jimmysnapple

Just came across Fat Llama, a peer to peer rental platform and wanted to know whether anyone has any experience with it? I used to make a decent bit of cash from Spinlister until they went bust so thinking of giving it a try.

basketbro

if you trust random people on your bikes, you don't love your bikes enough.

Chris(NJ)

I would never.

robertorolfo

Glad to see the two previous posts. I can't imagine renting out one of my current bikes. That said, if there is money to be made, I might consider buying some piece of junk specifically to rent it.

Sy Reene

I don't get it? Why would anyone rent from a random stranger, when just about every bike shop has bikes for rent that you could at least be somewhat assured have been maintained to a serviceable degree?

Stretch44

GlennR

I never would. I recently had to send my frame out for repair of the carbon chainstay. The repair was only $320 but then i had to completely strip the frame and ship it both ways. I don't think renting it to a stranger would ever be worth the risk.

Also would you allow a renter to change the fit? Get it back and find the saddle is moved up/down or tilted. Find cuts in your tires or scratches on the frame?

I just got back from Scottsdale and rented a Trek Domane SL w/ 105 for $75 for 24 hours.The bike was in good working order but i did ask for a torque wrench to go over some of the hardware and I did double check the QR and tire pressure. After all, I only trust my own mechanical skills on a bike that I can reach speeds of 40mph on the descents.

Sy Reene

I guess the $75/24hr formula is why folks try to do this. $2000 a month if you can rent it out daily.. nothing to it! Just get a low level CF 105 series bike at model-year end for ~$1500 and it will be paid for in the first month of renting it out.

jadocs

GlennR

Just get a 56cm since it's the most common. But that excludes many women and shorter men. Then you certainly can assume to rent it everyday, you'll be lucky to rent is 5-6 times a month. And then not during the colder months. And having to fix it from renter abuse.

And then deal with the emails, phone calls and other BS.

So unless you live near a very popular cycling trail.... it's a non starter.

zacster

I remember what I went through when I rented a serious road bike, and I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end. Not that I was a PITA, just had questions. OTOH, when I rented bikes in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Norway and Arcachon, France last summer I just took what they had. These were mostly city type bikes, and fit in with the local users. In Norway they had a C'Dale Quick that was nicer that I rode along the fjords.

noglider 

I listed my bike on spinlister, and I got a few interested people, though the times were never good for me. I listed my Bianchi Volpe was was sturdy. I've loaned it to friends, and it came back OK. I wouldn't rent a high end bike.

We rented bikes on spinlister when we visited Denver. Yeah, it was a bit of a pain to drive all over the city and pick them up, and they weren't spectacularly maintained. One bike's brakes were unacceptable, but the woman renting it had another to rent, so that worked out.

So my reaction to this whole thing isn't "No way!" but more like "Meh."