How many Motorcycles does one person need.

I know this isn't about politics, but in a way it is about liberty. It is an attempt to answer a much more important quesiton, and requires deliberation and thought.

Obviously one motorcycle isn't enough, but how many does one really need.

There is nothing quite like exploring back woods and mountains on a small enduro, quite, light, easy to ride, one of the most intimate riding experiences you can have. So you need something like this:

Read a story about MythBusters, Jamie Hyneman and PM’s auto editors head into the scorching heat, rocky terrain and windy roads of Death Valley to test five new dual-sport bikes.

Now there are times when a dual sport is just not enough for real off road fun, so a true dirt bike of some kind is a definite need. Depending on your age, size, and ability of course. For most people a strong 250 four stoke motocross bike is the answer. Something with lots of travel, very low weight, and gobs of power, sort of like:


Both of those for playing and racing in the dirt are great but sometimes, you need a bike that can take you to the woods, get you through the woods, and get you back home. For this a 400cc or Bigger enduro is the right bike. There's a large selection of these kind of bikes some better in the dirt but kill you on the road, some good on the road but not so good in the dirt. So in the middle of all this a valuable road/dirt bike is a necessity. I choose the DR650.


Now then a big dual sport is great, but there is a whole class of bike for "Adventure Riders", usually lots of highway miles coupled with the worst roads in the world. I have a Vstrom but, BMW, KTM, Honda, etc. all make great adventure bikes. These are the SUV's of the motorcycle world. I couldn't decide on a single photo for adventure riding so I embedded the www.advrider.com slide show. This is my favorite kind of riding/exploring.

If you can't see the slide show CLICK HERE


Then for us old farts, something nostalgic but still capable of a dirt road is kind of a necessity. But it Doesn't have to be old. There's always the Triumph Scrambler, but to look really old skool the Royal Enfield is very cool (and neither are too expensive).



Now then not all riding requires motorcycles that can ride on the dirt. Nothing can carve mountain roads like a modern 600cc sport bike.




and at track day they are a blast.



Now for just plain fun, stupid fast, custom, cool etc. It's hard to top a ZX14 Ninja or other 1400cc superbike.




Now to be fair a new class of motorcycle has been introduced by Ducati, the Hypermotard, and everyone has to have one of these.


The above rider is a close to a motorcycle god, he's kneesliding and powersliding through a corner one handed. I'm sure that this is impossible, but I gotta have the bike that can do it.

Now sport bikes are great, they are fast, handle great, etc. Ride one for more than a few hours, and unless your young and stupid your in pain. You can still be sporty and travel long distances with a sport touring bike. These bikes have the best of long distance motorcycles (later) and sport bikes, combined into one fast long distance machine. You need one of these too.



Here's one you don't need, build a sport touring bike out of a stupid fast Ninja ZX14, but definitely on the top of a want list. The Kawasaki Concours 14 (with abs of course)




When road riding you don't always need to be fast and twisty, sometimes your just showing off and going from place to place casually with friends (some call this bar hopping). To effectively enjoy this you kind of need a custom, preferably with an air cooled V-twin.


Choppers are cool, but for every day riding on the road and for medium length trips a cruiser is a must. If you can afford it a Harley is great, if not for 1/4 the price you can get the same thing with superior engineering from other manufacturers. That said they are still not a Harley. The standard by which all other cruisers are judged is the Harley Davidson Softail


Dirt bike, sport bike, cruiser, etc. you really need a standard motorcycle, everybody quit making them. So you have to hit Craigslist and find a UJM (Universal Japanese Motorcycle). My UJM is a Honda CL350, but UJM's ranged in size from 125 to 1000cc's and are typified by the Honda CB750F. UJM's are still around find one and keep it running, this is a definite need.



Finally for that cross country trip, you must have a long distance motorcycle, The undisputed king of long distance travel and the motorcycle more IronButt participants choose is the Honda Gold Wing.




Although the Honda is the king of long distance, the Yamaha Venture Royal is my favorite for that type of riding (I'll own one one day)




Last but not least, you gotta have a hack. That's a sidecar for you none-motorcyclists. They can be adapted to fit any of the other motorcycles listed above. Like the big and strong Honda GoldWing



or stick it on your Adventure Touring Bike


You can even have them for the dirt and play like on a KLR Dual Sport:



You only really need one hack though.


So after considerable review and thought I've determined that minimally everybody needs a good lightweight dirt worthy bike, Either an Enduro or Adventure touring bike, A sport bike or a sport touring bike, a cruiser or a chopper, a long distance bike, a UJM, and some kind of sidecar. That's 7 bikes and a hack. I know that doesn't add up but because of some of the hybrid bikes sport touring, adventure touring, dual sport, etc. you really can't cover all your motorcycling needs with less than 7. Now remember this is minimal, depending on your personal motorcycle habit you may need more of a specific type to cover all your needs. If your really into sport bikes you need a 600cc crotch rocket, a vtwin sport bike and a 1 liter plus sport bike to compliment your 7 basic bikes.. If your really into off road you need a MX, Enduro, and vintage MX, to compliment your 7 basic bikes. Now if you have the custom/chopper disease your going to need a lot more than 7, hardtails, bobbers, vintage, shovelhead, panhead, evo, old skool, and that's just the Harley's, you gotta have an Indian, and a Victory if your have the OCC disease, you might even need a Japanese chopper in addition to your UMJ like this old school Yamaha 650:



As you can see clearly the scientific answer to how many motorcycles do you need is a minimum of 7.