Gauss curve, Pearson and motorcycles…
Do you remember the Gaussian statistical distribution curve from your maths classes? And do you remember the Pearson correlation coefficient? It has been a lot of years, and if you don’t remember it doesn’t matter, but I’ll be using both these representations to explain a phenomenon in the correlation between motorcycles and the age of their riders.
I shall begin by pointing out that I will be speaking from the perspective of medium and large cylinder capacity, dual-purpose motorcycles.
Now that I’m in my sixties, and after trying out a lot of motorcycles, I am beginning to understand more things. When we achieve sufficient financial stability to acquire a motorcycle, depending on the type, we look for the following properties: 1) Brand; 2) Design; 3) Horsepower; 4) Technology; and 5) Functionality for the type of motorcycle we ride. We also set store by the company’s support, the quality of its mechanics and the availability of spare parts and accessories. Then, at the end of the day, we buy “the one”.
When it comes to buying a motorcycle, the opinions of rider friends as well as social media, influence our decision. Many of us watch video after video before buying a motorcycle. You too?
But when we move to the right side of the age curve – the descent – things start to change, little by little. We start to value other aspects: that the bike is lower, less heavy, less complicated, in other words the fact that we can easily handle it in correlation to our diminishing abilities and strengths (Pearson).
Starting from an age distribution – from a financial means point of view – where the central axis of the bell curve represents, say twenty years of age, and between there and the age of fifty, so for thirty years, you can test and try anything. It will involve some broken bones, falls, adventures, road trips and more than one swipe of a credit card to buy fenders or replace damaged fairings. And it is a stage that should be enjoyed to the fullest (Gauss).
Then comes the shift towards wisdom (ha ha!) where you start to watch the film backwards and see things from a different perspective. You learned a lot during those years, and you became more critical of the automotive industry, with its polymers, sensors, technologies, and programmed obsolescence. Indeed, they want you to change your bike more often, and that’s why there is a higher level of model discontinuity and why more and more innovations are being introduced on the bikes.
From the age of fifty onwards you start to move away from the fashions and the hubbub and look for more “essential” things. You follow your intuitions and take advantage of your experience. You know what to put in the damn bag and you start preparing your last trips – for the remaining twenty years – with the bikes that meet your interests and needs. A little less risk and a little more certainty. The adventure goes on, just a more calculated one…
Another thing that happens is the shrinking of groups. You start to whittle down your travel and adventure peers, assessing affinity, good conversation and the sharing of certain values (or anti-values). It has taken you twenty years to realise that four or five friends are more than enough and often difficult to find.
Many people go through the “social” motorcycling stage, looking for prestige brands to better gain acceptance in higher socio-economic groups or to project themselves lavishly in society and impress others. In this scenario, they are also looking for models that are not only high-end but also more powerful and up-to-date… Right?
But all of the above is of little relevance compared to the experience of riding a motorcycle, whatever it is and whatever its qualities. Riding is a life experience that is difficult to justify or explain. We love the wind in our faces and the discomfort of riding in the rain or on dusty or muddy roads, and we don’t know why. We just keep on doing it over and over again.
What a complex sport ours is! Preparing for a ride or road trip is a full blown ritual: tools, gadgets, equipment, lubricating chains, checking tire pressure, checking fluids, preparing what we carry in our bags, and so on and so forth. We arrive and wash or clean everything, suits, boots, helmet, bike.
But we love it. And, unlike the ‘flu, it doesn’t go away…
Oscar Picardo Joao
