The Machines

What is the fun in this with out constantly stopping while on the street to check out bikes or spend too much time reading reviews and drooling over dream machines? All of the steps to get there are fine and dandy but the end goal is to sit on top of a two wheeled machine putting distance between the start and the destination nowhere.

A quick search for motorcycle with present you with an array of options, narrowing it all down lends a few less, and specifics get you want you want to see yourself riding. There are several different classifications of motorcycles; Standard, Cruiser, Sport-bike, Touring, Dual Sport, Off Road. You could expand this this list to include other types like Super Sport, Mopeds/Scooters, and more but for our purposes we will stick with the basics.

My two favorite styles are Standard bikes also called naked bikes and Dual Sport both sit high on my want list.

 Standard bikes feature a comfortable upright riding position, classic styling/less bodywork, great commuter bikes, and easier to handle. The 2014 Triumph Bonneville is a great example of a classic standard bike and is pictured below.

Dual Sport generally references motorcycles with both paved and off road capabilities. The BMW G650GS has been long on my radar and was the bike I initially wanted for touring the world years ago.

With out further ado I present my personal pick of the litter. Some are realistic beginner options and others are just wishful thinking. Is it bad to not even have a license or a first bike and be considering owning multiple motorcycles? 

The Suzuki tu250x. A fun little commuter bike, light, inexpensive, and good to learn and practice on but I am told I would likely outgrow the smaller 250cc bikes quickly. Clean classic styling with homage to the European cafe racers of the 60's and 70's.  

Honda's CB500F sits very high on my list of potential first bikes. It has the style of the BMW 650GS with out the price tag and enough engine power to get around town and take out on the open road. 

As already mentioned previously, the Triumph Bonneville is simply a good looking workhorse of a motorcycle. Sophisticated styling and a powerful 865cc engine to boot. 

And once again the BMW G650GS.

Now those are the realistic bikes I have on my list for a first motorcycle and here the two that I covet the 

most.

2014 Moto Guzzi V7 Stone

The elegant BMW nineT named so in celebration of 90 years of BMW motorcycle, it took me 90 seconds to decide I wanted one. 

*All pictures are the property of the respective owners and I do not claim ownership of any posted photo media.*

DMV: Round One

With a clear written out goal in mind I began the processes required of me to legally ride. Red tape, bureaucracy, paperwork, long lines, and disgruntled state employees laid across my path. Only with sheer perseverance and a natural stubborn nature would I prevail.

The first steps of the journey are perhaps the most tedious and mundane, but so far have proved to be very eventful and worthy of remembering. The first step was gathering all of the necessary paperwork for our beloved NY DMV. In order to obtain a NY Motorcycle license I first needed a NY state license. I gathered my passport, and NC drivers license to transfer states and after being unable to locate my social security card I first headed to to Social Security Administration at the first signs of daylight. After one failed attempt at locating the recently moved offices and eventually finding the correct building I prepared for what in my experience has been, well a continual head pounding affair. After fifteen minutes I was walking out with a new replacement card in the mail. With a big smile I reminded myself that books, nooks, and crannies are not the optimal place to store important paperwork. After carefully reading over the points required to transfer my state licence and in high spirits over a feat so simply accomplished I headed to the DMV. They had only been open for one hour.

I arrived at the Atlantic Av. Department of vehicles to a line of only thirty or so poor souls. This was the line to get in the door. I was greeted by a strangely smiling gentleman who after I showed him my completed paper work and proof of ID directed me to another line. This line however consisted of roughly one hundred or more poor souls, snaking across the stark tile floors like a river that appears not to flow even inches.

I quickly realized that the NY DMV does everything in one location. Tax, title, registration, permits, licenses, and even traffic court. All in the same place, there is no in and out at this DMV. No they torture you with boredom and the sound of numbers being called off a loud speaker first. N565, M347, A234 on so on.  But on the upside there are no tourists. After forty-five minutes of shuffling along towards the next desk and being berated with numbers I was called forward in order to get my own number and wait even longer.

I handed another strangely smiling young woman my already completed paperwork and forms of ID and for a brief second thought I had this one in the bag. “Ohh sweetie, please tell me you have your social security card?” Of course I thought as my blood pressure rose ever so slightly. “I do have one but it is in the mail and I have a suspicion that won't help me right now” “Unfortunately it will not. You need to come back with your card when you get it” is what she told me with a smile. “Well can I please have a New York State Motorcycle operators manual for my troubles?” “Absolutely sugar, and next time just make reservation online”

So I proceeded out of the DMV after one hour of waiting with a pamphlet that is free and easily accessible online. I smiled and told her it was a pleasure and I look forward to my return. If my end goal was anything other that getting my motorcycle license I would gladly never return.

Have ALL of your paperwork, make a reservation, bring food, water, and a small cot to rest on while you wait.

The Very Beginning

I am not sure when this exactly all started.

 Perhaps it was seeing a gnarled old man on a motorcycle at a truck stop off of some unknown southern highway whilst crammed into a hot minivan full of screaming cousins. Or maybe while poking along a two way back road in Georgia in 86' Buick LeSabre with my white knuckled Great-Grandmother driving like we were on the FDR drive at rush hour, only to suddenly in the absence of all other humankind hear the deep scream of a motorcycle rip past us as though we were pigeons in the presence of eagles.

Whatever it was that triggered my inherent love for motorcycles when I reflect back as I have done more of recently, I realize what motorcycles have always represented for me. It is freedom.

I can get on a motorcycle and be free. There is no one else but me, my mind, and my machine. My heart beats faster even with the thought of flying along a shaded country road with the throttle rolled and the wind deafening me to the outside world. The sense of tranquility and adrenaline may seem to contradict one another to some. But for me that is where I find peace, at the cusp of danger, constantly pushing myself in order to continue grow and learn.

Ten years ago at the ripe young age of eighteen, pissed at the world and ready to make my stand I decided I would ride a motorcycle around the country as a lifestyle. I would camp as needed, work where I could, and basically haphazardly wing the journey. There was no vision or destination, I just wanted to run. To be free.

Around a month ago I was revisiting my list of goals for the year and making quick progress. Lots of X's next to former challenges. Being only three months in 2014 I felt great accomplishment and yet needed more challenges to overcome. But what would be next? Weighing out reasonable options the motorcycle dream suddenly came to the forefront. But this time it is approached with reason and structure. The dream is the same but being accomplished in a completely different manner. Structured and well thought out.

That is the goal of my writing this blog, to help new riders with the very beginnings of the journey. I hope you can learn from my personal experience, avoiding some of the pot holes I am sure to encounter along the way. From the bowels of the DMV,  to journeys around the world.

 I hope you all can read, enjoy, and learn with me.