Month: March 2016

Motor Bikes passion for life

Motorcycling invokes a lot of senses that are almost never engaged during other forms of transportation. Other forms of transportation, you wouldn’t normally describe things like temperature, or smell, or lean angle, which are all components of the experience of motorcycling.

  1. Vision: You have IMAX vision. No windows or pillars to block your view of the immense beauty Nature has to offer. Everything comes pouring in to your eyeballs with no limitations. 
  2. Smell: When you motorcycle, you notice smells in a way that you don’t when you travel by car, or  bicycle. Part of this is because you are traveling at a rate of speed faster than a bicycle, so the smells change more frequently. These smells greatly impact the experience, and help to form lasting memories in a way that are very unique. For example, a ride on the road close to the water , and you can feel the mossy, earthy smell of the riverbank as the road dipped down towards the river.
    Motorcycling is very involving and one is very focused, the senses are heightened, which leads to stronger memories, along with the fact that you have a large volume of air rushing by, so there are more molecules for your nose to pick up. It’s the smell that really rocks your world. You will feel every nuance of weather. Temps. Moisture. Everything. Moving through a tree lined section of road, you will feel that 2 degree drop, and it will make you smile.
  3. Temperature: For the same reasons described above, you notice the temperature change in ways that are very unique. Sometimes you will notice that you are close to a river or other body of water before you even see it, because you feel the temperature drop. In fact, whenever your ride by a body of water that is somewhat close to the road, you will always feel it. You just don’t notice it on a bicycle because it happens slowly, and in a car there is too much insulation.
  4. Speed/Acceleration: Motorcycles,  accelerate like very few cars do. The sensation of speed is often greater in a fast car because you feel the back of the seat accelerating your body. But whereas a fast car might do 0-60 mph in 5 seconds, a motorcycle will do the same sprint in 3 seconds. So it’s much, much faster on a motorcycle. The acceleration is so fast that it’s almost overwhelming. Now, in terms of speed, when you ride a motorcycle you experience speed in a significant way – that is the phenomenon by which your body and reflexes adapt to high rates of speed, which then seem slower after extended periods of time. So you can go very fast on a motorcycle, and you quickly adapt as the speed seems to “slow down” despite your velocity remaining high.
  5. Lean Angle: Unlike 4-wheeled vehicles, riding a motorcycle requires you to manage traction, and lean angles and acceleration and braking forces all at once. So it’s significantly more involving than driving a car. A simple example is that in a car if you stop, you touch the brake. On a motorcycle, you will crash if you don’t brake and also retain balance (the motorcycle will tip over without ride input when stopped). So there’s simply a lot more going on. But to add to the thrill, motorcycles can lean so far over it almost seems impossible. Tire adhesion is so great these days, that all modern motorcycles can be leaned to the point of dragging hard parts on the ground. Indeed, unless you are being particularly reckless, most motorcycles will not run out of traction because they are leaned too far (there are caveats here). So you can lean over in turns, which adds a huge amount of fun to the experience.
  6. Heightened Senses: You’re never really relaxed. When you ride a motorcycle, you’re truly putting yourself at the mercy of the rest of the world. Your life can be snuffed out as quickly as flipping off a light switch. Now, this isn’t to say you’re nervous all the time either. But rather you are, at all times, keenly aware of your own mortality. And quite frankly, you should be. This is why bikers generally prefer riding on wide-open country roads: Less vehicles, less traffic, less to think about, less to worry about. It’s far more pleasurable to drive on two-lane rural roads than congested city streets. You become one with your surroundings. When you’re driving a car, you’re somewhat closed off, protected from and immune to the rest of the world. On a motorcycle you essentially have no protection, so you start caring about everything in your environment that can affect you.
  7. Quick decision making: You stop trusting people to act rationally. This is a key part of the motorcycle experience. All those small things that happen on the road which people don’t think much about? Motorcyclists notice them, and are constantly making lots of small decisions accordingly. You notice the big things, the small things, and everything in between. “Is this guy in front of me texting? Is that guy going to pull out of his parking spot? The pavement in this lane sucks, is it safe to switch? Is that car going to cross my path to exit? When is this truck moving over? Am I out of his blind spot yet?” You might feel like the king of the road, but you learn quickly that cars & trucks aren’t thinking about you at all. You learn to constantly analyze other people’s agendas & learn to predict their behavior. Did you know most accidents happen while turning left? Motorcyclists do. Did you know the road is at its slipperiest in the very first few minutes after rain hits? Motorcyclists do.
  8. Cheaper: You get a ton of benefits. The cost savings are tremendous. Owning a motorcycle is 5-7x less expensive than owning a car. You can get a solid 200cc bike for under ₹1,50,000 total. Insurance is cheap, and depreciation is low. You never, ever have trouble finding a place to park. I cannot stress how awesome this is. Those people who drive endlessly around the block looking for a spot! Having a bike is no hassle at all.
  9. Joy of Riding: The closest thing I might equate it to is a very smooth, modern day high speed roller coaster, but even that is not that close to capturing the motorcycling experience. There really isn’t anything like it.
  10. Sound : You will hear the wind and your bike, it all combines into this generic sound. And your mind will try to make sense of it. You will feel a combination of fear, exhilaration, relaxation, and pleasure. And best of all there will be this moment where everything comes together. You will stop thinking of the next turn. Stop focusing on the details. And you will feel like your machine and you have just become one. A zen-like state will settle on your shoulders and you will just glide through the world, a part of it, immersed in it, in total harmony. That is why I ride.

I hope this added a bit more color to the experience of riding a motorcycle. For me, riding has become one of the greatest joys of my life. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a new sense of fun, adventure, and practicality. But you need to be okay with the adrenaline-fueled, hyper-aware emotional state it puts you in.

Source: Quora