<p>My husband also likes fast cars and a lot of other silly things that I could care less about. I don’t like to tell him what to do regarding his hobbies…he should have the freedom to indulge, just like I should, but on the other hand, I’m not right there with him joining in either. Ok, once in a while, I’ll sip a glass of wine while he washes one of the cars. I suppose that’s a little supportive. If he wanted a motorcycle, I’d be against it…my SIL’s dad lost a leg as a result of motorcycle accident on the Eisenhower Expressway many years ago, and I’ve known others who have been hurt or killed and I could not be supportive if he wanted to put himself at risk…I’m a big worrier and in my view, which may be selfish, I don’t want any family members doing anything that will make me worry.</p>
<p>I’ve worked in the ER when the results of motorcycle accidents are brought in and they are never pretty. Make sure that his life insurance is ample and that it pays out in case of such an accident. Also buy long-term care insurance because it’s possible to live on in a vegetative state or paralyzed.Sorry to be blunt, but it’s a fact.</p>
<p>Two wrongs don’t make a right so I’m not hot on the idea of buying something just to keep up or get even, but it sounds as if you might be in need of week at a spa or perhaps a cruise!</p>
<p>“Ok, once in a while, I’ll sip a glass of wine while he washes one of the cars. I suppose that’s a little supportive.”</p>
<p>Sounds like a good strategy. I’ll have to keep this in mind - when the tin can with an electrical cord comes in. ;)</p>
<p>Warn him not to sneak up on the bicyclists & joggers, those are very quiet.</p>
<p>One does not need to be “supportive” when their spouse makes a decision you don’t agree with. I hate motorcycles. I have seen the brain damage that can occur even with a good helmet. No one I love will own a motorcycle that I will know about. If they want one, don’t tell me. I dont want to know. My DH had one in college. Will not get one ever again because he knows how passionately I dislike them. </p>
<p>Go with me to see Glen Hansard in Oakland, then we’ll hit up Canyonlands and act like we arent on the downhill
side of 50.</p>
<p>My H actually does things that are as least as dangerous as riding motorcycles.
He smokes tobacco & he doesnt wear a helmet when he skis.
And if I cooked bacon every day, Im sure he would eat it!
( he also thinks hes a much better driver than I think he is)
Nagging has not been very effective so far. For instance I quit smoking probably 35 years ago, because I thought then he would quit.
He has two or three times, once for almost two years, but its been much harder for him.
( but he did quit drinking, for good about 18-19 years ago. 
)
He obviously still gets short term reinforcement that is more powerful than the long term risks.</p>
<p>There must be defensiveness driving courses for motorcycles, that might make you feel a little better.
And maybe if you both came up with guidelines to increase safety. Only ride in dry weather, for this distance, etc.</p>
<p>“Warn him not to sneak up on the bicyclists & joggers, those are very quiet.”</p>
<p>Absolutely. I was almost ran over by one of these things in Palo Alto the other day. Maybe Elon should talk to Harley and license the trademarked sound - to add as an option to his tin cans to make them even more appealing to motorcycle crazy geezers ;)</p>
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<p>If you work in the ER, all you see is the result when things go wrong. But that doesn’t tell us what the usual case is for people who ride motorcycles. I don’t ride a motorcycle and have no interest in doing so, but I get impatient when someone argues by saying that I shouldn’t do X because some unspecified number or percentage of X-doers have a bad result. </p>
<p>How about the results of car crashes? Beautiful? No? Then should no one drive a car?</p>
<p>If you work in neonatal intensive care and see the result of births gone terribly wrong, would you advise people not to have babies?</p>
<p>Offering this type of sloppy argument to someone considering a motorcycle purchase is more likely to irritate them than to convince them.</p>
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</p>
<p><a href=“Motorcycle safety - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_safety</a></p>
<p>I’m sure someone else can provide statistics which will show that motorcycles are not remotely dangerous and that people who ride motorcycles live significantly longer than people who don’t. In fact, that data is probably found in the same link.</p>
<p>The argument isn’t sloppy, but the results of accidents where there is virtually nothing between the person on the bike and the pavement, or the vehicle hitting them as they fly to the pavement, now that’s some sloppy stuff.</p>
<p>Arent the citations of accident statistics preaching to the choir?
I believe OP is well aware of risk factors, that wasn’t her question.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4 is responding to Cardinal Fang’s post, EK.</p>
<p>Fine, that’s a persuasive argument, but “I see motorcycle crash victims in the ER” is not one.</p>
<p>Well I for one am interested in the OPs doggie chiropractor. I had no idea there was such a thing. Those are some pampered pooches.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4: there are actually quite a few chiropractors that specialize in dogs and horses. There are massage people who do the same thing. The guy I take my dogs to does race horses as well, and makes an excellent living at it. He does dogs because he likes dogs. He is a DVM who does rehab medicine, from chiro to massage to acupuncture to Chinese herbs. I am a serious skeptic about all these alternative medicines, but I do know my older dog adores him and clearly finds what he does valuable to her–she greets him with much the same enthusiasm with which she greets my husband. Not many people she feels that way about.</p>
<p>^^^^About a year ago, my dog was acting strangely lethargic. All tests were negative for disease. The vet suspected that my dog had hurt his back jumping in and out of my car. We gave him doggy NSAIDs and he gradually perked up. Guess we could have used a chiropractor!</p>
<p>I get CF’s point. Yes, motorcycles are more dangerous than cars. OTOH, I’ve known many (including one of the people I loved most in the world) to die in a car. None on a motorcycle, though people I love ride them. To some extent (probably a lot of extent), that’s numbers, but also, it depends on the experience level, the places they ride, the conditions they ride under, etc. My FIL loved bikes, and I rode with my H on some of his dad’s bikes when we were younger, but the FIL died of a stroke, in his bed. His bikes didn’t kill him–he was a good rider and wasn’t going to get himself killed through stupidity. My H hasn’t owned one since he was much younger, and he inherited his father’s Harley but gave it away because we lived in an urban area where he knew riding was unsafe.</p>
<p>If, when we retire to a rural area, he wants one, I’d be okay with it–there are a lot of other things liable to kill either one of us first. Our neighbor in the rural neighborhood was a Blue Knight; he died of a heart attack at home. My sister-in-law’s intended, and all his family (including his elderly parents), ride bikes (the motorcycle kind) but she was killed in a car. I don’t think that motorcycle riding is an untenable thing to do. The vast majority of bikers will die otherwise.</p>
<p>Ain’t no one getting out of here alive.</p>
<p>But also, I don’t think it’s something that part of a couple should enter into unilaterally, either.</p>
<p>I met someone at a herding trial last year (I was a spectator, and it was one of the coolest things ever) who trains others in animal massage from Washington to Texas. I don’t know if it is a particularity lucrative field, but it brought her a lot of personal satisfaction. I’d imagine it would do wonders for a skittish dog. </p>
<p>My BIL has two or three HDs and my sister has one. She wasn’t a rider before she met him. It’s not her hobby of choice and she doesn’t ride alone, but it has grown on her. With the right safety precautions, there’s no reason why it can’t be done and live to tell the stories. </p>
<p>If you like to ride bicycles, go the next step up in quality. Better hiking boots, a course in garden design. What do you like to do? Go off on a tangent from it. You like to cook? Buy a really good knife or take a class at a good cooking school. </p>
<p>Sometimes a partner’s spending is a wake up call. What have <em>you</em> been holding back on that could make a difference in your life?</p>