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Motorcycling is amazing. There is nothing better than hitting the road on your bike after a hard days work. It is the only way to commute.
Whereas life on two wheels is beautiful, there are the not so pleasant realities about riding. Here are our least favorite things about riding
1. Traffic is irritating
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It’s a beautiful weather and chrome on your bike is calling out to you. You plan a meeting with your friends and get on the road. Like any usual day, you take the longer but less congested road to the bar. Just when you take that right, there is a long queue stationary of cars and buses. Your trip has been ruined.
The idea behind riding is to feel the open road and the wind in your face. You don’t ride to smell the fumes from buses while you are standing for the traffic to move. People in cars are driving to get to a place, whereas bikers ride for the sheer joy of the riding.
Though bikers take lesser time in traffic than their friends in cars, but they also suffer much more. While they remain in their air-conditioned cages, bikers get exposed to fumes from their exhausts.
2. Sore Rear End
Ride a motorcycle for a few hours and you rear will be as flat as an airport runway. No matter how comfortable your seat feels when you get on it, if you ride it long enough, you will have a sore bum. Of late there has been an influx of silica-coated seats, which are said to be more comfortable. But even they can’t protect your ass from soreness of riding.
3. Rain
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Rains can be fun if you’re in the right mood. But most of the times, rains and rides just don’t go well. Rains are annoying for a lot of reasons, you get drenched, there are chances of losing control and sometimes visibility gets very low.
Annoyingly, for some reason, Cars love the rain. They get some sort of sadist pleasure by driving over puddles and splashing water on bikers and pedestrians. Someone needs to throw a bucket of water over these car drivers to tell them how it feels.
Do read our blog on riding tips in the rain
10 Tips for Riding in the Rain
4. Carrying your helmet after Riding
If you ride mostly in the city, you know the feeling of figuring of how to carry your helmet around. Not only do you have to carry it, you also have to keep it safe from scratches while it bangs onto objects.
Some people have helmet locks on their bikes, but a lot of folks are uncomfortable leaving my helmet in the sun with dust flying around.
When you ride to a restaurant, your helmet is as good as a person. The first thing you look for is an extra chair to keep it.
5. Helmet Hair
The one problem with Riding Motorcycles, especially if you need to go to work or attend a gathering is helmet hair. It is the way your hair looks after you take off your helmet. It doesn’t matter how you make your hair before putting on your helmet. Once you take if off, your hair just sticks onto your head. Its like it was scared to be inside your helmet and now just wants to hold on to its life. The only way to solve it is by having no hair on your head.
It’s a mystery how Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper never had helmet hair in the movie Easy Rider. Or for that matter, no one who in movies ever gets one. Movies are so far from reality.
On that note, BMW recently released a campaign on their new range of motorcycle helmets and had a solution to this biker problem. Check out the campaign by clicking on the link below. Try it at your own risk!!
http://publicis-mexico.com/portfolio/bmw-1350-grams/
6. Accidents hurt more
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People who drive cars are protected by their Iron Cage. They have the liberty of touching their vehicles here and there and still waving at others while they drive away. This is the reason they are more careless while driving.
Touch your bike slightly while riding, and you will end up lying on the road with a hefty maintenance bill to you and your ride. On a motorcycle, the only thing protecting you is your gear. You should always wear your gear while riding. I know that it makes you looks like Robo Cop but it’s better than looking human pulp and never being able to ride again.
Which brings us to the next thing we hate about riding:
7. Uber Expensive Gear
Riding a motorcycle is an expensive habit. If buying your motorcycle did not burn a hole in your pocket, the add-ons definitely will.
You will probably only get to really test your gear once or twice, but at that moment, you will be happy that you bought a good one. You don’t want to risk your life by buying sub-standard gear, and all the good ones are really expensive. We hope someday the conscience of these riding gear companies will wake up and they will start making affordable gears.
8. Trucks and Buses
Ride behind a bus in summers and you will know how a pizza feels when it’s being cooked. Stop next to bus at a traffic light and you will end up feeling that you are smoking an exhaust pipe.
There are many reasons, to hate busses and trucks; they are slow, they are loud (not in the good sense) and they fart smoke in your face. As a biker, the only thing that goes in the favor of buses is that they prevent people from driving their cars.
9. Flat Tire
Unlike cars and some scooters, motorcycles do not come with spare wheels. Let’s be fair, the front and the rear wheel are different and you cannot imagine carrying two spares on a motorcycle.
Having said that, its always annoying to get a flat tire while riding. Incase of a flat, your ride comes to a standstill, that is if you haven’t crashed because of it.
Your best bet, are tubeless tires, puncture repair kit and an air pump. You should definitely carry them in a tool kit, especially on long rides.
This brings us to the most frustrating thing about riding.
10.Carrying Luggage
Carrying anything on you while riding only deteriorates the experience. It’s still possible to carry stuff on you on a short ride, but its simply impossible on a long one. The inability to carry stuff is usually the reason why most people drive cars.
Amongst the carrying options, backpacks are the worst. They occupy the pillion seat and make it impossible to ride with a partner. They also have a funny habit of sliding to one side while you are riding.
Some riders install saddlebags or panniers to carry luggage. We are yet to come across a pannier that is appealing and enhances the aesthetics of the motorcycle. They have one more problem. You cannot carry them with you once you get off the bike.
The other option, though with limited capacity are tank bags. These are bags that you can stick on the tank with the help of magnets. They are good for keeping things you want to keep in handy. They have the same problems as panniers. They are ugly and uncomfortable. If you don’t mind, your bike’s tank looking like a camel’s hump, you should go for it.
If you feel the same way about carrying luggage, check out our range of Hybrid Saddlebags which can be used everyday and will rid you of the pain of carrying luggage.
Buy Hybrid Saddlebags
Having said all this, there is still no other way to travel. Riding is always better than Driving. If you have a different view, perhaps the article below will change your mind:
10 Reasons Why Riding Motorcycles Is Better Than Driving Cars
Let us know the things about motorcycling that you don't enjoy as a biker, in the comments below:
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comments
When you ride in a group and people makes you stop after 30 or 40 miles as they are not used to ride for longer duration