Would you rent out your bike?

[PamNY]

I would gladly rent my perfectly ordinary bike which I am planning to sell. But I wonder about liability, and having to be home when people pick up/return the bike.

I checked rental prices -- respectable bike rental outfit charges $44 a day for same type of bike; the less organized and probably illegal operation on the Brooklyn Bridge charges $30-35.

[Crankin]

I am very protective of my bikes.
When I commuted to my teaching job, I kept my bike (a Trek 5200 at the time) in the classroom. One time, one of the boys (7th grade) got a bit too close and I sort of went nuts! I mean, I never yelled as a teacher, but I think I raised my voice and said, "Don't get that close to my bike." Of course, later I gave him a "guided tour," as he was very interested in how the pedals worked with the shoes.
Hardly anyone knows about Kuota as a brand, even though at least one of the teams in the Tour rides them. Mostly, at least around here, they are known as a tri bike manufacturer.

[Catrin]

I am the same way. I volunteered last year at a local state park for an outdoor activity festival where the Hoosier MTB Association had a station and I rode my mtb from the satellite parking lot. This one kid just couldn't understand that my bike wasn't available for riding so I had to keep my eye on him, but it was also kind of cool to see someone his age so interested.

I checked out the Kuota website, and their bikes are pretty! While they don't make FS mountain bikes I noted they do make hard-tails.

I just can't see my "renting" my bike, any of them. They are customized for me, cost a small fortune (in one case took months to get) and who is to say the insurance even COULD replace them? Nope...though the concept is nice. I might consider loaning one to a good friend but it would require some thought. I would obsess over it the entire time it was gone...

[OakLeaf]

I checked rental prices -- respectable bike rental outfit charges $44 a day for same type of bike; the less organized and probably illegal operation on the Brooklyn Bridge charges $30-35.

I guess location is everything. You can rent a car for that in my neck of the woods! Bike are more like $15.

I'd be happy to rent out my commuter when I'm not home to use it. But I'd want the rental agency to take care of maintenance. I'm not sure that lending to friends vs. renting to strangers is really different in that regard - I hate to stereotype, but I think it's more a male/female thing. We let a friend stay in our house for a couple of weeks while we were out of town and offered him the use of our bikes, and when we got back the house was fine but as far as DH's commuter bike, one rim was dented, all kinds of fasteners were loose ...

My roadie, nope, nobody rides that when I'm not there to supervise. And since I don't ride with anyone my size who uses Look pedals so we could swap bikes for a few miles, no one has ridden it but me.

[silversurfer]

My favourite isn't particularly smart or expensive but nobody rides my baby except me. She has history and can't be replaced, apart from being a joy to ride. If I owned some of the bikes that have been mentioned here I wouldn't let anyone go near them either based on their cost alone. Nice bikes ladies.