When the Forth Bridge opened in 1890, it was the longest cantilever bridge in the world, and it still looks like nothing else: three enormous diamond-shaped steel towers, joined by long arms, striding across the Firth of Forth to carry the railway between Edinburgh and Fife. Its engineers, Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, designed it after the collapse of the Tay Bridge in 1879 had shaken public faith in iron and steel, and they overbuilt deliberately, with great tubes of steel that made the structure look as strong as it was. The bridge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 2015.
The red paint is famous, so famous that "painting the Forth Bridge" became a phrase for an endless task. In fact the bridge was repainted in a modern coating that lasts for decades, and the work finished in 2011. The sight of a train crossing slowly over the water, with the other two bridges standing beside it, is one of the great views of Scotland. The Forth Road Bridge, opened in 1964, is now reserved largely for public transport, and the Queensferry Crossing, opened in 2017, carries the main road traffic.
The villages at each end give the best viewpoints. South Queensferry, with its old high street, has a pub that features in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped, and North Queensferry has a small harbour and a lighthouse. Boat trips go from South Queensferry to the island of Inchcolm, with its ruined abbey and colony of seals, and passing under the bridge from the water is the best way to appreciate its scale.
For motorcyclists, approach roads are busy, and traffic on the main routes across the Forth can be heavy at rush hour. Winds can be strong on the open crossings, and the road may close to certain vehicles in high wind, so check conditions. The roads of Fife and the Lothians offer fine riding at easier moments, with farmland, coast and small towns. Late spring and early autumn are good, and the light over the firth, in the long northern evenings, is superb.
Inverkeithing, about three kilometres away, has fuel stations and supermarkets, and Queensferry has cafés and pubs along the front. Try a bowl of cullen skink, a smoked haddock soup, or fish and chips eaten on the harbour wall, and bring a jacket, since the wind off the water has a bite even in summer.