The Need for Speed: A Look at Motorcycle-Loving Celebrities

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 14th 2008 at 9:02AM

Celebrities and their motorcycles have had a long and enduring affair. From before the iconic movie, Easy Rider, celebrities, mostly men, have taken to the open road. Why the link between the famous and the fast? Certainly wherever there is money there are toys to spend it on but could there be more to the lure. I asked Mike Werner, the man behind Bikes in the Fast Lane Motorcycle News for his take on the link between the two. Mike has an interesting theory. He says there are three basic types of celebrity motorcycle riders: the ones who are riding to look cool and may have many bikes but not so many miles on the bikes, the "real biker" celebs who were into biking before they became famous and now have the money and time to indulge their passion and the ones who started off riding as a fashion statement but then found themselves getting really into motorcycles. Mike Werner cited Robert M. Pirsig, the author of the much-loved book Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance who said that the allure of riding a motorcycle is that you are one with the road in a way you cannot be in a car, you are exposed to the weather and the air and the smell of the road.

Motorcycles also offer an escape from the world of celebrity, the chance to feel free and slip away from the world. It's no surprise that many of the celebrity motorcycle riders are also pilots. Each offers both the exhilaration of potential danger as well as the feeling of mastery, to be both in control and yet aware that you are not completely in control, that the environment you are in also controls you. I suspect that being famous can be similar in some ways, a odd juxtaposition of power and powerlessness.

Paris Hilton, to my knowledge, has never been seen, outside of the red carpet of course, on the $250,000 custom motorcycle she is shown riding in the picture above. The gallery below includes just some of the celebrities famous for loving and riding (at least to premieres) their motorcycles.

Gallery: Celebrity Motorcycle Riders

Tags: bono, brad pitt, BradPitt, ewan mcgregor, katie holmes, lauren hutton, matthew mcconaughey, peter fonda, prince harry, prince william, steve mcqueen, SteveMcqueen, steven tyler, StevenTyler, tom cruise, TomCruise

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Celebrity Shopping

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Austin M Feb 14th 2008 9:52AM

Wow, that's the first picture of Paris Hilton I've ever seen where I actually find her attractive.

Doug Feb 14th 2008 10:39PM

A celebrity can slip on a full face helmet and they are then just another motorcycle rider going down the road. Instant anonymity, at least for a time. There is a story out of Spain about a fellow who ran out of gas and a motorcyclist stopped to give him a hand. The rider looked familiar to the stranded fellow who finally enquired about his identity after accepting a lift into town. The rider under the helmet? King Juan Carlos of Spain out for a ride alone on his motorcycle.