Become a Member: Get Ad-Free Access to 3,000+ Reviews, Guides, & More

Were you born with riding in your genes?

Riders are born not made

If you love the thrills of motorcycling and the adventure of riding far and wide, it’s probably because you were born with it in your genes.

The reason is all very scientific and explained in the long-titled paper “Population Migration and the Variation of Dopamine D4 Receptor (DRD4) Allele Frequencies Around the Globe” published in 1999 by four UC Irvine scientists.

The paper studied the migration patterns and gene pool distribution of pre-historic human beings.

The scientists were trying to find links between dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) and Attention Deficit Disorder, but ended up finding that people with the DRD4 genes also tend to be thrill-seekers and travellers.

“As previous research has shown, long alleles of the DRD4 gene have been linked to novelty-seeking personality, hyperactivity, and risk-taking behaviours … It can be argued reasonably that exploratory behaviours are adaptive in migratory societies…usually harsh, frequently changing, and always providing a multitude of novel stimuli and ongoing challenges to survival.

“The findings revealed a very strong association between the proportion of long alleles of the DRD4 gene in a population and its prehistorical macro-migration histories.”

What that all means is that if you love to travel to exciting places on powerful motorcycles, then you probably have the DRD4 gene.

Psychologist and reborn rider Sharon Ledger says only a small portion of people have this “adventure gene” which is why motorcycling will always be a minority pursuit.

Sharon Ledger - divorce - born
Sharon Ledger

“Some people are born with the adventure gene, but they suppress it,” she says.

“I won’t go into the nature versus nurture debate, but the neural network is ‘plastic’ and can be adapted by our thinking. I’m not saying that if you don’t have the gene you can’t go riding, but it would be unusual.”

Meanwhile, Sharon suggests that for your good mental health, you should not fight the urge to seek thrills.

“You should satisfy your inner urges by going for a ride,” she says.

We don’t need any convincing, Sharon!

  1. Well, that explains it.

    Amazing what reasons research can provide for riding and thoroughly enjoying it.

  2. Sounds like an apparel add riding is in the jeans by draggin genes
    This may explain why after a day’s commute in the car I want to go back out with a tank and seek revenge on all who are in front of me but if I go by bike I’m like hey chill dude.

  3. My grandfather on my mothers side rode motorcycles in WW2, my mum use to get about on various scooters and mopeds through out her life. My dad and uncles rode everything from Norton’s to a re-bored 650cc Honda’s. I didn’t know about my families riding history until I decided to get my motorcycle licence in my late 30’s when my wife asked my parents “Why does Jason love motorcycles so much?” My mum had a Honda Nifty 50 moped in my teens and I had tried to restore a Yamaha 250 but lack of funds stalled the project. In the DNA.. Yes

  4. I wouldn’t have said it was in my genes and was actually scared of motorbikes after having a bicycle accident that left me with a certain amount of pain and restriction in a knee. (Not scared of bicycles – go figure). I started riding lesson at 54 so I could join my husband on rides – after all life is too short – and discovered I love riding. I’ve always loved horse riding and flying, so perhaps there is something in my genes after all.

Comments are closed.