Renting a Motorbike for Ladakh Road Trip

Renting a bike for your Ladakh Road Trip

You have three options for arranging  a motorbike for your Ladakh Road Trip.

1. Market in Delhi – There are two markets that are of interest to you if you plan to rent your motor bike from Delhi, they are Karol Bagh and Capt. Gopinath Market. Karol Bagh for the bike, body suits, helmets and Gopinath Market for everything else. Take the metro till Karol Bagh, and ask the cycle rickshaw puller to take you to NaiWala. You will see a huge line of motor bikes outside a lot of Automobile Shops. You can rent, purchase or sell your motorbike.

2. Somewhere in Rishikesh – If you a long term traveler and plan to be in the north of India for a few months, or even a month, then the option of buying a Bullet and selling it off later on should be the thing you should do. This will save you a lot of money, frees you of any time constraints. However it comes with two drawbacks. One is that you need to know someone reliable who understands how to inspect a motorbike, and can guide you about the price that should be paid for the motorbike. Secondly you may have to wait while trying to sell off the vehicle. There is an option which is available in some garages in Rishikesh where they sell you the bike in an excellent condition and then also buy it back from you at about 60 – 70% of the price you paid. Buying and selling in Delhi is a little risky as you are likely to get cheated.

3. Rent Bikes – If the duration of your road trip will be a few weeks, then renting the bike is the easiest option. There are a lot of shops in the Automobile Market in Karol Bagh who will rent you the bikes. The normal price range is between INR 550 – 800 a day depending on the number of weeks you rent it for. Most shops will ask you for a deposit or some may ask you to leave an identification document. NEVER AGREE TO LEAVE THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT, AND GET A RECEIPT FOR ALL THE MONEY YOU PAY AND DEPOSIT. You can easily be scammed. ALSO NOTE BIKE RENTALS  ARE STILL ILLEGAL IN MOST PARTS OF INDIA, so the shop where you rent your bike will follow the below procedure. The will make a sale deed which will say, you are will to buy a motor cycle and would like to test it for a few weeks before buying it. You are paying a deposit of 20,000 INR as a deposit for this sale and you are paying a maintenance charge for the number of days you will be testing the bike, and this amount will be subtracted from the total amount if you decide to buy the motorbike after testing it. So temporarily you are the owner of the bike subject to paying the remaining balance after a certain period of time.

The three places where you can rent Motor Bikes

1. Delhi – We rented the motorbike in 2013 and 2010 from the same shop in Karol Bagh – Tony Bullet Center. We paid INR 650 a day in 2013 as we rented the bike for over 3 weeks. For shorter durations, the rent will increase. Along with the motorbike they will provide you the following
i.      Bike Registration Copy
ii.      Bike Insurance
iii.      A tool Kit for your journey ( you need to return this after your journey, and you pay for anything that you use from the kit)
iv.      Pollution Under Control Check Paper (P.U.C)
v.      Luggage Carrier
The service from Tony Bullet Center was exceptional and we would recommend this place if you decide to get your bike from Delhi.

The only disadvantage of renting the bike in Delhi is that you have to ride the bike from Delhi and back. We enquired about transportation options; they were expensive and took lots of time. We rode the bike on both occasions from Delhi to Manali. First time it took us 20hrs and the second time we made it in 14hrs. If you have time, we recommend doing this stretch as it prepares you for the ride ahead.

2. Manali – If you did not get your bike in Delhi and got ambitious in Manali, worry not. You can rent the bike in Manali. There are garages in Old Manali who also rent out bikes for a slightly higher price at about INR 900 – 1200 a day. The shops did not look very reliable to us when we enquired and wouldn’t recommend getting the bike here unless you know someone or have a contact. The journey from Manali to Leh is breath taking, so you may take a chance with the bike, if you know how to check the bike properly before agreeing. The biggest downside of renting the motorcycle in Manali is that you have to come back to Manali which nobody does. Almost everyone heads towards Srinagar from Leh and goes back to Delhi.

3. Leh – The public transport in Manali – Leh – Manali circuit is fairly good. If you are already in Leh and did not get a motorcycle, you can get it here. This option is highly recommended for people who want to see a lot in a short span of time. There are motorcycle rentals shops spread out in Leh. The normal price is about 1200 – 1500 a day. It is a great way to see Nubra, Pangong Tso and also to see nearby monasteries. Once you are in Leh, you see so many people going around on their motorcycles, you can get tempted to get one yourself and you must.

Ladakh is the most special place on this planet and a motorbike during your trip will give you wings. This will be the most spectacular motorcycle ride of your life.

Feel Free to ask questions, we will be happy to help you plan your trip.

Still wondering if you should go to Ladakh this summer, here are  9 reasons why you should go to Ladakh this summer.

For other help with planning and expenses, see this link.

About Empty Ruck Sack

Empty Rucksack travelers is an attempt to bring together many wonderful stories of career breaks, long term vacations and great travel destinations together at one place. The posts authored by Empty Rucksack Travelers are put together by Vikram and Ishwinder, an Indian couple out on a long term travel to find that perfect place in the world where they may want to stay forever.

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17 comments

  1. woah I had no clue the deed would read like that, I would have thought they were trying to scam me. I wasn’t aware bike rentals were illegal, good to know!
    Rachel of Hippie in Heels recently posted…Easy Guide to Jaipur’s Pink CityMy Profile

  2. Quite a helpful post!

  3. Hi..
    We’ll be visiting Ladakh in Mid-June.
    We are very keen on living by ourselves in a tent or a non-commercial home-stay.
    Is it possible to use tents there,considering low temperature?

    I have bought the following tent.
    http://www.amazon.in/gp/offer-listing/B00DIE465K?tag=cheapestinind-21

  4. Hi..
    We’ll be visiting Ladakh in Mid-June.
    We are very keen on living by ourselves in a tent or a non-commercial home-stay.
    Is it possible to use tents there,considering low temperature?

    I have bought the following tent.
    http://www.amazon.in/gp/offer-listing/B00DIE465K?tag=cheapestinind-21

    All suggestions are welcome..:)

    • Shivraj,

      It is certainly possible, non commercial homestays are easily available in most places you will go to. And even the guest houses in leh don’t feel very commercial.

      How will you be travelling? We saw one guy carry a tent on a motorbike and another guy did the same with a bicycle.

      How many days do you have at hand? We personally shy away from using tents as its difficult to sleep comfortably and thw guest houses are cheap, really cheap.

      I am emailing you a list of things we did, where we stayed etc, along with expense details to give you an idea of how much it costs.
      We did not budget at any time, Still it did not cost much.

      • Vikram..

        First things first.You are awesome.Thanks for the instant and detailed reply.That was really helpful.

        We are taking our own bike there and will be travelling on bikes. (Royal Enfield TB-to be precise) Excluding the train journey from Pune-Jammu and Chandigadh-Pune we have 11 days at our hand. Though we might revise the plan to stay more.

        Were those expenses of two persons or one? And when did you visit?

        • Own bike is best option, the excel sheet I sent you was from June last year and it was for two people.

          If you can extend it, it would be great, you will remember the trip forever.
          What route are u plannin, as in ur itinerary?

          We have written a few articles about Ladakh plannon, read thru those and ask whatever questions you may have.

          The planning part is also a lot of fun.

          • Hi..

            We are extending our stay..:)
            We’ll visit the following places:

            D! : Jammu-Batote-Ramban
            D2 : Srinagar
            D3 : Dras
            D4 : Kargil-Panikhet-Padam valley
            D5 : Zanskar Valley
            D6 : Leh
            D7 : Leh
            D8 : Khardungla-Nubra Valley-Diskit Monastery
            D9 : Leh
            D10: Panangong

            And then towards chandigarh through leh-manali highway.
            Reading the articles..

          • Shivraj,

            This needs a detailed reply, so I am breaking it up

            D! : Jammu-Batote-Ramban
            When we did this in reverse order Srinagar to Jammu, we got stuck in the riots which took place in Ramban and Ramban did not look vrry nice, maybe it was the burnt tyres, stones etc or the darkness and fear of the riots that I say so.

            D2 : Srinagar
            Ramban to Srinagar is easily doable in a day

            D3 : Dras
            Srinagar to Dras will take about 5-6 hrs at max, we went from Kargil straight upto Srinagar non stop.

            D4 : Kargil-Panikhet-Padam valley
            We couldn’t do this while but managed it on the way back from padum to kargil but it will be a very long journey, we started from padum at 4am and reached kargil by 5pm. And there is a place midway called rangdum where we stopped while going from kargil. The road between kargil and padum is the worst you will encounter on your journey including a very bad nalaah.

            D5 : Zanskar Valley
            After you ride all the way to zanskar two night’s rest is a must. Keep this flexible, we stayed there 4 night but iy depends on how strong you are and your bike riding stamina

            Based on our experience it is impossible to go from padum to leh in kne day unless you ride at least 24hrs.

            D6 : Leh
            Leh is quite nice and you will need a day’s rest n also some timw to chill out.

            D7 : Leh

            D8 : Khardungla-Nubra Valley-Diskit Monastery

            D9 : Leh
            Nubra valley and back to leh in 2 days is very easily doable.

            D10: Panangong
            Despite stayin a month in the area, we skipped pangong. But again sint hear anyone cover it in one day except u took a taxi and left really early..

            I am sorry if my reply sounds a little discouraging but I am sharing my experience from last year. Plus you also need buffer time, like we got stuck in the riots, then a tyre puncture near kargil happened 3 times in 2hrs and led to lots of issues.

            There are some bikers who r crazy and maybe do more riding in a day than we used to, I will try and get someone I know to give his comments on what I have replied.

  5. Hi..

    All the help you are offering is appreciated.In fact we need your experience to plan stuff.Thank you.

    I’ll work on your recommendations and inform you soon with a final plan.

    About buffer time,2 days are reserved as a buffer.

  6. Hello,

    Could you tell me some reliable bike rental shops in Leh, please?

    Thanks

    Claude

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