Character

[Itchy]

I hear this quite a bit, about a bike having character, or soul, or lack thereof.

But what gives a bike it's character?

If you break it all down, a bike is 'simply' a collection of lifeless machined objects. How, in the process of construction of those parts or the assembly of them, does it acquire character? How does it gain this sense of being?

Does an old bike with a power delivery all over the place and bits hanging off it constitute character? If so, why?

Is it just the negative parts that give it character?

Like my dog. If I base his character on the negative things he does then he's a little sh*t that tries to pull your arm off when he's on the lead and likes to sniff other dogs bits whilst playing deaf!
It says nothing of the fact that he loves cuddles, playing with the kids and a nice cup of tea!
All together it's part of his character, but he's a sentient being. As far as I know, bikes are not.

So what gives them their character?

[Monty]

Mines had me out of the seat mid corner twice, that's character! The Green B@stard!

[Kwacky]

Sound, looks, the way it handles. I guess it's a number of factors.

[kiwikrasher]

For me it's how it is different from another bike of a similar style.

A bunch of us all had KDX200's when I used to trail ride regularly (greenlaning). I'd done a bit of porting to mine which made the fueling and power a bit different, and as always was a compromise and I had changed gearing a bit too. I'd also dropped the triple clamps on the forks. End result is I used to smash the other guys in the tight stuff and 3-4th gear flowing trails, but beach runs and flat out top gear spots it was lacking. Plus hit a bump flat out and you tank slapped a fair bit but would quickly settle down.

For me that was it's character. The sum of its differences compared to its peers, good and bad.

[Perkles]

engine feel and noise

[duke63]

agree withe perkles here. But each type wont mean the same thing to everyone.

[Rossgo]

To me it's about how it makes me feel, that feeling of hitting the red line and feeling naughty for doing so, it eggs you on to do it, it's like that one kid who used to be a bad influence on you at school, like talking during class but the teacher notices you talking and not your mate. That's what gives the bike character, you know if you get caught doing silly things, it won't be your bike that takes the brunt it will be you.


Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[Blade]

Kwackers have Royal Approval and plenty of Character

[Deegee]

Character in a person is a list of traits good and not so good that make a person stand out from the bland boring types, it makes them memorable - be it for good or bad reasons.
A bike with character is no different imho, mind you I've heard some people describe a bike as having a character, when in actual fact it's a way of denying it's a POS.

[D41]

Depends, I suppose.

I rode an S1000RR a few times and found it totally soulless and devoid of character....that's OK, I'll bring my own.

Owned a Harley briefly and it sucked....I wanted to like it, I really did...but it would ground out on even the slightest turn. Welding must've been done by a 7 year old with Down Syndrome.

I rode a new Norton proto and it was hands-down the loudest most obnoxious bike I've ever been on. I loved it, but I wouldn't want one as my only bike.

Right now I'm seriously considering a Moto Guzzi...I dunno....I just like it. I tried one, and could barely reach the feckin' bars....but I still liked it.

A bike is like music....a different song for everyone. Whatever that means.

[Cav]

For me it's when the bike becomes 'alive'... on my ZX6R that's between 10-16k and being hard on the brakes, whereas on an SV650 it's between 4-9k. Because of this the ZX6R is 'characterless' at a sedate pace whereas the SV is a much more enjoyable bike more of the time

[D6]

For me its got character if it can still start every morning and not fall apart with 2 years of road grime, abuse and shit cacked all over it. That's real character.

[Itchy]

Is that you or the bike though?