10 Reasons to be a Biker

I first knew about bikes as a teenager, and I wanted one. I got one. I still have one. Here's my thoughts on why. If you're a biker some of these will make sense. If you have never been on a bike before, please do. You're missing out.

10. Parking

I have been in situations where I have been driving my car around for ten minutes and more, looking for a spot to leave it in. I have had my fill of seeing that gap between bumpers and thinking, incorrectly, "I can get into that." Then there's the holding up the traffic bit, and the ultimate embarrassment when you eventually give up moving forwards and backwards as the pressure builds up 'because everyone is watching' and they're all laughing at your inability to get into the tiny little space your are attempting to access.

Not so with a bike. They're a lot smaller than a car, obviously, and as a result that tiny little space is ideal. And tiny little spaces crop up a whole lot more times than adequate car-sized spaces. Fair enough, in a shopping precinct there are usually plenty of holes to plonk your motor in, but how often can you open your car door all the way? The bike goes in there, you lean it onto the side stand, and off you go. No worrying that it's going to get dinked by the car door next door. Just make sure that if you're on a hill, leave the bike pointing toward the top!

9 Overtaking

I have lost count of the number of times I have been passed on the road by a motorcycle whilst driving my car. They just hop along the line of traffic like it isn't there. It's very satisfying as a biker that you can, with very little adjustment to speed, weave in and out of 40-50mph vehicles. Even when that line of traffic is slowed down through roadworks, or accidents, or anything else, there's plenty of space between lanes to get a bike alongside standing traffic. This is called filtering. Bonus points to those motorists stuck in the traffic jam who actually move aside and let us bikers get by. If you really want to get your heart pumping there is filtering through traffic moving at speed. This is called white-lining, specifically because you are riding your bike along the white line painted in the middle of the road. Cars are to your left. Oncoming cars to your right. You are sandwiched between them. If you get it wrong you'll be sandwiched between them and the road, so don't do it unless the road is particularly wide. Not doing it at all is safer all round.

8 Popularity

Bikers have in the past been given an entirely negative image from the media, other motorists, and the general public. Films like Easy Rider, and Hell's Angels on Wheels, probably didn't help. Those aren't the only movies that portray bikers as hairy gang-members who have no job and enjoy smashing things up. While I cannot say there are no bikers like that, given the number of car drivers vs the number of bike riders in the world, I'm fairly confident there are as many or more car drivers who fit that description than bike riders. Car drivers don't like the fact that bikes go screaming past them at 100+ mph, or approach at warp 5 just as they're pulling out of a junction. I understand this all too well, having been on both sides of the argument. But any sane car-driver will, upon seeing the bike, automatically know that they can't beat it, and let it past. Key words there, of course, is 'seeing the bike'. A lot of drivers don't look properly, and that is a main source of accidents involving bikers. And I'm not trying to paint car-drivers as the bad guy. Bikers don't really help themselves by driving so fast, or assume the car driver has seen them. So being a biker gives one a certain level of notoriety, or acceptance, from one's peers. And some girls/guys actually like a bad apple, so even if you aren't one being associated as one can be a bonus.

7 Cost

In my experience bikes are cheaper than cars. Maybe not on the initial purchase of the vehicle, since there are way too many factors to consider pro/con in either case. I am mostly referring to running costs when I make this point. Road tax for a bike over 1000cc is less than half what it costs to tax my car. Again, maybe choice of car/bike plays its part, and I am only speaking from my own opinions and experiences.

Fuel costs are also better. Fill my bike up for less than £30 and go 300 miles. Fill the car up for double that for maybe only another 100 miles. The car is bigger. Heavier. Has to work through the gears more because of traffic (see overtaking, above). Overall uses more fuel. There are more factors involved in certain cases, depends on how you drive/ride. Harder acceleration/higher speeds with either vehicle will reduce fuel efficiency, but you already knew that.

Insurance costs are a bit of a grey area. Bikers tend to get hit hard in the pocket here if they're young, but then car ownership isn't cheap either at the start of your motoring career - no claims discount hasn't had time to build. However, learning to pilot a bike over a car usually is cheaper. Car lessons are, what, £20-£30 a pop now? Ten of them - maybe 20 - before a test at maybe £80? You take a CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) to familiarise yourself with the bike, and then you're left to get on with it by yourself until you take your test. At least that what I had to do when I started, and I'm guessing it hasn't changed much (except the price, probably).

End of the day, when I started motoring I couldn't afford a car. I bought a bike not only because it was cheaper to do so but also to keep it going. Especially when you only have two tyres to replace and not four.

6 Convenience

So with easier parking, filtering through towns and motorways, and overall lower costs, I found it easier to own a two-wheeler. It was light enough that I could pull it into the yard at my folks'. When I got my own place it was kept in my hallway, near the back door. That adds a layer of security to the machine as well that cannot be duplicated for a car unless you have a garage. I didn't.

5 Looks/Sound

A lot of cars look cool, but we're talking high-end top of the range sports cars here. How many of those do you see in town? The kind of car that gets heads turning? Not many I bet (unless you live in Hollywood, of course). Nearly all bikes look cool. Every single one. Scooters too, if you like that sort of thing. And they're all so much more open to customization than a car, too, which adds that extra level of uniqueness.

Same with the sound. Most cars sound like a car, and only some have that growl that makes you turn around before the car is even in the street and then you have a hard time making out one wheeled box from all the other wheeled boxes nearby. A lot of bikes have that gravelly tune that you can't help adore. The scream of an angry, metal wasp, or throbbing blat of a robot's heartbeat. Heaven. You still wear ear plugs when riding, though, coz it's quite punishing to be so close to that noise for any length of time.

My wife particularly likes the smell of the bike. With the engine mostly exposed, you can't help get a whiff of it the moment you get close.

4 Performance

Unless you're on your first learner bike chances are your machine can out-run, out-brake, and out-accelerate any car you encounter. There are exceptions, of course, and while I don't endorse any kind of racing from one vehicle to another that won't stop anyone from trying. A 600cc bike can easily find itself doing 120+. Go up to 1000cc and we're looking at 160+. Getting to that speed takes SECONDS, and the road disappears just as quickly. I have done race days at Donnington, and they are very, very scary. The road is wide, and there's nothing on the other side of it. The immediate thought is, "I can go as fast as I like!" But don't think that. Ever. Thankfully, the brakes on the bikes I have ridden are very good, and the bike itself has been very forgiving too.

3 Exhilaration

There is a certain satisfaction that rises up from your belly and soaks into your arms and legs, leaving your limbs feeling like jelly, when you ride. A bike is capable of leaving you breathless at any moment. Did you pull out to overtake when you were very close to a corner, and a big truck just came into view coming the other way, but you nip in front of the car before you just in time? Maybe you realise you're going into a corner that's tighter than you thought, or going into it faster than normal. Either way, you have to lean over way more than you're comfortable with, but if that knee scrapes the tarmac there is nothing more rewarding.

They say do something every day that scares you. Well, there are lots of brown-trouser times on a bike, so enjoy every one of them. Unfortunately, these are the moments where it can all go wrong. If your rear tyre has a bald patch and you go over a wet manhole cover, it's wipeout. If you go into a roundabout too fast, you will go over it not around it. Sometimes, it won't be your fault. Sometimes it will be. Recognise that you are not indestructible. Accept that you might get it wrong. Ride to the limits that you like riding to. I stuck with a 600cc bike for years because I figured if I had a larger, faster machine I wouldn't be able to handle that power. When I finally went to the 1L engine I realised how wrong I was. If you do go beyond your limit that's fine, that's how we learn what we can do, but don't complain if you get it wrong. Chances are, the first thing you think is, "How is my bike?" Even if one of your arms is missing. Additionally, if you have a pillion, don't show off. Their life is in your hands, too. Don't abuse that responsibility. If it's their first time on a bike be nice, or it may be their last.

2 Experiences

My wife and I recently went around Scotland's NC500 on my Honda Pan Euro. It was wet. It was windy. We loved it. I cannot imagine doing it in a car. I could not imagine doing it on the Yamaha Thunderace I had before the Pan. At the same time, I could not imagine doing a track day on the Honda; I'd take the Ace every time. Route 66 on a Goldwing is on the horizon.

Bikes are built to accommodate certain tastes, whether that be speed or comfort, but whatever bike you have, and whatever you use it to do, you will ENJOY riding it. You will look forward to riding it. I would say car drivers don't have a car because they like driving it. They have a car because they have to have a car. Cars are necessary tools of living; for convenience, for family, for shopping. If you didn't like the car you had you would get a different car, in the hopes that you would like it more. You wouldn't be without a car, if you didn't have to be. Public transport? Eurgh.

Conversely, if you didn't like riding a bike you wouldn't have one. Not ever. Bikes have become a bit more than the every day - although I did use one every day at first, mostly out of lack of choice. They're more like a hobby to me now, and even though I do not exercise that hobby as often as I would like to I keep my bike because I wouldn't feel right not having one. I know this because I have been without one for a few years, at the time, and I hate the thought of not having one more than I hate not riding very often the one I have. At least I have the choice.

I try not to ride down the same roads that I have always used, although when I do I go with other bikers, or with my pillion-aire wife. I enjoy those roads because I like to show others the great roads I know. I like it that they like it. Visiting places I haven't been before is more rewarding, and I regret that I didn't explore a wider-range of roads in my youth when I had the time to even though, perversely, that gives me more choices of strange places to go to now.

1 Family

So picture this: you're driving your car down a country lane. Another car passes by, going the other way. You look at the driver, and for a fraction of a second - just the barest hint of time - your gaze meets and you understand what the other driver is going through. You tilt your head to acknowledge each other and drive on, totally at peace at the world that you have just made a friend.

WRONG! That never happens. Except when you're riding a bike.

At least it used to. 95% of the time, when I started, my greetings to my fellow bikers were returned. These days I often give a nod to a fellow biker and get nothing back for it, maybe now 50% of the time. But it doesn't stop me. I tilt my head in welcome to any and all that ride by, because I believe that that is what you should do. It's tough being a biker some days. I have ridden in all weathers (except VERY icy times), and to share a moment with another who has endured it too is to have a unity that is inexpressible any other way.

All this changes when you stop at a cafe on the road - the biker cafe. You can spot them easily, because the yard is full of bikes. They will likely be people you have never seen before, and maybe never will again, but as soon as you pull up on your bike everyone is your friend. Young, old, male, female, Harley, Ducati, super sports, or tourer. No matter who you are or what you ride, everyone on two wheels is open to conversation. We are a friendly bunch, despite number 8 above. Just tell us you like our bikes, and we'll talk for hours.