I find clubs extremely distasteful because, at their core, they're inherently exclusionary. A club allows you to gatekeep a thing, a place, or an event. It allows you to tell certain folks, "No, you can't be a part of this. You're not worthy." And not only is that a shitty thing to do, it breeds this form of incestuous ignorance that only leads to the failure of that thing.
I lead with this as in a recent episode of RevZilla's Highside, Lowside podcast, hosts Spurgeon Dunbar, Zac Courts, and Ari Henning began talking about how today's motorcycle rider aids—but specifically automatic and clutchless transmissions—are making motorcycling worse. How these technologies breed bad habits, how they ruin motorcycling joy, and why every motorcyclist should know how to use a clutch and shifter. How folks should have a standard transmission to be a part of the club, and to be a real motorcyclist.
But I call bullshit.
Not only do I call BS because of the aforementioned exclusionary practices, but also because these technologies allow for more folks to get onto two wheels, and I fully believe they actually make you a better rider, which I'll explain in a moment. But most importantly of all these reasons why the RevZilla folks are wrong is who the fuck cares?
This was a doozy of a conversation. And based on the comments, I'm not the only one annoyed by their thoughts on the matter. So let's get into it.
In the past, I've talked a lot about how not everyone has the use of their feet to operate a clutch, nor does everyone have the capability of shifting a transmission. But these people still want to ride and they should have that option, which clutchless and automatic transmissions provide. These technologies and "rider aids" give them the ability to keep doing something they love or fully begin a new love affair. And, honestly, that should be enough for the hosts, as well as all the keyboard warriors decrying these aids. Apparently, it's not.
And before you say anything about how these people maybe shouldn't even be on a bike, look at Bruce Cook.
Cook was a professional dirt bike racer and stunt rider who, during a Nitro Circus event, broke his back and became paralyzed from the waist down. According to his site, while at the event attempting to land the first double front flip, "he slightly under rotated resulting in him breaking his T-11 vertebrae and a complete spinal cord injury." Cook, however, still wanted to ride, and he was able to get back onto a motorcycle just nine months after his injury because of "rider aids" like a clutchless transmission.
He's since landed backflip after backflip all thanks to these technologies. But are you going to tell me that he doesn't deserve to continue to ride? Are you saying his joy is any less because he has to use an automatic? Cook isn't alone, either. Countless riders who've experienced traumatic injuries or those born with a disability get out and ride each and every day because of these technologies. RevZilla's own comment section on this video is proof of that, with folks telling the hosts of their injuries and disabilities. And they've been on grand adventures around the world. Have conquered more miles than some wannabe Hells Angel dentists who know how to or can still use a clutch. And they've continued to do something they love because they don't have to shift.
Are you really going to tell them that they aren't getting the same amount of joy you or I get from being able to, or knowing how to, operate a clutch? Get out of here.
And that brings me to RevZilla's hosts talking about how a clutch somehow makes you a better rider.
"I don't like the dumbing down of society to allow access. I do appreciate the fact that in order to do some things you had to develop a certain amount of skill. That's satisfying," says Henning during the episode, with Dunbar adding, "That's the thing I struggle with the most. The dumbing down." But it fucking doesn't. In fact, I take the complete opposite opinion of the hosts, as I believe an automatic or clutchless motorcycle actually allows you to focus and learn a bike's dynamics far more than one with a clutch.
Let me take you back to when you first started riding bikes. Do you recall those first stop-start attempts? I do. I remember taking my 1986 Kawasaki Ninja 600R onto the street in front of my parent's house and just being a pool of anxiety and sweat, as I was constantly worried I was going to stall the bike and fall over. You're managing the power, the clutch uptake, remembering to up-shift and down-shift, etc, etc. It was hell. But more than that, solely concentrating on your clutch work leads you to not focus on the motorcycle's actual dynamics, i.e. leaning, braking, throttle control, turning, picking the right lines, and getting through traffic. You know, actually riding and doing so safely.
The clutch, in my opinion, is a distraction.
When you do away with the clutch, you're left to focus on the things that actually matter and make you a better and safer rider. Even as someone who rides a lot more than the average person, I think that a clutchless or automatic transmission is beneficial to me today and a good way of learning new skills on a bike. Take, for instance, my wanting to get better at backcountry singletrack, which I've done so on the back of EV dirt bikes.
I have the luxury of being able to call up a manufacturer and pretty much ask to ride anything I want. I could call Honda and ask for a new CRF250 or Ducati's new MX. But I don't and have used Zero's FX, Niu's XQi3, and even tested Dust's EV prototype all because I don't have to worry about stalling out on rocks or while I'm heading up some sharp-ass incline. I don't have to worry about falling because I'm in the wrong gear, but rather because I picked the wrong line or messed up my braking or throttle inputs. I fell because I got the dynamics wrong, not because I screwed up the clutch.
But I can also see these being effective with my daughter who's learning to ride on a Kawasaki Elektrode and a KFX 50 ATV. She's progressing way faster than I did when I started riding at 17. And she'll likely be a better rider than me or any of the RevZilla gents by the time she's a teenager because she's learning actual motorcycle dynamics instead of just "I know how to shift a bike."
And as an aside, I know plenty of people who shouldn't be riding motorcycles but know how a clutch works. A shifter isn't some sort of magical code that instantly makes you Valentino Rossi. I'm reminded of old Top Gear when some of the younger Formula 1 drivers didn't know how a clutch worked in the Reasonably Priced Car segment but still went faster around the track than most people on Earth. Are you gonna tell an F1 driver they're not as good of a driver as you are simply because they didn't know how to press a clutch pedal? I mean, I know how to drive a manual. Am I a better driver than Lando Norris?
No.
But all of this is to say, who the fuck actually cares? It's worth repeating because, as a whole, motorcycling is a niche thing and becoming nicher. Ridership has fallen apart from a spike during the pandemic. First and foremost, this type of talk may stop folks from even trying to throw a leg over a bike and that's just plain dumb. It goes back to the exclusive club that I can't get behind. But this type of talk is especially dumb coming from a publication that derives its revenue from FREAKIN' SELLING MOTORCYCLE GEAR.
It's also just dumb because who cares what anyone else does or finds joy in?
I'm sorry, but how I ride a bike, how I enjoy a motorcycle, how I do anything in my life is none of your goddamn concern. If someone wants to ride a clutchless, automatic, or electric motorcycle or scooter and they love it, more power to them. If someone wants to ride a classic motorcycle with no rider aids and a suicide shifter, cool. If you want to ride a turbine-powered bike that costs nearly $300,000, you do you. They're all riders, and that's what matters. I find it infuriating that anyone says anything about this or that folks are somehow not "real motorcyclists" just because they can't or don't want to learn how to use a standard transmission. That you, as some arbitrary arbiter are actually a "real motorcyclist" because you know or want to know how it works. Get over yourselves.
When the three hosts admit that if these technologies get more people riding, it is good for motorcycling, they do so in a way that feels disingenuous to their true beliefs. That they have a gun to their head. That they know they'll get flamed if they don't say twist and gos are fine. "If it's just some random person, not so much [disappointed in them using an automatic], if it was someone in my friend group, I'd be a little disappointed, like you're missing out on things I think are important," said Henning.
Spurgeon added, "I want more people to experience motorcycling. And if DCTs, and E-clutches, and scooters are helping take away that barrier to entry, I'm not mad about that. But I am worried that riding a motorcycle isn't as easy as driving a car. You've got to pay attention and part of that is learning how to control it and, I guess, even if you take away a clutch, there's still a barrier to entry in learning there."
All of this is to say whatever you ride, whether it has a clutch or not, you're a motorcyclist. So don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
