When I first read the term on this board some time ago, I was a little offended. I also thought it was hypocritical, since most of the people here also drive cars when they're not riding.

But I have a personal bias. My husband wants a motorcycle and I don't want him to have one. He's at that "risky age" (44) of those who are most likely killed or injured on motorcycles. He has no (none, zero, zip, nada) experience with them. He's really tall so any bike that's not custom built (which $$ defeats his stated purpose of saving on gas) is going to be a poor fit with his center of gravity too high. That combined with his inexperience and his distinct lack of athletic ability make him MORE at risk, in my opinion, of a crash. (I rode dirt bikes when I was a teenager, so I DO have experience--I'm not talking about something I know nothing about.)

I can't say all that to him, directly, so mostly I protest against "biker culture". They just had Bikes, Blues & BBQ up here recently. 400,000 people, 200,000 bikes. So many of them are just poseurs! Old farts with desk jobs, wearing their leather and their "the b**** fell off t-shirts" in some kind of expensive fantasy game. Studded chaps? PUH-Lease!! The minute my husband (as described above) uses the word "cager", that's when it ENDS.

He might be able to convince me if he gets me my own bike, though.

Karen