Wht do you love it ?

I grew up riding bikes in fields (not good, I know, considering some of the fields we didn't have permission to be there). At that stage, is was just messing around, trying to out do mates, push the bikes to do stuff that your mates couldn't, and most of the time it went wrong, unfortunately.

When I moved house, I bought a CG125, as a little run about, because it was going to be cheaper than using the car for everything. Some things I'd still have to use the car for, but most things I could get away with the CG.

Then the CG died. So I was back to the car, and throwing money down the drain. I did the whole cost-benefit thing (finance wise only), and it worked out I could save money and buy a K6. So the SV became my commuting run about.

A while after learning to ride the SV (remember, I went from fields to a CG on the road, there's something infinitely different about a CG compared to the SV), the bug bit.

So why do I ride? Mainly, for commuting reasons. Not only is it cheaper, but it's quicker (filtering etc, gaps that just don't exist when you're driving a Ford Galaxy are second nature when on the bike).

When I'm not commuting, I'll ride the bike if I need to be somewhere. The visibility on the road is worth the trade off for the weather. The car has huge metal pillars that block your view, the bike doesn't.

More than that, if it's a sunny day out, I'm reaching for the sun glasses & helmet. There's just something special about riding around the N. Wales scenery on a bike, that you just don't get from a car. The freedom is just amazing. When I have the opportunity, there's nothing better than being sat on the bike, effectively riding around in circles.

As for it being dangerous, it's dangerous to eat the wrong foods. It's dangerous to cross the road. Unfortunately at the moment it could be argued that it's dangerous to get on a train, a plane, or to open the post etc. If we didn't do anything that there was any element of risk in, we'd never get out of bed, and we'd never sleep whilst in bed.

You only know your alive by taking "sensible" risks.

It's an escape. The kid inside me goes out to play.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by timwilky

Spend a week on a ward full of old men with dicky tickers. Suddenly you realise there is more to life than work, home and families. The pressure of modern life can kill you.

That is why I went back to biking. On a bike I am to busy trying to make sure white van man, Mr BMW et al don't kill me, that I forget about everything else that is trying to kill me.

What everyone else said, but this especially.

I think you have to be part of it to understand it, even then it's hard to fully put into words although some very good goes at this in the threads above.

So to add to the others, for me I just feel more at one with the bike than driving the car.

I’ve been told that riding a bike is akin to a death wish, but for me it is quite the opposite, it is when riding I feel most alive.

The closest I’ve got to making a bike heretic understand, is to ask if they enjoy rollercoasters, if so then riding a bike is like that, only more.

The only people who can really understand are the risk takers. I’ve been reading about peoples hobbies and interests on here for the last few years, Rock Climbing, Scuba Diving, Sky Diving crop up quite often, all have that element of certain personal injury or death should things go wrong.

It's as dangerous as you make it. Ride like a maniac and you'll come a cropper, but that's you, not the bike.

The 'dangerous' image comes from the same people who can't see why we'd want to do it - they see danger where we see fun and excitement. Then they end up getting old and wishing they'd done more exciting things with their life.

Blah Blah, Blah Blah Blah Blah, Blah Blah

It's damn good fun!

[Viney]

Because i have no other vice

its my bit of freedom from the kids.

I think Dan Walsh summed it up for me.

"Because it's the only thing in the world that makes me feel awake, properly awake, and alive, really alive"

The bike, it's an escape. Something that means I'm not just another robot in the world, plodding half asleep in the rat race in a life devoid of enjoyment, waiting to die.

That, or actually it's just another fad for me to spend my money on until I get bored of it and move onto the next thing.