motorcycles?how long - nklr

[Ed Boyd]

Forgot to add: It's real fun! :^) --- In DSN_klr650@egroups.com, Toby 'Slide' Lampson wrote:

> Everyone- > So you've been into motorcycling for a day, or a month, > a year, or for years......you may lean toward dirt or street- > but I'm curios........ > Why motorcycling? What is it about the sport that > 'does it' for you......or keeps you here? > Is it in the pride of ownership?....the ride?.....or > perhaps the maintenance? > I'm just curios what the answer is for others........ > > Slide

[Claes Borovac]

Simple for me. It is not the destination that is the goal, it is the trip, the journey on the bike that is the goal. I can go 150 miles just for a coffee. Would not do that in a car. Claes. -----Original Message----- From: Ed Boyd [mailto:klxmoto@...] Sent: 28 November 2000 17:15 To: DSN_klr650@egroups.com Subject: [DSN_klr650] Re: Why Motorcycles? Forgot to add: It's real fun! :^) --- In DSN_klr650@egroups.com, Toby 'Slide' Lampson wrote:

> Everyone- > So you've been into motorcycling for a day, or a month, > a year, or for years......you may lean toward dirt or street- > but I'm curios........ > Why motorcycling? What is it about the sport that > 'does it' for you......or keeps you here? > Is it in the pride of ownership?....the ride?.....or > perhaps the maintenance? > I'm just curios what the answer is for others........ > > Slide

Visit the KLR650 archives at http://www.listquest.com/lq/search.html?ln=klr650 Support Dual Sport News... dsneditor@... Let's keep this list SPAM free! Visit our site at http://www.egroups.com/group/DSN_klr650 To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@egroups.com

[Mark]

At 10:48 AM -0500 11/28/2000, punkynsquirt@... wrote:

>Hey Slide: It reminds me of what it must have been like barnstorming in an >open cockpit airplane. Unconventional, free to roam with the wind, >adventurous ...

Funny you mentioned that. For some reason, many pilots are also motorcyclists. My reasons include (in no specific order): Cheap to insure Great gas mileage Nice power to weight ratio Easy to maintain it yourself The concept that such a small piece of machinery can take to far reaches relatively quickly anytime, anywhere, is too cool. There's also the freedom/individualism aspect. Mark B2 A2

[Nassif, Joe]

> > So you've been into motorcycling for a day, or a month, > > a year, or for years......you may lean toward dirt or street- > > but I'm curios........ > > Why motorcycling?

Why Motorcycling??? Why Two Wheels???? WHY???, you ask. Because I can't imagine Life WITHOUT Motorcycles. Motorbikes have been my one stabilizing factor throughout adversity. They are my daily transportation, my method of relaxation and stress relief. Motorcycles, in one form or another, have been a constant companion. It's an activity that I can enjoy as much without "the group" as with it. I just like to Get Out and Ride. After cycling for over 30 years, I just don't know any other way. Basically,.... I just plain flat enjoy it. Joe Nassif SFNM A13

[Mark]

>At 12:50 PM -0500 11/28/2000, Mark wrote: > >Funny you mentioned that. For some reason, many pilots are also >motorcyclists. >My reasons include (in no specific order):

Forgot to add...traffic is never an issue. I've gone through woods, through snowy cornfields, on interstate highway medians, and on railroad tracks to avoid getting stuck in traffic jams. SAAB's slogan was "Find your own road"; the KLR's should be "Make your own road". Mark B2 A2

[Toby 'Slide' Lampson]

Nope. I'm not doing a paper. I was thinking though, that we may all have a common-factor or two other than the bike itself....and it appears so here. Some say its the practicality of the bike and its manuevering.... Others mention a physical aspects like 'the wind' or 'bouncing', Perhaps it has similarities to a pilots view.. Some mention mental qualities............like it being a 'stabilizing factor', 'open', 'free'........perhaps a nomadic 'promise', or a 'method of stress relief'............ and 'relaxation'. Slide TLrydr@... wrote:

> Good Question, You doing a paper on this? > Been riding 34 yrs. Never been without a bike, & i don't have an answer, > maybe just a natural high, > > Mike > In a message dated 11/28/00 9:53:41 AM EST, jazranch@... writes: > > > Slide >> > > Visit the KLR650 archives at > http://www.listquest.com/lq/search.html?ln=klr650 > Support Dual Sport News... dsneditor@... > Let's keep this list SPAM free! > > Visit our site at http://www.egroups.com/group/DSN_klr650 > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@egroups.com

[Krgrife@aol.com]

In a message dated 11/28/00 6:53:45 AM Pacific Standard Time, jazranch@... writes:

Everyone-    So you've been into motorcycling for a day, or a month, a year, or for years......you may lean toward dirt or street- but I'm curios........    Why motorcycling? What is it about the sport that 'does it' for you......or keeps you here?    Is it in the pride of ownership?....the ride?.....or perhaps the maintenance?    I'm just curios what the answer is for others........ Slide

I don't have an answer, Slide.  I got on a 165cc Harley 2-stroke in the late 50's and 40+ years and around a half-million miles later I still can't answer that question except to say that motorcycles are my drug of choice. Kurt Grife Avila Beach, Ca

[bill e goat]

I am not sure why, although every year with the increase in traffic and cost of operating a vehicle I am reminded that years ago I made at least one good choice. At 14 (1965) I got to ride a Honda 50 through a fence, first time on a bike. I was hooked, but realized they could really hurt you. For the rest of my early teen years it was "Sorry, Son, you don't need any god dam murdercycle". I borrowed X-6 Hustlers and other bikes every chance I got, and was lucky to grow up with rich kids for neighbors who had parents that would buy them Bultacos. At 18 I won a small legal settlement and was walking out of the lawyer's office with check in hand.....so I bought the first motorcycle I say for sale, a 1968 BMW R60. I learned a couple of days later (from someone who knew about such things) that it needed a valve job and rings....that same person charged me $10 per hour to do the job and let me watch and actually do the work with his supervision. Best money I ever spent, I think. After that the bike purred down the road nicely, and it was the first in a series of bmw's (I am on number 11 now). No Regrets! If I had spent all that time in a car I don't think I'd feel this way. Cars suck! but I do own one old used one in order to marginally conform. Backroad Billygoat

[Bogdan Swider]

> Everyone- > So you've been into motorcycling for a day, or a month, > a year, or for years......you may lean toward dirt or street- > but I'm curios........ > Why motorcycling? What is it about the sport that > 'does it' for you......or keeps you here? > Is it in the pride of ownership?....the ride?.....or > perhaps the maintenance? > I'm just curios what the answer is for others........ > > Slide > >

Great posts on this thread. Nomad (Fireball) and Freedom (Swede) especially did it for me. Can't add much. A car is just a tool; a capitalist one at that. What hooked me and keeps me addicted is the way motorcycling at speed connects me with my surrounding. That's why I like technical riding only in small doses; can't look around while I'm doing it. Some of my favorite roads (36 Kansas, Missouri, Illinois one example) I couldn't have predicted I'd be smitten by. Jenn touched on something, the way you feel AFTER you ride. I not only feel great but at times more perceptive, more open to experiences that would normally pass me by. One evening particularly stays in my mind. I'd spent the day travelling South through the Mexican state of Veracruz a beautiful, verdant chunk of the world. I was a little disappointed however, by the location darkness forced me to spend the night. Those that complain about the sprawl in the U.S. should experience the Mexican variety. As is the case here what's built along Mexican highways all looks the same. You could be anywhere, Durango, Tobasco it doesn't matter. These places are dirty, often the food is bad and accommodations hit and miss. I found my self in a particularly seedy motel. Some five people occupied the room next to mine; pretty sure they lived there permanently. The room was hot and not far from the highway. All night truck noise and diesel fumes guarantied. Took a shower (cold of course) from a pipe that had long ago lost its shower head. Place had a restaurant, not too inviting but the women were friendly. Ordered a sandwich and two beers to go. Sat down on the porch outside my room put my feet on the railing, Watched the traffic go by and the trees sway in the breeze. During the gaps in the traffic you could hear the fauna of the night. The food was great; the hot peppers and salad, canned ham and cheese that came out of the K-Mart type sandwich maker were put together with an artistic touch. The beer hit the spot as did the taquilla from my flask. Despite myself I discovered that I loved where I was. I sat there for an hour or two, never tiring of what I was looking at and what I was hearing. In the morning I woke up to discover that my sheets, wet with sweat, were covered with the brown crushed bodies of the large roach type bugs I'd rolled over in peaceful slumber. I didn't care. I may be a sorry sort but the previous evening was the closest I've come to peace on this earth. Some would say, "All for the better" but I would never had that experience travelling by car, bus whatever. Bogdan

[Dan Oaks]

[i]Message: 3[/i] [i]   Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 06:38:56 -0800[/i] [i]   From: Toby 'Slide' Lampson [/i] [i]Subject: Why Motorcycles?[/i][i][/i] [i]Everyone-[/i] [i]    So you've been into motorcycling for a day, or a month,[/i] [i]a year, or for years......you may lean toward dirt or street-[/i] [i]but I'm curios........[/i] [i]    Why motorcycling? What is it about the sport that[/i] [i]'does it' for you......or keeps you here?[/i] [i]    Is it in the pride of ownership?....the ride?.....or[/i] [i]perhaps the maintenance?[/i] [i]    I'm just curios what the answer is for others........[/i][i][/i]

[i]Slide[/i]  

What a great question! I could write an entire article about it, but to put it succinctly:

It's not pride of ownership. I own two dirty thumpers, yet I could afford two of just about any bikes around.

Ride? Maybe, but if you really want a ride, shoot the juice to a souped up four wheeler goin' up and over a sand dune out west, and try to hang on for dear life.

Maintenance; no way! I won't even change the oil on my vehicles.

I think it boils down to control and being part of your machine. Did you ever throw a bowling ball and absolutely feel the strike as it left your arm? Multiply that feeling by ten thousand and you might have an inkling of what it feels like to twist the throttle on a bike and have it leap off the ground . . . and come down in perfect balance somewhere down the road. Or the feeling that comes with flying over an overhang when the front wheel shoves you over backwards until the back wheel hits the overhang an flips you over the top and you land perfectly motionless on the flat ground above. Or the rush that results from walking your bike across the surface of a lake at 80 plus miles an hour, knowing that if you lose it you're going to be under water. Or the pride you feel when your 12 year old daughter does a wheelie on one of your friends bike that's so big you have to hold her up to get her started, then catch her when she stops.

Only two other things in life could possible compare to riding a motorcycle, and one of those is flying.

Shit . . . I need to ride before I write a complete article about this!

bierdo