Motorcycle Research Paper Question - Why do you ride?

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Like others here it was a natural progression from a bicycle (which I also still ride). Worked up to mopeds and eventually full size. Weirdly, for me driving a motorbike is easier than driving a car, though a car does take less though overall... not sure I'm explaining it well. Other than that, my reasons are the same as most folks here have already said - direct exposure to nature, the sheer fun of riding, and so on.

Last couple of years I've really started to think about getting a second smaller bike, maybe even much smaller. Not back down to mopeds, but maybe close. My main ride is a good size, but she really wants longer rides and Toronto traffic has cut down on the fun a lot - a small bike would inject a little more fun back into those shorter in-town rides.

Is it more dangerous than a car? Of course it is. But a little controlled risk is good for ya. You can't hide from everything.
 
Barry, the old British fellow who rode a k1300 (I think) and was part of a vintage bike club? Machined odds and ends for the group? Sad to hear, even at 82. We struck up a conversation at Belfountain a few years back (78-79 at the time?) as he parked; the servo-assist brakes caught my attention. Hoped to meet him again, a very sharp mind in my opinion. Plus, he thought Burgmans were amusing to ride!
 
In my post a few pages back I posted why I ride, but I never got into why my brothers rode and taught me how.

My brothers all rode bike because my uncles on my Mom's side all rode.... they were all machine heads who loved anything mechanical and could fix anything despite having no formal education.

Why did my uncles ride? Because my grandfather rode a bike in the Belgian Army fighting against the Germans during WW2. Supposedly he was allowed to take it home when he was on leave and his sons were all very impressed at Dad showing up in uniform on a bike... so I guess since the 1940s it has been 'in the blood'... before that, it must have been horses, because my Mom remembers them having a number of horses growing up on a farm in Belgium.

Gramps probably rode something like this... but with an inflated front tire:

i1120-Rare-WWII-Belgian-Army-Gillet-720-AB-Motorcycle-Militaria.jpg
 
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I came back to this thread for a few grins. Also, I want to update why I ride.


Evil Knievel. Caesar's Palace.

I immediately built a ramp and started to jump. After caulk marking my progress, I got to jump 3 friends in the neighborhood. (successfully)

My aunt had a RD350 and uncle road a Kawi K1 with Kerker pipe. The smell and sound of those machines make my hair stand up then and now.

I had to have a motorcycle.
 
Rode my friends dirt bikes when I was a kid. Was a rural area in Nova Scotia and several had Honda 50s, Kawasaki 75, 100, Yamaha 80 etc. They would loan me a bike just because they needed someone to go trail riding with. Good times, loads of fun that I missed in later years, so I bought another bike, and then another. You have to ride one to understand. It gets in your blood.
 
nikhil567 said:
I was wondering if everyone could help me out with a research paper that I have to work on for a sociology paper.

My question to anyone on this forum is why do you ride?
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CanadianBiker said:
:lmao::lmao::lmao:
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LOL, that must be some research paper. I would have liked to have seen the question and request fleshed out a bit. But ya, riding is good also fun. All I remember from my honeymoon is riding a moped. Don't forget to include that in research.
 
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Got married in June (or was it July?) 1997. Spent two weeks in the Dominican. I still remember the feeling of freedom while riding a moped (in a short rain shower too). I don't know if it was that mopeds started becoming popular here, or I was just more aware of them. But whenever one went by, I found myself smiling at the memory of riding the moped in the Dominican. I signed up for the CMA course for September, 2009. I told no one. Sadly, a cousin of mine was killed while riding his motorcycle in New York. (Senior woman, with expired license, made a sudden right turn into her apartment complex, right in front of my cousin). I thought there was no way I could take the CMA course. But, I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and when it's your time, it's your time. So, I took the course.

My Dad passed away six years ago. I was told that when my Mom was eight months pregnant with me, he took her for a ride on his motorcycle (in England). I wish I had a photograph of that :) And I wish my Dad was alive to see me riding a motorcycle now. I wonder what he would have thought? I know what my Mom thinks.

So, I suppose I ride for the sense of freedom it gives me. I've also learned that riding a motorcycle is a wonderful way to discover parts of Ontario I never knew existed.
 
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Four Wheels moves the body, two wheels moves the soul. I read it on a t-shirt somewhere...
 
inreb said:
LOL, that must be some research paper. I would have liked to have seen the question and request fleshed out a bit. But ya, riding is good also fun. All I remember from my honeymoon is riding a moped. Don't forget to include that in research.
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It's sociology. The science of the effing obvious. I took three courses at U of T for some degree requirements and got all As. I learned that poor people are unhappy.
 
inreb said:
Is the research subject why do people ride or how much people are only too happy to fall all over themselves to explain why they ride?
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This happens in all motorcycle forums every once and a while, with responses from amateur philosophers who wax on with deep layers and layers of bullsh-t about how Zen riding a bike is and how they have life figured out on a bike and blah, blah, blah. They are all the same, and no one cares about when they got interested in motorcycles, really. Not one fascinating story.
This has completely overtaken the bike builder culture, so now hipsters with beards and bubble visors and flannel shirts (lumberbikers) will spew on about the "culture" of some unsafe POS they built in their mom's garage with pod filters and pipe wrap. then it's "cagers" this and that. Because they are now cooler somehow than a guy in a PT Cruiser.

It's a bike. It's fun. They go fast for cheap. You get to play dressup.
 
I think I started riding because I was always interested in bikes from a young age. Can probably attribute that to watching racing, the motorcycle magazines laying around the house as a kid and a few pictures of my dad's old Kawasaki on the basement wall. The real push was because my dad started riding again after a 23 year break. I was jealous and wanted to get out to join him so I got my license as well. Kept riding (7 years now) because I love it. Despite the risks I love riding and meeting fellow enthusiasts.
 
I started riding because I was hitting a point in car racing where money was the only way to go faster and I didn't want to keep spending all of mine to compete - so I took up riding as a new challenge, figured I would eventually build up to racing bikes.

The fuel savings while riding to work and enjoyment of the commute instead of it being a chore are nice bonus reasons.
 
I ride because it's dangerous. It's only when I'm close to death that I feel alive.

One cannot know hot, without knowing cold. One cannot know light, without knowing darkness.
 
^^ this guy gets it
 
DECIMIS said:
I ride because it's dangerous. It's only when I'm close to death that I feel alive.

One cannot know hot, without knowing cold. One cannot know light, without knowing darkness.
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+1

Except I went over a few too many times this year; there is no more fear lol Need more rationality to hold the stupidity back.
 
油井緋色;2247709 said:
+1

Except I went over a few too many times this year; there is no more fear lol Need more rationality to hold the stupidity back.
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and be wary of pine cones. so dangerous.
 
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