I've been meaning to post this since I started riding the new S40. One of the things that really strike me when riding is all the different smells along the way. Not always good smells, and I still check the engine when I smell something burning or too-rish exhaust but I love the smell of kerocene at the airport and I pass at least two bakeries and that is great in the morning. Cut grass seems to be funneled into my helmet vents and Oleander and Orange blossoms are everywhere down here.

I don't get 90% of that in the car and it is interesting how much of a added bonus the smells along the route are to the ride. I actually think about what I'm missing when I drive the same route now, at one point in the drive I will recall that " oh, yeah, there is a bakery around here somewhere" or when I pass the airport I miss the thunder of the engines and the smell of jet fuel.

Rode to work this A.M. and it was a very enjoyable ride  

Skunk!...
In a car,.. you'll catch the smell,  after you pass the skunk...
On a bike,... you smell it coming...  I always start scanning the road...

The other thing,... is heat pockets... you never notice them in a car,... or even on foot... but, on a bike, you feel these sudden pockets of temperature change...
Motorcycling is a unique experience....

Greg wrote on 04/10/13 at 11:19:49:


this.. and I love it...

be ridding along and his low spot (generally there will be a bridge or culvert) and you get that prikley sensation when the cold air strikes.


Smells:
the bakery
the fried chiken spot
the gas station come BBQ place where they are actually smoking the meat
onions when they come out
different bushes/small trees .. I dont keep up with the names
diesel truck on a cold morn

45acp wrote on 04/10/13 at 08:46:21:


Ok, yeah, that is pretty cool!!

Serowbot wrote on 04/10/13 at 09:53:56:


Yeah, we have skunks here, definitely don't want to hit one..

engineer wrote on 04/10/13 at 13:08:50:


I cringed at liquid manure,  

Pine, you hit all the good ones!!!

The guy spraying round-up to kill the weeds on the sidewalk as I rode by! I could taste it Should have moved over but I was in the right turn lane. Other than that you are spot on!

Hit a bee driving through the wood last year, got in my shirt, boy he was angry. Got stung 5 times before I pulled over, got home nice and swollen

I think someone kid a turkey call on my bikes. It doesn't matter if I'm on the S40 or my V Star, I seem to attract turkeys to me. Had one fly over so close that the windshield was between the birds legs. I've learned that YES you can ride a motorcycle side-saddle thru a curve  

The smells,, I LOVE the smells. OUt in the country, in the late afternoon, just before the sun is in that "sunset" time, things have been heated up & have been giving off all their "Im here, come pollinate me" stuff. Dropping down toward a bridge, where the cooler air is settling, the scents are more densely packed,, so many tasty smelling plants I cant separate them. The smell of a pasture  or hay thats been cut,, dang, those things make riding something that cant be had any other way. I GUess, anyway,,, Is it like that in a convertible?