Everyone has their own reasons for getting into motorcycles. My buddy, Spurgeon, wrote a little bit about his a few weeks ago. My life is way too droll to write about on the Internet, but I had the opportunity to talk to a fellow rider the other day about why he got into the sport.

"I’ve always wanted a motorcycle," said Long Beach transplant, Eric Blair. "My father had one, my uncle, even my aunt had a motorcycle. Two wheels are in my blood."

Indeed.

"This was my dream bike," Blair said, pointing to a rusty old 1973 Honda CB500. "Ever since I was a kid, I wanted one."

After having a friend ride it home from an old barn in rural Pennsylvania, he immediately fell in love.

"I think I'll turn it into a coffee shop racer. Everyone is doing it, man," Blair claimed. Something must be in the PBR.

When I met with Blair, he had just gotten home from a three-block weekend joyride. He promptly parked the bike in his shop and lined it up for a quick photo session. With tens of miles on the odometer, it was caked with what can only be described as "Whoa, dude, that's a lot of dust. How often do you ride this?"

"I have to be aloof, ya know? Now that I have my own shop, Rust and Oxide, there’s a certain persona I have to maintain."

When asked about how he enjoyed the riding lifestyle, Blair warmly replied, “Not all that much, actually. I mean, I love motorcycles, but riding them isn’t my thing.” You see, while some motorcyclists get into the sport because they like the thrill, or they like to wrench, for Blair, it’s all about the uhh... the uhm...

“At the heart of it, I think vintage motorcycles make the best Instagram photos,” says Blair. “I mean, when you think of the coolest guy ever, he’s probably standing next to a vintage motorcycle. I’m that guy now.”

If James Dean was alive today, I'm sure he'd be riding a poorly maintained CB. I'm sure he'd plaster it all over Instagram, too. Right after he rides it around the block, of course.