I think they were originally sports bikes without fairings. People used to take the fairings off, probably after they had crashed ! and sometimes put flat bars on them. So they were not ordinary bikes, but sports bikes. I think that is where it came from. Then manufacturers started building them like that - saving people the trouble of having to fall off and do it all themselves ! ............................................ Forgive me for going off on a tangent on your thread: A similar puzzle about why stuff is called what it is - and going to France a lot on my bike - why do the Frenchies call a (motor)bike "la" instead of "le" ? They call a bike "la moto" which is odd because "la" is feminine and "moto" is masculine as it ends in "o". It should be "le moto". The reason explained to me by a French gentleman is because "Moto" is like Bike, it is not the word in full. The word in full is "Motobicyclette" - which is feminine - and so "la" is used even though the word has been shortened to "moto" in everyday use. Of course in English shortening the word Motorbike does not raise these academic issues - thank god
Can of worms question, are bikes male or female? I say female, but wife keeps correcting garage who calls her bike a she. Personally I think it is just my wife being weird, but hey she married me so can't be that normal /sane
They call them "she" because usually vehicles are temperamental. I don't understand the connection. I've never met a female with radical mood swings or anything like that. Oh wait, I have. Pretty much every one of them I have met..lol..even worse, the ones who've been unlucky enough to get involved with me.
I've called all my bikes female names apart from the latest and he just gave me guy vibes...so it's Gabriel or Gabe for short when he's been a good boy and done as he's told
Rabbit + Vibrations = Smiley Wife Aoparently the frequency of the vibration from the tank is very pleasurable
