On the streets of L.A., you are what you ride

It's obvious the instant a motorcyclist flips his lid and gives another rider the once over:

Uncreased leathers straddling a Ducati 996 with center-worn treads? Sport-bike poseur.

Clean-shaven mug all geared up on a Harley, rumbling fresh from the showroom floor? Rich Urban Biker (or more sneeringly, RUB).

Flip-flops and shorts weaving through traffic at 90 mph on a Yamaha R1? Squid.

To drivers, motorcyclists seem like a unified group -- those death-wishing two-wheelers, splitting lanes, cutting in line and otherwise conspiring to make the daily commute miserable. But unbeknownst to most people in cars -- or vans or trucks or buses -- all along the city's congested streets, sprawling canyons, desert flats and endless strip of coastline, it's a bike-versus-bike world.

What you wear, where you ride, who you ride with and how is largely dictated by the machine you happen to be revving around on. Cruiser or sport bike? Weekend warrior or daily driver? Too fast or too tentative? Wave hello or stare straight ahead? Full-face helmet or "brain bucket"?

No matter what road you take, the fact is motorcycle riders self-segregate based on their bike. It's more of a snobby superiority than a serious fight. You won't find riders running each other into the ditch over their differences, but there's no shortage of insults. (Filthy bike loaded down, Joad-style? Ratbike. Fringy, overdressed Harley? Garbage wagon.)

You'll find them all here. There may be no better place than Southern California for bikers of any ilk. Chalk it up to the weather and a multitude of places to ride, but anywhere there is pavement -- or wide, open swatches of dirt -- you'll find two wheels, especially on the weekends. Ask motorcyclists why they ride, and you'll get the same answers from every one of them: It's the adrenaline rush, the freedom, the in-the-moment thrill.

But that's pretty much all they agree on.

Sport bikes

During the week, canyon roads are for commuters, but on the weekends they belong to bikes, when packs of swarming, buzzing motorcycles head into the hills for a few hours on the twisties. The roads that switch back and forth through the Santa Monica Mountains are home to riders of all stripes -- anyone who's up to the task of twisting the grip and testing their skills -- but sport bikers have the edge when it comes to handling knee-scraping turns.