Flying down the straight, needle hovering over 8000rpm and eyes locked on the road as it twists and disappears from view, your hands are prepared, feet at the ready, rear raised off the seat. In a blink of an eye you’re in the corner, tipping in as your body defies gravity as you watch the world turn at 45 degrees, looking down slightly to see the gravel whipping by as your knee balances precariously over it, lightly skimming the surface. The mechanical beauty of man and machine, exploiting the laws of physics.
There’s something magical about the bends when you’re on a motorcycle. You could have a 250cc learner machine or a 1000cc supersport and it doesn’t matter because in that moment, leaning down, elbow and legs tucked in and your head pointed towards the end of the curve, you feel like a superstar in the MotoGP circuit of the daily commute. It’s one of the great thrills of riding a two wheeled machine. Initially, starting out on a bike it’s one of the oddest sensations and takes a bit of getting used to before you have the guts to trust your bike and lean in enough to need to get your bum off the seat to get further cranked over.
When I started out, I had never ridden a motorbike in my life. I was getting out onto the road on a little Honda CBR250R designed for learners with skinny tyres and an upright riding position not designed for carving through corners like a much less experienced Valentino Rossi. It took me some time to be able to realise that the bike wasn’t going to flick me off if I leaned in, that the bike wouldn’t slip out from under me if the road was slightly wet and that road imperfections wouldn’t cause it to buck me off at the slightest provocation. The fear and danger drilled into you by non-riders and the safety warnings make riding a bike sound akin to entering a war zone, with 100kph crashes, being crushed under vehicles merging on top of you and flicking off the bike when you’re cornering at random intervals apparently just a second away all the time. Realistically, if you’re not an idiot who takes unnecessary risks like weaving through traffic at 40kph faster than everyone else and you learn to trust and correctly operate your mechanical steed, you’ll find that riding is relatively low risk.
If you’ve never ridden a bike, it’s never too late to start. The feeling instilled when you’re racing up a special stretch of road, engine howling, tipping into corners with vigor, standing it up and dropping the other way into the next bend is second to none. Four wheels moves the body, two wheels moves the soul as the old saying goes. If you’re a newer rider, keep on working towards it! It’s not about getting your knee down on every corner as is apparently the penultimate goal according to some sportbike riders but getting down far enough to make it around the corner safely while having the most fun possible at the same time. Trust in your bike is paramount, check it before every ride for potential hazards and learn how it feels, how it corners and how far you can push before things get hairy and you’re guaranteed to extract the most joy from it. Bikes are a thing of excitement and adrenaline – get on one and get out there!
Tundran on Two 