Where Does This Passion Come From?

[Nemo_imp]

This may be nothing more than the musings of an insomniac but I am curious about where this passion for riding motorcycles comes from? It isn’t universal as we are after all a minority. If it was about motion and going fast, surely we could get that from our trucks and cars. I don’t know about you but frankly I’m bored silly going longer distances in my truck without good company or at the very least some good music. Is it about the thrill of risk-taking? I think not, particularly when I consider the considerable effort and expense we put into safe and responsible riding. Could it be attention seeking? Not when you consider that riding a motorcycle is a very solo and private experience even among others. Besides, there are lots of cheaper and safer ways to get attention - just die your hair green or stand on a street corner and shout.

I did a little field research this past summer asking various moto riders I met if they rode bicycles when they were kids. All looked at me funny as though it were a given and said “yea, so” or something like that. I did not find one motorcyclist who had not ridden a bicycle as a kid first. Is it even conceivable that someone could or would even want to ride a motorcycle without having learned to ride a bicycle as a kid? Are there exceptions? Now I know that probably the vast majority of people have had an experience of riding a bicycle but I’m not convinced that it is the same for everyone.

There was nothing I loved more than riding my bicycle when I was a kid. It gave me independence, autonomy and freedom from whatever was going on around me. If Mom and Dad were at it again I got on my bicycle and rode. I would spend entire days throughout the summer on that bicycle. I remember always feeling good on my bicycle. My bicycle was my escape from the hardship of being a kid.

I am sure it is much more complex but could it be that that our experience on bicycles as kids was foundational to our passion for riding motorcycles as adults? Because the motorcycle connects us to the kid - the core to our ability to play - the core to our ability to experience joy. Another less romantic way of putting it is that the bicycle just may be the gateway drug to full-blown motorcycle addiction.

Ride safe and joyful kids..

You are on the right track when you mentioned bicycles. As youngsters our freedom and range of adventure was limited by how far we could walk in a day. As a 10 year old my friends and I would walk a long way to go fishing. When we able to afford a bicycle, that made things easier and expanded our range of adventure.

After finishing school my first job was working at a local paper mill. Riding buses to and from work took hours. After a few paychecks and a loan, I bought my first motorcycle, a Yamaha 100cc twin tin. That made getting about much quicker, and also further expanded the range I could venture. It did not take long before I met other bikers and motorcycling became my new passion and social life.

As our motorcycles grew in size, so did the range of our adventures. Now we were no longer limited to our own city, but had the freedom to travel to other cities, and in time to places in the USA.

After 23 years however things changed. One by one my biking buddies got married and disappeared. And so did I. My wife, home, career and beer league sports became my new passions, and the motorcycle disappeared.

Fast forward 25 years. As a retiree I have the time and income to pretty much do what ever I like. I returned to motorcycling, but everything had changed. All the people I once rode with had disappeared, the old haunts were empty, and the new ones full of strangers. Which was alright because I had no desire to join a club and ride in pack formation. Been there, done that.

I am now a lone wolf. Riding when I want, where I want, and at the speed I want. Sometimes enthusiastically sweeping through the corners, other times just enjoying the scenery as I quietly cruise along on some quiet back road. To me this is the real freedom all the motorcycle ads pitch.

By why a motorcycle and not a car? There is something about being in an open vehicle. The sunshine, fresh air, expanded panoramic view, the wind pushing against you, the feel and sound of the motor and tires. It just feels right to me to be out there away from the city.

The two quotes above accurately summarize my childhood experience with my bicycles. Today I have a bicycle that next year I'll have owned for 20 years.

The line of logic of bikes and motorbikes makes sense, but I think there is something else to it... I cannot explain it as I don't know what it is. I have friends that are avid cyclists but are terrified of motorcycles.

My $100 XR75 (bought without my parents knowledge when I was 14), Evel Knievel, and the 1984 Nighthawk S, did me in: Hooked for life!