It starts somewhere for every rider, the first thoughts of sitting in the saddle, eyeing up new motorcycles and even dreaming of the open road. But for some, family, friends and significant others don't share in the dream. Clutch and Chrome has brought together facts, figures and some tips to help convince everyone you haven't gone crazy and why buying a motorcycle is really a good idea.

It doesn't matter how the feeling hit you or why the thought came to mind. All that does matter is that burning desire running through your body to experience the open road from the saddle of a motorcycle.

Every rider faces countless difficult decisions during their time on two-wheels. Many are made without a moment for thought, and while some decisions are preventative to avoid potentially dangerous situations, others are thrust upon us in a life-threatening instant.

Ironically, the most difficult decision is faced before a rider comes anywhere near their first motorcycle. How to tell family and the significant other about your growing need to ride?

Although not a formidable decision in itself, it could be considered one of the most momentous to make and the hardest of all to carry out.

Becoming a biker isn’t really a decision, but more a calling. For many riding a motorcycle is enjoying a freedom they’ve always been looking for, experiencing a passion missing from their life or uncovering an addiction they never knew they had.

The challenge of turning to two-wheels is when it comes time to tell friends, family and that special person in your life. Unless they happen to ride as well, a would-be biker can easily find themselves being questioned, begged and called suicidal or even crazy.

How does a new biker help those nearest to them understand and appreciate the decision to ride a motorcycle?

For the sake of this article, we’ll consider addressing the concerns of three groups of people typically in most rider’s lives, family, friends and the wife or girlfriend. If you’re a female biker who needs help convincing the man in your life why you should ride, maybe you don’t need advice but a new beau.
 

Why they do it
Regardless who is questioning your decision to start riding, understanding the heart of their concerns only helps the discussion. The objections aren’t necessarily from facts but more from a heartfelt fear out of genuine love for you. The reasoning may not be sound and their facts mistaken, but the emotions of what could happen while you’re riding are as real to them as your motorcycle passion is to you.

The most important advice in successfully telling those nearest you about your new life as a biker is to keep the conversation unemotional and factual but remain empathetic to their fears. By appreciating how objecting friends and family feel doesn’t make their argument stronger, it just makes you more understanding and that’s never a bad thing.

“Because we love you,” will be a statement thrown out to either preface a view or used as period to end a thought and although it’s certainly said with sincerity, the phrase could quickly become annoying.

However, on the flip side it has as much effect and carries similar weight as your potential argument of “but I want to!” Not a great tactic considering the discussion is about becoming a hardened, independent biker looking for an empty road and not acting like a whining eight-year old verbally stamping your feet.

Even though you may drink out of the milk carton, leave socks lying around and spend too much time watching sports, believe it or not your loved ones are actually emotionally attached to you. Probably more than you are to the idea of buying a motorcycle.

All this emotion can lead to things being said that doesn't necessarily move the conversation forward. Since you're the one looking for the concession, their buy-in so to speak, it falls to you to keep the discussion calm and focused.
 

Motorcycles are dangerous
Always the immediate response from non-riders, it’s a generic statement that would have anyone believe we live in the world of Mad Max with roads full of roaming bandits. Admittedly, every person climbing into the saddle carries the burden of the bad-boy biker image constantly reinforced in the media and is tasked with living down every terrible rider on the roads. New riders should get used to fighting both images, it’s an ongoing battle that seasoned bikers will tell you is only beaten with one courteous act after another to convince one non-rider at a time.

Interestingly enough, overcoming the concern of motorcycles being dangerous is considerably easier than it sounds.

But successfully convincing your family that motorcycles are safer than they imagined involves taking on some personal responsibilities such as wearing proper safety riding gear and completing a motorcycle safety course. By taking these measures a rider removes themselves from many of the high-risk categories concerning motorcycle fatalities. It also gives you the opportunity to use many of the statistics included in this article, allowing for facts to be brought into an otherwise emotional discussion, which is nearly impossible to win.