A Bikers Life For Me

Many moons ago when the world was new and I was but a young whipper-snapper, I was introduced to motorcycles by a young man called Paul, who was later to become my brother in law,
 (poor bugger,) he pulled up outside our house one summer evening on the biggest motorbike I had ever seen, it was huge! and it was brand spanking new and shiny.

It was made by those people who have a fried egg for a flag, you know the really nice ones, have you guessed it yet? no! well I'll tell you it was of course a Honda, a goldwing to be exact nothing special these days there's loads of them around, but back in 75/76 when they first came out it was pretty impressive 1000cc liquid cooled flat four engine! I'll say it was, especially to an impressionable 15 year old lad with a very limited knowledge of bikes.(damn I've given my age away now)

Anyway fast forward a year, him and my sister are married and moved into their new house and I get roped into helping him move some stuff, what stuff I hear you ask? only his old bike the one he had before he got the wing, a 1966 BSA Spitfire Mk 2 special, and I got the job of sitting on it to hold it steady in the back of the van, well that was the bike that sold me, I just had to learn to ride and get one of these, it was a cracking looking bike and I was smitten.

 Actually thinking back on it now it wasn't so much the looks of the thing but the name, spitfire! I always did want to be a fighter pilot, that was until I found out you needed umpteen bloody A levels one of which somebody said was physics, I gave it a go, I did for one whole lesson, sad to say it was way over my head, (by a similar altitude to that at which a spitfire can fly) but we're getting off track here I'm supposed to be talking about bikes.

What ever! after a false start at 16 involving a failed bike purchase and an over protective mother, (who neatly side stepped me into getting my car licence rather than a bike one). I finally at the ripe old age of 20 got myself a motorcycle a suzuki ts 125 er to be exact, a 2 stroke trailie, (ah the smell, those pretty clouds of blue smoke.) But more importantly the feeling of freedom.

Now some would think well what's the difference you would have had the same freedom with a car, but only those who either 1, have never ridden a motorcycle or 2, have no soul, would think that. There can be no comparison the two are completely different.

Let me try to explain, it's a difficult thing to try and quantify, and the old adage if I try to explain you wouldn't understand applies, but here goes. In a car you are insulated, (and no I don't mean wrapped in rock-wool that's for lofts) you're isolated trundling along in your own little bubble listening to the radio, arguing with the wife, screaming at the kids etc, etc, on a bike you're out in the elements, you get wet when it rains, you can smell the newly mown grass of the front garden you just passed, the manure in the farmers field over the way, you freeze when the temperature drops, can feel the wind tugging at you trying to blow you sideways, you sense so much more, you're a lot more in tune with your surroundings, you're more switched on to what's happening around you.

All of those things give you a sense of connectivity with the world around you, you're not just being carried around in a box, this I think is what gives you the feeling of freedom.

Then there's the difference in the vehicles themselves, in a car you're separated from the engine on a bike you;re sat on top of it, you feel and hear whats going on a lot more, step back a hundred and fifty years or so, before the invention of the internal combustion engine when transport relied on the poor old equine (that means horses for the benefit of younger readers) Its the difference between being pulled along in a carriage and riding along on the horse.

To steer a car you just turn a wheel, to turn a bike its as much about weight transfer and body position as it is about tugging on the handlebars especially at speed, you have to lean into bends it requires more input and its so much more fun, driving around in the car is a chore! riding around on the bike is a joy. Even in the worst conditions, hail, lashing rain, freezing cold, snow, it can still be a joy.

How can I possibly say that? Simple, because when you finally reach your destination after enduring conditions like that, and you get all your gear off and settle down in front of a nice warm fire, with a hot drink in your hand, you can get an incredible sense of achievement because despite all that mother nature threw at you, you made it you survived.

And that my friends is why its a bikers life for me.

What about the BSA spitfire I hear you ask? Well yes I did eventually get to own one but that as they say is another story for another day.