Pros and Cons of Motorcycle Riding - Scenic Skip to main content
General

Pros and Cons of Motorcycle Riding

By 07.06.20207 Comments

This article is written to clearly indicate what the pros and cons are of motorcycle riding. I used sources such as rideapart.com, a licensed motorcycle instructor writing for thedrive.com and my own experience. I tried to give you an as objective as possible view on whether or not you should get into motorcycle riding. I’ll start with the reason why you should ride a motorcycle and finish with the cons.

Riding motorcycles gives perspective

To find your Zen and learn about perspective

When riding a motorcycle, your thoughts are occupied by the moment, and only the moment. You are aware of your surroundings. You live in the moment. The solutions to most problems we encounter on the road while riding are the same as the solutions to most of life’s problems. In that moment you feel very, very big and at the same exact moment, you are very well aware that you are also very, very small. Those two concepts collide in your mind simultaneously, and that is why we have that look in our eyes. We see the universe for what it is and transcend reality.

To be cool

Unless you ride in sandals or flip flops, or without a helmet, riding a motorcycle makes you cool, period. Motorcycles are cool. They tell the world, “I live my life large! I laugh at fear, I am adventurous!” Everyone who sees anyone on any bike thinks that person is cool. This might be important to you, or not.

Authenticity

Motorcycles are a reflection of their owners’ personality. A bike is as individual as a vehicle can be, and no two are ever the same. There’s also an inherent simplicity to a motorbike and that allows you to create a deeper connection. You work on it when something is wrong, tinker with it, and perform basic maintenance on it, enforcing your bond with your motorcycle.

Freedom

As can be read here a motorcycle can take you a bunch of places a car can’t, but that’s a very superficial concept of “freedom”. Really, a motorcycle gives you complete and total autonomy and agency over your decisions. Twist the throttle, weight the peg—your actions are yours and yours alone. You can’t even reach your cell phone. Your distractions are non-existent. It is pure bliss. Wherever you go other bikers will initiate a conversation, this helps to meet some of the toughest looking but nicest people on earth.

You should definitely not be riding a motorcycle if you lack self-discipline.

Whether you have great skills or not, riding is, first and foremost, about control. Self-control and control over that deadly engine on wheels between your legs. You have to have the discipline to keep practicing and improving your techniques. If you don’t, sooner or later it might well be the end of you and perhaps some innocent bystander.

Or if you want to go fast from the get-go

Motorcycling is not about power and speed; it’s about control and confidence. Develop those skills first, and your speed will increase. Learn to ride a slow bike fast before trying to ride a fast bike fast. If you don’t have the patience for that, don’t even try.

If you lack spatial awareness

How doers the back of your car look? Are there any dents due to ‘missing’ a pole or another car’s bumper perhaps? This might be an indicator of poor spatial awareness. Riding motorcycles is all about being aware of what is happening around you, hence my earlier point about being zen. If you miss that exiting car on the highway you might be in for a really bad day at best.

The verdict

Motorcycles are dangerous. In fact, motorcycles are 38 times more dangerous than driving a car and if you hit an immovable object or someone hits you, you’re the one that’s going to get hurt or even die. Simply though, motorcycles are bicycles for adults. When you take all of this into account, it is up to you whether the risk is worth the reward. You should ride a bike because not riding a bike is never as good as riding a bike. Ever.

Motorcycles are fun, exciting, stimulating, and sexy. They can be fast, or slow, or big, or small, but a motorcycle is fuel for your soul. You can ride any way you like and get profound amounts of joy. Whether you are knee down on a racetrack, carving a wooded trail, or just cruising down the highway with your head high and your smile wide, motorcycles are life. With high risk comes high reward and, at the end of the day, there’s nothing else quite like piloting a motorcycle.

I used the following sources: Sam Bendall’s article on https://www.thedrive.com/motorcycles/17795/five-reasons-you-yeah-you-should-not-ride-a-motorcycle and Jacob Black’s piece on https://www.rideapart.com/articles/253800/12-reasons-to-ride-a-motorcycle/

7 Comments

  • Chris Mills says:

    That was great. Your words echo my own thoughts exactly. Well done.

  • Jim Peters says:

    I agree, So often I see those fools out there that ride for the wrong reasons and they never seem to last very long.

  • Joe Buzzetta says:

    Nicely put. I cringe every time I see a young kid pulling a wheelies at 70 mph, wearing flip flops and shorts …It’s not easy to watch .
    Ive been street riding since 1988, and at this point I enjoy the road trips in the country the most. I’m the unofficial ride captain of a group of friends , and in charge of the planning, which is just fine with me!
    Ive used your app for planning, but haven’t found it useful for navigating. We were in CA in 2018, and if we veered off course, the app couldn’t get us back to the route. This isn’t a critism, maybe I’m not using it properly. Bottom line is thank you for what you do, its helped me plan some great routes.

  • Todd Sappington says:

    Very well put. I have been riding since the age of three as my father was into bikes so being from Idaho we did a lot of trail riding. Didn’t try a road bike until college but there is no greater feeling than a great ride whether it be off-road or some nice twisty road. It never gets old.

  • Steve Stephens says:

    I agree with your pro and cons, but I would add another pro to the list Comradery. There is just something about the motorcycling community. I love doing the biker wave at an oncoming bike or bikes. My way of letting them know that I’m with you. We are a community. Also motorcycling is distinctly American.

    • Onno says:

      I agree Steve but disagree your last sentence!
      For me motorcycling is the feeling of freedom, discovering the unknown, the engine vibrations and noise, the wind around the body and smelling the changing scents on the way and that’s everywhere I (we) drive a motorbike…

  • Neal says:

    You put my feeling into word form. You are right on. Been riding for 54 years and still enjoying it here in SE Oklahoma!

Leave a Reply

Solve this if you are human