Sharp Dressed Rider

I'm joking about the title of this entry. I do not think the image at left is "sharp." It looks like a spaceman trying to pass himself off as a black cow.

(I'm wearing a full-coverage helmet, Perfecto style motorcycle jacket, chaps and tall boots. Not pictured are the black leather gloves I removed in order to operate the camera.)

My dad rode an old retired Army flathead Harley when he was young, and his brother, my uncle Bill, raced motorcycles. They made me promise to wear proper gear when I rode and to not drive recklessly.

I can't say that I always entirely kept my word, but their advice influenced me more than biker movies or changing fashions. I always thought it was more important to keep your skin on than it was to look cool. Not that it looks cool to ride down the highway on a bagger wearing only a wife beater, shorts, flip-flops and shades. That's biker high fashion here in Cornland.

Helmet law biker beanies are another fashion you won't see me wearing. That's the fashion statement that says "you can make me wear a helmet but you can't make me wear one that does any good." Good thinking.

I started riding with a 3/4 coverage helmet. Hippie-ish wire rims were my only eye protection. Later I grew a brain and bought a snap-on face shield. Still later I grew up and got a full-coverage helmet.

The anti-helmet gang say that helmets restrict your vision. But they tend to ride around looking straight ahead because it's uncool to move your head to watch for approaching hazards. I look like a bobble head in a hurricane when I ride. I don't think looking cool is worth getting run over.

The anti-helmet guys also tend to like loud bikes. They say "loud pipes save lives" but I don't buy into that. I always thought "loud pipes say look at me" although I'm sure there are exceptions. Some guys just love loud noise.

I once worked with a guy who owned three Harleys and an old Triumph. Two of the Harleys actually ran. He only ever rode the one that had the front wheel raked out so far that it took four lanes just to turn the thing around. I pointed out that my little Honda could run circles around any Harley in town. He said, "It's not how fast you get there but how cool you look on your way there." We had rather different philosophies. I was the one with the hot girlfriend so I wasn't very worried about not looking as cool as him.

I don't mind that everyday guys dress up like outlaws and ride bikes that look like cartoons. That's fine but it's not me. I'm not a biker. I'm a motorcyclist. I enjoy riding motorcycles. The way I dress, the kind of machine I ride and where and how I ride are selected to enhance my safety and enjoyment of riding. I like to ride the back roads where the fewest people see me, so it doesn't matter very much how cool I look.

And judging from the photo above, that's a good thing!