictions. Toddlers up to 2 should stay rear-facing until they exceed the height and weight requirements of their infant car seat — which will depend on the exact make and model of car seat you purchase. Children who have outgrown their infant car seats should be in forward-facing car seats as long as possible.

To ensure safety in the event of a car accident, children who are too big for a car seat should sit in the backseat until they are at least 13. Most children will require a booster seat or belt positioner until they are at least 4 feet 9 inches tall.

Car seats don’t have to look like an eyesore in the backseat to be able to keep your little ones safe. BMW has proven that — even if you don’t drive a BMW, you might want to think about picking up one of these sleek BMW car seats for your car.