Your Bike or Your Motorcycle?

[kingpin75s]

Bicycles get priority for recreation time, most of the time.

Mostly ride the motorcycles on nice days when I do not need a car to tote others around. Commute to work. Meeting someone out for dinner. A nice Sunday drive around the parkway system.

Speaking of. Already back from my early morning bicycle ride and coffee stop and looks to be a nice morning for a cruise on the Guzzi.

Keep the shiny side up all!

[David Tollefson]

I look at my motorcycle mainly as a transportation alternative - far cheaper to buy, run and insure. At least the motorcycle I have is, a 2006 Ducati Multi-Strada 620d. Oddly, I now live closer to my day job, but basically don't even consider riding a bike to work.

But if it became a choice between the two, *having* to give up one of them, the motorcycle would go in a heartbeat.

[avalonracing]

I did both yesterday. It was 2.5 hours on the bike and only 30 minutes on the Ducati due to time commitments. It's a blast to go from the road bike to the moto on the same day though.
I'll always choose the bicycle over the motorcycle unless my legs are fried. Sadly, motorcycling in Maryland, we go from cold and wet weather to a few weeks of nice weather but with a face full of insects, to too hot to ride, to a few great weeks and, if we are lucky, moderate bugs in the face, and then back to freeze your face off weather. If I wasn't a bicyclist I'd ride my motorcycle a lot more. If I can get myself together and finally move to CA I'll be on the moto at least five days a week.

[VTCaraco]

I faced the same dilemma with far fewer "nice" days in VT than you have in GA.

My wife and I are both teachers, so much of those nice days are pretty available. I found that I wanted/needed the exercise and that the motorcycle riding equated to more time away from the family ~ to say nothing of the mild anxiety that my family would feel while I was out on the moto. So I made the decision to let the motorcycle go as we needed another vehicle for my son.
Selling it was harder than I anticipated ~ both finding a buyer and letting go of it ~ but I haven't missed it nearly as much as I anticipated.

So for me, with the caveat that I very-much enjoy my family and my 2-wheel time = my time rather than family time, dropping to leg-powered 2-wheels was the right decision for me.

[tuscanyswe]

Originally Posted by kingpin75s

Bicycles get priority for recreation time, most of the time.

Mostly ride the motorcycles on nice days when I do not need a car to tote others around. Commute to work. Meeting someone out for dinner. A nice Sunday drive around the parkway system.

Speaking of. Already back from my early morning bicycle ride and coffee stop and looks to be a nice morning for a cruise on the Guzzi.

Keep the shiny side up all!

Yama or Moto?

[BobY04]

Here's my bike. I can't find a better photo of it here in my computer. It's a 2010 Yamaha FZ6 S2 a.k.a the Naked Fazer.

[mcteague]

Originally Posted by avalonracing

I did both yesterday. It was 2.5 hours on the bike and only 30 minutes on the Ducati due to time commitments. It's a blast to go from the road bike to the moto on the same day though.
I'll always choose the bicycle over the motorcycle unless my legs are fried. Sadly, motorcycling in Maryland, we go from cold and wet weather to a few weeks of nice weather but with a face full of insects, to too hot to ride, to a few great weeks and, if we are lucky, moderate bugs in the face, and then back to freeze your face off weather. If I wasn't a bicyclist I'd ride my motorcycle a lot more. If I can get myself together and finally move to CA I'll be on the moto at least five days a week.

Yeah, I'm in MD as well and ride the push-bike year round. The MC, not so much. Below 60 degrees F I find it just gets too cold if you are really moving. In Summer, I am an AGATT guy and things get hot and sweaty really fast. To make things worse, I like sporty, naked bikes like my BMW S1000R. So, no real wind protection. My thumbs seem to hurt more and more after passing 60 so I wonder how much longer the MC will be in the picture. I've actually been considering a Mazda MX-5 RF lately as the fun, motorized, toy. Time will tell.

Tim

[dem]

I also vote both.

[DonH]

Originally Posted by Hawker

Here in GA I'm lucky that we do have an extended riding season. Although we set a new record this year for the number of 90 degree days and I'm no longer a fan of that kind of heat and humidity.

All that to say, I've been riding bikes seriously since the 70s and motorcycles since '95 and frankly...I have a heck of a time choosing between the two. Or as my wife refers to it; "the collision of the hobbies".

I need the bike to maintain some conditioning for my body and my heart. But the MC has it's own pleasures and can be very addictive.

It's cold and rainy here today...so just thought I'd see who else has this malady?

I struggle with this 'collision of the hobbies' all the time - some might say its chronic
Some weekends I get to ride both but not usually.
Im an offroad rider 95% of the time, so as long as I am bouncing around on a trail or track I am very happy and grateful.

[avalonracing]

Nice S1000R. I sold my F800S to get a Monster 796. If you see a Monster with red/white/green '78 Isle of Man livery around Ellicott City, that's me. As I said, I get it with the too hot/humid or too cold/wet thing to be a motorcyclist in MD and since I have gotten a 6spd GTI I am able to get my shifting fix so I've thought about giving up the motorcycle too. The thing is, on a day like last Saturday it's hard to give up motorcycling and this is the best time of the year to do it.

Originally Posted by mcteague

Yeah, I'm in MD as well and ride the push-bike year round. The MC, not so much. Below 60 degrees F I find it just gets too cold if you are really moving. In Summer, I am an AGATT guy and things get hot and sweaty really fast. To make things worse, I like sporty, naked bikes like my BMW S1000R. So, no real wind protection. My thumbs seem to hurt more and more after passing 60 so I wonder how much longer the MC will be in the picture. I've actually been considering a Mazda MX-5 RF lately as the fun, motorized, toy. Time will tell.

Tim

[Hawker]

Thanks for your input guys. Couple of thoughts:

Fifteen years ago I gave up motorcycling for three years and bought a Miata. Two Miatas actually. Wonderful, wonderful cars AND you can put the top down, listen to tunes and drink Starbucks. I became fully involved with the local, regional and national Miata community. However, no car is a motorcycle and I went back to my motorcycle...literally. I bought back my motorcycle from the guy I sold it to. I kept the Miata for another six years but then finally sold it.

A big consideration for me, especially as I get older is safety. Obviously with a motorcycle the act of riding, traffic, speed, deer is higher. But even on this forum we constantly see reports of people being killed by cars while on their bicycles. So is either activity more or less safe? Beats me? Still, I'd rather die at home in my bed.

Thanks for your thoughts and input. ATGATT, Assume no one sees you, careful of intersections and wear bright colored clothing.