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Why do YOU like bikes?

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grandpaul

grandpaul

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Joined
May 18, 2006
Messages
2,208
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2,450
Location
Leander
First Name
Paul
Last Name
Zuniga
I own motorcycles for ONE (complicated) reason:

I like to RIDE them.
I like to WORK on them.
I like to LOOK at them.
I like to TAKE my kids and grandkids for RIDES on them.
I like to TAKE PHOTOS of them.
I like to take them APART.
I like to PUT them TOGETHER.
I like to WRITE about them.
I like to TALK about them.
I like riding in the COLD.
I like riding in the DRY.
I like riding them in the HEAT.
I like riding in the WET.
I like riding them in the DAYTIME.
I like riding them at NIGHT.
I like when other people LIKE them.
I like when other people DON'T LIKE them.
I like riding with my WYFE.
I like riding with FRIENDS.
I like riding with STRANGERS.
I like riding ALONE.
I like riding in TOWN.
I like riding on the HIGHWAY.
I like riding on TWISTY roads.
I like riding thru HILLS.
I like riding thru FORESTS.
I like TUNING them up.
I like RESTORING them.
I like SHOWING them.
I like ROADRACING them.
I like racing OFFROAD on them.
I like racing them in a STRAIGHT LINE.
I like HILLCLIMBING them.
I like BIKE GAMES on them.
I like figuring out how they WORK.
I like figuring out why they DON'T work.
I like figuring out why something BROKE on them.
I like figuring out why something DIDN'T break on them.
I like taking them to BIKE SHOWS.
I like SEEING them at bike shows.
I like helping OTHERS with THEIR bikes.
I like BRITISH bikes.
I like AMERICAN bikes.
I like GERMAN bikes.
I like SPANISH bikes.
I like JAPANESE bikes.
I like ITALIAN bikes.
I like MEXICAN bikes.
I like LITTLE bikes.
I like BIG bikes.
I like SIDECAR rigs.
I like TRIKES.
I like OLD bikes.
I like NEW bikes.
I like CHOPPERS.
I like BOBBERS.
I like STREET TRACKERS.
I like BAR HOPPERS.
I like GAS engine bikes.
I like STEAM engine bikes.
I like DIESEL engine bikes.
I like ELECTRIC bikes.
I like CUSTOM bikes.
I like ART bikes.
I like SLOW bikes.
I like FAST bikes.
I like BEAUTIFUL bikes.
I like UGLY bikes.
I like bikes in BASKETS.
I like bikes in TUBS.
I like bikes in PILES.
I like RUSTY bikes.
I like SHINY bikes.
I like DRIPPY bikes.
I like CLEAN bikes.
I like DIRTY bikes.
I like bikes OTHER people have GIVEN UP on.
If there is a bike I DON'T particularly like (there are precious few of these rare bikes), I don't criticize the OWNER for doing what THEY like with it.

So, yeah...
 
mr72 said:
Well, I guess you don't like scooters...? Tee hee.
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Scooters are a sort of bike. 2 wheels and an engine, close enough for me. Never owned one (yet). Did own a Mo-Ped, but it had a gas tank in the "bike" place.
 
FE-rex I am
I would ride em a boat
I would ride em with a goat...
I would ride em in the rain.
I would ride em on a train.
I would ride em in a tree.
They are so good so good you see!
I would ride em in a box.
I would ride em with a fox.
I would ride em in a house.
I would ride em with a mouse.
I would ride em here and there.
I would ride em them ANYWHERE!
 
grandpaul said:
Scooters are a sort of bike. 2 wheels and an engine, close enough for me. Never owned one (yet). Did own a Mo-Ped, but it had a gas tank in the "bike" place.
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Had a Honda Spree as a pit bike before upgrading to a Bonham Blazer Tote Gote. The Tote Gote pulled several fellow racer's Fox bodies and even a SCJ-clone 71 Mustang in the pits.
 
When I broke the clutch cable, we towed my Bonneville home with my Vespa, 2+ miles with hills, traffic and stop signs. Worked great. My wife really didn't like me stopping her at the stop signs with the Bonnie's brakes.
 
I love motorcycles because they are amazing machines. I love to look at them, take them apart, fix them and ride them like I stole them. I enjoy watching other folks ride mine as well. The Grand Kids and Son-in-Law riding is a whole new dimension to the bike experience for me. Sharing the fun with my fellow TWT'ers is icing on the cake. I can sit in the shop and look at the bikes and find joy. Motorcycles don't ever let me down and I tend to be almost obsessed with them at times. Ok, all the time. I also find that firearms have about the same attraction to me. Lately, I have been shooting sporting clays and I love it. So, motorcycling is sort of a lifestyle for me. I usually can find something to love about every motorcycle there is. I prefer my sporty/nekkid bikes, but I appreciate the love folks have for the other types of scooters.

I wonder how much cash I would have without the motorcycle addiction? LOL.

IMG_3311.JPG
 
Multisurface Rider said:
I like riding motorcycles for the state of mind it provides, freedom.
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I am sure that's true for many of us. I have grown up with 2-wheel vehicles from when I was three and started riding bicycles up until my 40s when I got motorcycles, and this is a big part of it. But it's also that somehow there's this focus you must have with a motorcycle, you can't do distractions, otherwise you'll crash. Same for mountain biking. So it's a good form of mental discipline and exercises things you need to exercise for good mental and physical health but that you can't really do sitting at a desk all day, like mental-motor responses, reflexes, spatial awareness, etc.

One thing I have noticed with my extremely variant motorcycles is how each of them have their own ways of engaging and exercising your mind and body. I think we interpret that as "personality" or "character" by imputing those properties onto the machines. That's why I enjoy riding each of my motorbikes for very different reasons.
 
mr72 said:
I am sure that's true for many of us. I have grown up with 2-wheel vehicles from when I was three and started riding bicycles up until my 40s when I got motorcycles, and this is a big part of it. But it's also that somehow there's this focus you must have with a motorcycle, you can't do distractions, otherwise you'll crash. Same for mountain biking. So it's a good form of mental discipline and exercises things you need to exercise for good mental and physical health but that you can't really do sitting at a desk all day, like mental-motor responses, reflexes, spatial awareness, etc.

One thing I have noticed with my extremely variant motorcycles is how each of them have their own ways of engaging and exercising your mind and body. I think we interpret that as "personality" or "character" by imputing those properties onto the machines. That's why I enjoy riding each of my motorbikes for very different reasons.
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Well said.
 
Riding my bike is a time for me to set the world aside, let go of things. The "style" of riding I do takes me on roads I would never otherwise ever take, and places I would not usually go. The phone gets dropped in a bag unless I'm using it for directions. I see things and smell things I normally wouldn't. A field of hay being cut or a giant magnolia tree blooming. I discover and visit places I would not normally do so..
 
charliez said:
I see things and smell things I normally wouldn't. A field of hay being cut or a giant magnolia tree blooming.
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Norman Reedus on his "Ride" show said something similar. Something like, you experience more of a place from a motorcycle than you do in a car, because you're more in that place and not insulated from it. If it's cold, you're cold. Hot, you're hot. You can smell the smells and hear more of the sounds. FYI a scooter is double good at this than a motorcycle because you have less required engagement with the motorbike and more of your attention can be on your surroundings.

charliez said:
I discover and visit places I would not normally do so..
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Exactly, and it's because you go there for different reasons. This is part of my different motorcycles and their utility for me. The mundane trip to the grocery store is an adventure on my scooter. There's good reason to just go ride to Liberty Hill, then to Bertram, then to Smithwick, then back home, without stopping, on my Bonneville. I can satisfy my curiosity and go explore that gravel road, even if it's just a dead end, on my Scrambler. And I'll try that route, even though it has a potential creek crossing in it, on my GS500. So I prefer to take my motorbikes anywhere, because it changes how I can perceive the place I am going.
 
I discover and visit places I would not normally do so..

I'll get on my bike and ride an hour and a half one way just to try a bbq joint someone told me about. Which, btw, I did not long ago, and in that trip, we passed a burger place called :the greasy burger" I'll be getting back on the bike, riding the same time, just to have a burger there one day. i would never do that in a car, although, this time I got a jeep and with that Jeep I'm going Saturday to an off road park, again something I would never normally do in a car.
 
This is a question I'm not sure I can answer. For as far back as my memory will go I wanted a motorcycle. My dad had a Honda SL125 when I was born, I have no memory of this bike but there are pics of me on it and around it. I can remember begging for a bike before I got one. My mom had a Honda car and the dealer was both the moto and car dealer. I would jump at a chance to go there and just daydream about motorcycles. My mom found some books I bought at the book fair in second grade; all of them were moto books. I got my first bike when I was nine and have almost always had a bike of some sort since.

Here is something I posted in a thread back in 2019.
The main reason I ride, I have a constantly changing situation and it entertains me and actually gives me focus. Surface direction and destination are all irrelevant.
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Bikes get chicks...especially the tattooed exciting ones. :lol2:

Norman Reedus was mentioned. Occasionally he spouts off some pretty decent observations about motorcycling that fit the bill. One other element I like is that it's probably the closest thing to flying a fighter plane than I will ever get. Another is that when a motorcycle capable of it goes in the dirt on 2-track or single track, nothing does it better and returns an excitement and pleasure like it IMO.
 
I really don't understand why and I have yet been able to explain it. I'm cold when it's cold, I'm hot when it's hot and I'm wet when it rains. My butt gets sore and my hands can go numb. My skill level is mediocre so I get a little stressed when the surface is challenging. I've totaled 2 bikes and broken both arms and been stranded for a couple of days due to a broken camshaft. And yet, I jump on one of mine every chance I get. I've ridden to Alaska, New York, Florida, California and everywhere in between as well as Germany, Italy and France. Why in the world would I spend so much time and money pursuing such a pastime? Dunno, but I do.
 
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