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+--- Thread: Where Does This Passion Come From? (/showthread.php?tid=11716)
Where Does This Passion Come From? - Mandrau - 10-29-2017 10:36 PM
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..
RE: Where Does This Passion Come From? - Nortoon - 10-30-2017 01:20 AM
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.
RE: Where Does This Passion Come From? - rotor - 10-30-2017 01:55 AM
(10-29-2017 10:36 PM)Mandrau Wrote: Another less romantic way of putting it is that the bicycle just may be the gateway drug to full-blown motorcycle addiction.
Yes, especially - I believe - for those that found both types of vehicles not only fun, but also something that has a great utilitarian value.
I rode bicycles a lot. As far as I remember, over 90% of my adult bicycle riding was for some specific transportation need. On a motorcycle, this is still well over 50%, at least when measured by riding time instead of miles covered. It appears however (judging by, among other things, from posts in this forum) that this is an exception.
Not very romantic perhaps, but for me an essential component of this "addiction".
p.s.: so, you seem to be a fellow member of that most exclusive (still virtual) m/c club: 2016 CB1100SE Owner Guild (Restricted!
At some point we should pry the exact, official outer limit number of the Guild membership from Honda Canada. I've heard it's as low as 16, but it would be nice to know for sure.
RE: Where Does This Passion Come From? - CIP57 - 10-30-2017 04:00 AM
I can remember back to the age of about 8 yrs old building jumps for bicycles in the woods and later @ the age of 10 using those same ramps for my Rupp mini bike. Some friends having no interest and a few others addicted like me
So, I think there is a connection between the two. Last July I decided to join a friend who is an A cyclist but could not keep up with him and would slow him down on the climbs. I decided to buy a Stromer ( e-bike) and fell in love putting 1200mi from July to January. I sold my motorcycles last fall and have not regretted it for a moment.
I bought my second e-bike this February ( Giant Road Bike) and have logged 3650 MI this season averaging a little under 100 mi per week.
Is there a connection, you bet. I get the same feeling riding the back roads as I did when riding my motorcycles. Only difference is no earplugs and everything slows down a bit, but not to much since I average 19-20 mph.
You will also gain a few inches in your arms and legs while losing a few in your mid section
RE: Where Does This Passion Come From? - Houtman - 10-30-2017 04:05 AM
I grew up in Holland and hated riding my bicycle !
We had no school busses and going to high school was a six mile trip twice a day in all kinds of weather.
It rains a lot in Holland and the wind was nearly always against me .
I could not wait till I was 16 and buy a moped and than at 18 I bought a car and a motor cycle.
The day I turned 18 I swore that I would NEVER ride a bicycle again and I never did !
I know that riding a bicycle in Holland is universal , perhaps one reason I left Holland.....
RE: Where Does This Passion Come From? - Bheezy27403 - 10-30-2017 04:50 AM
Growing up in rural Ohio on a farm my bicycle was attached to me. Whether covering large expanses of farm acreage or riding to the golf course (work) it was essential for transportation. But I loved every second of it. When I moved to NC as a sophmore in high school my chrome Diamondback Viper was my pride and joy. No longer needed to cover vast distances but now as something to putt around in neighborhoods on. I polished that thing weekly.
As a young adult I bought a Trek 120 that I rode as my only transportation for around 3 yrs. Loved that bike. Single track high difficulty trails, no problem. 30 mile street rides, no problem.
I guess that two wheels have always been a part of my life. A very important part.
RE: Where Does This Passion Come From? - valkanut - 10-30-2017 05:37 AM
as far i can remember,i'have always been on 2 wheels,my first "long ride"was to the next village at 4 miles away on small country narrow road with big truck splashing sand in my face and almost blowing me in ditch. that i remember well. lol
then the film "easy rider" arrived. i was done right there. :-)
RE: Where Does This Passion Come From? - Django - 10-30-2017 06:39 AM
All boys I knew during my childhood had a bicycle. Only very few of them started out later on a motorcycle, but all of them got a driver licence for cars.
Interesting idea, however I don't think, there is a relationship.
RE: Where Does This Passion Come From? - The ferret - 10-30-2017 07:04 AM
Like Houtman I hated riding a bicycle as a kid (but I hate walking even more). I come from a motorcycling family. My dad rode Indians until they went out of business in 1952 then switched to Harleys, but had quit riding by the time I got old enough to see him ride. He still got the Harley Magazine though and I loved reading about motorcycle adventures. When I was 10 I used to walk several blocks to watch this old guy up the street polish his Harley before firing it up and taking off up the road. It was thrilling to watch. When I turned 15 I needed transportation to take me from high school to my job. My father said it was time to get my first motorcycle. I wanted a Honda C110, but my dad being a WW-2 vet hated the Japanese and wouldn't let me have one. Instead he took me down to the Harley dealer where we bought my first motorcycle a Harley M50 which was really a re-badged Italian Aermacchi. It cost $318 brand new and I paid for it working my restaurant job at $1.25 an hour. I rode the wheels off that thing. Talk about freedom, and that was just the beginning. I loved riding and at 22 I went into the motorcycle industry and spent the next 17 years immersed in motorcycles. I haven't been without at least 1 motorcycle since age 15. I've had as many a 6 at one time. My older brother, one of my two older sisters and my younger brother all became riders as well. Funny as my dad got older he took up motorcycling again (as did my mother and we still have her bike) this time mostly on Japanese bikes, Hondas and Yamahas although he had a Moto Guzzi and another Harley too. Motorcycles have taken my wife and I to 42 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and 5 countries in Europe. I can't imagine not riding a motorcycle, and at 67 I still average riding 25,000 + miles a year.
As of last count I think we currently have 14 members of the family that ride their own bikes. My older brother passed earlier this year, but was still riding at the time of his passing and my one older sister gave up riding, but both of her adult sons ride and they each have adult sons that ride. I ride, my wife rides, my adult son rides, his wife rides and he has one son that rides. My younger brother rides. My son's father in law and mother in law both ride, and my son's wife has 2 adult cousins that ride.
RE: Where Does This Passion Come From? - CA200 - 10-30-2017 07:42 AM
I got my first bicycle when I was 6 at the same time my older bother got his. They were both used. My bother "got it " down first. That upset me a little but soon I was riding. There were kids with new bikes I soon learned to take mine apart and add new things like banana seats and
high bars. By the time I was 10 all the kids around our little block were
bringing their bikes to me to change. Then one day a rich kid rode around the block on a Wards moped. He let everyone have a go at it.
From that day on I was hooked, first came the Silver Pigeon then a
Honda and on and on --
