Hire vs Rent

[monica]

Hello.
I am faced with the following fill-in-the-gap exercise "The young and the more adventurous probably ... a motorcycle and set off for the less frequented beaches." I've got the answer key and the only possible option seems to be "hire". Before this exercise in particular we are supposed to look at the differences between "rent" and "hire" and there is where my difficulty lies. If you can rent or hire a car, why aren't we supposed to be able to hire a motorcycle? Besides, I did a google search and found more examples of "rent a motorcycle" than of "hire a motorcycle". Btw, we are talking British usage here. Thank you.

[Mister Micawber]

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I did not respond to this post earlier because I am not British; however, it threatens to disappear unanswered. 'Hire' may well be more common for paying money to use a vehicle in BrE, but in AmE, 'rent' is the usual word.
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_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber