If you read correctly. You can be a two-wheeled Petrolhead and still not profess the religion of the “hardcore biker.” Of course, as a regular reader of SMN, you will wonder what the difference is between both things and a server. After one of those quiet thoughts that I usually give myself with a glass of wine in my hand, I will try to clarify the concept in a clear and concise way.
A virus in the blood
I have spent my entire life waking up and going to bed thinking about the same things almost daily. Generally in everything that has a motor, but especially in “irons” with handlebars and two wheels. Especially in those called Old School; the same ones, on the other hand, that today have become almost a fetish for thousands of fans but also for collectors and investors of all kinds.
Over the last few years I have been the happy owner of a multitude of equally fascinating and beautiful machines, among which are the CBR60RR, GSXR750 SRAD, VFR800 VTEC, VFR750 RC36 I and II, FZR1000, ZZR1100, ZX10R, Daytona 955i, VFR800Fi, TZR80RRetc… The list continues with some more beauty, but the purpose of these lines is not to make you filthy envy (the healthy one does not exist, believe me), for the luck that I treasure in this sense.
Motorcycle lover for many reasons
Nowadays, for multiple reasons that are not relevant, my wet dreams about motorcycles do not involve riding them for hours, as was the case in the past. Nor planning trips all year round and ultimately being an inveterate biker who lives by and for the motorcycle. The story may sound illogical, even contradictory, considering that today I earn my living in this fascinating sector.
But nothing could be further from the truth. There are many bikers who can spend weeks without riding a motorcycle but on the contrary we have the urgent need to visit the garage daily where “our girls” usually rest with the sole purpose of wiping them down, starting them for a while or simply sitting with a spirited drink in hand to delight in their lascivious curves.
A different way to enjoy those motorcycles that are part of your life at every moment. What’s more, in the process, without them even suspecting it, we digress for which model we would change it without any delay and we even consider the idea of reacquiring old nineties glories that we enjoyed in the past:
“What if I sold the VFR and bought an SRAD again… How I liked that bike,” I thought just a few days ago while I was enthralled admiring the elegant 800 Fi and its garage companion, a state-of-the-art TZR80RR. The idea usually lasts just a few seconds in my head, the exact amount of time until I finally fall into the happiness that comes from going out riding at the controls of any of them.
Other clear symptoms of the disease
I must clarify at this point that, to reach this deduction, I have done a deep exercise of reflection and memory to understand why I belong to a group and precisely for that reason I do not identify with the other. A clear example of this issue is motorcycle rallies. Inveterate bikers dream all week about which one they will go to next Sunday.
Furthermore, generally accompanied by their group of colleagues who live and feel the motorcycle in a very similar way. Those of us who savor biker honeys as you tried to explain here, do not usually go to events of this type. We also don’t go out in groups and, if we do go out in company, they tend to be few (very few) and very occasionally. Among other things because we hate going at the pace of others as well as having a marked itinerary before leaving.
To put the topic in context: I have had mornings where I went out with the idea of taking a short walk to have a coffee in the area and I have ended up more than 200 kilometers from home without knowing how or why; and vice versa. Then, days or weeks may pass until you decide to go out riding again, even though throughout that time you haven’t stopped thinking about motorcycles for a moment.
This is undoubtedly one of the symptoms that clearly identify a motorcycle lover from the aforementioned inveterate biker, although this does not mean that the second cannot get “his donkey” out of his head either. Finally and to close this small reflection, there is a far from trivial aspect to this whole matter and that is the feeling of responsibility that motorcycles generate in you when you are a lover of them.
Contrary to the inveterate biker (or so I have verified throughout all this time), who usually uses his mount as a mere tool for fun, work or pure adventure, those of us who live on the other side of the spectrum feel true passion and devotion for them. For example, going out with a dirty motorcycle, being aware of some damage and not solving it, or knowing that it has had maintenance completed and you have not done it before a ride, goes directly against our way of understanding and experiencing the motorcycle.
In our subconscious we consider her one of the family and therefore she is cared for the same as any member of the family. And there are no excuses or half measures on the matter: “It’s just that you are too picky about the motorcycle.” An acquaintance in the world told me not long ago. No, it simply does not suit me to ignore all the negative aspects that may affect them.
And yes, I know, maybe I’m ready to go to therapy; In fact, many of us are, although what I am sure of is that more than one (and two), of those who have come this far, could fit within the same clinical picture… Am I wrong? If not, leave it in the comments. I read you!
