Motorcycling

The book I read to research this post was Motorcycling for Dummies by Bill Kresnak which is an excellent book which I borrowed from the library. Some people can't understand the attraction of motorcycles especially when you consider how unsafe they are compared to cars. I think if you are sensible there not as dangerous as they are reputed to be. I drive a Ford Fiesta at the moment but when I first got mobile I had a moped. I think aside from the fact that Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt have motorbikes as do many celebrities there main attraction is there value for money. If you buy a high performance car you will pay a heck of a lot of money, for around £8,000 you can buy a brand new high performance bike. That high performance bike will do 0-60 mph in around 3 seconds which believe me will leave even a ferrari for dust. Also that high performance will typically do 45 miles per gallon, a standard bike will do a lot more. Because a motorbike is much lighter than a car it can have a much less powerful engine but be much quicker than a car. A friend of mine has a racing bike but I can't remember what model but anyone he had it rechipped so that it was more powerful in the mid ranges but had a lower top speed. I think that's a good idea because let's face it you're not going to do 180mph on british roads.
In 1947 a large group of touring motorcyclists went into a town called Hollister in the USA & although a few of them had a bit too much to drink they didn't cause much trouble. Anyway a newspaper set up a photo of a biker leaning back on the seat of his motorbike drinking a bottle of beer & made out there was motorbike gangs going around terrorizing american towns. Almost overnight motorcycle gangs were born although most didn't go looking for trouble. This incident was glamorized in the film The Wild Ones starring Marlon Brando. It's interesting to note Malcolm Forbes a successful millionaire used to be in a motorcycle club & he often used to have Elizabeth Taylor the actress as a passenger.