Hi Pete and LilaQs
On 14 Jan 99, at 22:32, Pete Fisher wrote:
> I suppose my comment is at least in part prompted by having just
> finished listening to an audio tape version of ZATAMM. Having read it
> several times (oh and yes Lila twice) I was sometimes thrown a little by
> the way it had been abridged for the audio version ( BTW did Pirsig have
> much input to this ?), however, it did have the positive effect of
> prompting me to revisit Chapter 26 and in particular the section on
> "Gumption Traps" with the advice ( which should appear in every workshop
> manual ) about the need sometimes to just *stare* at the machine to
> escape the trap of value rigidity. Just wondered if anyone finds the
> practice as addictive as I ( without making any claim to motorcycle
> scientist status ) do ?
I was surprised at your use of the word addictive as I wouldn't have thought of it
that way - but you might be right.
At the moment I ride a bicycle to work - partly 'cos it's so close and I also need
the exercise - but I really miss not having my bike at work in the car park near
where I go for a cigarette. What I've done at various places where I've worked is
just sit and look at the machine while I smoke, examining it, making a mental
note of the work I need to do at the weekend - sometimes I even do it :) - thinking
about how to do the work etc.
Sometimes it's just a case of staring at it for a while looking at the lines of the
bike (it's Italian and beautifully designed but a bit worn around the edges now),
thinking about trips I've made and trips I'm going to make.
Even after owning and riding this particular machine for 12 years it stiill has a
fascination and beauty of it's own that no other bike possesses - perhaps that
should be especially after 12 years?
A lot of the people I know seem to trade in their bikes after a couple of years and I
don't think they really get to know them. They buy them new, only ride them in
the good weather and say goodbye too soon. They don't seem to get the same
sort of relationship with the bike that I do with mine. A common question is "why
do you ride such an old bike" (it's about 20 years old). If I answer "because I like
it" I generally get a blank stare. But the bike is a repository of memories as well.
I've had a lot of good times on it. I've had other bikes before and when I've sold
them I feel like I've done something wrong - as if I've sold a friend.
It's a mixture of static and dynamic value - the static value creates/is created by
my memories and the dynamic value is the anticipation of "kicking the tyres,
lighting the fires and tooling down the road". It's a part of me now and I know I'll
never be able to sell this bike - or my other bike (a Moto-Guzzi Le Mans Mk.1)
which has sat patiently waiting to be rebuilt for far too long now.
Horse
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