Motorbikers are nuts...

... and I should know, I'm one of them, and passionately so (as I have mentioned before).

And I'm not just talking about nuts in the 'achieving questionable rewards for clear and present dangers', I'm talking about the sheer kind of pants on head lunacy that should have me checking into an insane asylum as soon as I could walk there.

I'll skip the obvious stuff to begin with for why we're so pencil up nostril idiotic and head right for some of the kickers:

Many people (myself included) originally got into motorbiking in some way related to the image. Forget it, you'll always be looked down on. If you're just starting then all you'll hear is about when you've first got your knee down. Then it's all about if you haven't had an accident then you've not pushed yourself hard enough. If you ride a tourer then everyone takes the piss out of you. If you ride an all rounder then it's all about when you get your superbike, if you get one of those then it's all about when you get a bigger one, even if you end up on the biggest fastest current bike then it'll be from the wrong manufacturer. But that's pretty standard in life, you can't please everyone, you'll always always have to be doing something just to keep still.

On the road you are the lowest of the low. Well apart from acceleration, but here is where we fall down:

• Least protected (except cyclists who don't bother to wear any protection). Cyclists even get their own lane - which bikers don't
  
• Less grip than a car - so you corner slower
  
• No inherent stability - if you make a mistake, you're probably coming off.
• Least visible - small, blocked by others

Everyone claims the community is so friendly, so welcoming, yet as soon as you try and get into it, you realise that you never match up to their requirements.

Now onto some of the more obvious reason we're so idiotic:

• Vulnerable in the extreme; both in accidents and to the elements.
  
• Buying the bike is the first of your expenses, add on helmet, gloves, summer protective clothing, winter protective clothing, waterproof over suits, upgraded under armour, thermal underwear, boots (summer, winter and casual), bike security, luggage, bike cover, alternate visors, helmet/clothing for pillion, the list just goes on and on!
• Picking up a pillion is often an exercise in logistics rather than a favour to offer to someone
  
• The training is never over - there's always another level!
• Carrying anything larger than a large hat is problematic to impossible.

But yet I still do it. Why?
I can only say that if only because it's almost as much fun/pleasure as sex but without the guilt and your partner is eternally willing. Although as said above, you need a much greater quantity of protective clothing for this...