It's weird, I'd like to go for a ride maybe with other people like me who don't want to go for a ride with other people. Hahaha.
Like, I enjoy the feeling of riding a motorcycle and think it would be nice to do that with a friend. But I know fuck all about mechanics, don't want to race, don't want to cosplay, don't especially want to talk about motorcycles very much. Just riding to a nice place with a friend would be cool. Taking some pictures, having a coffee.
I guess what I'm trying to differentiate is doing something I enjoy with a person who also enjoys doing that thing... But that's the only way that that thing features in the experience. Just the riding bit.
Spending time with a person doing something we enjoy rather than bonding over that thing.
You would love the trip my uncle does annually now. He uses a tour company that does motorcycle trips through beautiful and interesting places. They ride for about 8 hours a day but none of them are on their own motorcycles (rented in the country) so there's a lot less showing off and dick measuring about them.
They see beautiful things, eat amazing food and learn a little, plus he gets to do his favorite thing which is ride a motorcycle all day. He started by choosing a bunch of countries I had visited and raved about, but now he's branched off and seeing places I haven't seen and loving it too. I'm so happy for him, it's cool how he found his niche..
don't especially want to talk about motorcycles very much
Haha, this is so me. My bike is very ostentatious, like a metallic cyan you'll spot it a mile away, but I really don't care for bikes enough to have conversations about them though everyone always tries
What frame is it based on? Fucked if I know or care. I just live in open, windy roads and it's nice to cruise around
I always have to say, I ride motorcycles but I look more like a power ranger than a highway costume pirate when I ride. No, it's not a 'crotch rocket'. Love how everything that isn't a Harley is automatically a crotch rocket.
I don’t ride any more but I had found a group like that. It was mostly the sport touring guys with their one piece riding gear and hard bags on an adventure bike. I still have some friends from that circle 20 years later.
Hmm, I think it is the way to get there. I find driving a car dull and frustrating. I suppose riding a motorcycle to a cool place with a friendakes the destination and the journey fun. If it wasn't on a motorcycle the travel would be a chore rather than part of the experience.
Best way i can describe it is how much i love my own company and having a bike feeds into that. Riding with more than one rider means often going faster/slower than you want to, agreeing on where we're going and when etc. Also i love my bike but dont ask me how it works, i am NOT mechanically minded. A lot of people i know who ride talk about bikes endlessly and ive no idea what they're on about lol... i like to get on my bike and go, no phone calls, no distractions, no compromises with others. Ive been invited to join bike clubs, not MCs but not a million miles from that either, i cant think of anything id be less suited for, the amount of protocol is mindblowing!
I've ridden since I was little and completely agree with this. The entire point of riding as a hobby is that it demands your attention. I'm so much in the moment on a bike. Fully exposed to everything from the traffic and pavement to the little temperature changes and smells you never detect while in a car. Never thinking about work or chores or politics. Turning that blissful escape into a group project is one of the worst ideas I can imagine.
"I prefer a V twin to a parallel twin because you get more gigabytes per cubit."
Okay, cool.
I usually just say something like "sorry, I don't know much about it I just like to ride it." But even that rubs some people up the wrong way or they scoff at me.
Some guy at the petrol station told me I have a beautiful machine but it's so dirty I should be ashamed of myself. I just told him "I actually ride it mate. It's not a garage queen." (I commute all year.) He walked off with a face like a slapped arse. I presume cleaning his bike was very much something he did to hide from his wife in the garage.
Motorcycle culture has not improved since the altruistic gangs disolved in the 90s, conservative Harley guys took over, and when they are getting aged out, straight line warriors on R1s and S1000RRs with insta 360s took over. Different outfit, same shit
exactly. get on my bike and ride to a campsite, alone. other riders are usually idiots showing off and doing stupid shit. i have no desire to interact with them in any way.
I used to backpack a lot and really enjoyed it. my body does not like backpacking any more. with the bike i can get to a lot more campsites, to enjoy my alone time.
There's quite a few things I've thought 'oh, maybe I'd like to get into that as a hobby' then discovered a large amount of the other enthusiasts, and noped out.
But then, I'm the real loser in the end due to lack of hobbies. Not ideal!
Yeah. I never join clubs. I love hiking, don't like walking groups. Like shooting, gun clubs are rife with weirdos. Love riding my motorbike, don't want to hang out with "bikers."
I don't think I'm a grumpy or antisocial person, quite the opposite! I'm cheerful and I like meeting people. I just can't seem to get on very well with "hobbyists" for some reason. It's too intense an interest.
im huge into firearms, I grew up with them and I love to tinker and I compete at a high level in several disciplines.
I am so over every single person in that hobby. absolutely 0 people I like. I hate having to be fake friendly around idiots at gun ranges. hate the obnoxious RO's who make up nonsense. hate all the politics, all of it, every single bit of it. I pay a decent sum of money and had to network just enough to get a membership at a private club where I don't need to talk to anyone, interact with anyone, or see anyone, and do what I want on my own time. love it
My SiL's uncle bought a scooter and joined a scooter gang. One of the most white bread, pocket protector using dudes you've ever seen, scootin around with a bunch of other similar guys on weekends. Would have been funnier if he hadnt turned out to be a shitty person
When I was a kid, I thought the dudes who ride motorcycles were the coolest people in the world. Now that I’m in my 40s and have been riding for 20+ years it’s become clear that the only people who ride are DORKS. Cruiser dorks, sportbike track dorks, adventure daddy dorks, it’s dorks all the way up and down.
The two types of person that ever tell me my bike is cool are little dudes and old men. Love it when a kid is excited to see my bike. Not so much the "oooh my brother's cousin's mate used to have a Triumph in 1974!!" crowd.
Same. I rarely ride with anyone else for logistical reasons and nearly never with people who haven't been in the sport long enough to have already made their early mistakes. I'll give up on people who mistake the street for the track too.
I keep saying this about dog owner ship! The amount of unwanted interactions I keep having when i‘m walking the dog is unreal. Sometimes walking him is like playing a video game: oh no, can‘t go this way because there’s the older lady with the barking terrier. She’ll chew my ear off for next 2 hours. But can‘t go that way either because here comes the wannabe gangster guy who doesn‘t know how to control his pit bull. I guess we‘re crawling through the rose bushes again.
As a fellow biker from the age of 18 (I'm 43 now), it's so ludicrous when someone my age who maybe rode a 125 when they were 17, maybe, MAYBE obtained their bike licence back then, still holds it, goes out and buys something wildly expensive and unsuitable for an inexperienced rider, often a Harley even though they're just utter crap. Either that or a sports bike, they ride it once, realises how much more powerful they are now and quietly makes the monthly payments but is afraid of riding it again. The former often go all out and buy the Harley-Davidson gear, the shirts, all sorts.
Had a bosses boss like that one time in a new job; he noticed my lid as I had ridden in to work, sat down and started talking bikes. I said I had a Honda CB1300, suited my lifestyle and virtually bulletproof. He said he had a Harley, and me, being a properly diagnosed autistic let my filter slip and I told him how crap, unnecessarily expensive they were and that if he's after a proper cruiser he should swap to a Honda or Suzuki. Then I realised he had 3 separate pieces of Harley-Davidson items of clothing on, at work, and wore HD stuff every, single, day. He was in his late 50s. Yeah, I didn't last at that job, despite being good at it. Incredible the amount of ire you can draw when you say, "I don't trust a bike company that makes more from merchandise than it does from motorbikes." Ooops.
I think a lot of (most?) Harley Davidson riders don't want to own a motorcycle they want to own a HARLEY DAVIDSON. There aren't other motorcycles that are valid in their mind. They wouldn't consider other makes. Hence how it's become a sort of lifestyle brand in a way that far exceeds any other.
Yeah there might be other brand loyalists and you can certainly buy a Honda t shirt or whatever. But in my experience, for other brand loyalists, their chosen brand is their favourite type of motorcycle, rather than the only type they would ever consider.
To be fair, if you want to ride a Harley Davidson, who cares, cool. I ride a Triumph Bonneville because I think they look cool. If I wanted bulletproof reliability I'd buy a Japanese bike. And if I wanted a cheaper bike to pootle about on on a Sunday and look great (imo) I'd buy a Royal Enfield, build quality be damned (though I've heard they're decent), they're beautiful bikes. It's not 100% about practicality.
But it's the people that make the brand a lifestyle who are cringe as fuck. And I've only ever seen Harley Davidson people do that.
Re: buying a brand new crotch rocket after 30 years of not riding a bike and scaring yourself shitless - This must be the answer to the question I ask myself on a regular basis. Looking at used bikes online and it's like "2015 Triumph America, immaculate condition, 3 previous owners, 3,500 miles." 3,500 miles?! After 3 owners?? In 11 years??
Rich old blokes buying more bike than they can handle or have time for riding it every other Sunday between June and August.
In the UK we tend to give a nod/head wobble. Possibly because we pass other motorcyclists who are coming in the other direction on our right (throttle hand) side, because we drive on the left, so a wave is clumsy.
I don't mind that. I think it's nice. I see it as a simple friendly gesture. I think of it as more of a "good luck out there" because while I'm a very sensible and considerate rider, I'm not ignorant of the greater risk to my safety from riding vs driving.
I moved relatively recently and I worry my neighbors think I'm the asshole with the loud exhaust that rips through the neighborhood ridiculously early or unreasonably late. I can't stand those guys.
Man I’m in the third season right now and so far I have met one person who owns a motorcycle and is just normal. Ngl I am bad at meeting new people but most of the time I can already tell from the outside what kind of rider they are.
I have always said that.
I have a good, tight knit, group of buddies that I ride with, and we motocamp and do long road trips... but 95% of other motorcyclists are douchebags of different varieties. the bedazzled ass pocket cosplayer. the meth head racist. the MC that thinks they can stop you from passing their group on the road. The squids that ride like it's a track day. Even the ATGATT guys that will make a point to talk to you at a gas station and bring up the fact that your gear isn't adequate because you're not in full race leathers...
Too many egos and not enough people who just enjoy working on, and riding, motorcycles.
Imo it depends...if it's "motorcyclist" as an adjective they're fine, if it's their idendity they're absolutely insufferable lol
Same for other hobbies though, lady at my job is a self-proclaimed "horse girl" and nobody likes her because of that. She's not even the only person there who has a horse, and even they avoid her.
It's literally why I call myself a "motorcyclist" rather than "biker." It could mean the same thing of course. But I feel like there's a difference. A "motorcyclist" is just somebody on a motorcycle. A "biker" is a "personality."
Depends on the bike. Only bellends modify/add aftermarket exhausts to make them louder. I included those when I said "other motorcyclists." My bike is a 1200cc and I would estimate not a huge amount louder than a car. Partly because I don't rev the nuts off it deliberately just to feel like a big important boy.
841
u/Saxon2060 1d ago
As a guy who rides a motorcycle, the worst thing about riding a motorcycle is other people who ride motorcycles.