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Have you ever heard of retail therapy? The notion is that you can buy something or a few things, and it makes you feel good. That’s because when we buy something new, we get an endorphin rush. It’s the feeling that you now possess something fresh and exciting, possibly something on which you had your eye for a while.

Maybe you think that you’ve worked hard lately, and you’ve earned a treat. A new bicycle or a motorcycle are two options that might appeal. But which one should you get? There are undeniably some cons and pros that go with each purchase, so let’s go over a few of them to help you make your decision.

Motorcycles Are Dangerous

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We’ll start by talking about motorcycles for a bit. On the negative side of things, motorcycles are dangerous, and you have to be very careful every time you ride one. As the George Salinas Law Office website mentions, motorcycles “have far less protection compared to drivers and occupants” in passenger vehicles.

If you decide to get a motorcycle, you should at least agree to wear a helmet everywhere you go. You might want to wear some additional padding as well. That should make your family feel a little bit better about you riding around on this more perilous conveyance form.

Motorcycles Are More Expensive

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It’s also true that motorcycles cost a lot more than bikes do, on average. You can pick up a nice bike for a couple of hundred dollars, while a high-end motorcycle will cost you several thousand.

For that amount, you could get an excellent used or pre-owned car if you wanted to. If you have enough money for the motorcycle and you want to splurge, that’s fine. However, your family might think it’s selfish if you get a motorcycle when you could have bought a car instead of that the adults in the family might have shared.

You Don’t Get Any Exercise on a Motorcycle

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When comparing motorcycles to bikes, it’s also noteworthy that when you buy a motorcycle and ride it around, you’re not going to get any exercise that way. If that’s not in your mind, and you just want a fun purchase without putting any more thought into it, that’s fine.

Still, it could be that you want the bike not just for fun but also because you know that you can get a good workout in every time you ride it for a few miles. If you’ve got an extremely busy schedule and don’t often have time to head to the gym, getting a bike and riding it certain places can burn off some calories and work several muscle groups.

You Have a Cool Factor with the Motorcycle

You also likely realize that you get a particular cool factor with the motorcycle that the bike doesn’t give you. You aren’t exactly going to fit in if you peddle up to a biker bar on a twelve-speed mountain bike.

If you want to impress people and show them your personality has another side, the motorcycle is how you do that. People aren’t going to reconsider their whole opinion of you if you ride up on a bike.

You Can Get to Places on the Motorcycle You Can’t Reach on the Bike

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Even though the motorcycle is far more expensive than the average bike, it’s a more significant vehicle. Since it is so much more powerful, if you buy the motorcycle, you can ride it across the country or get around your town or city much faster than by bike.

Most people regard cycling as more of a hobby. Even though motorcycle ownership is also a hobby of sorts, when you buy one, you’re getting a transportation method that can take you to work every morning if your job is thirty miles away or more. It’s not too likely you’ll want to try and cover that distance on a bike every day.

You Don’t Need Cycling Insurance or Gas

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One positive when you buy a bike instead of a motorcycle is that you never need to purchase an insurance policy to go with it. If you opt for the motorcycle, almost every state requires you to get a minimum-amount insurance policy to go with it. Some states require you to get multiple insurance varieties before you can legally ride your motorcycle around.

That’s a monthly expense many individuals feel like they don’t need. In addition to that, unless you get one of the newer electric motorcycles, you’ll need to buy gas to power your new one. Maybe you don’t want to pay that money when you could buy and ride a bike with no gas money required.

At this point, you may begin to have a clearer picture of whether the motorcycle or bike life sounds better to you. In some ways, the two are similar to one another. You can make friends and go for rides on your motorcycles as a group, or you can do the same thing with some bike buddies as well.

The individuals who you attract and go cycling with are likely going to be pretty different than those you’d meet and mingle with as a motorcycle owner. Still, the camaraderie will probably be present in either situation, and it feels nice to be among like-minded people.

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Of course, there’s also no reason why you can’t consider getting both a bike and a motorcycle if you have the money for them. You can ride around your city on the bike when you want to exercise, and you can ride your motorcycle as a way to and from work. You can use it when you’re going to farther-off destinations as well.

You can be a bike and a motorcycle person. The two can overlap if you decide that you want to do both. You can have your bike days and motorcycle days and benefit from each option, enjoying each one’s best aspects.