Why Guys with Motorcycles Ride...

[B7bydesign]

crestwood36 previously said:

Unless he was brake checking you, my guess is that it had to do with his safety. I've been on crowded highways where I'll "encourage" someone by getting up close if they are matching the speed of the car beside them. The only reason I do this is so I'm not pinned next to another vehicle. When you ride (and really when you drive too) you always want an out. If things go bad, you should always have a way to bail that doesn't put you on the tarmac. I have seen plenty of guys acting like total morons. Darwinism usually ends up taking care of them.

Well said. Its been rough moving back to Nashville, i miss being able to ride over to the gap if i needed to clear my head, or if it turned out to be a really nice fall day when i lived in Knoxville

[Mtbcoach]

rutherk1 previously said:

A bigger question is why alot of guys on motorcycles think they are tough. Dude, I'm in a truck. You are on a bike.

I had some dude try to punk me on the freeway. I'm like, you are free game dude.

rutherk1 previously said:

Back when 315 was 55MPH some guy on a bike was tailing me because I was going 65 (while I was passing people on the right). I was like "this dude is awfully close to my bumper I hope he doesnt get hurt". I did the right thing and got in the right lane so he could pass. He stuck out his hand (with a glove on) and flipped me off.

Thanks. Real tough. Next time I see him, Ill just put both feet on the brake.

People are awfully tough when they can get away easily.

rutherk1 previously said:

Oh yeah. In HS (the early 1990s) some punk was flying on his bike through our neighborhood. He had temps on the bike.

He was disregarding the children playing in the yards too.

On the way to school the next day there was a telephone pole with little mark in it. Beside it was a neon green and white bike with temp tags on it.

I snikered.

In contrast there are alot of good bikers out there . The young ones that have never laid one down are usually the toughest. Their day will come and hopefully that will make them better riders.

The harley dudes are usually cool. All those things do is make noise so no big deal there.

Harley is the easiest way to convert gasoline to noise without the nagging side effect we call horsepower.

Thanks for bringing a thread with a great post articulating the beauty, agony and joy of being on two wheels to a screeching halt with your insight. As SeanK mentioned, I typically enjoy your insight but in this case, I don't see it. You show your ignorance with your last statement regarding Harley's lack of horsepower, I guess you are doing all you can to irritate all motorcyclists.

I commute on a motorcycle ~200 miles a week having owned one form or another of them since 1970 (well, I didn't really own my own until '75 when I was old enough to buy my own). You comments of how someone is a tough guy because he gave you the US salute followed with the comment of how the next guy will eat your bumper, sounds like more tough guy talk. Taking joy in someone crashing because you felt they were going too fast through the neighborhood...thats sad. I bet you kick puppies when they have an "accident" too.

I guess it is easy to come off as a tough guy, sitting in a truck, feeling invulnerable, higher than thou, able to threaten someone's life with a brake check, just because you can. No harm to you right? Maybe just a small dent in the rear of your truck where the guys helmet made contact with your tailgate. That's ok, you can sue him for riding too close and having to break for that invisible squirrel, causing you to hit your brakes.

But, then again, it may come to be found that you had malicious intent, no cause for doing the brake check and found liable for the crash. You never know, you might get lucky enough for the guy to die and get convicted for manslaughter where you can show how tough you are with your cell mate Bruno every time he demands a "favor".

Its really too bad you have such angst toward motorcyclist. The point of the OP was to share a well written story from the viewpoint of a "true motorcyclist". Just because you see an a-hole on one occasionally, think about how many more you see sitting behind the wheel of a car. The only difference is you can kill the motorcyclist with a quick flick of bad judgement where all you would do if they were in a car is cause some property damage. I guess because a motorcyclist is more vulnerable, it makes the "fair game" and we need to watch out for guys like you, because you have the power to kill us at your whim. All you have to do is give us a little swerve, pinch us into a curb or tailgate/rear end us because you can, it won't hurt you to run us over.

I can tell you one thing for sure, there are way more bad drivers in cars than on motorcycles. Yes, it may be the Darwin effect but it is still overwhelmingly on the side of 4 wheeled driver's than two...

[wrigman]

Great lead story! Anyone that rides can identify with it. I live in So. Cal. where being a "rounder" is almost a given. I have many stories I can share of d!@k head's in "cages" trying to take me out. After riding for 34 years total and 24 years on the street I've been down more times than I can count. (OK three times on the street and more times than I can count in the dirt!) I will say this,,,One can tell the riders that haven't been down from the ones that have, and I ride like a guy that has been down three times. Sometimes that means riding faster than traffic because I get a funny feeling from those in the cages around me, sometimes I have the room to just cruise and take it easy. One of those times came last Saturday on my way back from the Mojave trail "recon" run. Coming down Cajon pass from the desert I had a view I have NEVER had from the seat of any motorcycle I have had. It was very overcast, but the mountains were clear in front of me. the clouds were touching the tops of the mountains, the mountains were covered with snow ALL THE WAY DOWN as far as I could see!(Hey we in So.Cal. don't get to See this very often!) The cold disappeared because of the aw some view! It's moments like these that we ride for!
(I commute every day on my motorcycle to work, and just got off the bike about 15 min. before reading and writing this post!)
EVERY ONE RIDE SAFE AND AVOID THE ROIDS IN CAGES!!!

[homedawg]

rutherk1 previously said:

Back when 315 was 55MPH some guy on a bike was tailing me because I was going 65 (while I was passing people on the right). I was like "this dude is awfully close to my bumper I hope he doesnt get hurt". I did the right thing and got in the right lane so he could pass. He stuck out his hand (with a glove on) and flipped me off.

Thanks. Real tough. Next time I see him, Ill just put both feet on the brake.

People are awfully tough when they can get away easily.

As a motorcyclist, this is one of the most offensive things that I have ever read on a forum post. I hope you realize what you just implied. You basically just said that you would willingly take someones life because you don't like their attitude. I hope that you never actually act on this childish impulse. Remember that behind the helmet is a human being with a family. If he is acting an ass on a motorcycle, Darwin will eventually either straighten him out or take him out. It's not your job to teach him a lesson by killing or maiming him.

If this is just rhetoric, tone it down. If you are serious, I pray for those on the highway that would do something to offend you.

[landcruizer92]

crestwood36 previously said:

Nice Monster! I'm still trying to decide between a S4R S, 848, or a Sport Classic for my next Duc. FYI, I have the same Desmo Badge upgrade for the FJ.

Can't see the exhaust too well...Termis? You need to open that clutch up so the world can hear the bag of hammers that is a Ducati dry clutch. Unfortunately, my Multi has a wet clutch, so I can't listen to that music.

The picture frame comment reminds me of the last two times I was going through Southern West Virginia. The first was on the bike, the second in my truck. I found myself wanting to stick my head out the truck window so I could look around and take in everything around me.

Man if the 848 (drool...) did not come out, I would get the Sport Classic! All bikes are nice One thing that i regret and probobly the only thing is that the 800 came with the wet clutch so i dont get to enjoy the can with marbles sound I have the Zard's Full exhaust on and the music that makes alone makes me forget about the the wet clutch. Its a pretty new itlalian company supposedly started by some ex termi techs or so.

Oh yeah, BTW Tom Cruise is set to be the first in line to pick up his Desmosedici RR in Beverly Hills this weekend at a cool $72,500 smackeroos.

[Putts255]

I have been riding for a very long time and absolutely love it.

Matter of fact my wife tells me to go ride because she loves to see the big smile on my face when I walk in the door and she says the stress looks like it has evaporated.... Now with -40°C weather and snow everywhere I cannot wait to be on 2 wheels again....

Drive safe, drive with caution!

[crestwood36]

I envy those of you who can ride year round. My Duc is plugged into a battery tender right now waiting for a semi-nice day to roll by.

Unfortunately, there will always be people who do not understand why we ride. I only hope they can experience the beauty that we see daily at least once in their lives. I try to share that beauty with them, hoping they may come to respect us a little more. For many it works; others refuse to see past their bias. I will take my victories where I can find them.

Landcruizer, I just spent the past few minutes trying to find pictures of the Desmosedici engine on the Multistrada forum I belong to. Unfortunately, I can't find the post for the life of me. One of the members there was certified to work on it and took a ton of shots. To adjust the valves, they have to drop the entire engine. I guess it's a good thing that for your $72k you get the first two years of service for free.

I forgot that some of the Monsters have switched over to wet clutches. I can understand it from a service perspective, but man does that dry clutch sound good opened up.

[Hondo]

I've ridden motorcycles over 35 years now. The people I ride with treat all motorist and pedestrians with respect otherwise they dont ride with me or my family! If I have to exlain you wont understand.

[Swingshiftworker]

I started riding when I was 15 1/2 years old, which is over 40 years ago.

I'm between motorcycles now, but I'm a sports touring rider who has traveled throughout the western United States and western Canada from the Pacific to the Rockies and back, through Alaska from Anchorage to Fairbanks and back, through the Alps from Munich through Salsberg, Innsbruck, St. Moritz, Cortina and Lake Garda and back, throughout northern Mexico down to Patzcuaro, Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, the Copper Canyon and Matzatlan and back up through Baja from LaPaz.

None of these trips would have been as much fun or as memorable in a car -- and that's coming from a guy who currently owns 5 cars. I'm thinking about getting another bike (probably a Honda ST1300) even now, but at 57 (pushing 60) most of my riding days are behind me. Nonetheless, I feel privileged to have seen so much of the world from the seat of a bike and, if I never ride again, I'll always have fond memories of the motorcycle tours that I've taken in the past.

Here are a few of the bikes that I've owned previously:

1965 Honda 305 Scrambler (my 1st bike)
1968 Triumph Bonneville 650 (a classic)
1979 Triumph Bonneville 750 (Triumph's comeback bike)
1981 Yamaha Seca 750 (a good bike but uninspiring)
1982 Honda Aspencade (a great touring bike, before it good too big and heavy)
1989 Kawasaki ZX10 (my favorite bike that I just sold last year)
1992 Ducati 750 Sport (sold it to the founder of Sharpe Image)
1992 Harley Low Rider (too slow and noisy but am still a life member of HOG)
2001 BMW K1200RS (a lemon that I traded in for the Ducati)
2002 Ducati 998 (a work of art)

[wrigman]

Swingshiftworker previously said:

I started riding when I was 15 1/2 years old, which is over 40 years ago.

I'm between motorcycles now, but I'm a sports touring rider who has traveled throughout the western United States and western Canada from the Pacific to the Rockies and back, through Alaska from Anchorage to Fairbanks and back, through the Alps from Munich through Salsberg, Innsbruck, St. Moritz, Cortina and Lake Garda and back, throughout northern Mexico down to Patzcuaro, Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, the Copper Canyon and Matzatlan and back up through Baja from LaPaz.

None of these trips would have been as much fun or as memorable in a car -- and that's coming from a guy who currently owns 5 cars. I'm thinking about getting another bike (probably a Honda ST1300) even now, but at 57 (pushing 60) most of my riding days are behind me. Nonetheless, I feel privileged to have seen so much of the world from the seat of a bike and, if I never ride again, I'll always have fond memories of the motorcycle tours that I've taken in the past.

Here are a few of the bikes that I've owned previously:

1965 Honda 305 Scrambler (my 1st bike)
1968 Triumph Bonneville 650 (a classic)
1979 Triumph Bonneville 750
1981 Yamaha Seca 650
1989 Kawasaki ZX10 (my favorite bike that I just sold last year)
1998 BMW K1200RS (a lemon)
1998 Ducati 998 (a work of art)

DUDE! What was wrong with the K1200rs?(or was it just a "Taxi cab"?) that you called it a lemon?
I traded my 98 K12rs last year for a 07 R1200GS. I LOVE this bike to death!
But as I'm typing this I wearing a Pirates' Lair Tshirt with my old "Taxi" on the back. It was FAST, but heavy and hard for the home machinack to work on. That wasthe only reason I traded it. I do sometimes miss it though.