My bike is the single most beautiful thing I own. I love it to death. I'm a smoker but I don't smoke in the house, I always go to the garage - which is good because I get to look at my bike while I smoke.

A lot of times when I ride to a friends place who doesn't ride, we'll be standing outside while I have a smoke and talk about the bike. Pretty much everytime I tell them "Sit on it...!" They ALWAYS say "Oh no what if it falls over....?" "It ain't going to fall over!" And I almost have to talk them into it. I mean I'm standing right next to them just incase... But I have no problem letting someone sit on it. I love when I pull into a rest area and little kids come over to see the bike.. If their folks are there I always pick them up and put them on the bike (The kids.. Not the folks... But if it's a cute mommy.. I'll just try to pick her up...). The kids always seem to just love that and I've never had a problem (I do make sure they're not wearing anything that may scratch the bike)

The only thing I REALLY hate is when someone tries to sit on it WITHOUT asking. If they ask, I always say sure. The last time someone tried to sit on it without asking I stopped them and said "You see me jumping on your wife???"

Now no one else but me has ridden the bike, but I would probably let someone I know well take it for a ride. You can always tell when someone "respects" the bike. You know if they ride it, they'll be as careful as they can. Of course I'm talking about people who ride themselves... The main reason I want someone else I trust to ride it is so I can hear what it sounds like from the other side...

What do other people do?

 

I have no problem letting someone sit on my bike, or ride it for that matter if I know they know how to ride. It is just a mode of transportation, just like anything else. It is not irreplacable.

Bill

 

If some dude rode up on a bike and went to touch my kids I'm not sure I would like that.

 

My old VTX was a show winning ride. Custom paint, chrome, one-off handlebars, wheels, etc... I would go to all these shows with it and set-up like all the rest of the bikes and I would laugh out loud when guys would bring out their ropes and signs declaring their bike a masterpiece and not to even look directly at it or they will suffer their wrath. Most of these bikes that had the ropes around them were stock bikes with maybe some bolt on chrome. Then the kids that go to these shows with their parents would wander by with wide open eyes staring at the bikes. And the rope owners would stand up in their way as to gaurd their bikes from the kids. So I would call out to them and ask if they wanted to sit on my bike. You should see their little faces brighten up. It made my day every time I could see their faces light up. The rope owners would grumble something and retreat to their chair. Go figure, at most of these shows where voting was done by the public, I would walk away with the Viewers Choice awards as well as best bike.

So yes, I let anyone sit on my bike.

 

25 years ago I loaned my bike to a friend who had owned a bike in the past. He took it out and wrecked it. I had no insurance (I was poor and it was not a nice bike), and he never paid for it to be repaired. I tried to fix it the best I could, but it ended up never running right again. The next time I saw my friend he was driving a brand new car. I couldn't help being ticked off. Money that could have fixed my bike was spent on a new car for him. I sold the bike for junk and bought a piece of crap car to get me to work. I have only let anyone ride my bike once since then, and I wasn't that thrilled about doing it that time. It's not as much the bike as the friendship that concerns me.

But sitting on and touching are different.

 

IMHO, to sit on or touch my bike without asking is a violation. It's no different than me sitting in some dudes porche in a parking lot and fiddling around with the shifter. I can imagine he'd be pretty pissed.

 

I'm like you Chuckster. As long as they ask, or I offer up, then cool. It's when they just take for granted that they can just walk up and sit on it is when I get a little uneasy. You can always tell when someone respects a bike and when they don't. Kids, well, I'll help a kid up on mine any time. Just seeing their eyes light up is enough for me. My son loves bikes. In fact, we bought him a fisher-price digital camera for Christmas last year, then a little over a month later we went to the Easyriders Show in Charlotte...it wascool seeing a 2 1/2 year old amateur photographer grabbing photos of all his favorite bikes. LOL Of course, someone there built a little mini-chopper and he saw it. He made sure he told me that I was going to buy him that one when he got bigger. LOL Scary thing is, he WON'T forget he told me that.

 

I let anybody that I know can handle it ride it. and whoever wants to can sit on it too. I don't really care, I let people drive my pickup too, it puts a big smile on my g/f's face when I let her drive my Silverado, makes her feel like king of the road compared to driving her toyota

 

We run an anti drug program with two Harley drag bikes. Got used to kids climbing on the bikes years ago. I have used my personal rides at these displays and allow the kids to sit on them. Parents lift them on & off while I do what I can to keep an eye on things. I've been involved in these programs for close to 16 years and have never had a kid do anything to a bike that couldn't be cleaned off. The kids love it and ours is usually one of the few displays that allow the kids to climb on the equipment.

Adults are a different story and have to be watched a lot closer.


Playmate of the year Carmella DeCesare on our Sporty at Norwalk Raceway Park in 2004
[IMG]local://upfiles/6688/50C22CF132424A3682040D71EEDE0EE3.jpg[/IMG]

 

Well.. That's not exactly how that goes but... I guess that's an interesting perspective that I've never though of.