Go Naked

 There's something about the look of a naked motorcycle. By "naked" I mean a bike with minimal bodywork, allowing the engine and frame to be seen in their full glory. It's a very different style from that of a fully-faired motorcycle, or even a car. There's a mechanical feel, a message that is conveyed that this a working machine.

 Most of the mechanical items we deal with on a daily basis do their best to hide all the working parts. The inner working of the machines are best left alone, a job for a techincian, someone qualified to deal with these contraptions. It's just not something we want to deal with. We all have our own sense of what reality is, and for many, mechanical things fall into the realm of magic. As long as it works, we don't care the how's and why' of it.

 Naked motorcycles, on the other hand, brazenly advertise the fact that they are a machine, and you will deal with it on it's own level, regardless of how you feel. To me, that's the most charming aspect of their character. The engine is right there in plain view, begging you to fiddle around with it. What does this piece do, how does it relate to the entire process of combustion. It may be something that many don't want to think about, but it piques my curiosity. I can't resist it.

 Go ahead, go out naked. You just might learn something about your machine, and hopefully something about yourself.