If you ever needed a reason to justify buying a motorcycle – either to yourself or the wife – here’s a good one:
They are very practical.
You likely have heard the opposite, but consider:
* They are dirt cheap to buy relative to cars –
You can’t buy much car for less than $10k – and forget a new car. But most bikes cost less than $10k brand-new and $3,000 or so is enough to get a used bike you won’t be embarrassed to be seen on. And – much more important – one that will reliably get you where you want to go.
And, back.
Unlike low cost used cars – which usually have very high miles – used bikes commonly have low miles on them relative to their vintage. It’s not at all uncommon to find 20 year-old bikes with less than 20,000 miles on them.
How come?
People buy them – and then don’t ride them.
Then, they decide to sell them.
By the time they do, enough time has gone by that depreciation has done its work and the bike that cost $10k when it was new and had 0 miles on the odometer is now worth $5,000 (and only has 7,500 miles on the odometer).
It’s the next best thing to free money.
* They are cheap to operate –
Very few cars average 40-plus MPG.
Some may deliver 40 MPG on the highway, but not overall. Almost any bike – even a high-performance sport bike – will give you that. Middleweight bikes in the 650 cc range average 50-plus, as good or better than a Prius hybrid – but a lot more fun.
Commuter/dual sport bikes in the 250 cc range can tickle triple digits. Scooters – many of which are motorcycles in all but name – easily top 100 MPG.
Right now, with gas around $2 per gallon, you ride almost for free. About $6 fills the tank. But if gas prices go up again, you’ll be able to ride without going broke.
Unlike people with cars that average 20 MPG.
* Most routine maintenance work is simpler – and cheaper –
Oil changes, for example, don’t require jacking the bike up or getting on your back. You don’t have to pull the wheels first in order to replace a bike’s brake pads. It’s usually just a couple of Allen-head bolts to slide the caliper off the rotor, clip the new pads in – and slide the caliper back on. You’re done in five minutes and barely got your hands dirty.
Spark plugs are usually very accessible (unlike in many modern cars, especially front-wheel-drive cars with V6 engines and one side of the engine tightly snugged up against the car’s firewall).
If you buy a bike with an air-cooled engine, you will never have to deal with coolant changes, sticking thermostats or leaking hoses or clogged radiators.
And if you buy a shaft drive bike, you’ll never have to deal with a chain, either.
Tires don’t last as long – but there are only two of them – and they usually cost less than car tires. This includes even high-performance sport bike tires.
Insurance costs can be double rather than triple digit.
It is very hard to get coverage for a car for less than a couple hundred bucks per year. It is easy to find basic (mandatory minimum/liability only) coverage for a bike for a lot less than that, especially if it’s older and so are you – and as long as it is not a high performance sport bike. I pay as little as $60 annually to cover some of my bikes.
Good luck finding a deal like that for anything with four wheels.
* They don’t take up much space –
Either on the street or in your garage. A motorcycle fits places cars don’t. Your living room, for example.
Why not?
If you live in the city, this makes life much easier. All of a sudden, you can park. Anywhere, just about.
No more circling endlessly, waiting for a spot.
On the road, you can thread through traffic – and get around lane-hogging/never-yielding Clovers – with just a twist of the wrist. The incredible power-to-weight advantage that even an average bike has vs. a typical car will make you feel like Superman.
Or at least, Batman.
You can (in states where it’s legal) lane split. Ride right up the middle of a road clogged with stopped cars. You get where you need to be much faster – and much more enjoyably.
And, you’ll have more money in your pocket for other forms of fun.
You’ll spend less on your car – which have lower miles the more you ride your bike instead. You’ll spend less on gas and wear and tear on the car.
If these are not reasons enough to convince the wife, maybe it’s time to get a new wife!
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Hi This is a very nice article. I liked it most
If the year were 2016, and the motorcycle had never been invented, there is absolutely no way it would be allowed.
Uncle….Clovers….Heroes….no way they’d allow it to come to fruition.
No way.
Absolutely, Aljer –
The very idea of a vehicle without seat belts or air bags…
Worst of all (from Clover’s point of view) a motorcycle delivers ultra-exotic performance (10 second quarter miles or quicker) and 40-plus MPG (better than almost any car) very low emissions (no threat to the environment) and all for less than the price of the least expensive new car.
It’s enough to make a Clover’s heart fibrillate!
OH Eric! LMAO!!! I just noticed the blue Honda 650 Hawk. I sure hope MA doesn’t demand any royalties for the use of its likeness on your page here! Not like he ever had the decency to offer to pay rent or anything. Nice to see it got put to good use before it gets dropped by its Clover owner.
My pleasure, Graves!
I wonder whether MA ever lurks here. I bet he does. I bet it drives him to carpet-chewing paroxysms of fury that people actually read my articles… while (as far as I can tell) no one has ever posted even a single comment in reply to anything he’s ever written!
Some recent MA crap he has tried to pull here in Cambria: 1: After interviewing the woman who owns the 150 yr old Depot, he slathered in the local paper about her same-sex mariiage. Although she does not object to folks knowing this fact, she did ask him specifically NOT to make a point of it in any of his articles, which he promptly, and prominantly did.
2: Without even asking her, he approached the C-Burg town mayor and the town manager and offered himself as a spokesperson for the future use of her own building. He then had the gall, in her presence, to tell the 2 town officials that they should take her building from her, and manage the historical property for the benefit of the general public. At which point she turn to him and asked him if he had just lost his mind. After being ignored by the mayor and town manager, he left to go check on other places his shitty little books weren’t selling.
People here on your site should know how sickening, and real-to-life pricks like MA are, and how close, and dangerously deluded they can get.
Apparently if you own something of value, and especially if you use it for private residence and/or enterprise, MA is going to want to use the GOVT to relieve you of it, for his own public & collective, enjoyment!
I’ve been thinking of sending an anonymous offer, on his behalf, to the Barber Bike Museum, inviting them to take his motorcycles as a free donation. May I should offer his bikes to the Smithsonian Transportation Museum in DC. Then he can fight his own kind when they offer to take his property! If there IS any justice, he really just needs to die horribly, and publicly.
AJ has 7, that can be a handful, but at least they stay put when you stop riding them. After 35 years on the road (and 5 years before that) I think I’ve had 95 or 115, I keep forgetting some of them. I still have 24, but only 7 on the road. Its a lot to keep up with, but variety is the spice of life! Some I owned more than once, and one or two I owned 3 separate times. Wish I could have kept them all, probably could have had it not been for women…..lol!
Isn’t that blue Kawasaki S-1 just gorgeous? I sold it to Eric 3 years ago for $50.00.
Mind, you, it wasn’t running, but it was 99% complete, and titled. He did a pheonominal (god I can’t spell) restoration job eh?? I also coaxed (OK, bullied) him into buying his 1st Silverwing GL650, he rides it the most now. The Z-1 was his usual ride, but man is it scarry-fast with just a single rotor, single piston, front disc brake. The GL650 Interstate, however, has dual rotor, dual piston caliper front disc, quite an improvement in only ten years! Thank God the Goldwing had triple disc brakes from the start in 1975. So did my ’77 Yamaha 750 Triple.
Indeed it is. Sounds even better. Good on you for selling it.
The brakes on the Z-1 could be upgraded if one was so inclined. It would take away from the stock/factory originality but it would perform better obviously. I can see keeping it original though since he has other bikes at his disposal.
Hi c_dub!
My ’76 Kz900 (same as the earlier Z1 in virtually every respect) has the single disc set-up (drum rear). I have thought about adding dual discs – which were available over-the-counter from Kaw, back in ’76 (and I think standard on the Kz900 LTD that year). But I like the stock look – and it works ok, if you plan ahead… 🙂
But what I really want is the stock four-four exhaust… problem is, it costs almost $2,000….
Hat tip to Graves for selling me the S1!
Of course, he is a Honda Guy… so it was fairly easy for him to let go of the little triple! 🙂
What I would really like is a ’72 S-3. I had a friend who had his “legally” stolen by a pissed off landlord. She refused to even divulge to the police whom she sold it to, without a title, or any legal property procedures, and the cops just let it go! B-Burg is so full of crooks right now, it could burn to ground, lock, stock and barrel, I would only celebrate the event! That is one vicious, greedy, corrupt town.
How come the reply button is not showing up on certain posts?
I was just noticing that too. Must be a limit to how many tangents can be spun off the original comment….thank god, lol!
Or, in the annoying words of my Magellan GPS, “please make a legal u-turn”
Probably but somehow you guys were able to keep commenting off my response below but I’m not able too.
I noticed if I reply to the nearest reply button (if that makes sense), the comment continues on at the bottom of the thread like you’ve replied to the bottom response, at least for me.
Yeah…what you said…lol!
wordpress defines a maximum thread depth.
I never understood why web formats trashed a couple decades of usenet experience.
I just noticed that after I posted at the bottom. You would be correct good sir! Thank you.
Internet protocall is very weird sometimes. If I link to this sit from an email Eric sent me, I cannot post comments at all. I have to open this site independently for my posts to work. I think it is an issue with Javascript.
I think we will be seeing more motorcycle based vehicles like the Polaris Slingshot and the Elio just due to the lower costs (unless uncle closes that loophole). Been seeing more Slingshots on the road here in the Chicago area.
Eric, your still trying to get a Slingshot to test aren’t you? I know your trying to get an Elio.
Virginia will not allow 3-wheeled cars to be driven as cars, without a helmet and a C-Class License. So virtually no one here will fool with them, and those that do, are quick to wish they had not, thanks to all the crap and hassle they get at DMV.
The Govt will legislate to death, or even (as VA does) refuse to recognize, any truly innovative solution that they did not first rip off the public for. Just ask Tucker.
You can and should lane split and filter your bike to the front when vehicles are stopped everywhere in the US. This is common sense and safest for everyone.
http://americanmotorcyclist.com/About-The-AMA/lane-splitting-1
There’s a common reality responsibility principle at stake here and it is always your philosophical duty to envision and manifest such principles.
It is this same vital principle that compels you to park your car across the street from your home and never walk to the nearest intersection to avoid “jay-walking.” Only clovers initiate something so odious and praxeologically dangerous.
Only a prat knowingly plays the clover for safety. A free man never pays heed to the vast paper pushing bureaucratic jihad on reality.
For all who say they are only being prudent by determining and abiding the letter of any law, I heartily say fuck you. And especially fuck you who are rich and powerful enough to be in no danger from the vast swarm of small gnat nuisance laws.
It’s common law reality that in a low traffic neighborhood it is inalienably legal to jog and walk out in the street. This is true everywhere in the world, and it is true here too if you have any vestige of balls whatsoever.
http://www.kingwood.com/community/villages.php
Consider that the British Constitution is unwritten and functions far better than its “East German-esque” American Constitution which has failed utterly in its tragicomic attempts to surpass it.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/whatis/uk-constitution
It means nothing that East German minded villains have filled your heads with mush. Despite the cold war theatrics between the American colonies and the British homeland, we remain one and the same entity. There is nothing different about us that’s objectively real. We are and remain part of Britain and so does Israel for that matter.
We are both mammalian peoples and not reptilian. Which means we don’t kill our fathers or ever truly separate from them, no matter how independent we may one day become. All the American fetishes and dialects and affects have not changed our nature. Nor that of Israeli either.
We both sound just as comical as North Korea saying it is the real and only Korea. Or the East Germans claiming they are the true and sole Germans. America and Israel are both in too much flux and lack the ability to ever truly be separate from their British founding forefathers. Stop supporting such crippling vanities and get back in your rightful place as members of the World Dominating United Kingdom.
Make it a dual sport and whole new worlds open up to you. Dual sports are cheaper to come by, they can go pretty much anywhere and you won’t be uptight about getting it scratched, dinged and dirty.
Hi Maineuh,
Most definitely! I’m currently without a dual sport (first time in my adult life) but plan to change that soon!
Every summer I think about motorcycles. Then winter comes and I put off that purchase for another year. I didn’t grow up with them, and I’m certain that’s the reason why I don’t have one now.
Nice thing is that I live within spitting distance of two Harley Davidson dealers, and they both offer training courses. More knowledge is aways a good thing.
Hi Eric,
I have to deal with winters, too. The bikes pretty much stay in the garage from early December through early March. But, there are often days (and sometimes, weeks) during this period when the weather allows riding – and it’s a huge boost to the spirit to get on and go for a ride on a nice warm winter day!
PS: I would not get a Harley for your first bike. That is, I would not get a full-size cruising or touring bike as your first bike. Too big and heavy; terrible handling relative to a standard (e.g., a Honda Nighthawk) or a dual sport or even a small cruiser like the Honda Rebel 250.
Check out the MSF new rider course, too.
Thanks for the tip. I know a few friends who ride and they have basically given me the same advice. Start out small and move up when I get the feel of it. The other advantage is that because other people do the same thing it should be fairly easy to find a used small bike that another new rider has “outgrown.”
I don’t want a Harley. Much more interested in a Bayerische Motoren Werke cruiser. But I have to get the 4 wheeled vehicles sorted out first.
The thing I always tell riders just starting out is this.
A Honda 250 has 20 horsepower, and yet does 0-60 in 7 seconds.
Some people say go for a Honda Rebel or Nighthawk for your first bike, but if at all possible, rent a 50cc scooter first and get used to how two wheels responds, because handling characteristics is vastly different than a four wheeled chariot. Hell, I still have a 50cc scooter that I use for small grocery runs and it only cost me maybe $5 a month to keep it insured and running.
Once you see how it responds and you feel you can master it without thinking, go for a 100-125cc if you can. They’re hard to find in the U.S., but something like a Honda PCX or SH will surprise you with how easily you can break traction or take off. My first crash was on a 125.
Then when you feel you can max out the 125 (full throttle in certain situations when you want without being nervous or having to consciously anticipate something), then go for a 20 bhp + bike. Once you master that, I say you can go for anything you want because now you have the feel for switching power levels and weights.
I’ve seen far too many people bite off more than they can chew and get themselves into a lot of trouble, so I just wanted to chip in so you don’t end up in a pickle.
Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of renting first.
I’ve been riding human-powered bikes for my entire life, so I have some idea of the basics (although counter-steering doesn’t make sense to me, but I’m sure I will “get it” quickly). I’m not talking about a ride around the block, at my peak I was riding 200+ miles a week and usually a few weekend tours over 100 miles each day on a custom built bike that at the time was worth more than my car. I’m hoping to get another 400 miles in this year to get to 1000 miles ridden. I’ve also ridden electric assist bikes, which I know is a completely different experience but it did give me a feel for not having to pedal to move.
I think you’ll be fine to start out larger then, around a 250 depending on your weight, which does make a difference on how the bike responds. I’m 140 lb, so a 125-150 still works quite well for me, but if you’re over 180, a 250 is probably in order.
Personally I had ridden BMX bikes for years before I got on my first motorcycle, so I had no problem adapting to a motored version of a bicycle, so you’re probably the same. It’s the office confined city dwellers that I see have the greatest difficulties when starting out on anything they have to keep their balance on which is who I worry about.
I rode bicycles while I was in college. Damn near got killed every single day by assholes in cars; then got yelled at and harassed by cops for riding on the sidewalk. The latter of which is expressly allowed in Virginia motor vehicle code, btw.
So, imagine most of the freeod of the bicycle ride, barring the sidewalk bit, but then add the speed and ability to leave behind every aggressive asswipe that assaulted you on your bicycle…..that’s motorcycling, lololol! Well, ok, there is the dependency on gasoline, but nothing is perfect. Most beginner class motorcycles are well within the service abilities of novice riders as well, try that with a new car, at any price. You can get just about any low-mileage late-model 250 for under 2.5K, and your all set!
For what it’s worth, the most trouble free bike I’ve ever ridden was a Ninja 300 (2013). Daily rider for a year and not a single hiccup, over 15,000 on it when sold.
Most bulletproof/easy to service (besides a Honda C70) I’ve found to be single cylinder Suzukis as Hondas have quite a few annoyances about them that can be frustrating.
If I were to do it all over again, the new SR400 that just came out would be my first bike.
One of my best bikes ever was my Honda CB550. The bike was all kinds of fun and never asked for anything except tires and oil changes. All my Hondas have been like that, I must say.
The Kaws, too – except the old two strokes. But they are weird things and deserve to be judged by different criteria.
Don’t get on started on Hardley Ablesons!
Strike that… see here! http://ericpetersautos.com/2015/08/31/ill-never-own-an-old-harley/
2-stroke triple Kawis have something so magical about them that it’s impossible to hate them, even with truck like fuel economy.
Those little Ninja’s are bulletproof, whether it’s the current edition or previous one.
The SR400 is a cool scoot but it’s way overpriced in my opinion. One can buy the FZ-07 for a $1000 more. The SR400 should be at least a $1000 cheaper than what they charging for it ($5990). I would think it should be closer to $4000. They’d sell like hotcakes then.
Myself, I’m looking for a used Suzuki SV650 (’03-’08 iteration). Cheap, bulletproof, huge aftermarket, stylish, perform well, and great for beginners and experts alike. One of the greatest do-it-all bikes ever in my opinion.
Buddy of mine just got a used Kaw Versys and he really likes it.
So do I!
Hi Eric,
The Kaw Versys is another universally praised and loved bike. Great machine. Those are even more all around functional than an SV. You could do light offroad with it. The only polarizing thing about it might be the looks of it. But from a function aspect, it’s hard to find any fault with it.
Please, please. please for the love of God, and the sake of humanity, don’t start on a Harley. They are the worst engineered overweight overpriced 2-wheeled status symbol out there. You will thank Siochira Honda, and all the gods, if you start on anything else, even a Ural. Even a Vespa-like scooter has better engineering and handling than the HD. Even my byzantine 64 CA95, at 150 cc, and single-leading shoe front brake is a better machine. Yuo don’t have to buy a street racer to have a powerful, great handling motorcycle either. Depending on your physical size, start with a decent second-hand 450-500 cc machine. You can change bikes to suit your taste after you master the skills for surviving on the street! Don’t short-sell yourself, and bankrupt your wallet at the same time, by starting on an HD.
Well-said, Graves!
PS: There’s a Harley Guy across the street who fffffffffaaaaaaaart ffffffffffaaaaaaaaaaaaarts his straight pipes every got-damned morning. There goes the neighborhbood!
A Harley fan admits the truth. The “distinctive” Harley sound is merely the result of bad engineering.
The Harley Sound
Harleys have a unique sound, a symphony to those who know the breed. The idle is an irregular, lumpy rumble; utterly unmistakable. And it all comes about because of an engine design that no modern engineer would use on a bet. But we love ’em, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
The angle of the V of the cylinders is 45 degrees.
While most engines have a crankpin for each piston, a Harley as only one crankpin, shared by both pistons. That means the pistons go up and down ALMOST together. Because of the V shape of the engine, one piston will run ahead of the other by the angle of the V, or 45 degrees. In this case, the rear one leads the front by 45 degrees of crankshaft rotation, or about 1/2 inch of travel in the cylinder.
So here’s the firing order.
Front Bang, rotate 315 degrees – Rear Bang, rotate 405 degrees – Front Bang, rotate 315 degrees, – Rear Bang, etc.
So there it is. The engine sounds like it does because the firing order is irregular, it kind of lopes along, as it has since 1903. And probably will until the next century, if the traditionalists have their way. I hope so.
Pilgrim
http://www.wildwestcycle.com/f_firing.html
Yeah…Kick-start one and you find out how eff-ed up it is too. I had a 72 XLCH 1000 Kick-only. I hate them mostly because I know them too well. A Honda v-twin has a nice even rhythm at an idle, and sound like a vertical twin above 4K rpm. And the Pushrod GL500 & GL650 V-Twins redline at 9,750 rpm. Try that with an HD and you get scrap metal at about half of that.
And, another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xHzWfGpkbs
Yeehaw! Did you notice his whitetrash trailerpark mamma filming him with her smartphone? You can take the trash out of the trailer park but you can’t take the trailerpark out of the trash.
Triple digits? Man, I’m from Jersey. Triple digits is a dream. 🙁
You make a good case for a bike.
Hi William.
I do my best!
Welcome to EPautos, by the way!
Will they let you pump your own gas on a bike in Jersey? I am told they will not allow it for a car. Hell if I would let some idiot dump gasoline in my lap!
On a serious note though, motorcycles really can offer a wonderful sense of freedom that cars just don’t give you.
Knowing you can practically fix anything on your bike with hand tools, go anywhere (even street bikes work remarkably well on rough terrain), and be financially independent can be even more liberating that the feeling of wind in your hair, the rumble of the motor underneath your legs, and physical connection between rider and bike even.
So while yes, there are practicalities for sure, there are some things that are more magical than not, and that magic is what will keep me on two wheels for as long as I live.
A.J. getting on a bike takes some years off the way I feel. It’s that touch of adrenaline you won’t get in a car unless it’s a real pavement ripper.
I’ve also found out a couple things in my old age I didn’t know about bikes most of my life. There are other positions to ride beside being scrunched down behind a cafe racer fairing and part throttle is riding is possible.
You forgot the most practical reason people buy bikes. They’re fun!
Oh wait…
Hi AJ,
Yeah – but don’t tell the wife that!
eric, how is it we hooked up with a woman for fun…..but all too quickly fun is a dirty word? I’ve asked the next question too many times with blank looks or replies of Hell if I know but when do the same things we both had fun doing turn into a one way street with her never having fun and you seldomly having fun or at least admitting to same?
I would have bought the wife a bike had she wanted one. My idea of having fun riding was torture for her and not that much fun for me, getting knifed in the back, screamed at and just wanting me to stop. Turns out her idea of bike riding was just “riding around and looking at things”. Hell, I am looking at things. All those things that might pull out in front of us, those things that might come from behind, those things with radar that intend to ruin your day, those things that might run across the road or stop and watch you try to avoid their big bovine asses or those deer who want to race you and don’t understand your speed. I’m watching all sorts of things, the speedo now and then, the tach, and the cop that’s pulled up beside you just waiting for you to go 1mph over the limit.
She says, I want to enjoy the scenery(me too but we’ll be dead if I enjoy it like you want to), look at the flowers, just cruise along slow and have a good time.
Shit Ronnie, cruise along slow in Tx. and you’ll be a mess on somebody’s windshield……seen it too many times.
Hi Eight,
Oh yeah.
And – I have no clue. If I did, I’d be the greatest genius since the guy who invented the BLT!
Oh yeah……..Oh yeah. That’s what she said……Asked a girl what she wanted to be
She said baby, can’t you see
I want to be famous, a star on the screen
But you can do something in between
Baby you can drive my car
Yes I’m gonna be a star
Baby you can drive my car
And maybe I’ll love you
Eight, you’re making a great case for choosing a motorcycle over a woman!
A.J. I noticed one thing way back there. You’ve heard of the 7 year itch, get a girlfriend or a divorce or both. I noticed it played out that way living it and so did a lot of friends. That’s when the lure of the old bike they had before getting married kicked back in and next thing you know, we’re all riding the most powerful bikes we can find.
Late 20’s, you need something and if isn’t sex so hot you nearly die then a bike is the cheapest thing, considering the cost of girlfriends and the ensuing divorce. A bike is a one time cost and you don’t have to buy options unless you just want to, opposed to the option/ maintenance nightmare of a woman. Treat a bike well and you’ll never hear a complaint. The more you wash and wax one the shinier they get….and still don’t complain. If you want more performance, it’s damned cheap to buy new air cleaners and rejet the carbs and if you want more, a top of the line exhaust is only a couple hundred bucks. Really want that thing to trip your trigger, go for a different cam too…..another cheap upgrade. Ever tried to change a cam in a woman? Point made.
Sometimes when you’re out riding with your friends you all like to swap bikes and when you get your bike back it’s not only not complaining it’s just like it was and may be you’ve developed a better appreciation for it. Sometimes when you swap back your buddy will say Damn, I sure wish I’d bought on of those. Not exactly a blow to your ego. Your bike won’t complain cause you rode another one….or several.
When you wish your bike was handling like it did new, that’s often just going back and re-adjusting the suspension, just a little time and not a cent spent.
When your bike gets tired, rebuild it and make it even hotter than when it was new. Try that with one of those other things.
Maybe you don’t have the traction you want(cue Steve McQueen in Blaze), just keep your boots on, buy new tires or even go for bigger wheels and more tire.
If you get tired of the same old seat, install a new one.
You can ride your bike to a dealership, try out as many new ones as you want and your bike will still be the same when you get back on it.
You can ride that bike to lots of dealerships and even other people’s houses and businesses and ride their bikes and your bike will be like you left it…..and not complain.
If you get tired of the options on your bike but don’t want to trade it or do something radical, you can just change options and that goes for making it a different color or just shiny again.
You can change grips on your bike and only you are the judge if they’re what you want. If your grips are worn and you liked them to begin with, just get new ones.
If you lay your bike down and scratch it up you can fix it up like new or better…..and put an engine cage on it…. and your bike won’t care.
Once you feel like there’s no going back and you just want a new bike, you can walk away from your old one and you’ll only have to suffer watching it degrade even more, a good reason to put it in the shed and cover it up or just get rid of it.
You can quit registering your bike and the state won’t come looking for it. If they have any questions,just send them the old tags.
If you have several bikes, none will quit operating because you are riding another one.
And you can always refer to your oldest bike as a “classic” that’s too valuable to ride or outdated and ride off on another…..of your choice.
The old lady went to bed an hour ago and didn’t offer anything. Your bike doesn’t have a choice…..and won’t complain, it doesn’t have a bedtime. If you wanta go, just get on it and ride. Yeeeeee Haaawwww
^^Sold! Motorcycles it is then.
I’m still in my 20’s, but the physical allure of women has long since worn off for me so the choice is easy. Frankly put, too many American women are psychotic these days that’s far too dangerous to be involved. I kind of don’t blame them, as they really have been given the world and every advantage in it, but it doesn’t change reality for young guys like myself sadly.
Also, your post reminds me of something I saw a while ago which asked…
“How can you tell which is man’s best friend? Take a dog and a woman, lock them both up in the trunk for an hour, then open up and observe which one is happy to see you.”
Good advice A.J. One way to judge a woman is a wild ride on a bike. If the seat’s real shiny right behind you when you stop, it’s time to give the bike a rest and check the others’ performance.
One more thing A.J., after you ride a bike, it won’t start comparing you to other riders.
Hi AJ,
In re “the physical allure of women has long since worn off for me… ” I am hearing this a lot; I also understand it myself.
I think you boys need to find a new gym. ????
I play hockey with a bunch of guys in their 20s and early 30s. Listening to them talk about women makes me very glad that I grew up in the more relaxed ’70s and ’80s. I don’t think I could have handled every detail of my relationships posted on FB or Twitter.
MGTOW is sweeping the nation 🙂
That term is really used by far too many loser types. But the sentiment of finding the present deal offered to be a poor one is quite true.
The problem once again the simplistic models that these social engineers have. In this case they assume everyone is the same. They assumed that the price (risk, effort, and monetary cost) all men would pay for sex was infinity. It’s not. There’s a distribution.
Risk and reward ratios are so out of wack now it is only natural to have large groups of men saying ‘no thank you’. There have always been mountain men, players, monks, and other categories of men that are on various points of a smooth distribution curve. If feminists and others pushing managed society weren’t so dumb they would have noticed this. As a result of their engineering more and more men don’t see women worth the effort.
MGTOW??? Sorry, this over-50, twice-divorced, and often deserted male hasn’t heard this one yet….not eeven from the Army. Does this make me data-challenged?
MGTOW, “Men Getting Tired of Women” Just another one of the 800,000 subgroups that exist these days.
Admittedly I would be considered one if I cared about labels, but life’s too short to worry about labeling everything.
OK, had to look it up. Hell, I’ve been doing this my whole life. You mean the world is just now catching up to me? That must explain the 2 divorces and multiple abandonments. And I just thought it was my overbearing sense of self reliance and the freedom to make my own choices that pissed everyone off, silly me.
IGTOHB – I Got Tired Of Her Bitching, this also explains the invention of the “mistress”.
However, that gave rise to IGTOHW – I Got Tired Of Her Whining. I “raised” my 1st wife, and “men-o-paused” the 2nd one. I still have my 1st street bike though. It hasn’t left me, yet.
The “reply” button is not available to me re. your posts so I’m doing this here.
@AJ I concur. I’m not really much of one for labels either but it stands for “Men Going Their Own Way.” And yes, buy a bike! You won’t regret it.
@gtc Lol…same here. When I first heard about it on some Youtube videos, I’m like “shit, I’ve been doing that for some time now…what’s the big deal?”
@BrentP
You pretty much nailed it. More and more men are walking away from women precisely because of the risk/reward ratio. That is the crux of the matter.
@AJ Nevermind regarding getting a motorcycle …I see you have one…hard to keep shit straight sometimes.
^^I actually have 7. 🙂
Well damn…living the dream I see!
Actually, while my bike hobby/obsession is a bit of a bit overkill obviously, my current “fleet” ended up as a result from a lesson I learned when I was doing my finances…which is relevant to this article. I learned that if I were to get rid of my car payment which I had at the time, not only could I cover the cost of owning two backup motorcycles, I could actually do complete frame off restorations on both of them and still have change leftover compared to when my loan term would be up. Numbers didn’t lie, so I ditched the new car right then and there, ate up the negative equity in my loan and have never looked back since.
Freedom is an incredible feeling, so every time since then when I had enough cash to spare, even if it was $300-400 to buy a junker, I would buy it on the spot as my way of waving my middle finger at the loan institutions that once held me captive.
Sure it’s led to a massive pile of parts and a lot of worthless “classics”, but I don’t care. I wouldn’t have freedom any other way.
Hi AJ,
Amen!
I wish I could find more time for my “classics”… that’s the Big Problem right now…