Parents + Motorcycles = Short Electrical Circuit

Question

I'm an 18-year-old guy from EU, and I'm completely passionate about motorcycles - sport bikes to be more exact.

I don't have a job currently, am living with my parents, and in my first year of college. I know motorbikes and parents don't go too well, but I was wondering of some way to convince them to allow me to get one. Yes, I don't have a job, but I don't want them to buy it for me, I just want permission, whom when I asked for, they went something like "I'd rather burn the money than buy you a bike", and that really was NOT the reaction I was looking for.

I don't want to brag but I could say I'm pretty responsible and I most likely wouldn't kill/harm myself on a bike.

Some may wonder why a motorbike, well:

1. Cheaper to buy,
2. Cheaper to maintenance,
3. Spend way less gas,
4. Cheaper insurance,
5. They're cool!

I am hoping some of you have got in similar situations and hopefully found the way out of it, so you can share the experience with me and they way you did it.

Answer 1

Being on a motorcycle and young is a recipe for a disaster I'm sorry to say, and your parents are probably right on this. When I was 28 or so, after college I decided to buy a bike. During my motorcycle training (through a professional organization) the instructor said that it isn't "if you'll go down, but when you'll go down".

Now wearing proper riding gear and riding sensibly is a big part of safety, but there are two major things you need to think about:

• Your personal maturity level. If you are subject to showing off (as young people do so often), a motorcycle is the wrong place to do it. Aside from that a lot of things can affect how you ride, not just showing off, but if you are irritated about something you may end up riding without your mind on the road.

• Everybody out there on the road is trying to kill you (something I kept in mind as I rode). If that makes you mad, such as when somebody cuts you off, you shouldn't be on a bike. Take a drive a few times on your route you would travel and notice how often you witness a car doing something wrong, cutting you off, getting too close to you, talking on the phone, drifting into other lanes, stopping short, etc.

So, being a parent I would agree with yours. The best time to get a bike isn't while you're trying to finish (or start) college and get your career going. It is after you have those things and you can think clearly and responsibly. I'm sure you are a reasonable, responsible young adult but the statistics are not on your side.

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Now for my personal story. Like I said, I got a bike around 28 years old. Took a professional motorcycle course and bought good safety gear (gloves, helmet, jacket, boots). I spent a lot of time commuting in Houston traffic without too much incident (but a lot of near misses). I felt that I was a safe and proficient rider but one day I got cocky and gunned it on a back road near my house. I wiped out at near 80mph. I broke 3 ribs, collapsed one of my lungs, broke my collarbone in 2 places and broke my tibial plateau (right knee), along with quite a bit of road rash (jacket rode up and I didn't have my gloves on).

I was in a wheelchair for 3 months. It cost me over $18,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses (covered expenses exceeded $75,000). I had surgery to repair my broken clavicle which resulted in a severed nerve and no feeling in my left bicep. My knee bothers me daily and some days prevents me from doing too much. I was around 29 when that happened and now those are things I have to live with for life.

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So to answer how I "found a way out"... My parents were similar to yours. My friends/other family had motorcycles, four-wheelers, and snowmobiles yet I wasn't able to. My parents refused to let me purchase those things. The way I "got out of it" was to wait until I was older, living on my own, and self-sustaining. It can be painful to wait, but it really isn't worth pushing your relationship with your parents. Wait this out, you'll get it, or you'll realize later in life that it was a good thing you didn't.

Answer 2

I think I can kind of see where they are coming from.

In my years I've known 3 people who rode crotch rockets. One I have a picture of as he is mid air at 60mph with his motorcycle about 10 feet in front of him without him on it. I'm amazed he lived. The second has a necrotic liver and a secondary transplant he has to be on anti-rejection meds for the rest of his life because someone didn't see him as they pulled out in front of him. The third was me and on a mere 50cc engine I managed to send it flying under a car in a parking lot, while also in a separate instance managing to get citations for everything you can get a motorcycle citation for.

When I was young I burnt through a decent fortune building, repairing, and maintaining a street racing VW Golf... in hindsight it was a total joke. Like adding a rocket engine to a gremlin. No matter how fast you do a quarter mile, you still did it in a gremlin, plus who cares anyhow? Many years later, I wonder what I was thinking. What could taint my mind in such a way that would somehow see transforming an economy coup into a race car as a good idea? Was I bored? Did I think it was "cool?" I may never know. I will also never get back what I poured into that pile of trash.

Like what you like. If you want to live to ride and ride to live, then go for it. Forget the blessing and buy a powerful engine with wheels and certain death and make your own decisions because after all it is your life to live.

Try to consider the value of this decision though. Your family probably won't roll around in their sleepless nights crying as they wonder whether or not you're being dragged across the pavement on fire after some brutal motorcycle incident. They'll probably just occasionally feel nervous and eventually calm down about it. But IF you happen to get hurt once they might creep closer to the edge of insanity and slowly become that person who will never stop nagging you about getting rid of that casket on wheels.

In the end, they're probably right. Everyone I know on a motorcycle probably should never have got on one. Actually, most people I know who even rode bicycles have been hit by a car on one at some point. One even died. Why do people ride things with 2 wheels around a sea of idiots in cars? It's probably not even the motorcycles that are dangerous in themselves. It's the collective wealth of total morons you have to ride around who may eventually send you under a car and if you're lucky only end up with a liver transplant and a lifetime of medication.

Bottom line is that you have to decide what you want to do with your life. Nobody could talk me out of building a $50,000 drag racing VW pile of crap. It's possible nobody can talk you out of buying an engine between your legs. But if you want to come to terms with your parents about it, you either never tell them or you do tell them and work out their reactions without the advise of the internet.

Answer 3

My parents are dead against it too, I had to teach myself to ride a pushbike, let alone a motorized one!

Here's some thoughts:

1. Consider a Moped first? They might be more amenable to you getting a low powered moped first, ok, they are definitely not cool (unless you are a 1960's mod), but are a lot safer form of transport while you practice being motorized on two wheels.

2. Although you have to do in the UK a basic course before you can ride a motorbike, consider doing an advanced training course. It shows you care about safety, and it will make you a better safer driver too.

3. If I wanted to ride a motorbike, my mum would NEVER be happy about it, but i'm an adult, so they would just have to deal with it. You might never be able to persuade them, If so, just appreciate that they can't stop you, but you should respect their wishes if your still living with them and being supported by them.

Appreciate that your parents just don't want to see you come to harm, Motorbike riding is inherently more dangerous than driving a car. For example my dad doesn't have any motorbike owning friends left, because they all died in motorbike accidents. However taking safety seriously, wearing correct gear and being sensible can really lower these risks.