Have you "bonded" with your ride?

[Dr. Strangelove]

So, we are at the Chevron station on the road that leads to Deals Gap and I mention to our little group, Kristi, Buckster, Marty and Arnie that I saw maybe the prettiest BMW ever on a recent trip to Arkansas, the k1200GT.

Everyone says, yes they are pretty and Marty says that he had one for "6000 miles and rode it all over the west and never 'bonded' with that bike." He then sold it.

Having "bonded" with Stella! a couple of years ago on a lonely highway way north of Grand Junction, I was truly surprised by Marty's statement, not that he didn't bond with that bike, but that it is possible not to bond at all with a trusted ride. I then asked my travel companion, Arnie, if he bonded to his ST1300 and he said no.

Have you bonded with your bike or any previous?

[iowabeakster]

No... Scooty Puff Jr. (my R1150R) is a VERY uptight traditional German boy.

[rockstercliff]

I had a few "R's" over the last 30 years, never thought I had bonded with them, although the R80ST should have been the keeper. Anyway, tried a K1100 in 2002, for a full year, smooth, fast, and utterly boring, no soul. Test rode a citrus green Rockster my local dealer had in 2004, on the wifes advice because it was a pretty color, and the attraction was instant. Fun, quirky, and soulfull, which the quirky part was why I married my wife in the first place. Now its 2010, I have yet to ride a new bike that I would trade her on, we are as well bonded as one can be to a quirky mistress, named "Miss Lindy". Thanks, thats a good question to put forth.

[Colin]

I become comfortable with my machinery, but I don't bond with it, per se. I'm not the type who names an inanimate object, for example.

I don't feel one with the Rockster yet - it'll probably be a couple thousand more miles.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I become comfortable with my machinery, but I don't bond with it, per se. I'm not the type who names an inanimate object, for example.

I don't feel one with the Rockster yet - it'll probably be a couple thousand more miles.

I think that is what I am talking about, a level of comfort and reliance that allows an anthropomorphism, almost, to occur. A feeling of oneness(too strong a word), shared purpose . And I, too, have not "named" any other object, though Stella! is most certainly is animate. And I had probably about 20k miles on "her" when "binding" happened.

[Boxer]

I bonded with my "Black Dominatrix" and put a great 80,000 miles on her, but when she started to require too much attention and money to maintain, I traded her in. I wanted something thinner, lighter, prettier, newer, and easier to maintain. I failed in achieving one of those goals: my new ride is nowhere as beautiful as the Dominatrix was...and she lacks the quick burst of power and torque when I really need it. But alas! I was getting less and less able to deal with that power and "size". The huge jugs alone seemed awkward to deal with at times.

To answer the question...well, yes I DID bond with the Dominatrix, and no, I have not yet bonded with her youthful rival. Only time and more miles will tell if I ever will. No name yet...it's still an inanimate object.

[rockstercliff]

The whole naming thing my wife started some years ago, when we would buy, restore, and show old VW's. Kind of carried over, although, most of my bikes in the past were not named, she insisted on this one being named. She is the "prettiest" bike I have ever had.

[ruddy]

Definitely: yes. To me bonding is a feeling of "oneness" with the bike and that it seems to respond without conscious effort on your part.

[sweatmark]

Love it when dead topics are reanimated.

FWIW - I've finally bonded with my Rockster @ 20k miles. It's still an unnamed inanimate object, but we've developed an "understanding" following a collision last month when hit by another rider. Both Rockster and I suffered a few scrapes, bent/broken pieces, but rode home from crash site 120 miles and would have joyfully kept riding if not for the Monday morning workday and diminishined supply of duct tape & zip-ties.

[boxermania]

Doc.....all this bonding is making me very uneasy.....yeah....yeah...... we live in a politically correct world. I think hat outside your practice you should consioder fun things like basket weaving or flower arrangements........

[Giraffemom]

Maybe because I had dreamed of owning her so so long, bonding took place in the first 100 miles. Out on the road or just sitting on my porch staring at her parked in the driveway, I am as certain as I am of my wife, she and I are one, till death do us part. Okay, maybe that's a bit drastic but you get the idea.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Doc.....all this bonding is making me very uneasy.....yeah....yeah...... we live in a politically correct world. I think hat outside your practice you should consioder fun things like basket weaving or flower arrangements........

In our politically correct world, it is no shame to have a relationship with metal and rubber. Right now we have a "social union" that is also "civil," but could marriage be far behind?

I refer anyone interested to further their knowledge to the work "Joe's Garage," a concept album by the late (great) Frank Zappa. The theme of this opus is the descent of a young man into the shady world of "Appliantology," a quasi religious movement begun by L. Ron Hoover.
From Wikipedia
Appliantology is shown as an insincere (sic) religion, which cooperates with a "malevolent totalitarian regime." This is an apparent reference to Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard.[2][1] Joe, doubting his sanity, asks 'mystical advisor' L. Ron Hoover what his problem is and is told that he is "a latent appliance-fetishist." Joe asks if it is time "to come out of the closet," and is told that he should "go into the closet". There, he can have "a lot of fun" achieving sexual gratification using machines. Joe is informed that the best appliances speak foreign languages,

and it is recommended that German be learned because some "really cute ones" come from there.

Just sayin