You know you are getting old when:

[tonyb]

My ex boss, an owner of a BMW sports/touring bike...well don't get him started on the the typical Harley rider. He has toured big chunks of the world on his bike....Africa, Mongolia, SAmerica. He says the typical Harley rider gets on his bike on a Saturday morning rides it down to the local Starbucks where he sits with fellow Harley riders drinking coffee before heading home and parking the bike for another week.

Harley riders come in varieties. I have friends who own (and have owned) Harleys, and I have motorcycling friends who look down their noses at Harleys.

I’ve ridden coast-to-coast and back (on a Moto-Guzzi). For a few years motorcycles were my primary mode of transport.

There’s a biker bar maybe three miles from here. The bikes in the lot at any given time are almost entirely Harleys, with the occasional Indian or Victory. I’m guessing the owners on average spend more time admiring their bikes and talking about their bikes than actually riding their bikes. And that’s fine, really. Having put as many miles on motorcycles as I have, I can attest to how a person, especially a person of a certain age, might not want to be astride his motorcycle for hours on end.

I’ve angered motorcyclists by reminding them of how dangerous motorcycling is, as compared to car travel. (One such motorcyclist used to be a regular participant in this online community.) As measured per passenger mile travelled, motorcycling is 27 times deadlier — not 27 percent, 27 times. This is not to say that a motorcyclist is likely to get killed, but that the odds of a fatality are much, much higher. A cousin’s eldest offspring died riding his Harley (no helmet, massive brain injury). He left behind a wife and kids. A fellow I know wrecked his Kawasaki and acquired a wheelchair.

There’s this absurdity in this state and a few others that mandate the use of seatbelts in cars but allow adult motorcyclists to ride sans helmet. This is not an argument for or against helmet laws, but rather merely pointing out how we accommodate behaviors in certain groups we don’t tolerate in others.

 

[belfastboy]

Harley riders come in varieties. I have friends who own (and have owned) Harleys, and I have motorcycling friends who look down their noses at Harleys.

I’ve ridden coast-to-coast and back (on a Moto-Guzzi). For a few years motorcycles were my primary mode of transport.

There’s a biker bar maybe three miles from here. The bikes in the lot at any given time are almost entirely Harleys, with the occasional Indian or Victory. I’m guessing the owners on average spend more time admiring their bikes and talking about their bikes than actually riding their bikes. And that’s fine, really. Having put as many miles on motorcycles as I have, I can attest to how a person, especially a person of a certain age, might not want to be astride his motorcycle for hours on end.

I’ve angered motorcyclists by reminding them of how dangerous motorcycling is, as compared to car travel. (One such motorcyclist used to be a regular participant in this online community.) As measured per passenger mile travelled, motorcycling is 27 times deadlier — not 27 percent, 27 times. This is not to say that a motorcyclist is likely to get killed, but that the odds of a fatality are much, much higher. A cousin’s eldest offspring died riding his Harley (no helmet, massive brain injury). He left behind a wife and kids. A fellow I know wrecked his Kawasaki and acquired a wheelchair.

There’s this absurdity in this state and a few others that mandate the use of seatbelts in cars but allow adult motorcyclists to ride sans helmet. This is not an argument for or against helmet laws, but rather merely pointing out how we accommodate behaviors in certain groups we don’t tolerate in others.

A friend at church liked to tell a funny after her boyfriend was in a very serious accident with a miscreant auto while riding his Harley...."What do you call a 45 year old man riding a Harley?.........."An organ donour!"

 

[tonyb]

A friend at church liked to tell a funny after her boyfriend was in a very serious accident with a miscreant auto while riding his Harley...."What do you call a 45 year old man riding a Harley?.........."An organ donour!"

In the ER they call ’em “donorcycles.”

As I’ve said before, I really can’t complain. I may be in need of an organ donation at some point.

 

[Tiki Tom]

In my twenties I volunteered for a volunteer fire department in a small mountain community. My first actual call was an accident involving a motorcycle. A young lady (18? 20?) was riding on back, no shoes, no helmet. Coming around a curve, they ran head on into a car. Young lady sailed over the car and landed square on her head on the asphalt. I was one of the two guys trying to keep her alive until the paramedics arrived from Redlands. We did not succeed. R.I.P. I recall being a bit traumatized by the whole thing. I don’t think I’ve ever told this story to anyone before, except my wife.

Fast forward a decade or so. We are driving and my two year old daughter sees a motorcycle. She is very enthusiastic. I stearnly say “motorcycles are not safe. Also: motorcycles are not cool.”
My two year old daughter thinks about it, and then says “well, maybe they are a little bit cool.”
My wife busts up laughing.

 

[ChrisB]

Re Harley-Davidson, and also the confederate flag, isn’t it mostly driven by the human impulse to say “look at me! I’m not a conformist! I’m a rebel at heart!” (And then on Monday they take the kids to school and scurry to their corporate bean counter job.)

 

[tonyb]

In my twenties I volunteered for a volunteer fire department in a small mountain community. My first actual call was an accident involving a motorcycle. A young lady (18? 20?) was riding on back, no shoes, no helmet. Coming around a curve, they ran head on into a car. Young lady sailed over the car and landed square on her head on the asphalt. I was one of the two guys trying to keep her alive until the paramedics arrived from Redlands. We did not succeed. R.I.P. I recall being a bit traumatized by the whole thing. I don’t think I’ve ever told this story to anyone before, except my wife.

Fast forward a decade or so. We are driving and my two year old daughter sees a motorcycle. She is very enthusiastic. I stearnly say “motorcycles are not safe. Also: motorcycles are not cool.”
My two year old daughter thinks about it, and then says “well, maybe they are a little bit cool.”
My wife busts up laughing.

Going back maybe 30 years I had borrowed my brother’s ’62 Vespa, on the promise I would return it in at least as good a condition as I found it. Long story short: The engine seized. I had it rebuilt (no big deal on a Vespa), and while it was in the shop I had them do a brake job and replace the tires and cables.

Brother’s daughter loved riding on the Vespa. I told him that if the kid got injured I’d never forgive myself. The Vespa got very little use from that point onward. He fired it up every now and then and puttered up and down his dead end street.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's a guy here in town who rides around on a motorcycle with his dog sitting in a milk crate strapped to the back. The human is all geared up -- leather jacket, chaps, boots, and a helmet with a full face mask. The dog has no protection at all. There's something fundamentally immoral about that.

 

[GHT]

There's a guy here in town who rides around on a motorcycle with his dog sitting in a milk crate strapped to the back. The human is all geared up -- leather jacket, chaps, boots, and a helmet with a full face mask. The dog has no protection at all. There's something fundamentally immoral about that.

With a bit of thought.................

 

[tonyb]

Call me a speciesist, I suppose. For some reason a dog riding in the bed of a pickup truck or in a milk crate fastened to a carrier on a motorcycle doesn’t disturb me, and I’m a dog lover. I knew a guy whose little dog rode atop the tank bag on his BMW motorcycle. I’ve seen other motorcyclists carrying their small dogs in the fronts of their jackets, the furry little faces protruding out the top.

I wouldn’t do that with either of our mutts. But if I had trained them from puppyhood to do that?

 

[Rmccamey]

It's easy to over generalize about Harley riders...and motorcycle riders in general. Little of the current conversation here describes me or most riders I know.
Motorcycles are inherently dangerous. So are many other life activities. In Texas, most of the problems with motorcycle riding are self-inflicted: no helmet, alcohol, and no license (meaning, no rider safety course).

 

[chilehed]

I'm old enough to have no desire to do this, even though I still think it's badass.

 

[Bushman]

It's easy to over generalize about Harley riders...and motorcycle riders in general. Little of the current conversation here describes me or most riders I know.
Motorcycles are inherently dangerous. So are many other life activities. In Texas, most of the problems with motorcycle riding are self-inflicted: no helmet, alcohol, and no license (meaning, no rider safety course).

"Watch for motorcycles," they yell as they crotch rocket in and out of traffic, violating numerous traffic laws along the way.

 

[tonyb]

Let’s also note that young men are disproportionately well represented among motorcyclists. Having once been young, and still male, I allow myself to voice what any reasonable observer knows to be true — that young men tend toward more reckless behavior than people of other ages and genders. This is not to say that young men are uniformly reckless, or even predominantly so. But the numbers don’t lie.

I’ve crashed hard on bikes a couple times in collisions with cars (in both cases I had the right of way, but speed was a factor) and dumped on perhaps a dozen or more occasions. Got knocked unconscious once (woulda been much worse had I not been helmeted) and transported to the ER by fire department medics. I was much younger then.

 

[tonyb]

"Watch for motorcycles," they yell as they crotch rocket in and out of traffic, violating numerous traffic laws along the way.

That’s not a fair description of most motorcyclists, but we all see it often enough. Around here it’s the guys doing wheelies on their street-legal road racers that have me worried for their mothers, who stand waaay too great a chance of having to identify their boys down at the morgue.

Seriously, doing wheelies while speeding through intersections is borderline suicidal. There’s just no room for error.

 

[Zombie_61]

I'm old enough to have no desire to do this, even though I still think it's badass.

Okay guys, fess up. How many of you watched that video, sitting at home or maybe in your office, and still leaned into each and every turn?

 

[tonyb]

Okay guys, fess up. How many of you watched that video, sitting at home or maybe in your office, and still leaned into each and every turn?

That takes much more skill than I could ever attain. Just watching it had my testicles retracting.

 

[belfastboy]

I have never driven a motorbike.....expect that I am missing out but have no desire. Quite content to ride my mountain bike where it is just the occasional tree or cactus that jumps out into my path.....better poison than a car I am thinking.

 

[tonyb]

I have never driven a motorbike.....expect that I am missing out but have no desire. Quite content to ride my mountain bike where it is just the occasional tree or cactus that jumps out into my path.....better poison than a car I am thinking.

Motorcycles can be great fun. And, like fun things in general, kind of addicting.

 

[Fifty150]

For a few years motorcycles were my primary mode of transport.

That was how I started. As a teenager. I needed transportation.

rocket in and out of traffic, violating numerous traffic laws along the way

Unless it is perfectly legal to share lanes and change lanes. "Lane Splitting" is legal in some states. And there is nothing illegal about a signaled lane change.

young men are disproportionately well represented among motorcyclists

Speed. Motorcycles and fast cars. Strip clubs too. A lot of young people. Then there are people who are a little older. Maybe under 25 and over 50.

I have never driven a motorbike.....expect that I am missing out but have no desire.

There's the perception of danger because you are on 2 wheels. Some bike manufacturers are now selling 3 wheel models. Most people that I know, do not ride a motorcycle.

As a kid, the police department had Harley trikes. Mostly for parking control and traffic control. But there were the occasional regular patrols where they rode a trike instead of a patrol car. I see them on the road more.

CanAm Spyder is an interesting ride. When I first saw them, I didn't think that they were nimble enough to weave through traffic. But I guess that's okay, if you don't mind sitting in traffic. Not everybody wants to weave between lanes. It could be a commuter. Although I see this more as a road tripper. You could definitely ride this across the country.

Polaris Slingshot is more like a car, and you still get the open air feel of the road. Cost less than a car, is sold as a motorcycle, but you don't need a motorcycle license. If I had a place to park it, I would buy a Slingshot. It just looks like fun. Leather jacket, jeans, boots, and a backpack with your toothbrush and extra underwear. I could put some miles on this.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Wheelies. On a public street in moderate traffic. I don’t get it. I went 18 years without seeing an idiot popping a wheelie… and I’ve now seen it twice in the last week.