Things Nobody Tells You When You Decide to Ride a Motorcycle

[motomeek]

...That it'll make you teary-eyed. 
 
No literally. 
 
I think my eyes shed a tear or two every time I ride due to the wind, or due to getting crap flown into my eyeballs. 
 
I always have to clean the crust off the corners of my eye and possibly fix my eye makeup once I get to my destination. 
 
 
 
List away things nobody told you...
 
 
 

[panchobullet]

That pretty much all car drivers will try to kill you (if they dont ride bikes too)
 
- Pancho

[duenan]

...That it'll make you teary-eyed.  
No literally. 
 
I think my eyes shed a tear or two every time I ride due to the wind, or due to getting crap flown into my eyeballs. 
 
I always have to clean the crust off the corners of my eye and possibly fix my eye makeup once I get to my destination. 
 
 
 
List away things nobody told you...
 
 

I've got a similar but not similar effect as you.
 
My nose runs.  Every time I ride.  I sniffle.
 
But anyway.
 
No one ever told me how much bees and wasps I will be mowing down with my bike, body, and helmet.  And that you will continually have to clean off their dead remnants off mesh and textile gear.  People who live in colder climates are lucky they don't have to deal with that.
 
No one ever mentioned to me (well, this is more technical than anything) that while going on a long downhill curve while every other vehicle is applying their brakes, I will have to be accelerating.
 
This one I found out recently.
 
If you ride along a road that you see a bunch of roadkill on the side of the road daily, do not travel on that road by motorcycle at night.  You may just very well firsthand add to the roadkill collection and doing so on a motorcycle is not fun at all.
 
 

[Mr.Puss]

> Now running those commonly annoying errands is actually fun.
> Suddenly every mouth-breathing douche-bag imbecile wants to drag-race you off the line (car and bike). They always "win".
> You dont realize just how much all senses are heightened, especially smell.
> I would enjoy this even more with my wife riding alongside.
> How much money I would actually spend on aftermarket goodies without remorse.
 

[norcal616]

You pay attention to the smallest pea sized pebble in the road at 75mph and can see it clear as day 100 feet away

[Guest 2wheeler]

.... and the two that are a reality for most if you ride long enough
 
1. You will get a speeding ticket
2. You will wreck your bike
 
Not necessarily in that order
 
Somebody told me that years ago, and I know it was true for me, and most, if not all, of my friends.
 

[panchobullet]

> How much money I would actually spend on aftermarket goodies without remorse.

What da heck is "remorse"... never hear of it...
 
- Pancho

[djdiaz]

What da heck is "remorse"... never hear of it...  
- Pancho
 

A "remorse" is a sucker fish that you see on sharks...nothing to do with motorcycles. (rofl)

[tag]

... That it would be the most awesome and rewarding thing I'd ever done in my life, would lead to meeting the most awesome (and the weirdest) people in the world and that I would always recount motorcycling to others as the single most significant, positive thing in my life.

[panchobullet]

What da heck is "remorse"... never hear of it...  
 
 
- Pancho
 
 

A "remorse" is a sucker fish that you see on sharks...nothing to do with motorcycles. (rofl)

LMAO!  (rofl)

[ornery]

Things Nobody Tells You When You Decide to Ride a Motorcycle:
 
[ul type=disc][*]Much increased concern about the weather.
[*]Helmet wind noise... Aaaarrrrggg!
[*]Co$t of in$urance, part$ and gear.[/ul]
 
 
 
 

[timjh]

That pretty much all car drivers will try to kill you (if they dont ride bikes too)  
- Pancho

Nah, that's the FIRST thing they told me. 
 
For some reason, nobody told me it was a wet clutch until I got to the basic rider's class.  I had to unlearn a lifetime of clutch habit.

[rxSpeeD]

No one told me that my bike would attract more guys than girls...

[Mr.Puss]

No one told me that my bike would attract more guys than girls...

HAHA yeah no kidding, I was just expressing this to my wife when she said the girls will be attracted to me on this thing. Nope. It's all guys circling my bike....must be my leather pants.
 

[Mr.Puss]

... That it would be the most awesome and rewarding thing I'd ever done in my life, would lead to meeting the most awesome (and the weirdest) people in the world and that I would always recount motorcycling to others as the single most significant, positive thing in my life.

+1.  

[sorkyah]

No one told me that my bike would attract more guys than girls...

HAHA yeah no kidding, I was just expressing this to my wife when she said the girls will be attracted to me on this thing. Nope. It's all guys circling my bike....must be my leather pants.

Its not just the leather pants
 
 
•nobody told me that riding in the summer would help me lose weight....
 
Lost 30lbs last year this year... nothing

[avanti]

I was never told NOT to park in a parallel parking space 'cause some numbnut will back into your bike leaving from the space in front of ya. I guess that's okay because it took over half-a-century for it to happen... to me. Now I park in a seclude spot at Starbucks where the kids who ride and work there park. More importantly, I suspect there is a grander, more generalizable lesson to be learned here... it just took a loooooong time before experience caught up with me. Duh!

[fzob1]

That girls and guys at work who had never talked to you in the past suddenly turn friendly and initiate small talk.

[sorkyah]

That girls and guys at work who had never talked to you in the past suddenly turn friendly and initiate small talk.

Especially the girls...
well those not afraid of riding passenger

[jetgirl]

Agree with duenan about the nose running. After the sun goes down the bugs get worse - sometimes you swear it's raining but there's no clouds. If you put on sunscreen, it stinks to go down a dirt road or get stuck behind a diesel truck. Beware of long rides - you'll be cold, sore and tired and still have to get home (I still take a 8-15 hour ride at least once a week). The car will be ignored. Life is all about the bike

[so1102]

...how much crap I would need to carry around when off the bike.

[sorkyah]

...how much crap I would need to carry around when off the bike.

Seconding this.
 
Helmet, jacket, luggage, your next of kin and of course the donor organs on the off chance you're in an accident

[jeffkisthename]

How much I would grow to dislike driving cars more so than ever before.
 
 

[motomeek]

How much I would grow to dislike driving cars more so than ever before. 

To extend on this one... It's not that I dislike driving... but it's made me dislike traffic MUCH MORE when I'm stuck in it whilst driving.  
 

[jeffkisthename]

How much I would grow to dislike driving cars more so than ever before. 

To extend on this one... It's not that I dislike driving... but it's made me dislike traffic MUCH MORE when I'm stuck in it whilst driving.  

No I really dislike driving now. Haha. I think the only way driving is any bit enjoyable is if I'm piloting a beast of some sort.