Motorcycling Is the Cure for Heartbreak

DanF9 | March 2, 2026 — This article is less about trying to psych you up to buy a new bike and more about reexamining how relationships are forged, bonds broken and rekindled on the open road.

Every relationship has a life cycle. Sometimes you think it will last two weeks, and it lasts decades. Other times, you're so certain of the connection you have, the power of your bond that seems unbreakable, and suddenly you awaken one morning to find that you were idealizing something doomed to fail.

You Will Be Heartbroken

However long you pursue connections with people, and even when you foster and maintain them, time will always have the last say. You will be heartbroken. It's a mathematical certainty in this life, and it's probably one of the most powerful forces shaping your identity and even your future trajectory.

When a relationship ends, you grieve in ways not too dissimilar from losing someone for good. A part of you is fractured, and the process of reconstruction begins. To reconstruct isn't to replace, though a wound might need space and calm to begin to heal.

In Comes the Motorcycle

Your relationship with it is typically safe, despite its activity being not so safe. The motorcycle can be a space, a bubble of solitude that also connects you to everything outside of you. Pirsig notes this as the principal difference between a bike and a car, and the fact that it involves you with your surroundings is probably its most important trait. See, if heartbreak is fracture, rupture, isolation from one being, distance, goodbye, then motorcycling is an attempt to remind yourself that you are here, in this mess that is life. You're in it, still alive, still moving forward despite everything that happens.

I think it's important to have something like motorcycling in our lives, and not just to "get over things," but to process them. Whether this is heartbreak, grief, happiness, or a poor business decision, it helps to have an activity to return to, to connect you with this mystical grand design.

Motorcycling Is the Cure for Heartbreak

I say "the", and this might be my hot take, but there's nothing quite like it in its capacity to connect (or kill you, which incidentally also solves today's discussion). Motorcycling is connection. It's this powerful proximity to things propelled by speed and space. On the other hand, heartbreak is disconnection. A final farewell.

My intuition leads me to suggest that we need a "fixed point" to connect to in moments of heartbreak. This fixed point can be the motorcycle. It's not just a machine; it's a bond. Remind yourself that it exists, even when it's hard, and the way forward will be revealed.

Call it hopeful advice, and even if it sounds naive, I have a feeling that this is the kind of mindset that overcomes isolation.

Despite the reality of heartbreak, I wish that the bonds you value endure. —DanF9

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Opinion: Motorcycle Brands Ranked from Most to Least Capable of Heartbreak

• S: Ducati
• A: Harley-Davidson, Ural, Royal Enfield
• B: KTM, MV Augusta
• C: Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki
• D: Honda

Do you have a hot take of your own? Submit your tier list here.

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