Getting hooked or not?

[willowstreetguzziguy]

I think people get hooked on motorcycles the more they ride them Period. Having said that, I think a lot of today’s motorcycles actually cause riders to get in and then get out ... here’s why. 

It happened to my nephew. Here’s his quick story... While in the army, his buddies were riding crotch rockets so at the age of 25 his mom told me he was going to buy a used Suzuki GSRX 750 as his first place. She was worried, and so was I. I tried to him and explained that having never ridden a motorcycle and no motorcycle training, the GSRX was not a good first bike, in fact it was downright dangerous!

He trailered it to a garage but before he got it out of the garage to ride,  it got away from him and crashed into the garage wall! Better there than on the road, I thought. He got it repaired and he eventually got to ride it but not that often. He found the riding position to be uncomfortable and with little hauling capacity, impractical for most purposes. The longer he kept it the less he rode it until eventually he sold it. I think this happens more than we think. “Get in and get out.” Never riding long enough to get hooked.

I got hooked in the summer of ‘71 on a meager Honda 65 cc bike. It shifted into top gear at 35 mph and I rode it everywhere, even 2-up on occasion. I learned how to handle a motorcycle on that small bike. Eventually a 125,  380, 550’s, 900 followed over the next 7 years. All of my bikes had luggage racks and I made them as practical as possible and as comfortable as possible because I wanted to ride to work, ride on vacations, ride to softball games, ride as often as possible! All of my bikes were basic bikes that were customizable to suit my needs.

Many motorcycles over the past 40 years have a very specific design and intent... crotch rockets, cruisers, full-boat touring rigs. Bikes aren’t too easy to use outside of their intended use. Not customizable. Motorcycles basically are not very practical. Fun yes but not too practical. Many of their designs are not too comfortable to ride for hours on end.

So what we have is what my nephew encountered, impractical and uncomfortable. Get in and get out!  When the money is tight, the bike goes. The baby needs daycare, the bike goes. We need a second car, the bike goes and on and on.

They never ride enough to get hooked. Motorcycle manufacturers design their bikes to look cool and exciting on the showroom floor. Sell those bikes!,, Practicality and comfort are secondary to excitement. And add to that That traffic has grown 10X since I learned to ride in 1971.
Any other thoughts?

[Kiwi_Roy]

I once bought a Honda Goldwing with the grand total of 250 km on the clock, an older couple bought it to ride with their friends, took it to the beach and crashed in the sand, took it home and left it in the garage for the next 30 years.

[SmithSwede]

I like your theory.   People often get way “too much” bike, for no really good reason, and without understanding their downsides.

I think lots of people would get more into the sport if they spent far less on the bike itself, reserving plenty of dollars for good gear, saddlebags, trip money, riding lessons, etc. 

To be fair to the disgruntled newcomers, I’ve made the same sorts of mistakes over the decades.   

What works for me is a “standard” or semi-sporting bike that weights less than 450 pounds, is very narrow so that it does not splay my knees out, fairly low seat height, is all-day comfortable for me (seat and suspension), is cool running in traffic, has a relatively big gas tank and thus good range, does not wear out components too quickly (tires, chains, etc.), no fairing or a bikini fairing, and is easy for me to actually maintain long term.   The bike must handle well, and have good cornering clearance.  Strangely enough, horsepower itself is not a big deal for me—I’m good anywhere between 30 and 100 HP.  50 HP is the standard, and 80 is really plenty enough for a light bike ridden solo.  And it must somehow “speak” to me with cool engine, great looks, or whatever.   Boring won’t last long term. 

I have foolishly strayed from that formula many times to get something supposedly “better,” and it never works out.

Of course, the other bit of wisdom is to just buckle down and RIDE what you have if you like it.  Don’t worry that some other bike is 2/10th of a second quicker in the quarter mile, or has a single sided swingarm, or whatever.   Just freaking ride the bike you like, and stop worrying about other possibilities. 

[Blaufeld66]

15 years ago, after getting my motorcycle driving licence, I had no idea about what type of bike I would like, so I borrowed rides from everyone I knew and his brother... Japanese bikes, English bikes, HD, Ducati, even a T-Max maxiscooter...
Then I tried the Moto Guzzi V65 Custom of a colleague, and I was totally hooked.
I still ride only Guzzi V-twins, because they are just what seems perfect for ME...

[Gliderjohn]

I agree that "step" or graduated learning is best. As a kid I learned on a Honda 70, 90 and a 175 all on dirt. The first street bike I owned was a Suzuki GS400 that I rode for 11 years before getting my T-3 and finally a Norge. One can make a lot of mistakes on those little bikes in the dirt and walk away.
The Air Force doesn't put you in a F-22 to teach you to fly.
GliderJohn

[TN Mark]

The uneducated consumer is their own biggest detriment. It’s not the manufacturer’s fault they design and build bikes for different purposes. It’s not the sales persons fault either. People make stupid decisions and they do stupid things. They often pay a dear price for their own ignorance. Sadly, that’s simply how some people run through life. Their reckless abandon attitude way too often negatively effect innocent people within their reach. That’s the real tragedy, not the foolish people making their own foolish decisions.

[Perazzimx14]

I believe motorcycling doesn't stick for most is because motorcycling is basically one big hassle. People buy bikes with ideas of grandeur of riding endless carefree miles, wind in their face and sun on their shoulders. Once they get the bike they realize

-Motorcycles are hot in the summer and cold in the winter
-Gearing up is a PITA especially if running errands. Helmet, gloves and jacket on/off
-When it rains you get wet.
-The weather channel and weather apps are what you watch
-Most bikes need comfort mods right out of th ebox to make them fit better. After buying a bike sening more money sucks
-Carrying capacity is ultra limited and you need to have forsight when buying items or packing. Unlike a cr tunk just bail in what you want panniers are less forgiving
-Security of personal belongings is much harder than hitting the door lock on a key fob
-Dealing with flat tires is not as easy as poping on the spare
- All the creature and security of an automobile like A/C, heat, radio, seat adjustments, easily accessible dials and know for all manner of electronics are non-existant on a motorcycle.
- Motorcycles are not a cheaper alternative to a car




 

[inditx]

Motorcycles are like people, you have to live with them to truly get to know them.
A 5-30 minute test ride with test saddles will not show the bikes true colors, unless they’re really bad.
So, there is not 1 all around bike that does everything good. Some get close and do a lot of things right but in the end, different bikes for different reasons and seasons...of life.
It is a hobby after all, albeit an expensive one.
Still there is no better therapy than wind therapy! 
Ride on.....
inditx

[Ryan]

Plenty of freshly minted mc endorsements walked into the shop I worked at. Women tended to listen, buy something they could flat-foot at a stop, power enough to be easy to launch from said stop without stalling. I was only there a short time, but I had a couple of customers "move up" after a few months and they were hooked. Guys tended to buy way more bike because they listened to their buddies. They would get scared and only ride once a year on their "wild hogs" buddy weekend. I bought a lot of those bikes- low mileage (under 1500 miles) with no road crash damage but plenty of garage drop damage. It was sad- had they started out right, they may have continued. My own son admitted the other day that after the birth of his second child, he doesn't view riding the same way. I doubt he will quit, but he doesn't commute anymore.

Lots of reasons, but they mostly come down to unrealized expectations and fear.

[Lannis]

I believe motorcycling doesn't stick for most is because motorcycling is basically one big hassle. People buy bikes with ideas of grandeur of riding endless carefree miles, wind in their face and sun on their shoulders. Once they get the bike they realize

-Motorcycles are hot in the summer and cold in the winter
-Gearing up is a PITA especially if running errands. Helmet, gloves and jacket on/off
-When it rains you get wet.
-The weather channel and weather apps are what you watch
-Most bikes need comfort mods right out of th ebox to make them fit better. After buying a bike sening more money sucks
-Carrying capacity is ultra limited and you need to have forsight when buying items or packing. Unlike a cr tunk just bail in what you want panniers are less forgiving
-Security of personal belongings is much harder than hitting the door lock on a key fob
-Dealing with flat tires is not as easy as poping on the spare
- All the creature and security of an automobile like A/C, heat, radio, seat adjustments, easily accessible dials and know for all manner of electronics are non-existant on a motorcycle.
- Motorcycles are not a cheaper alternative to a car

All of that is true for us today, including the fact (courtesy of Tex Turnip) that more rides have been ruined by hyperventilating over the Weather Channel than by actual rain.

Once upon a time, when we were younger and tougher and poorer and had fewer alternatives, most of those things weren't an issue.

Motorcycles WERE cheaper than running a car.   Our 350s got 65 MPG, tires were $9.99 at JC Whitney, chains were cut off of a big roll at an industrial supply place.

Security of personal belongings, and limited carrying capacity, wasn't an issue because we didn't have any personal belongings worth anything.

Most cars didn't have any creature comforts either, except a windshield and an AM radio, so we didn't miss them.

We didn't care about hot, and we didn't care about wet.   Cold has always been an issue, but you put up with it.

We're the ones that changed ... !   At least I have, don't know about everyone else my age.

Lannis

[TheHungarian]

I agree that "step" or graduated learning is best. As a kid I learned on a Honda 70, 90 and a 175 all on dirt. The first street bike I owned was a Suzuki GS400 that I rode for 11 years before getting my T-3 and finally a Norge. One can make a lot of mistakes on those little bikes in the dirt and walk away.
The Air Force doesn't put you in a F-22 to teach you to fly.
GliderJohn

This. Learning in the dirt as a kid is the gold standard. Many top road racers started that way. Learn the controls in a place where you won’t get run over by a car while doing it. Get comfortable with the feeling of the tires sliding around so when it happens on the road, you don’t panic. And of course learn on a scooter, moped or similar. And I think if you didn’t ride your bike all over as a kid, you’re at a severe disadvantage because the muscle memory of being on two wheels just isn’t there.

[Lannis]

This. Learning in the dirt as a kid is the gold standard. Many top road racers started that way. Learn the controls in a place where you won’t get run over by a car while doing it. Get comfortable with the feeling of the tires sliding around so when it happens on the road, you don’t panic. And of course learn on a scooter, moped or similar. And I think if you didn’t ride your bike all over as a kid, you’re at a severe disadvantage because the muscle memory of being on two wheels just isn’t there.

That's how I trained my boys to ride.   A Honda Elsinore followed by a Yamaha TT225, until they knew how to handle a bike in the woods and fields ....

Lannis

[larrys]

I think that the OP has it. Too much bike, too soon is a recipe for disaster. In 1977 I worked part time at the local Honda shop, uncrating and final assembly of new Hondas. I got paid so much per bike. Basically, put on the front wheel and handlebars, charge and install the battery, add fuel, take it for a quick spin, and give it a bath and a blow-dry. The CB750F's were the shizzle at the time. During a three month period I put seven of them together. Six were sold to sailors from the sub base in Groton, very likely as first bikes. Three months later we had five of them back, wrecked. One was a fatal.
Larry

[berniebee]

I've been back into riding for a couple of years now, after a 20 year absence. I believe that learning about engines, wrenching bikes and exploring the limits of stock suspension is what drove the hook in deep and made me return. Today's bikes, require little in the way of maintenance or repairs. Many of them (Most of them?) are better handling bikes than their riders will ever be.  Ironically, that has made the owners of these bikes less involved and less invested in them.

I agree with all the comments above. Bikes are a hassle. People don't ride them enough to get attached. Too many people skipping the "steps" up to a bigger bike. The segregation of the bike world into many isolated camps, combined with far fewer riders today than in the past. While you may be a part of a large internet forum, you are typically alone on the street.

[Tusayan]

I worked at a large Japanese bike shop part time in 1985.   Selling bikes to sailors was very much part of the model, and at that moment it consisted largely of delivering something like six Ninja 600s a day and that volume lasted for at least a couple of months.  It was unbelievable, the salesmen we’re making big money but you can imagine how many came back wrecked.  In the callousness of youth we joked about the 600 mile service being an oil change, chain adjustment and all new bodywork.  Happily not too many of the accidents were fatal, except financially.

[blu guzz]

Parezz:  pretty accurate.

I too learned the stair step way starting with a 250 single psudo-cruiser.  One factor that pushed me in that direction was at the time, credit was very hard to get.  Going to a bank to get a loan on a $3,000 750 class bike just was not going to happen.  Now, the pendulum has swung and credit may be too easy, so a young stud can go to the bike store and ride out with a 150 mph bike having had no riding experience at all.  for years now, you could scan cycle trader and see all of the street racer bikes for sale with under 1,000 miles on them.  these were the lucky guys that only got scared.  you could also find a large selection of salvage title bikes of the same type and mileage.

[bad Chad]

I agree with the OP.

[Wayne Orwig]

I do wish in the US that that had a graduated licensing requirement. But, I recall when I was teaching MSF classes, reading that there was no correlation between the bike size or style and accident rate. Maybe that came from the Hurt study.

I rode to work year round for over 40 years. It is a pain in the rear compared to a car. Not sure why I liked it, but I enjoyed knowing and see the mechanical bits were moving me along.  I generally preferred the mechanical 'nature' of motorcycles. Always hated working on cars, enjoyed working on motorcycles. So commuting on them was a given.
I got hooked first on off road riding. I don't have the numbers to back it up, but I strongly suspect that even off road riding is fading amongst the youth. Replaced by ? (interneting, gaming, ??) 
And I have to wonder how many of them stay away because of the view that that see. Kids now are growing up with a view that motorcycles are ridden by old guys and they have to have an obnoxious flatulent exhaust system. Or if you are young it has to be on a 'crotch rocket' riding with a gang that just does wheelies. They likely don't realize that you can get a 'civilized' bike and actually go out and enjoy a peaceful ride.

[kingoffleece]

I was an instructor trainer in SCUBA for a long time.  If we taught folks to ride like we teach them to dive it would be a massive improvement.

[maquette]

What Wayne said. ^

[Lannis]

I think that the OP has it. Too much bike, too soon is a recipe for disaster. In 1977 I worked part time at the local Honda shop, uncrating and final assembly of new Hondas. I got paid so much per bike. Basically, put on the front wheel and handlebars, charge and install the battery, add fuel, take it for a quick spin, and give it a bath and a blow-dry. The CB750F's were the shizzle at the time. During a three month period I put seven of them together. Six were sold to sailors from the sub base in Groton, very likely as first bikes. Three months later we had five of them back, wrecked. One was a fatal.
Larry

Jacksonville NC is worse.   My son was deployed to Fallujah and Ramadi in Iraq, and to Afghanistan during the time period 2004 - 2007.

During that time, more Marines were killed in motorcycle crashes than in combat.   You feed these young guys gunpowder and raw meat, give them a guaranteed way of making a bike payment, they go get a Hayabusa, and that's it ....

You would hope that a "man's gotta know his limitations", but that's one place where a graduated licensing and training program would be a Good Thing ...

Lannis

[bad Chad]

Quads have taken the place of a whole lot of dirt/trail bike sales for sure.

[Italianmotofest]

Too many people don’t feel the need to take a MSF course.

Bikes don’t steer like a car. They don't brake like a car. And they certainly don’t accelerate like a car. But they let their ego get in the way. And their buddies tell them that they’ll teach them. But most of them don’t know the basics to teach.

If you take the class, I promise you’ll learn something. I don’t care how long you’ve been riding.

As most said here, we need graduated licensing. Start small and work up. That’s the way I, and most of my friends, did it.

BTW, can you tell I run my local MSF training courses?

Bill

[wirespokes]

The problem is that new riders can't tell when they're outside the envelope. Riding is so freeing and it feels so simple when it's going right. Eighty or ninety feels slow - get off and walk faster.

When things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong in a blink.

So, yes, starting out small is the best approach. Took me 15 years to work up to a 750. Even then, there were periods where I didn't have a bike for a year or two - sold due to fear or life changes. It wasn't till I was 40 that I realized I'd had a bike most of my life and I was really into them. By then I'd found a bike that I connected with that really grabbed me and after that it's all history. Obsessed

[Shorty]

I don't think American kids ride their bicycles like we did. We rode alone, in packs, drag racing each other, or racing to the top of a hill on those clunky single speed bikes. Rode as far as we could get to return by lunch, or the street lights coming on. Put big baskets on the bikes to go pick up soda bottles to get money for candy or smokes.  Later we built go carts or mini bikes out of discarded junk, or "modified" our bikes to emulate motorcycles.

So, later, motorcycles became a way for us to watch the scenery roll by (faster!) without having to pedal. The logical extention of a start in bicycling.  Today's kids seem to skateboard, or get Mom to take them places. Many parents will not let their kids out of their sight. The kids don't care what lies beyond their little digital world. When some of them later get the idea to ride a motorcycle, they have not learned the basic physics of riding two wheels.  Hence the overconfidence, accidents, and lost interest.

[TN Mark]

Many outstanding posts in this thread. It’s awesome to see and read. There’s something about the voice(s) of experience that can’t be denied.

[twowheeladdict]

I never had to get hooked.  It was in my blood.  Ingrained in my DNA. 

When I am riding, I am engrossed in the riding.  When I am not riding, I think about riding. 

I think your nephew got pulled in by his buds and it was not really for him. 

I know many who have ridden purely for economics or parking (college) or traffic filtering where legal.   When those reasons went away, so did riding.

[PJPR01]

Not unique to motorcycling, kids try lots of things and don't get "hooked" on everything they try, and many of the kids trying motorcycles have a completely un-informed view of what it takes to ride, especially those who never rode a lot on a bicycle...clearly a recipe for disaster when putting all that power under them as they haven't even learned the basics of steering or leaning on a bike. 

Kids try tennis classes, karate classes, cycling, lacrosse, baseball, soccer, piano, violin etc...

The % of those who stick with the lessons and continue on because they truly enjoy it is a small %...regardless of the type of hobby/past time. 

Even so...aren't there tons of low mileage Harleys which get traded in by experienced riders?  I see many low mileage Porsches on the market as well, lots of people think they want one, but once they get it, realize it's not the type of car they expected and move on quickly.

[Lannis]

Many outstanding posts in this thread. It’s awesome to see and read. There’s something about the voice(s) of experience that can’t be denied.

That's true.  Someone just deleted a well-written post about how although he's been riding his whole life and it WAS his whole life at one time, he's lately "losing the desire" to ride, and his bikes are just sitting now.

I read it, and decided to go take a ride.   Rode about 100 miles, 90 degree heat mixed with 75-degree rain showers, riding the first roads I ever rode on a bike as a 16-year-old in 1970, past my old home place (my Mom's gone now, we sold it to the farmer next farm over) ... almost nothing has changed except a couple roads are paved that used to be gravel, and I was on a Triumph Trophy 1215 triple and not a 200cc Yamaha two-smoker.

I've changed, too in 50 years.   I don't fanatically ride everywhere regardless of hassle, weather, or looking like a drowned rat when I get there, although I used to.   I still enjoy the feel, the smells, the feeling of freedom; I hope that part never changes!

Lannis

[MotoG5]

I spent my teen years looking at and wanting a bike. When I turned 19 I was finally able to buy my first one. A Kawasaki 100 Trail Boss. Spent a year trail riding and hill climbing along local creeks and river valleys. Moved up to a 250 Kawasaki dirt bike and did more of the same. My last dirt bike was a 250 Montesa Scorpion MX and by then I had gotten pretty good at riding. When I was 23 I bought my first road bike a BMW R60 US. When I sold it I bought my first Guzzi a new first year 850 Eldo. Been riding Guzzis ever since. From that first little 100 to this day I have never been with out a bike and often two or three. I think I qualify as hooked.