This story / page is available in: German

Motorräder Wild Atlantic Way

 

Bipeds on two-wheelers. It’s buzzing and humming along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, rattling and smoking. The beautiful weather and a massive Covid experience jam are driving the black leather jackets onto the asphalt roads in dark droves right now. On the last Sunday in April, the Wild Atlantic landscape was in a constant state of noise, and on the upcoming Bank Holiday weekend it won’t get much better: Here, instead of the deer, the Hondas, BMWs and Harleys are now roaring about. There is plenty of new asphalt here in the southwest. The freshly smoothed coastal routes are treated as insider tips for everyone in the relevant biker forums.

42,500 motorbikes were registered in Ireland at the beginning of 2020 – not much out of 2.8 million motorised vehicles, and yet: the trend is rising. Ireland has yet to experience what people in other countries have been suffering for years: the noise terror of recreational bikers. In my old home in the Black Forest, there is hardly a community that does not massively oppose the aggressively loud machines and their riders, because they turn fair-weather days and weekends into a nightmare for many residents of the village thoroughfares.

Still sexy or just neutered?

A motorbike industry insider friend from West Cork is working on the widespread adoption of the e-motorbike. He thinks the future belongs to the silent e-motorbike and the sympathy of fellow human beings. I’ll take his word for it. How will the easy rider on the Fat Boy or the biker chick on the Kawa Z 650 decide?  A silent Zero SR/F or an emission-free Tarform Luna: are they still sexy or just neutered slingers for wimps?

PS: The risk of an accident on a motorbike in Ireland is 28 times higher than in a car. The chance of not surviving the accident is six times greater. Half of all motorbike accidents can be attributed to the fact that the driving skills and the speed chosen were in an unhealthy relationship.

 

Foto: Markus Bäuchle

This story / page is available in: German