[barenekd]

Having owned airplanes and boats and even dirt bikes, I find that owning a street bike is the best of all. You walk out into the garage and  there it is ready to go play. You don't have to do any more than get on and ride to the local playground. And the ride there is part of the playing. They don't take up much storage space either. If you want or need to work on it, it's right there. You can use them for errands or trips. They are the ultimate toy. Motorcycles are the best.
All that other stuff, you either have to drive to where ever it lives, the airport, the harbor, or the dirt, to play with it. Then prep it to go have fun with it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, they are great fun too, just require more...

[LarsBloodbeard]

+1

[Arizoni]

Motorcycles are the only mode of transportation I can think of that make me want to take the long way to get to wherever I'm going.

The destination is secondary.  The ride is all that matters.   

[AgentX]

Bicycles make me feel the same way...and you don't even need gas and can fix 'em easier and they make you strong.

Not that I don't love my moto.

[Ice]

Water covers 70% of the earths surface is covered by water.

 On a motorcycle you can cover the other 30%

With a Royal Enfield you can cover the rest. 

* Edit note*
Sounds cooler and more catchy this way.

[jartist]

+1 to bicycles and motorcycles. I always dreamed of a backyard that has a shore line and a dock with a small sailboat that I can admire from my kitchen.  That ain't gonna happen. My yard does back up to a road with my private driveway and a motorcycle I can admire from my kitchen though!

[Ice]

 Lets not forget the health benefits.
 For most a good ride can limber up the joints, clear the lungs and sharpen the mind and bring peace to the spirit and I'm not just talking about veteran riders here either. Take good look at any twenty year old who is ardent about riding and compare him or here to their peers.

[barenekd]

I had a bicycle for about a year, in the '70s when I was about 30 and racing MX, etc. I hated it! It was a 10 speed Volkscycle, hardly a top of the line machine, but should've been adequate.
I get adequate exercise hanging off my RE!
Bare

[LarsBloodbeard]

I've never liked the 10-speed road bikes.  But my nephew, who is all into cycling -- rides thousands of miles per month on a bicycle, has a top of the line road bike and I jumped on that one day.  What a difference!  The professional bikes sure move you efficiently.  I could see riding one of those all the time.  But I don't think I could bring myself to drop a few grand on a bicycle!

[ridgerunner]

I like the motto, "Work to ride, Ride to work". I can have a miserable day on the job, get on the bike and by the time I get home...everything is just peachy. I don't carry work home anymore, it blows away before I get there!

[AgentX]

I could see riding one of those all the time.  But I don't think I could bring myself to drop a few grand on a bicycle!

People say that, but when you use it as much as a serious cyclist does, having a great bike is a good value.  There's a point of diminishing returns for anyone but a professional racer, of course.

When I rode downhill race bikes, people would be astounded at the cost and say "I could have a dirt bike for that much!"  And while that's true, 1) if you spend all your time on a bicycle, you don't want a dirt bike...you want a bicycle, and that's what a good one costs  2) you'd have a stock motorcycle, not a tuned professional MX racer.  But with a top-of-the-line bicycle, you're getting 97% of the bike that the top pros in the world are riding.  And some truly elegant engineering, far more so even at a mid price point than a motorcycle.  Strength to weight is kind of unbelievable.

Also, while the bicycles need maintenance, it's an order of magnitude less expensive than the motorcycle, especially a race-tuned MX bike.  A bicyclist winces when he tacos an $80 rim or needs a new $30-50 tire.  Good thing he won't need several top-end rebuilds over the season.

[Ice]

 A bicycle needn't be the tippy top of the line to give the higher end bike riding experience for folks not competing.

 A really good bike purchased second hand and then fitted to the rider will do the trick quite nicely.

[ROVERMAN]

I don't really know why i like motorcycles.

[LarsBloodbeard]

People say that, but when you use it as much as a serious cyclist does, having a great bike is a good value.  There's a point of diminishing returns for anyone but a professional racer, of course.

The second part of this statement is really what I was getting at.  I agree these machines are a feat of engineering and the value is certainly there.