I've done a lot of backpacking and a lot of motorbike riding--both throughout the world. IMHO each has its place. Those who complain with such vigor about backpacking and backpackers need to think about not going to Goa or the Gold Coast if they find these places so objectionable.

Couple of points, chosen from many more. Backpacking always brought me into closer contact with local people, helped me learn bits of local language, introduced me to aspects of local lives, and (yes!) even took me to a variety of out-of-the-way places I'd never have seen had I control over where I was going. It's the great advantage and disadvantage simultaneously of traveling by local transport---you never know who's going to sit next to you, where you'll end up, or whether someone's baby will puke on you or the goat on the roof will urinate in terror while you're too packed in to move out of the way. Sometimes your transport breaks down and you suffer mightily....but this unpredictability is what leaves room for all the fun stuff to happen.

On the other hand, a bike is great fun in part because I get to decide where I'm going, who's going to sit with me, where I'll stop and what route to take. I like this more and more....and it's been a while since I was puked or peed on. But I miss the days when I wasn't so much in charge, and bigger adventures happened routinely....until I take a trip with no motorbike and miss the freedom and control they provide. It's a balance, and it's never quite perfect.

I've never been to Goa; don't like that shit. Went to the Gold Coast once, and didn't like that much either. As should be obvious, a lot of overland riders are jerks, and a lot of backpackers too. This has nothing to do with the inherent advantages and disadvantages of one mode of travel or the other.

Oh, and don't forget: backpacking's far cheaper and much more carefree too: no worries about where the bike is parked or whether you'll find a set of tires in time, and no need to fret about paying a thousand dollars here, another thousand there for bike transport. The OP'd be spending a lot more time traveling and a lot less working through the northern Europe winter if he left the bike behind. That's why he ended up bike-less in India in the first place, right? It was either that, or stay home. He's just got to choose his destinations better.

Humbly submitted,

Mark