10 differences between cars and bikes

Car drivers arrive looking drained and tired of life. Motorcyclists are wide eyed, buzzing and talking excitedly about that set of S-bends on the B1225.

If you are new to bikes but been driving a car for a while there are a few things you ought to know.

1) Cars don’t fall over.

2) Cars don’t lean over either and they are much easier to steer than a bike.

3) Cars are so wide that they have to drive in the same space that everyone else does and so never have to think about the right line through a turn because there is only one. Bike riders have a choice of lines through every turn.

4) Your time of arrival in a car is entirely dependent on the dawdling drivers at the front of the 12 separate queues you will encounter. Motorcycles can create their own unofficial bike lane a couple of feet either side of the white line to avoid this.

5) Cars have airbags, seatbelts, side impact bars, crumple zones and traction control. Chances are, however badly you mess up you will walk away. Most motorcycles have none of this. You wear your protection on a bike, which means getting the best helmet, jacket, trousers, boots and gloves you can afford and staying alert to the dangers.

6) Car drivers get into top gear as quickly as possible and stay there as long as they can. Motorcyclists get proper value out of every cog for the best drive out of corners and acceleration when overtaking.

7) Car drivers arrive looking drained and tired of life. Motorcyclists are wide-eyed, buzzing and talking excitedly about that set of S-bends on the B1225.

8) Car drivers spend Sunday morning cleaning their car, bike riders do a 180-mile loop of the local B-roads, stopping off for a cuppa and a cake, just for the fun of it.

9) Car drivers think motorcyclists get wet when it rains. The truth is they get wetter walking from the office to the car park than we do riding for hours in the proper kit.

10) Car drivers become arrogant, aggressive, selfish twits when they get behind the wheel. Motorcyclists become independence-seeking, freedom-loving hippies who will happily take the long way round just for the hell of it.