I started riding a motorcycle when I was 12, it was a Honda motocrosser which was so tall I couldn’t reach the ground with my feet. But I loved it. I rode motorcycles for another 30-something years, usually sport bikes, my last one being a Yamaha R1. I managed to get through those 30-something years unscathed, though I had many close calls.
Would I let my son or grandson ride a motorcycle? Over the years I have seen friends and acquaintances hurt or killed while riding motorcycles, too many of them. I also spent several years in law enforcement cleaning up wrecks, and motorcycles were involved in a disproportionate number of fatal accidents. One of these fatal wrecks I rolled up on involved a motorcycle which I had previously owned, the rider was run over by a truck while he was stopped at a red light, the medical examiner’s people needed to use a shovel to clean up what was left of him.
During my life I’ve had a sixth sense or guardian angel looking over my shoulder, and these have always made me raise my head or otherwise see something coming up which I might otherwise have hit (or hit me). I quit riding motorcycles when I began to get a sneaking feeling that my lucky streak was running out.
Bicycles are safer than motorcycles. Relative to their numbers on the road, there are fewer serious or fatal accidents involving bicycles, at least in my experience.