things we love about biking.

[to v or not to v]

aside from the obvious things, i love walking into the garage, a short while after ive come back from a ride, and smelling the oil/fuel smell of a bike thats been recently ridden. not sure if its a characteristic of older, carbed bikes? ive not owned a newer fuel injected motor.
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current bike Yamaha Thunderace.
its old and fat, but its a damned good ride. the bikes not bad either.

[arry]

That change in tone on a balanced throttle when the revs rise, as the tyre profile changes throughout the lean

[Shaft]

Dunno really, but I've been doing it for over 40 years and can't seem to give it up, never stopped to think what it is I like so much.
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[Bhud]

I like the sound and vibration. It feels dramatic.
I also like the looks of bikes. Bikes look like part of a world I recognise and understand. They are familiar, like old friends. They are like a can of Coke at the leisure centre with swimming pool and squash courts and karate class, rather than a can of Red Bull at the GYM with machines and high intensity stepping, yoga or whatever. A world I can understand.
I like the feeling of balance, tipping over into a turn, dropping a gear, whipping the throttle a bit to put it in its sweet spot before going up a hill - predicting a need for acceleration on a machine I know well.
I like the personability of a bike. Nothing is offputting or ugly. Every part is in its proper place, nothing superfluous to requirements. Everything in its right place, in proper balance and proportion.
I like the selflessness of bikes; movement without effort and simple obedience to the will. I like riding my bicycle but motorbikes are different. They make no demands - they only flatter. They offer reward after reward, without effort. A feeling of real weightlessness, like a low-flying one-occupant helicopter. They let you contemplate the world from a detached sense of inner calm and aloofness, as if you're being whisked by in a palanquin.

[Easy-X]

Dropping the cat off the XSR. It sounds almost musical.
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[UncleFester]

For me it's the time spent focusing on just riding. Nothing else gets in the way.

It takes me longer to get changed at each end than it takes me to ride to work but there's no better way to start and finish a day.
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Module 1 and 2 passed - October 2014. Happy owner of a 2017 Z1000SX, ex owner of a YBR125 / CB500 / VFR800.

[yen_powell]

I don't like queueing in traffic.

I don't like searching for a parking spot.

I don't like paying car prices on ferries.
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Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

1. Love the sound of an obnoxiously loud bike,
2. Love the smell of exhaust and unburnt petrol,
3. Love being able to fart and nobody hears it over my exhaust,
4. Love nipping through traffic and filtering at every opportunity,
5. Love not paying for parking as both my bikes slip between the gaps of the barriers,
6. Love not paying for parking as I just park anywhere I want and put the rain cover over it from the top box. Not a single warden has yet to bother trying to pull it up or take it off for a ticket,
7. Love smoking boy racers in their shit pop and bang remapped shit boxes off the mark,
8. Love nodding other bikers and helping them out best I can if I see one in trouble.
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PRESENT: 2018 BMW S1000XR SE Sport.
PAST: 2009 Kawasaki ER-6F. 2021 Zontes ZT-125U.

[xX-Alex-Xx]

The moment when that guy in the Porsche realises he can't outbrake you on the dual carriageway going into a roundabout .... and he can't get around it faster than you .... and he sure as hell can't accelerate faster than you out of it

It cutting 20 minutes off the commute (on days you CBA to actually go into the office)

Being able to wind the engine up, accelerate hard everywhere, and still get more than 40mpg on average.

Front facing speed camera

Getting your knee down on the track.
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DILLIGAF

[P.]

Wheelies are better on the bike than the car.

[to v or not to v]

[blurredman]

Well, I like riding the 2t'ers around town for half an hour or so, low speed (stupid 20mph limits), low rpm stuff, waiting at lights. Then when I join the dual carriageway, I love the smoke behind from the built up slow speed riding...


But, in a real world less tinker frame of mind: I also like being able gaurentee to park at work (initially I also liked that I didn't have to pay for it either, but even cars don't pay now so that's out of the equasion).


But also, at the minute with fuel so high, low to mid 70mpg average from my Trophy just means I can accept the costs with a little less grievance.
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 17k. , 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 9k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 38k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 49k

[ThunderGuts]

It's the smell, sound and feel of biking. Exhilaration and thrill actually takes second place. The smell of unburnt petrol, the feel of rising revs, the satisfaction of smooth and fast gear changes and the sound of a snarling engine rising to a banshee howl. This is why I have reservations about electric motorcycles; any smell would be limited to chain oil and tyres, with sound just being a whirr.
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TG.

[BRUN]

lots of things really, but mostly just the feeling I first discovered on my CBT, having never been on a bike in my life, just the feeling of freedom, the fresh air, etc

[woo]

the freedom and relative simplicity
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Elen sila lummen omentielvo!

[pepperami]

Wow! Some of that is deep .
I just like riding about when the roads are clear (sometimes).

Thankfully I don’t need a bike to commute, that would spoil bikes for me .
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[A100man]

..being a member of the coolest gang in the world.
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[Skudd]

Bikes just feel like an extension of me. I get on the bike and just feel at home.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[struan80]

It's the only thing that can get my adrenaline and juices flowing. Even a naked women doesn't but that's another story.

I love to filter and overtake.

I enjoy it on a track with no or limited hazards to contend with.

I love the look of them, the sound of them.

[recman]

Being waved down by a busty 22 year old blonde bird for some carnal adventures literally every single time I go out.

[jeffyjeff]

Motorcycles are my fountain of youth.
At 68 years of age, nothing takes me back to my days of youthful irresponsibility quite like a quick 50-90 mph sprint, or a fast burst up over the ton. Nothing accelerates my cognitive functions and concentration quite like lane-splitting backed up California motorway traffic. Alternately, here in Morocco, my bike of choice is very similar to the first motorcycle I ever owned at age 16. Dodging animals on country roads and lurching through some very congested urban streets is quite thrilling, even on a small displacement motorbike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vksdBSVAM6g
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History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - BOC

[Old Git Racing]

Its a way of life. Growing old disgracefully, getting disapproving looks from our oh so middle class neighbours when I'm messing with one of the bikes instead of cutting the grass to uphold the image of the close we live in. Out with like minded mates ragging it when the wage slaves have to work. Sticky tyres and the kiss of a slider on Cadwell when your pension has paid for the track day.

OGR
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2022 Tiger Sport 660 2019 Street Twin 2003 K3 gixxer 1000 1998 Srad 600 track hack

[blue_painted]

That moment of "Oh, just fuck off!" and with a twist of the wrist the world and the cagers just go backwards and out of my life ...
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GP-100 -> CB250RS -> CBX550F2 (pause) KR1S -> RD350YPVS -> ZX6-R (pause) CD200 ->Mash 400 -> T100 (current) & (R1100RT scrapped pile o' shite) (CB250 Nighthawk - SORN in shed) Meteor 350 (current)

[chickenstrip]

The rush of acceleration, coupled with the rising wail of the exhaust, engine, wind noise, transmission noise with the StreetTriple.

Flow state on a fast, sweeping Welsh road, or roads in the Alps, Pyrenees etc, totally immersed, nothing else in my mind.

Taking in the scenery, not feeling so cut off from it as you do in a car.

All memories now, but these ones stand out the most.
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!