What do you personally love about the hobby of motorcycling?

[MikeL]

If you can decide on the right word for it, you've got it nailed and further explanation is superfluous.
Is it a hobby?
a sport?
a passion?
an addiction?
a spiritual experience?

I think I know what it is for me.

[Yamahamaman]

If you can decide on the right word for it, you've got it nailed and further explanation is superfluous.
Is it a hobby?
a sport?
a passion?
an addiction?
a spiritual experience?

I think I know what it is for me.

I have to say that for me it is 'a passion' to which I am 'addicted'; but not saying that it is not good 'sport'.

Guess that rules out hobby and spiritual Huh :confused2

[Zed]

....I spose I can't say, is it "the wind in your hair" in
NZ anyway?...but is it? (on a side note, maybe us NZ motorcyclists can make helmet hair a fashion statement instead )

Hi Katwyn,

Apparently riding without a helmet is an even more adventurous experience...friends of mine went to Hawaii recently and hired some Harleys for a day to go cruising over the island. They said it was fantastic! (glasses compulsory though, understandably) I suppose the scenery helped too.


Zed

[Ms Piggy]

I love the way people in cars or walking in the street pause to watch you go by with a longing look in their eye, you can almost hear them thinking, "gee, that must feel good", and you almost wish they could hear the reply of "yes it does, try it some day".

Today when I parked up and got off my bike a little boy was walking past with his Dad and he turned around and gazed at me and the bike with a look of awe on his little face - I felt like saying to him "Do it son when you're old enough, you'll love it!"

[Marmoot]

What about riding with a mate and coming up behind a tin-top with the mum driving and about 3 or 4 teenage girls looking back gazing you up, then with no hesitation you guys pull up a simultaneous wheelie pass and send them lassies screaming?
Yep, nothing feels like that. LoL. Believe me, nothing feels like that


P.S.
I think I saw in the mirror the mum gave a thumbs up......Or maybe a middle finger.....

[Ogri]

My best moment - 8 laps of Brands Hatch for the charity Headway. It was an all girlie event and I passed an RC30 on my old Pantah 500 - she had the full gear on - knee sliders, toe sliders, colour co-ordinated leathers, etc. Me - black two piece leathers with a saggy ass and boots that had seen better days.

And to agree with a lot of you - the smells really get me every time, the "stomach rollover" when you are cranked over round a bend and suddenly faced with a slick of liquid manure or fecking big rocks or a piece of two by four and manage to stay upright - can't beat it.

[Marmoot]

the "stomach rollover" when you are cranked over round a bend and suddenly faced with a slick of liquid manure or fecking big rocks or a piece of two by four and manage to stay upright - can't beat it.

Uh......I'd rather not have that feeling at all....

[PeteThePom]

For me it's a life long love affair that began when I was 8, one of the farmhands used to give me a ride on the back of his CB750 on payday's and that got me hooked, no gear, no helmet, just the sun and the wind. It's one of the most vivid memories from my childhood.

Biking for me is part of who I am, if I dont get to ride my bike on a regular basis I become withdrawn and grumpy, some may say thats a problem, I don't think so.

It's all about freedom, speed, and that little bit of rebelliousness that is very much part of riding a bike. I get a big kick out of riding my bike fast, pushing my limits and, on rare occassions my bikes limits, swooping through bends, hacking through traffic, meeting others out on the road be it a wave as we pass or a casual relaxed natter at a cafe or bar.

Riding a bike has enriched my life beyond measure through the people I have met, the places I've been and countless shared experiences both good and bad and do you notice that on a bike the journey is often more important than the destination?..................

[Indiana_Jones]

No idea, just love them.

Steve McQueen got me into them

-Indy

[bluninja]

Uh......I'd rather not have that feeling at all....

I can sort of identify with the stomoach churning sensation, but for me it's that time when you go into a corner (you believe) far too fast knowing that buttoning off of any kind will put you off the track, and that the only way not to have an off is to lean and open the throttle some more. Your knee is down, your toe and peg goes down, your ankle and calf slider touches and the bike starts to slide...and then you're out the other side on an adrenalin high with a grin as big as your visor opening.

I ride because I enjoy it. At times it's like high speed meditation.

[Batcerb]

Well - for me Ive found its what you make of it.
Depending on how you feel on the day, it can be the single biggest rush ever or it can be calming beyond belief :O
Just such a great way to clear your head, and when you get home you just floating

Also the smell. When the 2 stroke first fires up in the morning! WOOOooo

And just knowing that you are higher up the food chain than that lowly car driver you just passed in the traffic - Gah - tis a great obsession these bikes!

[Draco]

I read somewhere a description of motorcycling that pretty well sums it up:

"It's the only thing other than sex that involves complete concentration and complete relaxation at the same time."

[Motu]

How we think and act today depends on our experiances earlier in life,they are the foundations we build our personality and goals in life from.Bikes are the same - my early experiances in bikes leads me to today.

It was a life of adversity,the bikes we rode (Old and British) were unreliable and we used to go places you wouldn't take a late model trail bike - we were in deep shit all the time.Your bike broke down and you had to fix it,if you were with others it became something you did together,if you were alone,well,you just had to do it all alone.Same with getting stuck somewhere,everyone helped get the bikes up or out....if you were by yourself,you did it all by yourself.You got the bike going and rode it home,limped it home,or left it there,pillioned or hitched out and came back for it later.It may sound crazy,but we loved every minute of it,roadside repairs were something we were proud of,showing off our handy work,telling tall embroided tales of how we pulled something apart,repaired it with fencing wire then rode 4000km home running on distilled beer.

The things we undertook were not just screwing a lever back on the bars - shit no - we would remove cyl heads,take out valves and lap them in,clutch rebuilds,wheels,tyres,remove magnetos and retime under a bridge.I once pulled my cyl head outside a remote country store,removed the bent valve,fitted a new one,put the cyl head back on and rode home.One time we pulled a gearbox with a hole in the case out,with just a few tools,all the local store had was Ados and Selly's Spreadsole - so we made a patch out of a small piece of tin,matches and a strip of cloth soaked in Ados...when it set we covered it with Spreadsole,melted grease and gearoil over a fire and poured it into the box,refited it.The bike then rode from Taranaki back to Auckland then commuted for a couple of months before another gearbox was fitted.We got stuck and lifted our bikes over fences so we could ride out over farms.I was stuck in the tidal mud far from shore and had to dig and drag my bike back the 100mtrs to shore before an incoming tide.

This may sound a bit like living in a shoebox on the motorway type stuff,but it was what was happening,and there were years of it,that's what riding bikes was all about - so just riding the latest high tech thingy on clean nice roads is....um....kinda not very interesting for me,I need a bit more input.

Like Jack and others I need to know my bikes inside out,every bike I get is pulled apart then put back together,I know where every bolt is and what it holds together,all the whirling things inside the motor I can visualise while I'm riding,I know my bike,I can feel my bike,it speaks to me - and I listen,it's important that I do because it knows more about the road than I do,we are riding together my bike and I,sharing the experiance,telling each other what we need to know...input and feedback,I enjoy myself each ride...and so does my bike,it loves doing what it was built for,it knows I care and returns the favour.

I go unusual places,the locals look at me and wonder what the hell I'm doing here.Coming back into the city my bike and I are dusty or muddy,I like the feeling of having been somewhere these hordes haven't,even other bikers give me a weird look - I'm not part of their world either,I come out of a side road they have never been up,maybe they think I live there?

I get something out of every bike I ride - it doesn't have to be new,or powerful,or fast,make a lot of noise,be visualy exciting...it just has to have two wheels and an engine - then I can ride it,it can talk to me,tell me what the road is like,show me how it goes,what special talents it has,ones that no one else knows about because they haven't cared to look,because just like kids...everyone of them is special,everyone deserves my attention.

I walk into a room and cats know who I am,they come over to say hello.I walk into a shed and the bikes know who I am,I give them a pat,stroke their flanks,they all like a bit of attention,they look after you if you treat them right.

[Angry Puppy]

Chicks in biker leathers!

[Gixxer]

I tried to explain this to someone once who asked what was the big deal about riding, at the time I said it could not be explained, :spudwhat: that it had to be felt.

if someone asked me now, I think I would say 'freedom'.
the feel of the wind and openness all around you. the noise, the smell, the thrill of speed, the fear of crashing.

oh yeah and chicks in leather.