Bike useage vs your age...

[cowboyup3371]

Hello I'm Scott, I'm 46 years old and I have had a riding problem for the last 7 years. I used to ride to work a lot but I have been working from home more and more for the last 18 months. So, most of my riding now is for fun on the weekends or whenever Charmayne isn't working in the evenings.

[JJ]

I'm 61. I have been riding since i was nine. I started off on a 3.5HP mini-bike.

[Trilug]

I will hopefully be getting my first bike (83 gs850) in a week. I will hopefully be using it as a daily driver, after I get it completely tuned up, weather permitting. Even when I'm making a trip in the motorhome (99 workhorse shortcuts conversion) I'll have the bike with me as a "toad".

I'll be 40 this fall, and my youngest will be 17 a month after.

[tkent02]

60. Ride everywhere unless it's snowing or I'm carrying plywood or something. I went down the bigger and more powerful and heavier road for a while. Now I'm downsizing and getting more bikes. Got an F8GS, don't ride it much, the seat is terrible and it is a lot harder to ride in the rough terrain that the smaller bikes. It will go most anywhere but it's very hard work, it weighs a ton. DR 350, goes most anywhere but it's heavy for the rough steep terrain. Great for riding with my grand daughter on the back, keeping up with my wife on her AJP, or running down to the store for something. I probably ride it the most lately. IT 175, much lighter, great dirt bike, goes everywhere much easier. Just picked up an IT 200, lighter than the 175, a lot more powerful, much better suspension. It will be good once I get it in decent shape. The GS 550/675, mostly for blasting across town or across the state. Rip around the mountain roads sometimes. It's probably my favorite, but it's limited to pavement or nice smooth gravel roads. Got a 1968 AS50 for zipping around the neighborhood but I need to get around to getting it running. Have a nice tight 1977 GS 750, it's going to get the 1000/1100 engine as soon as I get around to it, but mostly it's just in the way. Haven't ridden it lately. It's a bit of a dog up here at 6,000' and higher. The 550/675 will blow it away and is way more fun to ride.
If I had to lug out an 1100 every time I wanted to ride I probably wouldn't ride very much.

[bobgroger]

By my count, half of the folks who have responded so far are 55+

I think if you look on a Gixxer or Busa forum you won't find anyone over 30....
Most of us are trying to re-live our glory days. I know I am. 62, started riding dirt bikes at 13. Bought my first street bike at 21, a '76 KZ900 with 1 mile. Rode it 4 years, realized I wouldn't survive much longer if I kept riding, and sold it. After a 35 year break, family grown up, I found a $500 850G on Craigslist and joined here thinking I could avoid the 10 newbie mistakes. Nope, and added a few more. Now I have 4 GS's and a modern bike. We have about a 5 month riding season, I ride any time I can avoid the freeway or don't need to haul stuff.

[earlfor]

I think if you look on a Gixxer or Busa forum you won't find anyone over 30....

I expect so. The GSR in most every way is unlike any other motorcycle site. It's more like a fraternity than an internet site. heh There is also a blatant lack of squids, ricky racers, bling boys and poseurs here. LOL

[glib]

...joined here thinking I could avoid the 10 newbie mistakes. Nope, and added a few more.

Had to laugh. I'm a learn by error kinda guy.

[kingofvenus]

I ride as much as i can. At the local dragstrip when there is a race with my 29yr old son who runs an '04 gsxr 1000. My 750 is raced when it is running, the idiot that owns it keeps breaking it.... I'm 57, i have owned at least one or more bikes since i was 10.

[jjbmxer]

Started at about 10years old a few years ago i put 20,000 miles on a cbr600f2 mostly back and forth to work. now just ride to relax now that i am almost 56

[Joe Garfield]

The older I get, the newer and faster my bikes get.

[Boriqua]

I am 54 and started riding street bikes when I was 16. Right through my 20's it was my sole form of transport and I rode on the tire path of cars left through snow back in NYC. Winter, spring, rain or sun I rode. Insurance cost for cars was out of my reach at the time and my Suzuki 750 never failed me. Had a girlfriend at one point that was 60 miles away .. so hormones raked up miles!

Funny thing is as a young guy I want bigger and bigger and had a Hurricane 1000, Couple of Harleys, VTX 1800 and a few others. What I found now that I am older is I really like the lighter middleweight bikes and they are the ones I will use most because I can just hop on it and go. Road gets a little rough I can even stand on the pegs and muscle it and 5000 or so rpm on the highway at 72mph is just fine by me.

Now that I luxuriously don't give a sh!t about my cool factor and can ride just a fun bike I really enjoy the 650-750 range and not being the musclebound youth I was .. they are easy to jockey around.

I ride for recreation with the wife just about every weekend and funny thing is .. almost 40 yrs later a gs750 is now once again my sole means of regular transport for more mundane chores. I work from home so dont need to be out and about much but doctors appointments, store visits and the like are on bike.

To the OP .. If I wasnt riding the 750 I would probably get another modern triumph. Maybe its not you but the bike you are less enthralled with. The triumph was almost like a heavy dirt bike on the street and just a hoot.

[robertbarr]

I'll be 61 soon. The first time I got stopped by the police was '68, so I was either eleven or twelve. I bought my '79 GS850 not long after they were introduced, which was a lucky break for me, since it was my only vehicle for several years in the military & college, and served me spectacularly well for seven years. Rode it half to death.

I'm down to two bikes -- a Goldwing for vacation & distance travel, and an '09 DL (V-Strom) which has injected a heavy new dose of enthusiasm into my motorcycling outlook. I've had the usual list of bikes, and I liked them all, but this Strom is almost a perfect fit, like it was designed just for me. Wheeling it out of the garage instantly puts a grin on my face.

I don't use motorcycles for errands anymore, but I like to get out on one or the other at least weekly for a few hundred miles.

I halfway decided that every other year I'd ride the BRP. I'd love to take the DL on it at least once, but I need to get from south of Chicago to around Maggie Valley first, and the GL is just perfect for covering that distance without draining my enthusiasm. It's also handy for getting me back home...

[aclaytonb]

I'm 35 and I've been riding for about 10 years. I normally ride back and forth to work and/or TDY. I've been continuously selling newer bikes for older bikes for the past decade. I don't do much joy riding as I'm in mid-career and don't have much time for that business. If I can retire in about 7 years, I'll probably ride a lot more.

[GSXR7ED]

The GSR in most every way is unlike any other motorcycle site. It's more like a fraternity than an internet site. heh There is also a blatant lack of squids, ricky racers, bling boys and poseurs here. LOL

Great summation Earl but they could be lurking without posting.


Ed

[limeex2]

I'm 59 years old been riding since I was 10 on the neighbors mini bikes. Started riding on the street at 15 with my first bike, a blue Honda SL125. When a friend took me for a ride on Honda 76 CB750F, I was hooked on big bores and have been making or riding mod-stock sport bikes ever since.

As I age, I seem going more upright in my riding, but find my GL1800 nice, fun but really hard on my knees. Girl friend loves it. My current GS1100F (F as in Frankenbike!) Has a GS1000 seat, sport bars and modern suspension under it and even with rear sets, is very comfy. The ZRX1200 is very comfortable also, and my Sprint can just rack up as many miles as I have time for. Probably the nicest riding, most practical, but ugliest bike I owned was my Tiger1050. With bags,trunk and 6.5 inches of travel it handled and stopped like a sport bike that could carry more crap than my wing, and had as much legroom as a car. Made mince meat of our ugly Mn roads. Road it from Estes Park Co. to Stillwater Mn in 1 day. 998 miles. Doght I ever top that again...