Aging Riders

[dazzler24]

On 10/25/2022 at 10:14 PM, johnmark101 said:

I am fortunate that my wife let me decide if I wanted to keep riding after the accident as she knows how much it means to me, and she does not mind when I am gone on the bike for a few days as long as I check in by phone each time I stop, to let her know my location.

My wife also used to like me to check in with her and was always a bit nervous when I went out for my solo rides so to give her (and me) some peace of mind I have simply shared my location with her from my Android phone.   That way she can see where I am at any time it suits her and I don't have to think about stopping to call regularly.

I believe that Apple phones have something similar?

 One important caveat - Just remember to turn it off before you visit the girlfriend though! 😋  Ask me how I know!! Just kidding.... or am I?.... no, I'm kidding.

[2and3cylinders]

2 words, Rich Widow

[maximo]

On 10/26/2022 at 2:38 AM, Paddy01 said:

 I’ve seen so much that I can’t begin to imagine how you guys in North America choose where to go next in such a vast landmass. 
 

 

Sometimes I just point and shoot. Problem is, I can ride for 10 hours on the superslab and still be in the same State.... 

[Paddy01]

Being in Europe I find that quite shocking and unimaginable.  In 10 hours I can cross at least 6 countries with huge changes in architecture, topography, language, food, culture and attitudes. I equate your situation/predicament of being in the same state, or even country, to waking up in a Marriott and not knowing where you are because they’re all the same. I think we’re very lucky in Europe that even neighbouring countries can be totally different in every way. 

[Heavy]

I'm sure there's worse but drive across Ontario sometime. 😁

My wife and I rode my V-Strom to BC a number of years ago.  We had to cut through Michigan, Wisconsin and North Dakota, rather than go through Ontario.  She couldn't manage long days on the bike and hotels were closer together in the US.

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Heavy

[peteinpa]

How about the flip side to this?

With baby boomers aging out, is there a future to motorcyling?

Yunguns don't take to riding like we did. They'd rather sit indoors gaming/on their phones.

Facebook Market/Craigslist is Polluted with used bikes.  They don't move much.

I just turned 58. My riding has changed.  I ride alone almost exclusively, used to do the breakfast rides all the time, big group rides, etc. Dont know how I did it even then. More not riding then riding.

Now my rides are shorter, 4 or 5 hour afternoon rides are it. I'm fine and happy with that.

[kilo3]

12 minutes ago, peteinpa said:

How about the flip side to this?

With baby boomers aging out, is there a future to motorcyling?

Yunguns don't take to riding like we did. They'd rather sit indoors gaming/on their phones.

That's because they can't afford it, same thing with houses. I work with college grads, none are able to afford a house withing 45-60 min drive from where work is located. Almost all of them live at home not because they want to, but because they have to.

[miweber929]

11 hours ago, peteinpa said:

Yunguns don't take to riding like we did. They'd rather sit indoors gaming/on their phones.

I think this is true to a certain extent but like @kilo3 said it’s more of a cost thing. Grom’s, Navi’s and the other small “city” bike sell pretty well, and a lot are going to younger people looking for cheap transportation. Go to any big city and the BIRD style scooters are everywhere, being ridden at breakneck speeds, electric bikes are selling well; honestly I think the younger generation is more open to many things that us older people aren’t. 
 

I’m going to probably not get a lot of agreement for this but I think a lot of what is slowing the growth of motorcycling down can be attributed to the current riders. How many of us have told our kids motorcycles are dangerous because we rode crazy on our 80s and 90s sportbikes? How many of us ride like assholes, cutting in and out of traffic, wheelies, riding crazy fast, huge bright lights or being aggressive while we ride? How many of us throw the loudest ass pipe we can find and bang off the rev limiter all the time because we believe the “loud pipes saves lives” BS that gets spewed? Maybe not as many as a lot of other forums I visit but enough still do.

If I didn’t ride I know my wife would still hate motorcycles because she grew up in HD heaven Milwaukee, WI with all the loud ass pipes everywhere, people riding bar to bar just being jerks. I introduced her to sportbikes, trips, traveling, riding controlled fast and she now loves it. 

How about some positive things we could do: how many of us see a youngster in the neighborhood who rides and invite them for a ride with you? How many help the younger riders with questions and not berate them for not knowing, being young or automatically dismissing them? How about inviting them over to work on their bike a bit? 

Theres a lot of reasons the 2 wheeled lifestyle is getting smaller. But we don’t always help ourselves stop it. 

Edited November 20, 2022 by miweber929
Clarity and spelling

[NormR]

43 minutes ago, miweber929 said:

.....How about some positive things we could do: how many of us see a youngster in the neighborhood who rides and invite them for a ride with you? How many help the younger riders with questions and not berate them for not knowing, being young or automatically dismissing them? How about inviting them over to work on their bike a bit? 

I snuck out one day and bought a 500 Shadow at a garage sale of all things. In the end, I had no real interest in riding it as I had my Ninja that was too much fun to keep it parked. I did however give my 5 year old godson a ride on it one day. I know he's wearing shorts  but the ride actually was less then 1 minute long. Little did I know that I planted the seed and 20 years later we would be riding together.

Edited November 19, 2022 by NormR

[KrustyKush]

In 1974 my ride was a 72 Suzuki GT750 Water Buffalo.  One day, I stupidly took my nearly 2 year old son on a ride, setting him on the fuel tank and holding him there against my body and between my arms.  It felt fairly safe to my 24 year old stupid head.

A few miles down the road (Austin, TX) I was pulled over by a LEO.  He politely explained that carrying my son on a motorcycle in such manner is not only stupid, but illegal.  No ticket, just a warning.

Fast forward.  Son is now 50 years old and recently bought a used Sportster.  Out of the blue, he wanted to learn to ride.  He lives in Albuquerque.  I rode out a couple times to help him, as he was having some problems figuring out the controls.  On the second trip, he was riding well enough that we were able to take a ride together down to Silver City, and then up the western roads north and west of Silver City.  It was a wonderful ride, lovely weather, and a certain joy felt in seeing my son, at age 50, take the rather large plunge into riding.

[ZigMerid]

3 hours ago, miweber929 said:

I think this is true to a certain extent but like @kilo3 said it’s more of a cost thing.

The other matter is the licensing process.

In the US it's still pretty easy to get a license, but in other places it's become quite an extensive and expensive process. In California, e.g., you basically pass a knowledge test then take an MSF course and you're good to go.

By contrast, in Australia, you first have to have a car license for at least a year, then you have to go thru a rider training course to get a learner's license. Once you get your learner's license, all riding must be supervised by an experienced rider.

The next step is to pass a provisional license test which you need to hold for 2 years prior to applying for an open license. In summary:

1. Car license (which is a whole process in itself requiring 100 hours of driving experience)
2. Learners
3. Provisional
4. Open

With each stage typically requiring a course, a knowledge test and a practical test. So, starting from scratch it's realistically a 3 year process before you gain an open license.

I believe there are similar steps in the EU/UK.

Not that I'm against the extended learning process as beginner riders are a huge component of the road fatality stats and even experience riders are 3 times more likely to die than car drivers, but it is a fairly large barrier to entry that didn't exist 20 years ago.

 

(PS. I might have got the finer details a little off as I've had my license forever and have only seen the process second-hand, but the essentials I believe to be correct).

[miweber929]

On 11/19/2022 at 11:58 AM, KrustyKush said:

In 1974 my ride was a 72 Suzuki GT750 Water Buffalo.  One day, I stupidly took my nearly 2 year old son on a ride, setting him on the fuel tank and holding him there against my body and between my arms.  It felt fairly safe to my 24 year old stupid head.

A few miles down the road (Austin, TX) I was pulled over by a LEO.  He politely explained that carrying my son on a motorcycle in such manner is not only stupid, but illegal.  No ticket, just a warning.

Fast forward.  Son is now 50 years old and recently bought a used Sportster.  Out of the blue, he wanted to learn to ride.  He lives in Albuquerque.  I rode out a couple times to help him, as he was having some problems figuring out the controls.  On the second trip, he was riding well enough that we were able to take a ride together down to Silver City, and then up the western roads north and west of Silver City.  It was a wonderful ride, lovely weather, and a certain joy felt in seeing my son, at age 50, take the rather large plunge into riding.

Love this!!!! I ride with my dad whenever I can, he started me just before my 4th birthday on a Z50 and I’ve loved it since. He’s 72, I’m 50 and we still have a blast. This is him and I in the Smoky’s this fall, him on his ‘21 XSR900, I was jumping on the Supersport to take a spin before everyone else showed up later that day. 

Edited November 20, 2022 by miweber929

[harraseeket]

speaking of comfort .....

with big madstad screen blocking wind you don't need to lean forward at all to counteract wind force.

i put the helibars on my bike ( they used my bike for the prototype ), but still found that riding around on cruise control i was grabbing the mirror stalks to be more comfortable. i find the tracer plenty quick steering enough for me, didn't need any extra leverage to get bike to turn at all. so i cut off 1.5'' off each end of handlebars and find it much more comfortable

[FarmForce]

I am 61 now and been riding since I was 16 .... I can tell you YES, my riding skills have diminished noticeably since my 30s and 40s, but I also have cooled down a whooooooooooole lot form those days. So I am all good. I just LOOVE getting my 16 year old son introduced to the sport! Just got him a KTM 200 Duke for starters.

Edited November 29, 2022 by FarmForce

[FarmForce]

On 11/19/2022 at 12:58 PM, KrustyKush said:

In 1974 my ride was a 72 Suzuki GT750 Water Buffalo.  One day, I stupidly took my nearly 2 year old son on a ride, setting him on the fuel tank and holding him there against my body and between my arms.  It felt fairly safe to my 24 year old stupid head.

A few miles down the road (Austin, TX) I was pulled over by a LEO.  He politely explained that carrying my son on a motorcycle in such manner is not only stupid, but illegal.  No ticket, just a warning.

Fast forward.  Son is now 50 years old and recently bought a used Sportster.  Out of the blue, he wanted to learn to ride.  He lives in Albuquerque.  I rode out a couple times to help him, as he was having some problems figuring out the controls.  On the second trip, he was riding well enough that we were able to take a ride together down to Silver City, and then up the western roads north and west of Silver City.  It was a wonderful ride, lovely weather, and a certain joy felt in seeing my son, at age 50, take the rather large plunge into riding.

My second bike (after my GT250) was a 1975 Reimo GT750 (famous German Suzi GT tuner in the day). Mildly warmed over to 82 hp. This pic was taken in early 1978 when I just got her.