Cafés, Caffeine and the Motorcycling Collective

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So going on from another thread that has got me thinking about how motorcycling has changed in the thirty six or so years that I have been legally riding and in that time never been without a motorcycle of some description.

I was lucky growing up I had friends who lived on a farm and often weekends were spent over there as their Dad would always have a selection of 'pedal and pops' to ride over the fields then when I was fifteen and saved enough paper round and river boat money to buy my first 'bike' a Suzuki TS50ER I was a) lucky we had a big garden and b) that my Dad persuaded Mum that it was a good idea for me to get used to it round there before venturing out on the road on my sixteenth birthday (no CBT back then).

Back then it was almost a rite of passage to go through the year long pain of 50cc riding but the feeling of fun and independence was all worth it, not to mention for those of us that either found work, went to sixth form or college at sixteen it meant transport other than train and buses. Plus there were all the girls to impress with clouds of blue smoke and clutch dump wheelies in youth club car parks.

The year gone, another December and finally seventeen, many of us are drawn to a car for various reasons but a few stick with two wheels and the canny choose a derestricted 125cc chasing speed over sexy looks of the newly introduced 12bhp limit bikes. For me it was a £70 saving on insurance meant a £30 TPFT premium for a 100cc which I immediately put in for my test on and by March I had done the laugh that was the two part test and along with a full licence I had a 50% share in an X7- I can still hear the crackle of those Swarbrick pipes on the over-run down Arundel High Street.

Back then we didn't go to cafés, a lot of pubs had signs out saying 'No Bikers', if you rode a two stroke you were a hooligan, if you rode a Harley or chopper you were (probably) a 'bad man' and most likely in a patch club ('The Sussex Reapers' down here then). There were still Brit bikes being ridden mostly by 50's rocker types but the thing missing now is that almost everyone and their Granny had a moped in the family (you could even buy Tomos 50cc's in the Littlewoods catalogue).

With more cars on the road the ratio to bikes has increased dramatically not helped by finance deals for new drivers and an over complicated licence system for motorcycles meaning not only are car drivers less aware of their two wheeled counterparts but there are less youngsters getting on them in the first place.

So the current crop of superbikes may well be beyond the ability of anyone this side of BSB to them justice, the demographic of Harley riders may have changed beyond recognition from back then. There are Adventure bikes that will never see an adventure past a daily commute or a weekend away, while a new breed of people are getting into the new wave custom/café racer scene.

I know many have taken some bikes that were never good in their day and done some tasteless things to them but like Charlie and Ewan they have also put bikes and bike building programs on telly bringing them to peoples' houses who might never otherwise be interested. Motorcycles now are a leisure pursuit more than anything, this Country is not blessed with the weather for year round riding for fun and without kids getting on 'peds new riders in any form has got to be a good thing for motorcycling generally don't you think?