Style or Substance?

"(T)the bike I eventually purchase will not be chosen for its storage capacity. For me, it's not about how much I can take with me, but how much I can leave behind."

An old friend of mine has recently passed his motorcycle endorsement tests and is now legal to ride. I thought the above quote from him is telling. It tells me we have two different ideas of what riding is and should be.

Where I am interested in using my bike to eventually replace my car, riding it every day and more interested in touring; he is planning on "escaping" with it. Day trips and riding just to ride. If you want...call it the "Easy Rider" syndrome.

Neither one of us is wrong on what we hope to accomplish. Hell, I've been complaining that I'm not "riding just to ride!"as much as I would like. Where as I am more concerned with storage capacity, fuel efficiency and comfort, he is more interested in the look and speed of a bike. If fact, he is very interested in purchasing a BMW R1200C mostly because it was in a James Bond film and displayed at the Guggenheim Museum as part of their "Art of the Motorcycle" exhibit.

In other words, style over substance. There are worse things to buy than a BMW however, in fact many of my friends were pushing me into buying a Triumph Bonneville when I wanted to upgrade, hell my girlfriend figures in about a year from now I'll be itching to buy a "real bike.

Is this the typical biker?

Truthfully though...what is a "real bike?" What defines a "biker?"

If I ride my Suzuki Burgman to work every day as well as short jaunts to the market and such does that make me a "1 %er?" Not someone who has killed for his motorcycle club (which is pure fiction by the way) but someone who rides all the time in all types of weather. A serious dedicated rider. I ride a freaking scooter by the way and don't belong to any clubs...nor do I consider myself part of that elite group. I just am using the term to make a point.

I chose to embrace a different lifestyle.


The image has always been the outlaw. The rebel, the leather jacketed hood who uses women and then beats, sells drugs and drinks heavily.

Funny, I don't know that guy. He doesn't sound like any of my friends that ride and frankly; I really don't want to meet that guy either.

We all choose different reasons to ride, different bikes and different paths. I choose to be a "Scooter commuter" and a serious one at that. I'm glad others are going down the two-wheeled path as well...I just hope they choose what is best for them and not choose to fit into a certain image.