I’d pull my little brother on our motorcycle on an inner tube behind it. We would go fishing, we would hunt some, growing up.
The connection to place, to the land, the wind, the sun, stars, the moon… it sounds romantic, but it’s true – the visceral experience of motion, of moving through time on some amazing machine – a few cars touch on it, but not too many compared to motorcycles. I always felt that any motorcycle journey was special.
When I came in, Westerns were the big thing, so I did horse falls, transfers, bulldogs, big fights. That’s where you could really shine if you were really good at it. But then all the Westerns stopped, and I was capable of doing car stunts, motorcycle stunts and high falls. I could do it all.
I grew up playing paintball and riding motorcycles and horses, so I really know how to rough and tumble.
I love guys who know how to dress. I love the motorcycle boots, and I love the skinnier jeans with jackets and scarves. Anybody who gets his clothes at All Saints, that’s my guy.
If I ever go onstage at the Oscars, you can guarantee I’ll be wearing my motorcycle boots.
I’ve spent my entire career on horseback or on a motorcycle. It boxes you in, the way people perceive you. I read a lot of scripts. Most of ’em go to other actors.
I admit to wasting my life messing around with fast cars and motorcycles.
I think my appeal is that I’ve always tried to stay very grounded to my fans and to be accessible – not being this unattainable thing. I think doing sports and riding motorcycles has made me more approachable and more real and down to earth.
We’re just into toys, whether it’s motorcycles or race cars or computers. I’ve got the Palm Pilot right here with me, I’ve got the world’s smallest phone. Maybe it’s just because I’m still a big little kid and I just love toys, you know?
Riding my motorcycle around L.A. is like my own video game. But unlike many folks at the wheel, I am occupied with getting where I’m going and keeping myself safe. Most people are applying makeup, texting, and checking out the beauty in the next car.
I love motorcycles and riding bikes.
My dad had a Vincent Black Shadow, which was a quite particular thing: it was the fastest cycle of its era… It sparked a world for me; when I was old enough, I got a motorcycle.
I go to Australia probably once every two years. It’s wide-open spaces there, so I just rent a motorcycle and ride out to the middle of the continent. For hours, you don’t see anybody.
Passing my motorcycle theory test gave me a disproportionate feeling of greatness.
My first job was as a treetopper, and I was so damn good at it they called me ‘Squirrel.’ And then I joined the military and became a paratrooper. And later on in life I raced motorcycles and cars.
You know, actors lie all the time. ‘Can I ride on the horse? Are you kidding? Of course! I was born on a horse!’… It’s the same with motorcycles.
Eventually, I grew out of my interest in motorcycles because they’re quite dangerous. I don’t ride them anymore. But I have this history.
I respect motorcycles so much.
If I want to work, I can. If I want to play golf, or ride my motorcycle, I can. But the rest of it is family. Sometimes you’re not really needed by your family, but you’re there. And my kids like to know I’m there.
I have crashed on a motorcycle that was going at 140mph, so I know what it feels like.
If I’m out trailriding, I have a favorite motorcycle. Riding on the road, I’ve got a favorite. If I’m jumping, I have a favorite, and if I’m racing, I have a favorite.
I think the best thing I can say about it – and I think the best thing you can say about anything, really – is that ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ made me feel like my home was bigger; it made me feel at home anywhere in Latin America.
You look at me: you see the tattoos, and I ride a motorcycle.
I always have a vehicle wherever I go, everything from weird motorcycles with side cars to old Jeep Willeys to beat up Defenders in Africa, you name it.
I had a terrible motorcycle accident, in San Francisco as matter of fact. Doing a picture called… oh, this is terrible. It’s a very well-known film and I can’t remember the name. That’s what happens when you get older… I fell off a bridge in San Francisco and was laid up for two years.
I like life on the road. It’s a lot easier than civilian life. You kind of feel like you’re in a motorcycle gang.
You’ve got two sets of teenagers in England – the mods and the rockers. The rockers are motorcycle addicts. The mods dress like we do. We wear four-button jackets, cuban heel boots, shirts of our own design, with high collars and a tab underneath the collar.
I went to Temple Emanu-El, and my rabbi, Rabbi Landsberg, was a huge influence on me. When I was 7 and went to kindergarten, there he was, a young rabbi who didn’t wear a yarmulke and rode a motorcycle.
But when I was 12 or 13, I found the acoustic guitar and got into guitar music ultimately, like Black Motorcycle Club, obviously Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash.
A motorcycle coming down from 30 feet at 70 mph gives you a terrible jolt.
I did a lot of blue collar work. I also worked as a temp. I did, you know, light construction and cleaning. I did clerical temping. I also fix cars and motorcycles and electronics.
When people say Evel’s a stuntmen I want to throw up. He’s nothing but a daredevil idiot. The only reason he’s famous is because he wrecks his motorcycle every time he rides.
I don’t belong to a motorcycle club, but I know a lot of guys who do. I ride with some guys who do.
I know a little bit about motorcycles and motorcycle riding.
People always assume I was in a motorcycle wreck. My response to them: no, Taliban.
You’d never have a motorcycle policeman out on the Indian reservation.
I have been off the motorcycles for about 20 years now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still do it.
My first car was a motorcycle.
I have a guy who does my hair. He’s a car nut. And he was taking motorcycle lessons. And, what was my point?
I play golf and ride my motorcycle – my Harley – around the hills of California.
I had been warned not to get on a motorcycle, sort of. I think there is a clause in most general basic contracts to keep yourself in one piece and not alter your looks without telling them first.
All my best memories of my brother are in vehicles, speeding, predatory or celebratory. We were just made to drive. For the last 12 years of his life, he lived as caretaker of an orange grove. There, on 18 acres, my brother collected cars and trucks and motorcycles.
I want to ride my motorcycle up the side of the Luxor to the light and vanish.
I was the girl in the black leather jacket with the black fingernails, picked up after school by guys with loud cars and motorcycles. I carried straight-A grades, but I had a little trouble with rules. I tended to have a bit of an authority problem.
Growing up, I idolized Big Boss Man and Bam Bam Bigelow just because they were big guys who could move and were tough. I felt like they both rode motorcycles. And Bam Bam had his head tattooed. Those are the guys who really got me into wrestling.
The first time I went to Sturgis, I remember thinking, ‘This motorcycle thing, this is me.’
Motorcycle garb is the way I looked to Warhol. Then came the Armani suits.
Some people say it might be good for your career to die and then come back again. I have died many ways, car crashes, motorcycle crashes, etc. But, I am still alive.
I do love horses, but I’d rather be on motorcycles.
I remember the first club we played in San Francisco. There were a lot of people on motorcycles standing around outside, and I had trouble getting in. I didn’t have any ID, and the guy at the door wouldn’t let me in, even though I told him I was gonna be singing in there.
I used to watch some of the other motorcycle shows on television 10 or 15 years ago because I was a gearhead and I’d be depressed at the end because I can’t afford a $200,000 motorcycle.
The first thing I ever rode when I was a kid was a motorcycle, so I knew how to drive a motorcycle before a car.
Here’s the thing that I think really pushed me, was my versatility. Because when I came in to the movie business, all the stunt men were specialists. If you did horse work, that’s all you did. If you did cars and motorcycles, you did that. But when I came in, I taught myself how to do everything.
Well, I motorcycle, I hunt, fish, I do all that. I keep busy. I’m never bored. I’ve never been bored.
All of my free time is made up of motor sports endeavors, be them motorcycles or off-road racing or track days. I just love anything with an engine. That is one of my main loves. Obviously, my other well-known love is Kristen Bell.
Five years before my accident in 2003, you saw Kobe and Shaq pull up to games on bikes. Michael Jordan owned a racing team. So it wasn’t that weird that I was on a motorcycle, even though it was against team rules. You’ve got to live your life, you know? But yeah, I made a dumb choice.
At an early age I told myself I would never quit skating; I would never quit riding BMX and being a motorcycle junkie. I just can’t stop doing those things.
With all due respect to the people who made the motorcycle movies during the ’60s, I felt the sophistication level could be a bit higher, and I felt I could raise the bar on that, too.
