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Bob Pickett ponders why it is we put ourselves in little boxes

You get on one motorcycle and it is pretty much the same as another, right? Well no. You have your sportsbike. Or your cruiser. Or something in between. Manufacturers come from Britain, or Japan, or Europe, or the US. Quite a diversity.

And with diversity comes disparity. Sportsbike owners look down their noses at cruiser owners. Owners of European bikes sniff as if they've picked up an ugly smell when exposed to Japanese machinery. And the manufacturer of at least one make seems to encourage a culture where anyone that doesn't ride their machines are somehow inferior.

Then there is the classic or modern debate. Modern riders think classicists are a bunch of old fools, living in the past, classicists moan endlessly about "Those young fellows screaming about the countryside" - even I am not immune to this, just take a look at what I have just written.

The problem? We put ourselves in little boxes and stay there. Then all the little prejudices build, until they're somehow set in stone. Ride a cruiser? Then you don't greet someone on a sportsbike and vice versa. Ride a classic? Then put down those who ride modern machines with cheap jibes about how 'their bikes won't be around in 50 years like ours', while at the same time the modern bikers will repeat the now accepted rants about 'how the old bikes are still around as they never went far in the first place'.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, we seem to have lost track of an important point. We all ride motorcycles. No-one makes us do it, we do it because we love to ride them. Lets be honest, a motorcycle is a lifestyle choice; too cold in Winter, too hot in Summer. When it rains you get wet. They are impractical, deteriorate in a way that if a car did the same, we would be suing the manufacturer. But we love them. We all know there is nothing like a ride on a dry warm day, when there is little else on the road and we can just enjoy the experience.

So why do we all break off into little factions and put down the others? To a degree, I suppose it is human nature. We are pack animals, not lone wolves. We like company, so we tend to draw towards those like ourselves.

But another factor has to be that we get into one group and stay there. Why do we do this? Not one that can easily be answered, but I suppose budget and prejudice comes into it. All your mates ride sportsbikes? Then you are more likely to look in that direction.

This means you're missing out on a lot of experiences. I am no exception. My bikes have always been workhorses, so I've tended towards bikes like the Fazer. The thought never entered my head that perhaps I might enjoy riding something different. Until I got the chance to throw my leg over a little cruiser. And found I loved it. Compared to the Fazer I owned at the time, it was underpowered, the brakes were from another era, but I didn't care. Every ride on it saw me come back with a huge grin. No, I don't want to go full-time cruising, but it had made me see cruisers from a new perspective. And one I liked.

We should all get out there and ride as many types and styles of bike as we can. By putting ourselves into little brackets, we are all missing out on a wide range of experience - and who knows, you might just find there is something out there more suited to your style than you would have ever imagined.

And if we all try out different types and styles of bike, maybe, just maybe, we will start to break down the barriers between us all. And get back to being united by one factor. We all ride motorcycles, because we love them.

Now wouldn't that be a good idea?

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