Motorcycle rider

Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small-displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in the most populous countries, including India, China and Indonesia. Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small-displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in the most populous countries, including India, China and Indonesia. In developing countries, motorcycles are overwhelmingly utilitarian due to lower prices and greater fuel economy. Of all motorcycles, 58% are in the Asia Pacific and Southern and Eastern Asia regions, excluding car-centric Japan. Motorcycles are mainly a luxury good in developed nations, where they are used mostly for recreation, as a lifestyle accessory or a symbol of personal identity. Beyond being a mode of motor transportation or sport, motorcycling has become a subculture and lifestyle. Although mainly a solo activity, motorcycling can be social and motorcyclists tend to have a sense of community with each other. For most riders, a motorcycle is a cheaper and more convenient form of transportation which causes less commuter congestion within cities and has less environmental impact than automobile ownership. Others ride as a way to relieve stress and to 'clear their minds' as described in Robert M. Pirsig's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Pirsig contrasted the sense of connection experienced by motorcyclists with the isolation of drivers who are 'always in a compartment', passively observing the passing landscape. Pirsig portrayed motorcycling as being in 'completely in contact with it all... in the scene.' The connection to one's motorcycle is sensed further, as Pirsig explained, by the frequent need to maintain its mechanical operation. Pirsig felt that connection deepen when faced with a difficult mechanical problem that required walking away from it until the solution became clear. Similarly, motorcyclists experience pleasure at the feeling of being far more connected to their motor vehicles than in a motorcar, as being part of it rather than in it. Speed draws many people to motorcycling because the power-to-weight ratio of even a low-power motorcycle is in league with that of an expensive sports car. The power-to-weight ratio of many modestly priced sport bikes is well beyond any mass-market automobile and rivals that of supercars for a fraction of the price. The fastest accelerating production cars, capable of 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in under 3.5 seconds, or 0 to 1⁄4 mile (0.0 to 0.4 km) in under 12 seconds is a relatively select club of exotic names like Porsche and Lamborghini, with a few extreme sub-models of popular sports cars, like the Shelby Mustang, and mostly made since the 1990s. Conversely, the fastest accelerating motorcycles meeting the same criteria is a much longer list and includes many non-sportbikes, such as the Triumph Tiger Explorer or Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré, and includes many motorcycles dating back to the 1970s. Hunter S. Thompson's book Hell's Angels includes an ode to the joys of pushing a motorcycle to its limits, 'with the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin, and no room at all for mistakes ... that's when the strange music starts ... fear becomes exhilaration only sounds are the wind and a dull roar floating back from the mufflers' and T. E. Lawrence wrote of the 'lustfulness of moving swiftly' and the 'pleasure of speeding on the road'. A sensation he compared to feeling 'the earth moulding herself under me ... coming alive ... and heaving and tossing on each side like a sea.' While people choose to ride motorcycles for various reasons, those reasons are increasingly practical, with riders opting for a powered two-wheeler as a cost-efficient alternative to infrequent and expensive public transport systems, or as a means of avoiding or reducing the effects of urban congestion. Where permitted, lane splitting, which is also known as filtering, allows motorcycles to move between vehicles in slow or stationary traffic.