tl;dr: This is an unsafe company. Do NOT rent bikes from them.
I rented a red Ducati Scrambler from Moto 4 All to ride with my friend. It looked fine, and seemed to start with no issue. We rode down Sunset Blvd, and I began to notice a loud hollow rattling sound emanating from the left side of the engine that got louder when deaccelerating. I pulled over but couldn't determine the source of the noise. Frankly, being new to Ducatis, I wasn't sure if it was expected behavior for them (spoiler: it wasn't). We continued down Sunset for a few more minutes. Approaching a stoplight, I began to tap the rear brake gently...and suddenly, the rear of the bike begin to slide out from under me. I let up, regained control, and gently tapped it again. Again, the bike began to slide. Regaining control once again, I pulled the front brake to avoid slamming into traffic that had stopped at the red light ahead. My riding buddy pulled up next to me as we rode, gesturing frantically. "You're leaking oil!" he shouted. Looking down, I saw plumes of smoke coming off the bike. I quickly pulled over and turned off the engine.
The entire rear of the bike had been completely covered with oil. After pulling off onto the sidewalk and inspecting the situation, it still wasn't clear what had gone wrong, but the sheer volume of the oil on the road and on the bike made it obvious that a huge leak had sprung from somewhere. What's more, as I was on my knees looking at the bike, I noticed two fresh-looking grooves ground into the swingarm and exhaust chamber by the chain that accounted for the rattling sound I kept hearing. I think it's unlikely that these problems had anything to do with each other.
We called Moto 4 All and asked for a replacement bike. The owner and an employee came out and got me on a different Scrambler. All in all, the amount of time lost was about two hours due to this event, which meant we would not be able to ride up into the hills as we'd planned. Pretty big bummer--but frankly, at this point I was happy to be safe and unhurt.
The new bike ran fine, and we were able to finish our trip up to Malibu, then out to the desert and back over the next several days. However, upon returning to LA and getting gas, I was looking at the rear tire of the replacement Scrambler, and noticed that it had been worn so thin, the metal wiring was showing through in the middle. To be clear, I did not in any way subject this tire to undue stress. No burn outs, no skidding to a stop, reasonable speeds on turns, and in general.
When I returned the bike, I mentioned to the employee that the tire was worn through, and her reply was to laugh, and say "That is the last trip for this tire". No shit. I guess answers for why I was riding two unsafe bikes around won't be forthcoming.
And that's just it. These bikes are NOT SAFE. Oil splattering all over your rear wheel, and on the road behind you for your friend to ride into is NOT SAFE. Chains grinding against the frame are NOT SAFE. Worn tires are NOT SAFE. This business seems to have purchased a bunch of random bikes from folks, turned them around to rent, and utterly failed to do the minimum level of maintenance to ensure they are safe and reliable. Bikes aren't like cars. You can do a bad job maintaining a car, and if something bad happens, you'll likely still be okay. But when something goes wrong on a motorcycle, there's no seatbelt, no airbag, no protective cage around you to prevent you from getting badly hurt. It goes south very quickly.
My friend and I were lucky this time. Increase your own luck by avoiding bikes owned by this business like the plague. read more