[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Journey is more important than destination?

where did I say that it is not; It certainly is. All the points that I've written are part of the "journey", isn't it?

[superbad]

Originally Posted by dicor

I love driving 2.5 ton SUV like a BMX bike. Fast, zigzag. Drive to home in evening is opposite. Spending more time in idling and crawling rather than driving.

• If I am in good mood, I would put speakers on higher volume and will drive like Gaurav Gill.
• When I am angry, I will switch off music system and will drive crazy fast. I know its wrong but I am doing this since my early age (read childhood) and old habits seldom die.

P.S. --> In no way I want to promote unethical / unlawful driving practices. I never break signals, I stop 2 foot before zebra crossing. I don't change lanes without indicators and looking in ORVMs. Please drive in safe limits and only do what you can handle.

You'd have to give lane change indicators pretty fast & alternate between looking at both your orvms like a tennis spectator when you're safely zigzagging your SUV like a BMX bike. Hope you drive like gaurav gill only in a rally. If you're angry, may i suggest running- fitter & safer than your way of blowing off steam. I know old habits die hard but better them, than anything else.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

IMO Riding or Driving is irrelevant

Would like to disagree - although I would have agreed with you whole heartedly in 2016. Its only after about 2L kms of driving that I shifted to bikes for leisure - I was never a bike guy as you know.

And no - they are not at all same.

If not for practical reasons (Like wife joining, need to carry extra luggage etc, poor health conditions etc) - I don't see myself returning to cars for leisure anymore. So much so that my car upgrade itself stands cancelled till I'm forced to.

PS: Considering only the normal cars people like us can afford in this lifetime.

[naveenroy]

I never needed a study to tell me that! LOL.

But honestly guys - the article specifically says riding. Someone appropriated the thread to include driving and everyone started posting about how driving makes them feel stress free. Stay on topic guys. Also this is in the Motorbikes section of the forum LOL.

Now, on to posts about how anyone feels if RIDING makes them feel stress free. Attain nirvana.

For me, it does make me feel stress free. It doesn't have to be a really long ride. An hour can make me feel great. Here, a short ride lesser than a mile to the metro station is stress relieving. In Bangalore, I would love taking the CBR out on the ride to office every day.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

And no - they are not at all same.

.

Spot on. I got back to motorcycles after 12 odd years and in the interim got to drive some nice quick cars as well as a 4*4 jeep ownership. But a good, powerful, well set up motorcycle is just another league. Cars are more appliance like now.

The only "car" that gave me close to as much fun was my 4*4 willys.

All my car upgrades stand canceled as well. The next car will be purely basis where i live (4*4/small etc) and not based on a linear upgrade path.

[swiftnfurious]

I totally endorse this! One just need to find the right routes / roads and a wide smile & a light heart is guaranteed at the end of the day / ride.

I got my first bike 8 months back (in my mid 30s ) and I have enjoyed every single highway ride (well, most of those). I love to ride in the early morning so the traffic is less, the air quality feels a lot better and it's less hot with the riding gears on.

After driving cars for close to 17 years, the difference is extremely perceivable with respect to gauging trouble (erratic maneuvers from other vehicles, jaywalkers, cattles etc) and there is an added sense of safety on the bike - something I couldn't believe initially. The visibility is also a lot better in front of you (while it's a little tricky at the rear). I believe I enjoyed riding the bike atleast a little more than my cars.

It's a sigh of relief when you surpass the blocks without much of a trouble, make good progress except when the roads are bad. While I scorched the straight highways in AP and felt happy, the speeds were much lower at the ghats & roads in Chikmagalur, providing the same satisfaction - so, it's not about the speed, it's what's on offer for the rider.

My friends call me crazy as I completed a solo 3000 kms ride in the last 2 weeks of Dec 2018, took off on another 1500 kms ride in the second week of Jan 2019 (with just 1 weekend break in between). All this change of perspective from someone who always thought bikes are way too dangerous in Indian roads and who thought that a long ride is never my cup of tea.

At Kannur, Muzhuppilangad drive in beach - 700 odd kms away from it's home turf!

[ashwinprakas]

Started as a Car guy and got my first set of wheels way before being legal, it was more of an achievement rather than being liberated.

Even when I had a car at my disposal I've had the most fun on an old unused Kinetic Zoom 110cc, slapped an expansion chamber on it and it was bliss, even on my first official motorcycle the ZMA, everytime someone broke my heart I would sneak out at night and redline the thing hitting crazy speeds in 3rd gear, more than speed it was the thrill of feeling those many rhythmic explosions synchronized at the twist of your wrist.

Though sadly this feeling of liberation doesn't happen with all motorcycles, the connection was there with the ZMA but nothing even close with the identical or even better P220 and it has never been stronger than what I feel with the CT100B. Some motorcycles are purely mechanical that they have a sense of charm that can even defy time and logic.

To think in depth about it, research or not, motorcycling is a mysterious wonder indeed, one that has the potential to make or break a man.

[maverickrider00]

I have been a martial artist all my life and at one point of time was the state and national champion in kickboxing, sometimes in my late teens. The nature of my training coupled with my age resulted in serious anger management issues, my parents and the good people around me still vouch that I was too difficult to handle. I was also taking medical help from a renowned psychologist, partly after a serious head injury sustained in the kickboxing arena. That was also the time, I had joined my college about 28kms from my place in Darjeeling. I had always been in love with motorcycles but could not afford one by myself at the time. However, after some rigorous work in a construction site, I was able to save up some money to buy a used motorcycle. My parents decided to chip in and they bought me a new motorcycle, a Yamaha YD125( a poor cousin of the YBX, cheaper by about 2500 INR). That was in 2000. Riding immediately had a visible effect upon my mental health, I became much more calmer and could focus on my studies as well. I ceased to use my hands more in an argument and fights too became less frequent. I have often found myself even to this day leaving a heated argument in between and heading for a ride to come back to a sane decision. I absolutely feel that riding acts as a stress buster and an effective anger management solution.

[shobhit.shri]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

I downloaded the actual report and read it. I feel that the sample is small and the scope very narrow. Yet its good to see our own experince as a biker validated in a scientific study. I hope similar study is carried out in india while also taking into consideration the type of motorcycle which is being ridden. How would a Duke 390 would compare against a more laid back bike like a Bullet 350.[ATTACH=Motorcycle-Study-Research-Results.pdf]1840447[/ATTACH]

Agreed. This is just a study of 22 people who are good at driving bikes in a country where driving a motorcycle is almost always a recreational activity! It's like asking someone whether he enjoys the time he spent on his hobby.

Also, the study is sponsored by the Harley Davidson. What other conclusions we could have expected?

I am not disagreeing to the statement but the study doesn't seem like an irrefutable scientific fact.

[anshumandun]

The study just reconfirms what we already know

When I ride, I am a different person inside my helmet. I sing, talk aloud to myself, sometimes scream after crossing the 6k RPM mark, sometimes laugh out loud. I don't do any of these things anywhere else because I don't want people to think that I am insane

And I don't think I'm alone in this!

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by anshumandun

The study just reconfirms what we already know

When I ride, I am a different person inside my helmet. I sing, talk aloud to myself, sometimes scream after crossing the 6k RPM mark, sometimes laugh out loud. I don't do any of these things anywhere else because I don't want people to think that I am insane

And I don't think I'm alone in this!

No man! I am sure you aren't. I curse, sing, shout inside my helmet! The wonderful feeling that NO ONE else can know when I do it. Need to be careful though when I have the wife on intercom LOL

[COMMUTER]

I was riding my 2008 Apache RTR for 600 km trips almost every weekend during my College days. After that I used it to make many long trips over the next six years till I bought my Figo 1.5D in 2016.

My Apache RTR, riddled with oil leak issues(one cant expect a 150 to be as resilient as a 1500), was sold off on 2017 and replaced in 2018 with a used 2017 R15, particulary due to the fact that the instances of oil leak are less among the R15 owners. I did one 800 km ride and two 400 km rides in my R15. But I am hardly doing 4000 kms per YEAR.

Yes, riding is a heady thrill that will make the rider feel like he has achieved a lot and gives him a heavy dose of excitement and sedation from his external stress.

The trade off lies in the fact that our road conditions don't favorable the most vulnerable of the road users - the motorcyclists.

Biking may reduce the stress of the riders but it raises the stress level of their aged parents and hence this study is rendered impertinent to our close-knit Indian family scenario.

Hence I feel that it will be better done in moderation to avoid spooking the loved ones who involuntarily jerk, startled, upon hearing each news of a biker getting killed for no fault of his.

[AZ911]

Well, it's just a study and not a published paper. So, we can safely take this "propaganda" with a pinch of salt.

I think the main point is that your stress levels will reduce if you do anything you love to do, be it riding, driving, dancing, singing and so on. We, as auto enthusiasts are just trying to find ways to link it exclusively to what we like to do.

And, I'm not sure who did a study on top of the study to include driving (cars) in an HD funded study. Some researcher we have here too. xD

[Neo18]

Originally Posted by shobhit.shri

Agreed. This is just a study of 22 people who are good at driving bikes in a country where driving a motorcycle is almost always a recreational activity! It's like asking someone whether he enjoys the time he spent on his hobby.

Also, the study is sponsored by the Harley Davidson. What other conclusions we could have expected?

I am not disagreeing to the statement but the study doesn't seem like an irrefutable scientific fact.

There could be some truth to the report, agreed, but the fact that it was sponsored by a motorcycle company which is struggling to stay afloat, doesn't lend much credibility to the study. A study sponsored by a company which is struggling with Dwindling sales, a report that has such a narrow sample size that you would be better off tossing a coin and deciding the outcome, these factors among others makes this study irrelevant.

I have often seen such studies sponsored by the affected Industry when the sales of their products have hit an absolute low. A case in point is a recent report that states that drinking wine is good for health. This study takes no note of the participants' nationality, genetic factors of the participants and other such crucial factors. The headline of the report is that wine is good for health and then all other shortcomings are tiny lettered disclaimers.