Why ride street bikes?

[tomplum]

When my kids were in elementary school I sold my ride so I wouldn't leave them w/o a parent. A guy about 10 miles from me left his wife and I think 8 or so little kids to fend for themselves. Looking down at the speedo thinking to myself, 80 in deer county at night is a great way to do the same thing.

 

[George2615]

I'm the same age, my current ride is a 2013 Ultra Limited, previous where several Yamaha Ventures, A couple of Honda 4's, Suzuki 1000's and on down to Yamaha RD's and Honda XL's beginning with Norton and BSA'as.

I am not putting the miles on that I used too only 4-5000 miles a year now, used to do 12-20,000 a year because I commuted to work from salt-free in spring to first snow of the fall with bikes as much as possible.

Some people can and will ride, many won't and they shouldn't.

I am in the same age group with Lou and Cal. I ride an 02 Electraglide Classic. I too put very few miles on it now. Under 2K a year but only ride for pleasure and only on good days. Won't ride if there's a chance of rain because it takes too long to clean and then I ache for days after. Same with my classic car which is just as clean underneath as it is on top. If I'm out and it rains then I dread the fact its going to take a long time to clean. I've been riding since I was 17 and just renewed my license for another 8 years. Kept my CDL and M class even though I don't drive truck anymore.
To answer the OP's question of why ride street bikes its because I enjoy it and want to. Its a risk I take but anyone who leaves their house takes a risk you may not come home.

I do try to keep a vigilant eye on other drivers. There's too many drivers either on their phones or on some kind of drug. Seems like I read about these type drivers everyday.
I always try to avoid rush hour traffic

 

[YLee Kioti]

Can't blame you there. Everyone knows you park the bike in the living room. I did once bring my '84 1100 GPZ into my dorm room on a weekend (had fun getting it up to the 2nd floor), back when I was stationed in CO that winter. My First Sargent was not amused.

The good ol' day....lol...:laughing:
1st shirts never have a sense of humor well in front of the troops that is....

 

[bunyip]

Used to ride but never anything big, too many close calls and gave it away, on another note I was travelling between towns a few weeks ago sitting on 100 (kph) and wanting to turn right, road is flat and straight and a lot of cars behind me, indicator on and slowing, nothing coming towards me, slowed to about 50 which is OK for the turn and just start to turn when a big bike roars past me at well over the speed limit.
I did not see him behind me and clearly he was passing everyone and did not see that I intended turning.
Not all drivers are in the wrong and this idiot put himself and me at risk.

 

[Ritothebull]

I've been riding all my life but I dont go near cities or congested areas anymore, just backroads and the smokie mountians, I go where the people are straight and the roads are crooked. :laughing:

 

[ning]

I mostly ride a streetbike because I make a 500 mile trip (there, around, and back) every couple of weeks to an area that often gets gridlocked, or close to it, for easily 50 miles. On my bike, I can cut through it, making the long leg of my trip 3+1/2 hours instead of 3, but well ahead of the 4+1/2 it would be in a car in those conditions.

Also, as someone before me mentioned - focus. I'm so focused on the bike. It's almost like I'm prescient when riding, I'm just totally in tune with the traffic and I'm almost never surprised by what other drivers on the road do. When I drive my truck instead, I get distracted from driving by every little thing after a while, it's like I just dgaf and it's not a good space to be in.

(Not looking forward to the rainy season, when I do give up the bike - given that you're invisible on the best day on a bike, cover car windshields and windows with water, mist, make tires more slick, and it's too dangerous, not to mention uncomfortable... and my visibility is greatly reduced, too, so I can't keep myself above the flow of traffic, which makes my mental radar less reliable. Nope.)

 

[ericm979]

ning, are you going to the bay area? I hate driving a car/truck to work down in Silicon Valley and being stuck in traffic. We can legally split lanes here in California and drivers expect it. I take my motorcycle whenever I can. I take the long way that's more mountain road and less freeway. Like you I don't do ride that commute in the rain.

I've been riding on the street for 40 years. I did off road riding and competed at observed trials for a while. I've been a cyclist for even longer and spent 15 years road racing. I only quit racing a couple years ago. You can tell I like being on two wheels. I've developed that same mental radar ning mentions. I'll see a car in traffic and think "that driver's going to so something stupid" and 20 seconds later he'll do it. It's not perfect but I don't get surprised often. You do have to pay attention when you're on two wheels, especially in traffic.

Is it more risky than driving? Sure. But if you're smart you identify the risks and do what you can to address them. It's not like smoking where there's nothing you can do to improve your odds. There's a lot of variation between riders. For every rider like me who has ridden a long time with no accidents there's some number of squids who don't pay attention and ride beyond their ability. Those are the riders who make the statistics look bad. Simply not drinking and riding and wearing proper riding gear greatly reduces your chances of accident and injury.

I've done a lot of "dangerous" activities- rock climbing, wildland fire fighter, professional tree climber. All of those are less dangerous if you're paying attention and know your limits. I prefer to do fun things and do what I can to make them safer rather than not doing them at all.

Last I'd like to mention chain saws. Nearly everyone here runs them even though they're quite dangerous. Felling trees with them is really dangerous. But if you pay attention to what you're doing and wear safety gear you can reduce the risk to a reasonable level.

 

[atsah]

My cousin hit the rear of a stopped car and was killed, that was after I hit a red oak tree and snapped my spine in half.. If you ride all of your life on the roads and die for other reasons, your a lucky person..

 

[YanmarFever]

I rode for a few years until... My lovely wife said, she didn't want me raising our child from a wheel chair or worse, so the bike went to a new owner.

 

[TripleR]

Why ride street bikes?

Why even bother using this title when it's obvious you only want to spend time on your soapbox?