Cars, Motorcycles, or Both?

I have both as well, all are street vehicles now, no race cars. I find the bike more relaxing (as long as no cagers try and kill me) to ride, being more in the open. Cars are more for going where I have to go, bike goes where I want to go.

Both. Just blew the cobwebs off the 'main' bike

bikes and trucks. Life's too short to be a car person. 

And if you're doing it right, you get both in the same weekend:

I haven't been on two wheels in at least 20 years, but for the past year or so, I've been really getting the motorcycle itch. In December I purchased a Honda 650F and have put over 2300 miles on it already. I use it mostly for going back and forth to work. It costs me about $10 a week to use. The bike will pay for itself in no time. I've been looking into track days and bike schools so I can get my skills upgraded. The car sits most of the time now and gets used for running errands I can't do on the bike. As soon as I can get some cars repaired and sold, I'd like to buy another bike, something faster, maybe even a pure race bike. I don't think there's any better  fun:dollar spent ratio than a motorcycle.

Both for me as well.  I’ve been riding on the street for 27 years.  Love the bikes and the cars....would’t want to give either up.  

If you really want to party, ask yourself, bike or...airplane. Or both?

Both for me as well, but I find myself gravitating more towards bikes for several reasons others have mentioned (cost, space required, ease of working on them, performance per dollar.)  The car still wins out for really nasty weather, hauling stuff or people, or really long trips, but the bike is better for feeling exciting at moderate speeds, and makes me feel very alive, even on a boring ride. In addition, a dual sport provides exploration/adventure  potential four wheels can't match.

I like that I could study and focus on my motorcycle riding skills for the rest of my life and still feel like I've barely scratched the surface. I like that I can approach, or even slightly exceed maximum braking/cornering in a car and recover to laugh about it.

In reply to Japspec :

I grew up with motorcycles. honda’s Royal Enfield 750TT Interceptor. Yet  I found out early that finding the limit in a car usually meant spinning out or driving off the road. Finding the limit on a motorcycle meant bed time, as in hospital bed.  

Then roads and highways got crowded with oblivious people.  People that miss flashing red lights or can’t see a 40 foot yellow bus

In the 1960’s I was in a hospital emergency room as a passenger in a serious car accident.   There were two others in the same emergency room both on motorcycles.  One made it, but will walk with a limp the rest of his life, one became an organ donor. 

I can get  90% of the same “ exposure to the elements” with an open sports car  like a MGTD or Triumph TR3  without the same risk.  

A motor cycle rider uses his body as the bumpers on a motorcycle. Except skin and bones aren’t as strong  as chrome and steel. 

Appleseed said:

If you really want to party, ask yourself, bike or...airplane. Or both?

Is that a Decathlon or a .Citabria? Either way they are damn good airplanes

Having done both, it depends on where you are in life.  If you are young and single, both is the answer.  If you are old, have few family obligations and are in the empty nest stage of life, both is the answer.  It's in the middle that it gets tricky.  I've been in fewer "oh E36 M3 I'm about to die" situations in 30 years of driving than in my 2 years of riding.  That's just the way it is.  You can minimize risk by choosing when/where/how you ride, but it's always going to be more dangerous than any other vehicle. 

Don't get me wrong, I loved riding.  I still miss it every year when the weather finally turns.  But I've got a disabled son who's going to need me as long as possible, so my riding days are done. 

I rode everything two-wheeled I could get my hands on when I was a kid/young adult. Everything from pedals and bmx to knobbies and two stroke oil to liter class race replicas and have had atleast one motorcycle around at all times. But, for a bunch of years in my mid 30s to mid 40s I really didn't ride. I was spending all my time, sweat equity and money on building and racing cars and honing racecraft. I'd start the bike or piddle around town to make sure it still worked ... but if I was having a fantasy episode in my head I was strapped into a race car. At some point in 2015 I reached a plateau where I realized couldn't win at a level any higher than I was at and I couldn't go any higher on my budget. Or maybe talent. I didn't like instructing anymore. There wasn't even  joy for me in just doing laps against a clock even though I was still going pretty quick- or maybe that is just what I tell myself because I really don't know where my love of all things car racing went. But when it went I rekindled an old obsession.

I've ridden three different motorcycles a total of 88k miles since I last drove a race car in competition in the fall of '15 and I'm sitting here at my desk looking forward to the cold, wet ride home. Maybe someday that love affair will end as abruptly as the other - but that day is definitely not today.

When I was in my 20's I had a big old Suzuki and it was fun.  Then years went by and with the divorce I bought a Honda Magna, also fun.  Then traded the Magna for a Concours.....

5 or so years ago I got off my Concours at around 55 mph.  I skidded and bounced for a ways, lost some skin (helmet saved my face), and realized that I'd gotten off lucky.  I bought a Miata and never looked back. 

As a friend of mine said "some of us don't have the gene that keeps us from doing stupid E36 M3".  Once upon a time bikes were generally little and slow, traffic was pretty slow and sparse, and folks mostly paid attention.  Now between the stupid sportbike wars where you ain't E36 M3 if your bike won't go 9's, traffic congestion (literally double the traffic load from when I was a kid in the 80's), greater speed, and distractions.  Motorcycles are a good way to get pancaked 

pilotbraden said:

Appleseed said:

If you really want to party, ask yourself, bike or...airplane. Or both?

Is that a Decathlon or a .Citabria? Either way they are damn good airplanes

Hard to tell. I'm used to seeing them inverted.

The danger doesn't even register with me. I simply don't care. I've lived a lot longer than I ever thought I would or really cared to. Honestly I'm not looking forward to getting older. So if today's the day I say bring it on.

Definitely both.

First bike was a 73 CB350.  It was slow and uncomfortable.  Second was a 93 Shadow VLX.  It was slow and uncomfortable.  Third was an 04 Yamaha F6.  Wicked fast and not as uncomfortable as you would think.  Not good for 300 miles, but a few hours was doable.  Fourth was an 84 CB750 which I stripped into a sorta Cafe racer looking thing.  Slow and uncomfortable but it had a gutted Bassani exhaust that sounded crazy good.  Current bike is a 99 Vulcan Nomad.  Big, quick, comfy, sexy.  It has been to 18 states and one province.  500 miles a day is no problem, but does leave you with a little stiffness here and there.

It would not be practical as my only vehicle in PA.  I don't mind riding in the rain, but I do mind all the gear I have to put on to stay dry.  I'll ride in 45 degrees for short distances, but it really needs to be 60 degrees for longer rides with the gear I have.  Snow and ice though?  Not good.

The Shadow was my only vehicle for a little bit when I full-timed in an RV.  When we unhitched, the wife took the truck and I took the Shadow from the bed, but we always snow-birded, so I never really had to ride cold or when there was snow.

For me, right now, it's just cars. I've only had a fleeting interest in getting a bike, and I technically owned a turdy old Honda CX500 Deluxe as a teen, but never rode it because it was in terrible shape. These days, I love the aesthetics of vintage bikes, but just don't have a strong enough desire to own one. That, and riding one around here is probably suicidal. If I ever did buy one, I'd be looking at old British stuff or possibly some sort of 80's Japanese cruiser. My dad rides a Harley FLHTC, and although it's nice, it doesn't really do anything for me.

But minibikes... those are my jam! 

I just bought one a few weeks ago that I've already got running. If I have time this weekend, I plan on finishing it up and putting around the yard on it.  

Nick Comstock said:

The danger doesn't even register with me. I simply don't care. I've lived a lot longer than I ever thought I would or really cared to. Honestly I'm not looking forward to getting older. So if today's the day I say bring it on.

Many times in my life I’ve been near death. I enjoy the thrill of life on the edge.  However I’d rather it not be at the hand of a stranger who fails to even be bothered to pay attention. There is no joy in senseless loss. 

Another vote for both. I am a big fan of small bikes though. I like doing 9/10ths all the time with very little chance of arrest. I am a much better driver than rider too so bikes are not about sheer performance for me, just the experience. I bought a triumph tiger a few years back and haven't ridden it much as my commute is boring and riding a 500 lbs, 110 hp bike on the twistes isn't nearly as much fun as my 350 lbs, 40 hp bike. 

Also dirt bikes are where it is at. I love crawling through the woods on a bike.

frenchyd said:

Nick Comstock said:

The danger doesn't even register with me. I simply don't care. I've lived a lot longer than I ever thought I would or really cared to. Honestly I'm not looking forward to getting older. So if today's the day I say bring it on.

Many times in my life I’ve been near death. I enjoy the thrill of life on the edge.  However I’d rather it not be at the hand of a stranger who fails to even be bothered to pay attention. There is no joy in senseless loss. 

There isn't much to be said for strangers killing you with great attention to detail either. But, no matter how you get it - you are gonna get it. No one gets out alive. Blunt force trauma beats cancer every time in my book. Chemo to Live, Live to Chemo said no one ever.

I would rather be shot out of a cannon, than squeezed out of a tube. 

High school - Cars ('88 300ZX to be specific, never would have guessed by the screen name huh?)

College - I was too poor to play with cars and eventually sold the 300ZX and inherited my grandmothers '85 Blue on Blue with Blue Vinyl top Lincoln Town Car. Not much fun, and was a boat, but man did it take us on some comfy less than legal road trips.

After College - Motorcycles, first wreck on the street, 4 of us go down, 1 killed. 2nd wreck on the track, banged hip (I still limp a touch 11 years later) and a nasty concussion and post-concussion syndrome. My girlfriend at the time (now ex-wife) asked me if I would go back to playing with cars.  And I did. 

Had quite a few different ones since. 3 Mazdas and 4 BMWs would be the two most owned of any brand at the moment. Well I guess 3 Nissans, but one of those was a truck.

frenchyd said

There is no joy in senseless loss. 

I'd say there is no sense in a joyless life.

back when Autoweek was something I looked forward to getting (every week) there was an article called Compared to road racing motorcycles, cars are for wankers  talking about for the costs of a 10 year old VW racer you could be racing a Italian Ducati motorcycle. I loved that and it is so true. I raced motorcycles for years, only owned a pick-up truck, no cars for 20 years. Now I have both. Love the Miata & Mustang, love to autocross them but I much prefer to take my sporty bike down to souther Ohio or ride my vintage motorcycle around the city than do anything in a car.  

singleslammer said:

Another vote for both. I am a big fan of small bikes though. I like doing 9/10ths all the time with very little chance of arrest. I am a much better driver than rider too so bikes are not about sheer performance for me, just the experience. I bought a triumph tiger a few years back and haven't ridden it much as my commute is boring and riding a 500 lbs, 110 hp bike on the twistes isn't nearly as much fun as my 350 lbs, 40 hp bike. 

Also dirt bikes are where it is at. I love crawling through the woods on a bike.

I like light AND powerful. 398lbs and 110hp. I want to know the bike is trying to kill me every time I get on it. Also I like how when I ride at 6-7/10’s how the bike calls me a Bob Costas and laughs at my “abilities”. Keeps me grounded. 

Everyone knows motorcycles are dangerous. We can do without the horror story justifications of why you don't ride in this thread. You either feel the risk is worth it or you don't.

I have both. The M3 for true hooliganism on the track to scratch that itch. The Mustang just because I always wanted one. I like cars, what they do, how they drive, etc.

I have two bikes for two different types of riding. The feeling of riding a m/c simply can't be duplicated by a car. The bikes are cheaper, take up less space, are easier to work on and I can have several in the spot taken up by one car. Though cars are different from model to model you can really sample a broad spectrum by having just a few bikes.

I've met some really great people through motorcycling. Met some great people through cars too but I think the bike people are friendlier and more introspective. Keep in mind I don't circle in the H-D or sport bike crowds though.

If I had to choose I'd probably stick with cars simply for the weather protection and year-round use where I live. I'm pretty much done with project cars as I don't enjoy laying under them and hoisting heavy parts into place. I can build an entire bike while sitting on a stool.