I was pondering the reasons I like riding my bikes, the other day, and decided that one of the main reasons is the motion…

Not just the motion of the bike along the road, although that’s certainly a big part of the enjoyment, but also the motion of the wind rushing past and my protective clothing moving in the disturbed air. The motion of the pistons sliding up and down (or in and out depending upon which bike I’m riding). There’s the slight but steadily changing vibration as the tires move over every irregularity in the road surface and the motion of the forks moving up and down in response to bumps in the pavement. There’s inertial motion as my body avoids catching up with the accelerating bike and the inertial motion as my body avoids slowing down with the bike as I apply the brakes to slow or stop. There’s the side to side motion of the bike and body as we lean back and forth in the turns and the motion of my head and helmet as I check out the intersecting roads for potentially dangerous cross-traffic. I like the motion as the handlebars turn one way or another at slower, parking lot speeds. There’s the motion of the raindrops flowing back over my faceshield as it protrudes into the airstream and the lights of traffic around me as I ride at night.

There’s even enjoyable motion before and after the ride when I swing my leg over  the saddle while mounting or dismounting the bike – a motion that seems to get more difficult as time goes by.  I dread the day when, for me, the only motorcycle motion will be the neurons firing weakly in my brain as I try to recall the motions and emotions of riding my finely crafted vehicles over what seemed at the time to be endless roads…

Ride safe,

Zippo and Jax