Image

Image is everything to many of us motorcyclists - got to have the right bike and right look to be kewl.  Brands and riding styles vary wildly from cruisers in jeans and do-rags to sport tourers in ‘Stitches and Concepts.  Depends on how you see yourself and how you want your fellow riders to see you.  Then there is the image non-motorcyclists have of us.  Most don’t have a clue and don’t care what image we are trying to put out there, they only react to what they hear and what they see. 

     Recently I watched a video documentary on the internet concerning motorcycles along a rather famous east coast mountainous road.  The TV station did the documentary after hearing that the locals who lived along the route were asking the LEOs to do something about the motorcycle speeding, noise and hooliganism that had to them gotten out of hand.  The reporters drove an SUV through the area taking videos of bikes passing in blind corners at twice the speed limit, doing wheelies and burn outs while making lots of noise, heedless of the speed limits and the passing/no passing zones.  Even had a clean up video of a rider who crashed horrifically doing something like 120 in a 35 zone.

     Fast forward a day or so later…Wanda and I out on the Beemer riding one of our favorite loops in the neighborhood.  As we rode along I got to wondering just what our “image” was.  How did I stack up to the kind of riding and comments made in the documentary?  Am I a loud speeder with hooligan tendencies, or a mild mannered rider obeying the law of the land?

     Noise - no problem…we do ride a Beemer.  Hooliganism - not an issue either as I haven’t intentionally done a wheelie in I don’t know how long.  Speed, on the other hand, was another story.  Passing automobiles in a 55 zone at 90 is speeding, and, come to think of it, probably qualifies as hooliganism to the passed motorist.  Darned if I didn’t cross the double yellows on more than one occasion to move around slower vehicles; and it turns out I enjoy the twisty turnies at twice the posted limit.  I am a speeder, not a really bad speeder, but a speeder for sure.  Aaahh...I feel better now...

     Seriously though, if we are not careful, noise, speed and hooliganism will be the end of us.  As motorcyclists we need to take responsibility for our “image”.  If not, one day we will find our favorite mode of transportation legislated right off the road.  Deryle Mehrten, quiet and well behaved…speeding down the road.