I FEEL pretty lucky in having been a big bike fan since my very early years. Born into a family of bikers and classic British bikes, it was a case when and not if I’d ever get on two wheels.
But for some, the journey to motorcycle nirvana is not driven by passion and certain people who’ve always wanted to but have been hesitant to take the plunge, just need a little persuasion.
Well, here it is – five reasons riding a motorcycle will benefit your life.
5. Save the planet – please!
Bikes are good for Mother Earth, it’s a fact. They use less of the earth's resource to get you down the road and sit stationary less in traffic. They also require less c02 to ship about the planet because of their small size. And finally, if a supposedly uneconomical and unclean two stroke can pass the London ULEZ test, just think what a newly built, clean-burning four-stroke bike will do!
4. Save money – you’re welcome!
Bikes are pound for pound the most cost-effective form of powered personal transport. The petrol cost is less (depending on how you ride them!), road tax is nominal and insurance costs, when compared to an equivalent spec car, are so much less. And that’s before we’ve even got to the cost of buying one! Think of a top spec supercar, not a hypercar but a supercar, McLaren 570PS, Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS – you’re definitely dreaming up at least a six-figure sum. A Top spec superbike like a Ducati V4S, Kawasaki Ninja H2 or Yamaha R1M could be sat in your garage/living room for as little as £25k – and some of those bikes will still carry two people, and make the hairs of the back of your neck stand up when on track!
Motorcycles also benefit from relaxed congestion in most cases and in some carparks free parking; it really is a win-win situation!
3. Spend more time with your family – you’re welcome (again)!
If I commute to Visordown’s London office from Coventry in a car, I’m looking on average about three hours. Door to door on the train and National Express, and the number is about the same and then I still have to stand with my face in some random bloke’s armpit on the tube! On a bike though I can whisk myself down south and arrive ready to get writing in two hours and ten minutes. That’s about 50-minutes saving on the way there and on the way back. If I do that five days a week that’s ten extra hours I can spend with my family. Ten extra hours of tinkering on my old Ducati. Ten extra hours of my missus nagging me to finish that DIY job I started two years ago…
2. Save the cities – the people in suits thank you!
Simple physics here – bikes take up less space in traffic than cars do. I regularly share the space that one car would fill with three or four bikes as I scoot into London. In big cities like that, a motorcycle, scooter or even the biggest widest touring bike makes so much more sense than a car. One study even found that if 10 percent of all private cars were replaced by motorcycles, total time losses for all vehicles decreased by 40 percent and total emissions reduced by 6 percent (1 percent from the emission-reduced bikes and 5 percent from avoided traffic congestion). They also found that amazingly a 25 percent modal shift from cars to motorcycles would eliminate congestion entirely. See, everyone knows it (apart from the London Mayor), bikes for the win!
1. Save your soul – you’re most definitely welcome!
Riding a motorcycle has been linked to improving mental outlook, increased endorphin production in the brain (that’s the happiness chemical that makes you feel good) and an improvement in bodily fitness. We even reported the other week that riding a motorcycle for an hour could be as good for you as a trip to the gym. And we bet you’ll have a bigger smile on your face after 50-miles on a two-wheeler than you would after the same amount of time on one of those silly treadmill things!
So, there you have it, there is really no reason to not get on two wheels.
Remember: Motorcycles are amazing, anyone who disagrees has clearly never ridden one!
