RANTS
What's up with Michigan bikers?
September 1st, 2007
Four Wheels Move the Body, Two Wheels Move the Soul - Unknown
In the past 8 months, my wife and I have logged close to 15,000 miles around the South Eastern Half of the United States. Our adventure, which was supposed to only be a two year trip, has now been extended to 4 or 5 years because of how much fun we’re having. We’ve been having a blast and learning a lot about this great country of ours while traveling in our camper while writing for our website www.everymilesamemory.com .
With the nasty heat that’s been encompassing much of the country this summer, we decided to stay in Michigan for the month of July and August and tie up some loose ends. Its great to be back home and spend time with family and friends, but there is one thing that has been really bothering me since we’ve been back in Michigan, the Bikers! Let me explain before we start getting flooded with hate mail.
| Before we left for our trip, we bought a very light weight Dual Sport motorcycle to carry on the back of our camper. We tend to move around a lot, and the motorcycle lets us run errands and take side trips without having to unhook the tow vehicle from the travel trailer. With fuel prices at an all time high, it also helps keep the costs down since the little four-stroke motor gets around 50 miles to the gallon. In the past 8 months, we’ve had a blast on the bike, and have both really fell in love with just going out for a ride to take in the sights. Sure I would have loved to buy American made, but none of the American companies made a Dual Sport bike light enough to fit in our custom made carrier we made for the back of our camper. So we ended up buying a foreign bike, a Suzuki. |
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While riding through Central Florida, with its rolling hillsides and its beautiful horse country no one cared what type of bike we were riding. Louisiana and the banks of the Mississippi were cool to ride along and fellow riders would come up and talk to us just because we were also on a bike like them. Arkansas has some of the best motorcycling we’ve seen, with roads reminding us of the Upper Peninsula’s beauty and bikers coming from all over the country to roll though the Ozarks. While in Nashville for the Country Music Festival, the bike saved us a ton of time and money when it came to parking and traffic. The city was packed full of country music fans and parking was at a premium, but with the motorcycle we could pull right into downtown and save the $40 parking fees by just parking on a sidewalk. After logging a few hundred miles on the back roads of Kentucky, it was hard to put the bike back on the rack. Those roads seemed like they were designed by motorcycle riders. Now Michigan has some of the nastiest roads in the continental United States, but they are still beautiful when riding on two wheels, which leads me to my complaint.
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I’ve ridden motorcycles all my life. I grew up on dirt bikes, got my start on the road strapped onto a sport bike, and have admired the big V-Twins as long as I can remember; I’ve just never been able to afford one. For me, biking is all about the passion of being on two wheels and hearing the wind blow through my helmet. Bikers are bikers whether they are riding a V-Twin, a Crotch Rocket or a Dirt Bike, at least in my book. In every other state we’ve ridden in, when I pass a biker, no matter what they’re riding, they throw a friendly wave. It’s sort of a unique club and you have to own a bike to understand. Then you have Michigan. WTF is wrong with bikers in Michigan?!? |
We’ve been home for two months now, and in that time, I’ve ridden the bike a few days a week, every week. In that time, I’ve passed countless fellow bikers, and for the first time in the past 8 months, only metric (Foreign Bikes) riders will wave at me when we pass each other? If I happen to pass a biker on a Harley, they don’t even acknowledge that a fellow biker just passed them. I know why they act like this, it’s because I’m riding a “Jap Bike” as they like to call it. There was one guy on an American bike that passed by right here in Milford, and when we both waved, not knowing who each other were, it dawned on me that it was Roger, of R&B Rides. Maybe because Roger rides in so many other states, or because Roger is like me, and knows it’s all about the passion of riding, he doesn’t mind what that other rider is straddling. But WTF is wrong with all you other so called Bikers?
Riding motorcycles is about the sport, not the type of bike I ride. I could have easily afforded a Harley, or any of the other American bikes made here in the states. The problem was, no one was making a light weight Dual Sport bike that fit my needs. So because I bought a Suzuki, I’m shunned by any Harley riding biker? A biker is someone on two wheels, it doesn’t matter what type or brand they’re on, as long as it has two wheels they’re still a biker. For those that can’t figure this out, I say “Sell your bike and get back in your car where you belong!” For those who aren’t prejudice when it comes to a fellow biker, “Keep the shiny side up, ride safe and I’ll be the one waving as we pass each other on the road.”
-- Pat Bonish
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