Think it more us older ones that actually ride them. Spent the last few weeks test riding and the amount of new models and stock levels suggest they are selling bikes to someone. Always fascinates me how many (younger) people come up to admire mine in the work car park and start telling me about their bike. When I ask where it is they assure me it only gets used on sunny weekends and does 200 - 400 miles PER YEAR
Theres a world of difference between those who own a bike & those who ride them regularly regardless of whether its Sunday & the suns out
Risk averse culture?
Wouldnt they like to see us all in one long line of cars even if we werent able to get anywhere....?
Heres a question....How many motorcycle licences held in UK & How many bikes currently taxed,insured, with VED?
i see statistics suggesting there are around 37 million vehicles on our roads with a population of 64 million.
West Midlands is becoming increasingly like South East of country-Have noticed a huge increase in vehicles on road/parked up in last 5 years.
Seems to be everyones goal to own a car @ 17.
Been riding bikes 29 years now, got the highest grade in my school for Motor Vehicle Studies, yet still never driven a car!
This is maybe gonna sound strange, although probably not so much to you lot, but i don't feel safe in a car with other people driving,'cos their observational skills seem non existant to me.
I would much rather sit in the back, seatbelt firmly on, than have to endure a drivers tunnel vision with me pressing the floor like i'm trying to slow them down due to blatant dangers ahead.
The difference being, when that dipshit sack of spuds driver kicks open their door to get out, a car will just plough through it without a care in the world, better still it'll be the passenger who has to endure it.
A biker, in comparison, will hit that door and sustain untold damage, hence the reason we avoid such scenarios.....'cos it hurts as well.
If ever i get in my mums car for instance i feel like i need to wear my full bike protective gear 'cos she has this knack of skimming parked motors to the point of seeing your face in wing mirrors, which i find truly terrifying.
And it's every time as well, not just the odd occasion.My dad used to be the opposite, he would always seem like we were about to have a head on smash, the car would always be a third over the centre road line with him.Only driver i ever had full trust in was my oldest brother who had a CBX1000 waiting at home for him that he paid for himself when he passed his test on his 17th birthday, but in later life was also an HGV driver, so he knew the best of both worlds and had full knowledge of how drivers would think and react. Plus he crashed a Z1300 when he was 18 and knew the consequences of when it all went wrong.