I get asked that question daily…….
I’m known by most people as, “that motorcycle guy.”
People come to me for input on all things two wheels. The most common question I get is what bike should I get? Typically people answer that question with a proposition. It’s usually something like, “I was thinking of a Harley Street Glide” or “I was thinking of a Hayabusa.”
While there is nothing wrong with either of those two answers, they both point to one thing. They both are typically based upon what the person asking thinks will make them look cool. The one they think people will see them riding and think to themselves that; “This person is a total bad-ass.”
Pump the brakes, turbo.
The question you should be asking is; “How am I going to use this machine?”
I ride a BMW K1600 GT. I am 32 years old. Those two things don’t typically go together. In fact, when I bought mine the salesman didn’t think I was being completely serious when I said I was interested in that bike. There is no chrome on my bike, it is not a sport bike, it is primarily marketed to middle aged men. How did I come to own one? The answer is simple….. I stopped thinking about what would make me look cool, or ‘fit in’ with the crowd and got what would make my soul happy. Essentially, that is what motorcycling is. No other form of transportation has weekends of racking up miles and miles to never actually go anywhere….. Just journey….The journey is greater than the destination.
So, when it comes time to pick out your next or first bike, don’t follow the crowd or advertisements… Follow your soul, imagine yourself somewhere and what machine is in that thought. For me, I knew I wanted something comfortable, smooth, agile, able to eat up long miles on an interstate with ease, fast, lots of weather protection for all season riding and easy to perform maintenance myself. That was a no brainer.
Some people prefer backroad riding for an hour every other weekend in the summer. That might be more suitable for an H-D. Others want to trailer their bike and value the ‘eye-candy’ factor more than anything. Maybe a custom chopper is more your style.
No matter what bike you get, always get the one you want for your lifestyle. I’ve seen far too many used bikes sitting on showroom floors with practically no miles on them. Somebody bought a bike based upon what their friends did or how they thought it would make them look. (Hint: If you’re not a cool person to begin with; the bike will not fix that.) They didn’t enjoy riding the bike and the bike sat in a garage…. Don’t waste your time and be turned off to a lifestyle because you bought something that wasn’t for you.
Hope it helps!
Rubber side down.