Motorcyclists can’t put price tag on open road
As investments go, motorcycles don’t go too far.
On the balance sheet committing upwards of $35,000 in a Harley or more than $50,000 in a headturning trike from Germany doesn’t make cents, never mind dollars.
You’ll get no argument from Bruce Bissell. The lifelong rider and the man who holds the Canadian trademark for Biketoberfest readily agrees four wheels can be used twice as long as two wheels in Canadian climates that call for snow, months at a time in some years.
That doesn’t mean the retired long-haul trucker will be leaving his 2008 Harley-Davidson Screaming Eagle permanently parked any time soon. Bissell, 68, and wife Suzanne prefer to live life with the open air blowing in their faces in the fast lane, not fixated on the bottom line of a balance sheet stacking quarters and squeezing nickels.
“It’s a lifestyle as much as anything. People love to ride and have fun,” said Bissell, who has been riding since he was 16 and is an honorary lifetime member of the Welland County Motorcycle Club.
“It’s all about having fun and enjoying life.”
He likened the motorcycle community to cowboys from a bygone era, with the open road replacing the untamed frontier and hundreds of horsepower replacing a trusted steed.
“In motorcycling you’re aways making friends. Everybody is like a brother or a sister,” said Bissell, a frequent visitor to Friday the 13th gettogethers in Port Dover.
The couple said focusing on the road and concentrating on what’s around the next bend puts leaves the worried of the day at home.
“You’re mind has to be on the road,” Bissell said.
“You forget all your problems when you do that,” his wife said, completing the thought.
For Rob Van Brederode the lure of the open road didn’t diminish after his Triumph Rocket 3 was totalled in a 2007 collision with a car that left him unable to walk for two years.
“In was the most-common accident you can have on a motorcycle, a person turning left,” the 56-yearold heavy equipment operator from St. Anns said. “She thought I would stop, but why would I stop of a green light.”
Van Brederode was unable to resume riding two-wheelers following his recovery due to balance problems. Rather than give up riding entirely, he purchased a Rewaco, a stretch, two-seat, three-wheeler built in Germany and sold in Canada in the $50,000 range.
Not only has the ride been “terrific,” the trike’s relative rarity on the road provides the added bonus of not getting lost in traffic, like other motorcycles.
Van Brederode, whose completed a his-and-hers pair by getting a Rewaco of her own, remembered the trikes turning heads during a ride along the tourist strips in Niagara Falls.
“People stare at you for what they are, which makes it a lot safer,” he said.
Like Bissell, Van Brederode conceded he could get a luxury car for much less than he spent on the trike. He couldn’t receive the same satisfaction in return, however.
“Comparing this to a car is like comparing a Bugatti to a Corvette,” Van Brederode said. “Once I got one of these, I thought I died an gone to heaven.”
The 14th Biketoberfest fundraiser for charity was held Saturday at its new location, the Welland County Motorcycle Club on Netherby Road east of Highway 140 in Welland.
Bissell said moving the day-long event from Harold Black Park in Pelham, where it had been held since its inception, created a “perfect fit” and a win-win situation for both the fundraiser and the motorcycle club.
“They like it better here than there. It’s biker-friendly, and it brings people here who didn’t even know there is a motorcycle track in Welland.”
Proceeds from the fundraiser will go to Pathstone Foundation. Admission and parking were free with all money raised through the sale of $20 tickets in a draw to win a $35,000 Harley and a second-place prize of $1,000 in cash.
A total of 6,000 tickets were printed and Bissell hoped to raise $50,000.
“We usually sell 4,500 to 5,000 tickets,” he said.