reason for riding

[squidchief]

After seeing yet another Honda vs Harley thread, I figured I would re-word the question, to at least answer some questions I have: Why do you mainly ride you bike? Do you primarily use it to commute or do you use it for pleasure?... or both?
My Shadow is almost exclusively used for commuting or the odd run into town. ( I live about 20 miles from the nearest store). Where I park at work is an alkali flat that is corrosive to vehicle finishes. I'd rather park my shadow there than any of my other vehicles. It also gets the best mileage. Plus every mile put on it is one less put on my other, more valuable vehicles.
I have a '68 Mustang I built from the ground up. I have around $25k in it, and except for the final paint job, I put pretty much all the work into it, didn't farm it out to shops. I will only drive it when the weather is nice, pretty much always for pleasure so it gets less than 5000 miles a year. Does that make me a yuppie? Am I less of a "real" car driver since I only drive it on weekends???
Seriously though. Is yours a "money saver"?, a commuter or what?
Thanks.

[Seatracks]

I ride my bike as a daily commuter when it's not raining or snowing to save gas but also as a pleasure bike. I tried telling my wife that it's to save fuel then she reminds me that if I was so concerned about fuel why do I have a boat that gets less than 1 mile per gallon. So, I guess I ride so I have more fuel for the boat.

[gmck]

I ride mostly to and from work, but find it enjoyable so guess both.

[Sgoatley]

Both...starters out as a commuter to save gas, but I've gotten so addicted to riding that I ride everywhere, anytime I get the chance. Then there's the fact that any money I've saved on gas has gone into upgrades.....so......what the hell......I just love to ride!


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[fairlane]

I ride mine everyday for work and for pleasure. It started out as a fuel saver for work as my 70 Fairlane 500 only averaged about 8-10 mpg, and it was a daily driver. But since buying my shadow I love being on it that I ride it everywhere. It is also giving me the time to do some of the upgrades on my car I have been wanting to do. So yeah my shadow is for commuting, and for pleasure.

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[old dad]

It was a forbidden fruit of my youth. Got married, still forbidden, had kids they grew and moved on,, I bought my bike. (still married) I commuted for 5yrs on it. Put 50,000 on it the first five years. Retired now, ride when I want to, which is often. Thought I'd slowed some in my riding, but looked back to July this year and found I actually did some 2000 miles in four months.

So I guess you'd say I just like to ride.

[rb608]

Dual reasons. The bike is definitely my preferred mode of transportation. All things being equal, I'll take the bike every time. Due to circumstances, however, I really can't afford to buy a car, so the bike is also a necessity. I commute every day, summer and winter, run errands to the store, and pretty much anything else. I typically don't intentionally ride in the rain, but the recent demise of what was left of my '94 Camry's CV joints may change that as well until I can get that fixed.

[mlr]

why did I start riding? I got sick of people changing my radio station in the cage. Its fun as hell so I ride any time I can when the weathers good. money saver? its cheaper then the cage at 28 mpg. a commuter? to work and school then fu@king off in my free time witch is a lot of time.

[Bowie-]

I use it for work, or at least that's the excuse i give my family. I always had the desire since I was a little kid and my uncle had me clutch while he tore up the streets on his bike doing incredibly stupid things. But, when I came of age I knew I was too wild and I'd kill myself on a bike so I waited a while, until the desire for speed went down a lot. Then I bought a Shadow to sort of way to tame the motorcycle lust (desire to be in the open air) and have a fun chop project. Riding itself is cool and all but I find that chopping is far more fun.

[Fat Kid]

Child dream now commuter... basically everywhere... hard to put me in the cage...