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Why Ride a Motorcycle?

August 14, 2006

by Nate

Shadow_Sabre.jpgAs the day in which I finally transition from a six-year daydreamer to an actual biker approaches, I thought it might be interesting to provide my friends and relations a bit of an explanation for why I might sink a significant amount of me and my wife's hard-earned money into a machine which has been the means of parting many a member of the human race from his life. This issue faces all bikers, but most are forced by one extreme into another: because of the extreme aggression shown toward motorcycles by many people, they become zealots--opposed to the idea that there could be anything at all wrong with living for the ride, doing what you can, and dying when God wills. This is my attempt, then, to provide a moderate defense of the virtues of riding in the face of its many acknowledged risks.

Let's begin:

Riding a Bike Scares Me, Too.

Riding a motorcycle really is dangerous. Being in a cage (car) is also, of course, dangerous, but there's little getting around the fact that one is more exposed when on a motorcycle, and that one suddenly becomes the automatic loser in the event of any collision. Bikers have a greater responsibility for their own safety than do cagers; bikers must develop much greater ability to drive safely.

But, as with many risks, these things can be advantages, too. Developing the skills necessary to ride a bike can save you from the inattentiveness that can kill you in a cage. Bikers don't fall asleep at the wheel--they can't. Also--and this is not an insignificant point--bikers carry far less risk of killing another human being.

And then, of course, there's the thrill. The kind of awareness and focus that comes from being outside of the cage is something almost incomprehensible for those who have never done it; one is in a dynamic, powerful relationship with all elements of the road when on a bike, with the frame removed. You don't need a radio or a CD player on a bike: you don't need to be distracted out of the utter monotony of the inside of that cage. You reclaim a part of your life in getting on a bike.

Lastly, being scared can be an awfully good state. It reminds you to be cautious, to be attentive, and to take responsibility for the power and risks you take whenever you get on a contraption that turns black liquid into terrible amounts of kinetic energy. And being a bit scared is certainly the first step to being a better biker: to always suiting up with armored leather, to wearing a full-face helmet, to taking those safety courses.

Motorcycles are One of Man's Three Greatest Creations

The other two, of course, are hydro-electric dams and the George Foreman grill. Anyone who has not yet come to terms with this has not sailed through a Cameroonian evening with streetlights zooming through the dusty gloom like stars or felt the sensation of his body moving in line with and against inertia while leaning into a curve or even spent some time looking at a parked cruiser, losing himself in the acres of gleaming chrome coiled like mythical snakes on a pagan idol. There is no car--for any price--as cool as a motorcycle. There never will be.

Lastly: Motorcycles Will Be More Useful than Cars After the Apocalypse

Once everything hits the fan and the cars of America are rusting in heaps and abandoned garages in what used to be the United States of America, it will be the powerful, nimble, efficient, easily-maintainable motorcycles that rule the cracking pavement of our dystopic future.

I hope this clarifies things a bit for everyone. I also encourage anyone with grave emotional reservations about motorcycles to do some reading over at the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. Many people would be amazed to discover how much real training and safety precautions can do to control the risks of motorcycle riding. Modernity has given us better training resources, better safety gear, and better bikes: there really has never been a better time to get out of the cage.

Comments

On August 14 at 7'52 PMPermalink, Martin wrote:

1

I think it’s been conclusively proven that in any post-apocalyptic nightmare world, the motorcycle is no match for the Pursuit Special.

On August 15 at 9'04 AMPermalink, Nate wrote:

2

Having watched even the first part of Mad Max, I’m afraid that’s probably correct. I could argue that Mad Max is malicious, anti-biker propoganda, but it’s probably as cool as everyone says and, therefore, absolutely, unassailably correct.

On August 17 at 6'52 AMPermalink, Carl wrote:

3

When you are out there, knowing what you have to lose and how easily you can lose it all, it demands you to be very careful. So I ride a slow bike, I wear good protective gear, I go where it’s quiet, take things slow and try to learn as much as I can about the sport. It’s at this point where the real satisfaction comes. When I cruise into a corner with the right speed (not fast), in the right gear, choosing the right line and it’s like a perfect set of notes that make a perfect melody. The end product is a physical and spiritual balance with myself, my bike and my environment - and it is bliss.

On August 17 at 1'26 PMPermalink, Dan wrote:

4

What many people are simply incapable of grasping in this age of floor-mounted airbags and coffee-burn lawsuits is that there is a spirit in some men that does not instinctively run from death, but instead confronts and even transcends it.

It is difficult for me to view the current trend towards asphixiating comfort and safety with anything less than disgust, so, accordingly, I salute you, Nate, for taking one small step towards a lost vision.

On August 17 at 1'32 PMPermalink, dan wrote:

5

Oh, and I’ll assume the hydroelectric damn bit was a shout-out to your homey. Word.

I feel obliged to ask that you correct yourself, however, on one point. The greatest creation of mankind is in fact the Ferrari 328 GTS. I’m sure this was mere oversight on your part rather than a genuine lack of knowledge.

On August 18 at 12'29 PMPermalink, Nate wrote:

6

Carl: your brief and elegant description of the experience of a single corner offers much insight to what many bikers try to express about their love for the sport, I think. Bikers tend to speak scornfully about drivers who multi-task, as if the insufficiency of the act of driving to be fully engaging were its most damning aspect. They talk about music, too, if perhaps in a more literal sense: they talk about the sounds and characters of pipes and engines, of the joy of getting to know the particular melody of one’s bike as one moves through its gears. I look forward to the time that I can offer my own perspective on this.

Thanks for stopping by Monadology; I wonder if I’m correctly guessing who you are.

Dan: I think you’re the only person I know whose natural state, like mine, is almost self-parody. At any rate, I’m glad to have your support: certainly I imagined that any move away from the pedestrianism of a Saturn would cheer you somewhat.

And, yes, the hydro-electric dam was most definitely a shout-out to you.

I’m afraid I disagree as to the Ferrari 328 GTS, my friend… in your charitable urge, you over-looked a statement in my post that ought to have damned me forever in your eyes:

“There is no car—for any price—as cool as a motorcycle. There never will be.”

On August 18 at 1'36 PMPermalink, Moss wrote:

7

There are all sorts of words that we use every day, wherein sleep metaphors we have long since forgotten about. “Pedestrian” is, of course, one such. What does it mean? Oh, nothing special—just a word for something that isn’t too exciting, not much more to be said about it. But the metaphor is still sleeping in there, and if you shake it hard enough, you might wake it up.

On August 18 at 3'58 PMPermalink, Nate wrote:

8

My own relationship with the word “pedestrian” is (I think) somewhat the reverse of the one you describe. “A person travelling afoot” was the sole definition I picked up from context in life; a literature class and an old book had to teach me the possible meaning about commonality/vulgarity. As such, the metaphor remains antecedent to the “unexciting” meaning in my mind to this day.

I hope you will believe me, then, when I assure you that the word “pedestrian” was selected entirely for the sake of the pun.

On August 18 at 5'20 PMPermalink, Moss wrote:

9

I hoped it was, and thought it might have been. Delightful.

(I should add that, even if it wasn’t intentional, I didn’t mean my comment as criticism—just to point out the funny.)

On August 20 at 9'28 AMPermalink, Nate wrote:

10

Ah, good; I was too quick to interpret your creative prose as a remonstrance, for which I apologize.