I have always been aware of people who take long, adventurous journeys on their motorbikes. But I never paid any serious attention to whole thing until I come across an Instagram post by a friend. He is ex-military, and one of his top hobbies these days is tour a different part of the world each year on a vintage motorcycle. Since then, I often find myself fantasizing about such an adventure.
Now, I am by no means some kind of an office rat who spends all his living hours behind a desk at some drab building producing spreadsheets for a living. I do partake in the wonders of travelling every chance I get, but being a car guy I always go on these trips in a car. As lovely as a long road trip in a great car can be, it is often far from a proper adventure. In a car you are shielded from the elements, and if said car is a modern one, you are pampered in so many different ways, the entire journey becomes as comfortable as sitting on your sofa in your living room.
The thing is, having seen some pretty places and done some cool touristy things, I now crave, above anything else, an adventure. It is no longer satisfactory for me to get into my car, travel in comfort to some interesting tourist spot, spend some says admiring the views or handicraft or buildings there, and then go back home. What I want is to feel involved in the nitty-gritty of things every minute of the journey, and I am getting increasingly convinced that taking a motorcycle tour, especially something along the lines of what Vintage Rides offers, could be the answer.
As cool as a motorcycle trip is in and of itself regardless of what kind of bike you take, there is something immensely romantic and almost spiritual about going on such a trip with a bike of some character. By that we don’t mean you have to spend thousands of bucks on something rare and expensive. It’s just that the trip would be more interesting on something like a Royal Enfield, than on a Honda GL1800 Gold Wing. Granted, the Honda will be more comfortable, more convenient, and a LOT more reliable than the Royal Enfield. But on the Enfield you’ll feel like a badass 50s movie star, while the Honda makes you look like the very image of mid-life crisis.
And that is enough of a reason to go with the vintage bike. At the end of it all, what you want most from your trip is a snapshot—a perfect memory frame that capture an image of yourself the way you want to be all the time. That is what you get out of a great motorcycle tour with a great vintage motorcycle. I am going to go on one of these tours very soon, and I believe every man should do it before he dies. It’s bucket list stuff, you know?
