We are a couple that's been travelling together for a year, we are both bikers at home and we were missing riding and decided that we wanted to travel North India by motorcycle. The obvious choice of machine was the Royal Enfield! We found Stonehead Bikes in Delhi by searching online. They wanted 15,000 INR per bike per month. We figured we could easily lose this amount by buying and selling motorcycles, which would also be a lot of extra hassle and paperwork, so we decided to go ahead with the rental. Our contact person at Stonehead Bikes was "Harry", or Khomendra Singh according to his official e-mail address. They responded to all of our queries via e-mail very quickly, they were friendly and spoke good English so we felt confident in dealing with them. The only thing that we felt slightly uneasy about was the policy of the company that any breakdowns had to be paid for out of our own pocket. Obviously we could understand that any damage we had caused ourselves or normal wear that had occurred whilst we were using the bikes (brake pads etc.) should be our responsibility, but what about pre-existing problems? What if something was about to wear out before we received the bikes? We asked Stonehead Bikes many questions about the bikes via e-mail including how old they were. Thankfully they assured that the oldest bike in the fleet would be a 2007 model. We knew that any bike this new would also have the left-foot gear system and would be a more modern machine and hence less prone to breakdowns.
We were obviously impressed when we had checked out of our hotel, made the 50 minute rickshaw ride across Delhi and showed up with all of our luggage to Stoneheead Bikes to find that both the bikes were 2011 model and was in very good shape.
When we arrived in Agra from Delhi there were no issues with the bikes. But one of the bike was leaking oil profusely, might be due to overheat of engine. Obviously these were pre-existing problems so we requested that Stonehead Bikes (SHB) pay for the repairs. Thankfully, SHB agreed to do the same without even asking any questions. They made us understand that same had caused because we had ridden the bikes non-stop over a long distance! (approx 200km in a day).
Two weeks into our two months, disaster happened. I was knocked off my bike by an oncoming jeep which was overtaking a truck. A trip to the hospital later and I came out with a broken arm and lots of cuts and bruises. Our motorbike trip was over. We got the bike to a mechanic and paid for all of the repairs. We contacted SHB and explained the situation. We had paid up front 60,000 INR ($1200,-) for 60 days of rental. We had only had the bikes for 12 days so we reasoned that if we returned the bikes 48 days early then we might qualify for a small refund. We had hardly covered any miles and hence no further servicing of the bikes would be required by SHB. We stressed that we were only looking for a token amount, we understood that they would not be able to re-rent both bikes for the remaining 48 days at such short notice. We finally managed to get a 'maybe' from them so rushed the bikes back to Delhi on the train (on our expense of course) in the hope of a gesture of goodwill. Thanks to lord, we received full refund for 48 days. Even best, after requesting over the e-mails "Harry" was apparently not in Delhi, thus sending two of his executives to pick up the bikes on their own expenses.
I would like to say a big thanks to all the members of StoneheadBikes.com to refund our money and for excellent customer service.
Our advice, try them; you’ll not regret it.
