It is the time of year where TBS plays ‘A Christmas Story’ 24 hours a day. I love that movie. I even have a full-size leg lamp. Watching it got me thinking about the adult equivalent of an “official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.” It probably comes as a shock to no one that, when you make a list of dangerous and desirable objects, motorcycles are at the top of that list.

According to tables published by National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), the United States has lost 56,050 motorcyclists to fatal accidents between 2010 and 2020 (2021 preliminary fatalities adds another 6,101). Another 923,237 were injured. Put another way, roughly 1% of registered motorcycles are involved in an injury or fatality every year.

One percent is a conservative number. The back-of-the-napkin math above does not account for all the factors. Some registered motorcycles don’t get ridden and just sit in someone’s garage. Many (most?) riders don’t ride in the colder months. Many of us own more than one bike. I won’t try to be a mathemagician here but I think it is safe to assume the chances of injury or death is greater than 1%. The point is that motorcycle riding is dangerous.

Folks in the United States don’t generally use motorcycles as primary transportation like some other countries. Cars exist. Cages are safer. They have airbags, crumple zones and whatnot. They aren’t necessarily safer for motorcyclists with all the distracted driving happening but that’s a topic for another day.

What is the draw, then?

Is it speed? Even the slowest motorcycles are pretty quick. A Honda Grom can hit 0-30mph in 4ish seconds. That’s not much different from one of the slowest cars sold in the US. Sure, it doesn’t have the guts to make a decent 0-60 time but it isn’t bad for a $3500/10hp bike. Larger/heavier bikes that are generally looked at as slow in our community have pretty quick 0-60 times such as a Goldwing (3.9 seconds) or Road Glide (4.9 seconds). That is Hellcat (Goldwing) or Mustang GT (Road Glide) territory.

We aren’t all trying to be Rossi or Marquez on public streets. I don’t drive particularly fast but I still like to ride. Even when I’m not riding, I like to look at, read and write about motorcycles. Maybe it is just the perception of freedom; open road, wind in your hair and leave your cares behind stuff. It is a fantasy that never truly meets expectations but it doesn’t stop us from trying.

The fantasy is what we buy into and what keeps us going. We aren’t at work daydreaming about being in the backyard protecting our family from Black Bart and his gang with our air rifles. We’re thinking about how our current or future motorcycle will lead us on grand adventures to unknown lands, escaping the monotony that is mortgage-paying adulthood. Every time we turn the key, we could just leave it all behind and live on the road. Or maybe that’s just me.

Whether you yearn for an air rifle or a Panigale V4 under the Christmas tree this year, I hope you get it and it makes all of your dreams come true.