really cool article!
I would like to quote Pirsing, who wrote the book "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" - actually I would recommend buying it.
You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness.
Here, you can read it, nevertheless - soo fascinating:
https://www.bartneck.de/projects/research/pirsig/zen.pdf
It's one of the best books I've read so far on psychology. Chances are, you know it?
I had a motorcycle myself in my mid-twenties, it was a Suzuki GN 400x with a manual kick-starter. I was NOT falling in love with cycling, though and always found it too dangerous for me. I lacked confidence on the streets and so I gave it up after a while. But I deeply understand the fascination about riding the streets and befriending with the engine. I have four brothers and mind you, they all had their love affairs with their cylinders. :)