Every time I read about Canadian insurance rates, I’m appalled and the near universal comments seem to be that these firms are very Soviet in dealings with their customers. What gives?

I’m temporarily in Southern Illinois with a basically year round riding climate and pay less than $700/year to insure a FJR1300 AND a Super Duke. Ok, it helps that I live in a small town and am knocking on 50 years old, but how much would a guy like me pay somewhere like Estevan, SK?

The govt. doesn’t care. Motorcycles are seen as toys at best, a menace at worst by most people and it’s way easier to classify them by displacement than maintain a database of horsepower for different models so we’re treated like second class citizens.

The facts that we burn less fuel, likely contribute less to particulate emissions from tire and brake wear, and take less space on the road and in parking lots aren’t considered.

He was 37. Still. If he got away with it for a few years, he may have come out on top. ICBC’s rates are ridiculous though and the system seems antiquated. Classifying bikes in displacement categories when horsepower and torque varies wildly depending on how many cylinders and the age of the bike seems wrong to me. Maybe someone can correct me? Did they get it right, and is this how it’s done elsewhere?