Should I get a motorcycle?

[Stewie26]

After reading 7 pages, I am surprised how many TB posters here have been involved in serious motorcycle accidents and many are are still paying for it today. I bet in most cases, the accident was not even their fault. But never the less, the consequences are still there. Anyway...carry on.

 

[Coriolis]

My wife would have a fit. She made it clear if I bring a bike home she will not be pleasant to live with.

I've been around motorcycles my whole life. My dad leathered me up and set me on a dirt bike when I was 9 years old. I've ridden on and off road for decades.

But the wife is an accident defense attorney and sees a lot of gruesome road accident photographs and the aftermath on survivors. In her profession they call motorcyclists "organ donors."

So I guess my riding days are over. I'm getting up there anyway, I've pushed my luck and had my fun. I'll have to be content getting my thrills via music for what's left.

A.K.A. "Donor Cycles" and "Murder Cycles"

 

[Jim Nazium]

Get a Hayabusa with an extended swingarm. It's like the p-bass with flats of motorcycles.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

As for me, I drive a car with the exact same mindset that I use when riding a motorcycle.

...and one part of that equation for me is that I have a zero-tolerance policy to drinking and driving. It started as a zero-tolerance policy to drinking and riding, and it was not at all difficult to expand the logic to driving. All that "acceptable BAC" and "drinks per hour per bodyweight" foolishness does not account for the inevitable, measurable loss in reaction time. So if I'm driving or riding, I don't impair myself - period.

 

[BASSKADET]

Joe if the wife has issues with you getting a bike. Get enough life insurance to make it worth her while. J/K

Here's a pic of my 2014 Breakout. This bike does have ABS. Definitely not a beginners bike.

 

[David Jayne]

Get a Hayabusa with an extended swingarm. It's like the p-bass with flats of motorcycles.

 

[buzzbass]

Joe, while I've never met you in person, I've talked to you on TB many times over the past 10-12 yrs. As such, I consider you a friend. I'll say to you what I say to other friends. In this area of the country, I think motorcycles are a bad idea. It's just too crowded out there and the yahoos on the road just don't watch. I'm saying this from a very jaded position. I've lost 3 very dear friends to bike accidents in my life, none of which were their fault. I also have a former GF that I'm still friends with and she lost her 20yr old son 2 yrs ago, and has never been the same since. As I friend, I want you to be happy. As a selfish friend, I'd like to keep reading your posts for years to come. No bike, build a cool hot rod instead.

 

[mapleglo]

My old 1983 Honda V45 Magna. 0 - 60 in 3.2 seconds. It was a rocket. I had it for about 3 years.

I miss riding it. I was living in New Jersey at the time. Rode it across country. I'm still alive. I had a few close calls, but if you ride it like everyone is out to get you (as some here said), they're a lot of fun.

 

[hondo4life]

My old 1983 Honda V45 Magna. 0 - 60 in 3.2 seconds. It was a rocket. I had it for about 3 years.

I miss riding it. I was living in New Jersey at the time. Rode it across country. I'm still alive. I had a few close calls, but if you ride it like everyone is out to get you (as some here said), they're a lot of fun.

Jelly. I had looked for a V65 for a while, but they are disappearing.
When I do get another bike, my #1 pick is now the newer generation 94-03 Magna. Nice once are easy to find under $3K.

 

[58kites]

....build a cool hot rod instead.

Not exactly the same thing, you're riding "in it" and not "on it" but probably a whole lot safer in Brooklyn.
I could definitely have a lot of fun in this type of hot rod where the driver's seat position is at the height of the axles and the cockpit is open to the wind.
Like driving a Go Kart on the streets.

 

[mellowinman]

My old 1983 Honda V45 Magna. 0 - 60 in 3.2 seconds. It was a rocket. I had it for about 3 years.

I miss riding it. I was living in New Jersey at the time. Rode it across country. I'm still alive. I had a few close calls, but if you ride it like everyone is out to get you (as some here said), they're a lot of fun.

I don't have any photos of mine, but here is almost the exact bike:

I loved that bike, but I did not love breaking my spine.

 

[digmeout]

I'm 60 and have ridden since I was 20, or so. I read a quote from a long-time street rider in their 70s in an article several years ago. I'll paraphrase it here. "If you are a street rider, you will eventually have a fatal collision. Your goal is to be so vigilant and defensive that you die of something else first."
If you chose to become a rider, I believe your best mindset is to realize that you are invisible and other drivers are out to get you.
That said, motorcycling is fun and rewarding.
There is a book by Nick Ienatsch called Sport Riding Techniques: How To Develop Real World Skills for Speed, Safety, and Confidence on the Street and Track. Get that.
YMMV

I'M 67, been riding since I was 25, heed these words. Even more so in a heavily urban area.

 

[Gaolee]

I think y'all can give Joe a break on the skills lectures. Read the OP. He was hooning around on bikes as a teen. He knows how fast they can bite you.

He has a hankering to have another go and expressed expressly how he tentatively plans to go through some proper training. Should he or shouldn't he is the only question.

The answer is yes, he should. Life is too short to wonder about it if you can go on and do it. Then you will know.

 

[Gaolee]

That makes a lot of sense. I am however an incredibly aware driver (not saying it still wouldn't apply). I don't do a lot of the dumb stuff most drivers do.

One thing I never considered was being tailgated while on a motorcycle. Tailgaters kick the road rage up in me when I'm in a car. I can't even imagine what that would do to me on a motorcycle.

Which made me think of this, which I haven't shared in over a decade ...

Tailgaters are a fact of life. That's why you have to know what's around you in all directions on a bike. When there's somebody trying to share your back tire, the trick is to leave more room ahead so you can react to things slower if necessary. And also to have an escape planned. That came in handy once when traffic stopped in front of me suddenly. The driver behind me wasn't paying attention, so I shot the gap between lanes and that driver plowed into the car that he would have shoved me into if I hadn't shot the gap.

Oh, and there's no good that comes of emotions on a bike. Road rage leads to bad things, so riding is a zen experience for me. Relative. I'm still a type A. FYI, I drove a cab in NYC back in the early '80s, when there were still Checker cabs to drive. Even after all these years, I can conjure up a NYC cabbie attitude almost immediately. Just not on the bike.

 

[Snakeman1066]

There is always this route:

These types of "Motorcycles" are gaining in popularity

And I have to admit I find a few of them quite intriguing...

 

[David Jayne]

I've had this since new in 2006. It's an 'old school' bike by Ducati standards (newer models make nearly double the HP) and although I've had a few 'moments' I've never crashed. Not yet!

 

[Boristhespyder]

As a former rider who stopped because I got tired of blind, oblivious or aggressive drivers can only say only you can make the decision. I will pass on to you the saying: "There are old motorycle riders and there are bold motorcycle riders, but there are no old, bold motorcycle riders".

 

[Stewie26]

How about motorcycle that can also fly? This way you don't have to deal with the knuckleheads on the road.

http://video.dailymail.co.uk/video/...08783203/1024x576_MP4_1577020991008783203.mp4

 

[sissy kathy]

Did I forget to mention that if I do this it's gotta be a Harley?

DO NOT buy a full size Harley as your first bike. They do make an 500 and a 750. I have no experience with them, but they once made an 880 that was damn near bullet proof.

 

[TyBo]

Should I get a motorcycle?

No. There's plenty of other ways to get your jollies. Like you say, stuff can happen that's unavoidable, and if you're on an exposed bike instead of in a car with airbags, your odds get considerably worse. Who needs it? Life's too short to risk getting needlessly mangled or killed, when there are so many other fun things to do. I wonder if Dwayne Allman would think it was worth it. Berry Oakley? Gary Busey is a walking wreck after spilling his brains on the pavement (though who knows how much of that is just ... him ^_^).

I used to ride a dirt bike a little when I was younger. Less foolish, not so much worry about other morons messing you up. But I wouldn't do that now - no need for it, I enjoy my life too much to eff it up for some cheap thrills.