Destined to be alone...

[Big Daddy Funk]

Nature Of the Beast

There is a difference between being alone and being lonely. I think the reason most of us stay with the lifestyle is that we are loners by nature and that attracts us to motorcycles. The freedom and independance that it offers appeals to our outsider or rebelious side.
The commaraderie of other bikers is very enjoyable but generally rubs against our independant nature if done too often. Bikers generally don't like being told what to do, how to ride, where to ride or much else for that matter. It's just the nature of the beast.
You can understand how bikers became notorious in the 50's when society was stuctured against anything or anyone who stood apart from the crowd.
The Holister situation would never have made the news if it had been sailors in a port city instead of bikers in a small town.

[DJinNH]

If you hadn't noticed yet, my post count is high and it's not because I am soooo helpful to others. It's because I am "Yappy". What I mean is that I can get talking to anyone I corner.

I prefer to ride either alone or maybe with a couple of other bikes. Gary F and I ride often together. It's the large groups that I don't do as well with only because my style of riding is to go for about 1/2 hr to an hour, then hang out....ride some more...hang out somewhere else.

Last fall, Gary and I rode with two other guys. They were great guys but they liked to ride long and fast. I'd rather check out the scenery and take my time. Wherever I am going is certainly going to be there when I arrive. No sense zipping along 20-30 mph over the speed limit.

If I see Harleys riding along, I'll pull in along with them just to have someone to ride with, that is as long as they don't have LOUD pipes. Man, I hate that! I don't even care if they are wearing gang leathers as long as they don't mind me tagging along down a highway or the beach road.

Don

[madmax-im]

I never follow Harleys..mostly because they are running straight pipes and are loud enough to give even me a headache...not to mention how bad they stink up the air with their stinky exhausts...this is more irritataing to me than their noise..as I have to breathe their $h!+...so I will either back way off or I will pass the whole pack F### 'em.
I too like to ride alone or in a very small group...so this XSEast rally is gonna be an exception as it looks like we will have a huge turnout...but a group of like minded Yammies is better than tagging along being made to feel like an inferior species to the HD crowd any day.

[olebiker]

The brand of MC has very little to do with what I think about the rider. I have owned and ridden almost every make of MC. The one big exception is BMW as they are too expensive both to buy and to maintain although I understand they are a great bike to ride. When I rode a Harley I liked it. It did some stuff well and other stuff not so well. They do now make some models that might shock you at the drag strip. I do think that most of these v twin cruiser styled bikes do not handle very well and have a tendency to drag hard parts in a turn. I was in Southern Quebec last weekend and a guy on V twin of some make passed a tractor on a very rough road and I thought he was gonna fall off. I passed him at twice the speed he was at and yes the road was bad but I was glad to be on my bike and not on his. (I was on the Connie).

[Jerry]

I ride alone most of the time simply because of my schedule. I enjoy riding in groups at the XS rallies, don't like to go that fast as I enjoy seeing new places and scenery. I like to stop occasionally for photos and make notes.

Having said that, one of my more memorable trips was when I rode with Maximan from Colorado to Lake Tahoe for a rally...it was nice being in company.

I've also ridden a few times with a Harley group out of Denver. A mutual friend recommended me as a guide for western Colorado riding, so they come over and off we go. I get some comments, of course, but we ride together peaceably. Of course, noise and vapors are not as much of an issue when you are riding out front...

Like most things, variety is good. Most of my miles are acquired on solo rides, but group riding is a nice change and I enjoy it on occasion.