20 March 2026

Perfect play for today

Melissa Holbrook Pierson’s love of motorcycling began with with her first bike, back in 1987.

“From the moment I began to ride, I wondered what caused this great joy” she exclaimed.

Better than that, she explained – in The Perfect Vehicle, a bestselling memoir which, as Paul Browne reports, has now been translated for the stage.

Back in 1997 Melissa Holbrook Pierson (pictured above) wrote what went on to be a hugely successful book, The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles.

For those of us who ride bikes in any of the classes, be it touring, beating the traffic, trail riding, racing, trackdays or just a Sunday morning spin , we know exactly what it is that we love.

In her examination of what it means to ride and why we do it, Holbrook Pierson articulates it perfectly. She certainly does a better job of it than I ever could!

Strictly speaking, motorcycles don’t make a lot of sense.

Indeed, it could be said that they continue to exist only because of our love for them.  She gets that.

Two-wheeled worship

If you’ve yet to read this book then you’re missing out on a lot, since her story is incredibly well told.

She manages to explain the risks, the vulnerability, the danger of motorcycling, along with the thrills and the rewards of living life in our world.

She embraces the history of racing, the first bikes, the first riders and how they, not so much overcame the dangers, but rather integrated them into the sport.

This blend made for a more emotional involvement in riding and as she argues, is what continues to attract us as riders. It’s an involvement that was never going to present itself in other modes of transport.

Again, Holbrook Pierson presents this emotive part of the story with more grounded, practical, explanations of the technology that makes them work.

Taking the stage

If you ride a motorcycle then you should, by now, have read her book.

The great news is that whether you have, or have yet to, the story has now been adapted into a play called ‘The Perfect Vehicle’ by Audrey Deveraux.

It’s directed by Anthony Fox, and  stars Jessy Danner and Ruairi Nicholl.

It opens at the New Theatre in Dublin on the evening of March 24^th and runs  until the 28th, with a matinee on the Saturday.

You can book your tickets here.

For our best motorcycle insurance quotes, call the two-wheel team on 0818 945 950.