5 Bike Challenge: What Would You Choose?

A TRUE AMATEUR

The word “amateur” comes from the French word for lover. I fell into motorcycling mid-life, and I fell hard. In this sense I am a true amateur rider. What I may lack in experience, I try to make up for in passion and curiosity. I have discovered that motorcycling is more than just a hobby, a sport or a means of transportation. For many, it is a philosophy, a community and even something of a religion. The relationship between the rider and their bike is intimate and personal.

And as we grow, we outgrow some of these relationships and seek new connections. The bike we choose is often the result of a painstaking balance of many values, priorities and economics. No one bike can ever do it all. So I thought it would be fun to imagine "What if you could have more than one bike? What if you could actually have five?"

FIRST LOVE

This week I celebrate two very important anniversaries: it was three years ago that I passed my riding test; and, it has also been precisely three years since I first laid eyes on my F650GS and fell in love for the first time. This week we also mark another milestone: together we have travelled a distance equal to a trip around the world, 40,000 kms (24,000 miles).

I had managed to make it through over four decades of my life without thinking very much about motorcycles. For some reason, and one I can no longer fathom, I never really wanted one.

It was actually a chance encounter with my old friend Marina Mann, co-founder and editor here at EatSleepRide, that gave me my first inspiration to get a bike. At the time though, it was a practical consideration. Marina informed me that in our hometown of Toronto, motorcycle parking is free. I had never heard this, and at the time was paying an outrageous amount to park my car at work downtown. I ran the numbers and quickly realized that -- at worst --buying a bike would pretty much pay for itself. Cool. I actually did my written test a day or two later.

I remember well how choosing that first bike was a very scary and confusing process. What if I picked the wrong one? My notions of what I thought I liked were deeply tainted by Hollywood. Naïvely, I really thought there were really only two kinds of bikes in the world: cruisers and café racers. One one occasion, I almost went home with a Honda Rebel. (Luckily someone beat me to it, but I was heartbroken at the time.)

It took me back to my 8th grade prom in that dark gymnasium trying to get up the nerve to approach the cute girl. But on top of just asking her to dance, I would effectively be propositioning her to get her to go home with me too.

I'm not saying cruisers are a bad choice. Not at all. I just really had no idea at the time how I would eventually ride a motorcycle. In time I discovered adventure touring bikes and I realized I didn’t have to make a choice. I could buy a bike that could do a little of everything. Then, just a few days before my riding test, I saw an ad for a two year old BMW F650GS and I immediately drove 150 kms (100 miles) to see her. It was perfect. It was right. It was love. We quickly sealed everything up with a civil ceremony and I promised to return in a few days to take her home once I was (hopefully!) legal to go on the road.

WANDERLUST

Fast forward three years and we are still constant companions. I do still absolutely love her. We have been through so much together: the sun and rain and the snow and hail. We have conquered every season. We have had many many ups and yes, a few downs. We have gone way to fast and way too slow. We’ve snuck around together in the thick of the night taking selfies in the dark. At times we have taken some foolish risks, but those memories have created a bond between us that is somehow sacred.

But lately something has been bothering me. I have begun to notice that my eye wanders when a sexy Italian red-head passes me on the street. This British babe on my block seem to be constantly smiling and winking at me. And I smile back every time. Recently, and I know this sounds bad, I have been staying up into the wee hours of the morning streaming nasty videos of a certain naked Austrian Super model!

FIVE BIKES

And so I have decided I must do something about it. To deal with all the pent-up guilt caused by my base and lustful feelings, I have decided to…adjust my morals! I've always respected the Greek Orthodox religion's realistic view of human nature. It allows for up to three marriages before you run afoul of the Church. However, serial monogamy just takes way too long to run its course for me. In my new philosophy, I say that everyone, man and woman, should be entitled to five bikes in their house. Five should be about right to cover off every mood, fancy, use and, uh, fantasy.

Thus I am setting out on a quest to figure out the five bikes I would choose to have and to hold (with both knees of course), for better and for worse, for richer and, yes, definitely for poorer once all the mods and accessories are all tallied in.

Over the next few months I will hit the "dating scene" and take out as many models as I can, and I will report back regularly with my results. Yes, I will absolutely kiss and tell.

#5BikeChallenge

But I also want to hear from you.

If you could own five bikes right now, which ones would you choose and why? Respond in the comments below or on the EatSleepRide Facebook page.

Which five bikes would complete you? #5BikeChallenge

NOTE: As a rule please stick with bikes that are currently available from the major manufacturers so that everyone can have the opportunity to try them out and report back their own feedback.

The Reviews