What Motorcycles Do People Actually Rent? A View from My Garage
By Mark Taylor, Radical Rides TV | October 13, 2026
The bike you spend all evening staring at online and the one you book for a weekend away might be two very different motorcycles. Your heart has a shortlist. Your backside may have some amendments.
I rent my own motorcycles here in Phoenix through Twisted Road and Riders Share, so Twisted Road’s latest rental report caught my attention. I love looking at extraordinary bikes. I’m also interested in which ones people actually choose to ride.
So, what gets booked?
Touring motorcycles lead Twisted Road’s 2026 bookings, and the Harley-Davidson Road Glide tops its model-family rankings. In Twisted Road’s 2026 report, Harley-Davidson takes 35% of bookings, followed by BMW at 15.5%. The five leading model families are:
Harley-Davidson Road Glide
Harley-Davidson Street Glide
BMW R 1200 GS
BMW R 1250 GS
Harley-Davidson Road King
Touring leads the categories at 27.1%. The interesting bit is how close cruisers and sport bikes are: 21.8% versus 21.2%. Adventure bikes account for 16.5% and have the longest average rentals, at 2.82 days.
These are Twisted Road bookings pulled through September, including completed, in-progress and upcoming confirmed rentals ending in 2026. They are not full-year completed-trip totals, Riders Share figures or a ranking of my own bikes. Availability affects what people can book. Read Pamela Rothbard’s original Twisted Road report, published October 6.
My garage is hardly a sensible control group
A BMW K 1600 Grand America, a Ducati Panigale V4 Tricolore, an MV Agusta Rush 1000 and my cherry red 2004 Honda Rune are very different answers to the same question: what would you like to ride?
The BMW makes me think about the trip. The Ducati, MV and cherry red Rune make me stop and look back after parking. Choosing between them is a rather pleasant problem to have, although I accept that my idea of a sensible motorcycle collection may need professional examination.
That is part of why I share the bikes. Work doesn’t always leave me as much riding time as I’d like, and it seems a shame for interesting machines to spend their lives being admired in a garage. Arizona gives us plenty of reasons to get out and enjoy them.
There is firsthand evidence of that enthusiasm in my public rental reviews. Riders have booked the Rush and written about finally getting to experience a bike they had admired. That means something to me. A motorcycle doesn’t need to top a national chart to make someone’s weekend.
Choose the ride you actually want
My take: start with your plans, then choose the bike. Think about your experience, the hours you want to spend in the saddle, whether you’re bringing a passenger and what you need to carry. A machine can be magnificent and still be the wrong choice for your particular trip.
Renting also gives you time to answer a question that photographs cannot: do I enjoy riding this as much as I enjoy looking at it? Sometimes that answer could save you an expensive mistake. Sometimes it could create an expensive ambition. Motorcycles are helpful like that.
Rent from my Phoenix garage
These are my own rental listings, and I earn income when my bikes are booked. Browse both profiles for the motorcycles listed on each platform:
Check your dates, current availability, pricing and rental requirements on the platform before booking. We rent motorcycles only, so bring your own helmet, gloves, boots and riding gear.
If you had a weekend in Arizona, would you choose the long-distance machine or the bike you’ve always wanted to try? I’m curious whether your answer changes when you start planning the actual miles.
Ride more. Stay radical.
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