Why do we ride?

[sportrider]

And the freaking blast of adrenalin when you paste that throttle.. lol ( Like you never do it)... Ahhh Im getting all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.
:Sport:

how true it is!!!LOL

 

[PlasticPig]

When I was in the UK I gave a co-worker a lift to work one day on the back of my Bandit, she was just in her 40's, married with 2 kids and just going through the motions of life, house, work, kids etc.

The grin on her face when we got to the office was a great sight, she was as high as a kite and buzzing all day.

Maybe in some small way it helped turn her life around as she has changed her outlook on life completely and has a great time now. Not saying it was the bike ride that did it but it certainly showed her that there is fun out there.

 

[Tailgate]

Okay, I think that I want to be buried with my FZ6. This doesn't mean that I plan on dying on it. Seeeriously, there are all kinds of other elevated-risk activities, right? Crap, I kinda think that private pilots are engaging in more risk that m/c riding. Bicycle riding probably ranks up there too. I dunno.

 

[Rolly]

Freedom, adrenaline rush, thrills etc all come into it. Honing your skill over years of riding is also a great buzz.....to know that you are able to take a powerful machine and handle it safely and quickly is a great pleasure.....how many of us consider that we are continually learning when in a car???.....not many. Most riders accept that they get better with continual expêrience though and for the most part that would be true.

Ultimately, riding a bike is just part of who I am. Before Christmas I had an accident (no fault of mine I hasten to add!) and I had to drive a car to work for a few weeks. Even though it is winter, EVERYONE I know thought it was odd that I wasn't riding. I couldn't wait to get back to the normality of 2 wheels.......It was a strange feeling......almost claustrophobic.

Rolly

 

[urbanj]

The sights, the scents, the feel. On a hot day carving through a wooded area and you can smell the trees, feel the shade, and hear silence all around you except your thoughts and the bike.

Riding lets you "be" there. Like just looking at a postcard vs. actually living it. Even in the city, I find the perspective very different. You can smell the cars, hear the traffic, hear the music the person is listen to next to you. When you try to explain to a non-rider and you actually sit and think about it, it's a very surreal experience.

combine that with the thrill and thats why i ride.

 

[wrightme43]

I love it. Thats why I ride. It feels right.
I think someone said, "Motorcycles, because cars lean the wrong way."
I love the smells, the sights, the feel of the wind. I love putting my gear on, checking over my bike, and sitting down. I love clearing my mind, running thru my preride in my mind, starting the bike, and the feeling as the clutch engages. I love the feel of the throttle pinned. I love practicing my stops, and my leans. I just love riding. I like being the guy at the resturant in gear with a helmet on the seat next to me. I like riding in the rain and the looks that people next to me give. I like the way it feels like I am flying three feet off the ground. I like slaying bugs. I like doing something lots of people are terrified of. I like the way kids heads whip around and stare. I like the smile I get from kids when I wave at them. I like bikes.

 

[HavBlue]

Crap, I kinda think that private pilots are engaging in more risk that m/c riding. Bicycle riding probably ranks up there too. I dunno.

I love to ride and accept the dangers therein. In looking at the death rate or most dangerous travel methods I found this at the NHTSB site. The years were 1999-2000 combined.

Deaths:

Passenger cars 41,317
Motorcycles 5,163
Bicycles 1,492
Civil aviation 1,222

What these numbers don't tell is the average miles per incident which is where the motorcycle rider death rate gets interesting. When you take the user miles and then apply the death rate the rider comes out with a roughly 37% greater chance of fatality. Granted, when you consider how often the rider may die due to a lack of helmet use things once again change.

 

[OneTrack]

Riding lets you "be" there. Like just looking at a postcard vs. actually living it.

Great analogy! :thumbup:

 

[nimzotech]

Sure it does but riding in LA adds a bit of flavor to it when they find you clinically insane.....LMAO

Legend has it that there are more vehicles in the San Fernando Valley than there are in Canada. Riding a bike in LA must be somewhat of a challenge.

Interestingly enough for the reasons mentioned above, I benefit from riding the bike. Imagine this scenario; It is 7:30 AM. Driving you just enter freeway to get to work at 8:00 am. The freeway is jammed with cars and you are crawling at less than five miles an hour, bumper to bumper. Normally it should take no longer than 30 minutes to make a 20 mile ride to work, but due to traffic you arrive to work 1 hour late. Conversely, on a bike splitting the lanes allows you arrive to work on time; while everyone else is stuck in a cage. Of course having more cars on the roads, highways, may complicate things; on the other hand, running in to a deer crossing a seemingly safe, quiet and traffic-less road does not simplify things.

Cheers !:Sport:

 

[HavBlue]

Legend has it that there are more vehicles in the San Fernando Valley than there are in Canada. Riding a bike in LA must be somewhat of a challenge.

When I left Riverside County in 2006 it was number one in the nation for registered motorcycles with 46,000 plus. Keep in mind this includes green and red sticker vehicles too (off highway vehicles). California has 21 million licensed drivers (year 2000). They also have 159,000 drivers over the age of 84. In contrast, the Nation of Canada, which reported 33.2 million people in January of 2008, has 21.3 million licensed drivers. The interesting thing here is that the State of California has roughly 38 million people with approximately the same number of licensed drivers as the entire Nation of Canada.

 

[madmanmaigret]

"Why tip toe through life just to arrive safely at death's door?"

 

[Nelly]

I would love to have some of the romantic notions that many of you mention.

I ride because, I JUST LOVE IT. I hate driving my car, You can't see anything, full of blind spots. In a car I am another faceless person caught in the monotany of driving from A to B. On my bike every trip to work leaves me feeling alive and full of adrenaline.
My bike is so much more flexible than my car. If I am knackered I can short shift and sit in the flow of traffic and just relax. If I want I can leave the traffic behind and try to improve my entry and exit of a favourite curve or bend.
I even love riding in the rain as the road changes so much, I get to feel a totally different side to my bike and its levels of grip (real and imagined).
BIKES you can't beat them.

B ecause
I I
K KIN
E Enjoy it

 

[taco]

I ride because I enjoy it. I can't really explain it, it goes far beyond transportation since I usually don't ride to go somewhere. I guess you feel like you beome part of the machine which has far more power than you have. It makes you feel like you have superpowers. I just have far more fun on a bike than in a car. I have been riding dirt bikes since I was a little kid. Being on motorcycles is just natural to me, it's a part of life for nearly as long as I can remember.

As far as the danger part of it goes I was once told a philosophy that was credited to a battlefield general. He was asked how he can be so calm with bullets flying past him and men falling to his sides. His answer was that he has faith in God and that God is in control of all things. He is just as safe in battle as in his own bed because when God says its his time then and only then will he die.

I feel the same way about riding, I am a Christian and trust in the Lord. It will be my time when I have fulfilled what God has put me on earth to do. I cannot change that time by riding or not riding motorcycles. Besides God has made me this way that I enjoy these things and God wants us to use what we enjoy for His glory.

 

[ecurb]

Riding is a very personal thing. I was married at 18 and had 3 kids by the time I was 22. Three more kids along the way, and all along there wasn't much in my life that was just MINE alone. My bikes were my escape. Cars are tools to get you from one place to another. A bike is an adventure ... every time. It's a much more engaging experience than driving, so much more to think about and do. It's funny, but even the people who bash motorcycles are interested in the fact that I ride and want to know about my bike. Riding makes me feel powerful, special, blessed, and alive.

Ten years ago I had a serious bike accident, and I swore to my wife that I wouldn't ride again. I finally broke that promise when I fell in love with the 2007 FZ6. Why do I ride? I typically work 12 hour days, and nothing keeps me going when the day starts to drag like the feeling I get when I glance over at my helmet and realize that I've got a great ride home to look forward to.

 

[Botch]

When I was in the UK I gave a co-worker a lift to work one day on the back of my Bandit, she was just in her 40's, married with 2 kids and just going through the motions of life, house, work, kids etc.

The grin on her face when we got to the office was a great sight, she was as high as a kite and buzzing all day.

Maybe in some small way it helped turn her life around as she has changed her outlook on life completely and has a great time now. Not saying it was the bike ride that did it but it certainly showed her that there is fun out there.

That's a cool story! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I originally bought my bike to save on gas costs. That didn't work too well, I'm always taking detours coming home from work, sometimes involving parts of western Wyoming. So much for saving gas...

 

[doc_simple]

Ultimately riding makes you forgot everything but the road. You focus your life down to the next decision and all the worries, the bs just disappears.

I have a 5 minute commute to school, it's to damn short.