Dan over at Musings of an Intrepid Commuter has produced a thought-provoking commentary on the “motorcycle lifestyle.”

To say someone lives a motorcycling lifestyle would then mean they were using the bikes to get somewhere they think is more desirable or enhanced than where they are. A lot of people do that very thing. There’s a large group of riders to whom the bike is a prop in a play. When they put on their carefully contrived costume and sit on the bike the acting starts. These people use the bike to try to convince others that they’re something different than what they really are. Ever notice that this extra “something” is more enhanced? Like it makes up for what they lack. They try to appear more “bad”, “brave”, “cool”, or an “individualist”. Among other things. I love this “let’s all show our rugged individualism by dressing and acting exactly alike”. Woe to anyone who actually has the nerve to be “different”. They soon find themselves exiting the group.

Anyone who’s ever been to a major motorcycle rally, like the Oyster Run, knows just what Dan is talking about.