WHY DO YOU RIDE?

[OB_Dirty Pete]

"Why do you ride a motorcycle Peter?" A business associate asked me this question today and I was stuck for an answer.

I guess I've never asked myself that question because I can hardly remember when I didn't ride. I've been thinking about that simple question a lot today.

Here's what I'll say if he asks that question again.

1. It keeps alive all the fun I used to have on my bicycle as a kid. I never wanted to get off my 2-wheelers and always used to fight with my parents about when I had to come home and how far from home I was allowed to ride. I do the same stuff on the Busa now as I used to do on that bike. Racing over curbs, making noise, staying up late and terrorizing the 'hood, customizing, and hanging with anti-social buddies plotting our next assault on the citizens.

2. I like scaring the snot out of myself.

3. Stuff to fix and improve.

4. Girls like'em.

For me personally, everything other reason is just window dressing.

How would you answer that question if someone asked it of you? WHY DO YOU RIDE?

[This message has been edited by Dirty Pete (edited 29 November 1999).]

 

[OB_SteveC]

I was given a ride on a nieghbor's Harley when I was 7 or 8 I was hooked instantly.
I started riding friends bikes at 13. And where I lived at the time you could get your regular license at 15. I have always had a bike of some kind since. I can't imagine not being able to ride anymore. It's just part of who I am.

Steve

 

[Guest]

Adrenalin rush. Pure and simple. In life we all need a shot of adrenalin once in a while. Especially us Scotsmen.

 

[OB_Dirty Pete]

Hey Lyle I'm a Seriously Scottish Scotty too. Riding is what you do when you're you're not allowed to run out and cut people's heads off with a broadsword anymore.

Probably motorcycles were invented by the English to keep Scotsmen away from their women.

 

[viol8r]

Alot of that stuff you said plus I think it's like flying, all you have is two little patches of rubber on the ground and almost nothing around you. You can get though traffic alot easier also. When I lived near chicago it was a breeze on a bike. I hate riding those good time cages. Sometimes I like to think of my busa as a flying carpet

 

[OB_mrabusa_h]

It's just like a video game only It's real, you only get 1 life..

It's my outlet on life !! My alter-ego..

 

[OB_Dirty Pete]

Viol8r & mra so true. Low level flying...it's what all pilots really want and that's why there's airplane rules against it...2 tiny patches I never thought of that arrrrrrgh!...video game for sure especially when you wear ear plugs and ride very fast...

 

[viol8r]

I thought about the video game thing with the 1 life a lot of times also. I owned a game room for a while. I was seriously addicted.

 

[Guest]

It makes me feel like a Cowboy, on a Supersonic freaking horse!!!! and we all know girls love cowboys.

 

[OB_VegasDude]

I ride because i have loved motorcycles ever since i was a kid. I love the challenge of riding. I like the kind of people that ride a motorcycle, they are a friendlier group, in my opinion. You get a lot for the money and you can make your bike anyway you want it.Best of all It is the most damn fun that you can have over and over again. I love acceleration and there is nothing quite like twisting the throttle of a bike to get you going.

 

[OB_Kong]

I ride because its something I dont have to share with anyone else unless I want, Its the only thing that never dissapoints me or lets my down. Its the only thing that I think about more than sex and damn sure read and talk about more than anything else. It keeps me like a kid because its my toy MINE! and Iam the ruler of my WORLD!!!!!

 

[OB_Dirty Pete]

Kong sorry about the rude post earlier you are obviously my kind of sugar!!!!!!!!!!

 

[OB_ducmanic]

Sitting in a fish tank on wheels waiting in a gridlock has never been something i excel at. The uncertainty's about clearance, traction, and intent are such that i have always been more in control (however minimal) of motorcycles, relative to cages. I like the
attention i get from people when i do burnout's and wheelies. I like the whole anti
social stigma associated with MC life. Your closer to the edge on your bike. Closer to
the alternate realities we spend so much time pretending we want, or as in my case so
much time trying to escape from. "We just want to ride our machines"
ducmanic
http://www.labusas.org/

 

[OB_Dirty Pete]

Right Duc. And on a Busa it's understood you're very close to destruction at all times. I could never be part of the Citizen Order. Bikes are the main way I keep myself separated out from the fish, no matter how much I may have to act like a citizen in the daylight to keep my kids fed.

Vegas put it nicely about the riding part.

 

[OB_Konrad]

VISCERAL!!!!

 

[OB_busa]

IT'S IN MY BLOOD,AND FOR AROUND $10,000 YOU CAN'T GET THE SHEAR VELOCITY IT PRODUCES.PEOPLE ASK IF I HAVE A DEATH WISH,I ALWAYS SAY IT'S A RUSH AND THAT'S JUST ME!

 

[OB_Dirty Pete]

You gotta understand that when Konrad says "VISCERAL" that's a technical term to him. It's about the big mother organs in the big mother cavities of the body or, on a metaphorical note, about internal feelings.

A jolly guy or what?

I think Konrad knows a lot about viscera. Maybe more than he wants to.

 

[OB_KawAbuser]

Riding a Busa you will never need VIAGRA!

A lot of the same sensations when you are letting a pair of big skis run free in the fall line on a big mountain on perfect hard pack, carving hard fast turns and grinning like a mad man......

If you fuc* up its all crash and burn, riding the edge!

 

[Guest]

Topics must be getting scarce again! lol
I bet it's going to be worse before the end of winter. Maybe if/when I detail my 800+ mile mission to do the Y2K trade-in you guys will be forced to read it!

Good answers above. Not much I can add except that riding is a great escape for me from the daily grind of coding, troubleshooting and hammering computer keys in my office. The speed is a big part of it as well as the open air, smells and other sensations on the road. I enjoy the challenge of wallet vampires trying to clock me and avoiding/blowing by slow moving idiot drivers.[lots of those here] It takes a couple or more consecutive days of riding the Busa for me begin to feel one/connected with the machine in the way I seek. Longer time periods between rides bring a disconnect until I spend more time riding. Generally speaking I've always 'blazed my own trail', 'done my own thing' and have been a loner so the Busa fits perfectly with my lifestyle/personality. It's difficult to meet others in my area interested in the same things I am and the net has been a godsend. I feel very out of place here in the land of cows, pickup trucks and farmers. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to living in a town so small but Dallas is just a twist of the throttle away!

 

[OB_ROR]

In a word, RELAXATION! I have to concentrate completely on riding, so everything else that may be going on in my life disappears. In fact, when I find my mind drifting back to day-to-day cares, it's time to stop riding and either refocus my attention, or get off the bike.

As a result, my rides invariably end with me exhilerated, relaxed, tired, satisfied, but seldom satiated.

I don't find motorcycling at all like flying, which is also totally absorbing for me. I think its most like skiing back before my knees gave out and I could carve a fairly mean turn.