Any longtime riders quit for good?

[toehold]

There is no right answer to this question. My summation is, if it’s still enough of a thrill you’re willing to risk possible pain or death then you’ll ride. If you aren’t then you’ll hang it up. Remember the good times, go on the next fun thing.

Is a regrettable decision to make? Oh yeah. But if your heart isn’t in any longer...

As many have said, cell phones have painted an even bigger target on our backs and my knees just can’t take it any more.

I’m going to put on my knee high, black compression socks and Bermuda shorts , head for Hawaii (next week), and lay on the beach. Give me a drink with one of those little umbrellas in it!

Sucks getting old.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[SheepnJeep]

Well so far I have managed to sell almost all of my riding gear. We are still getting more snow so I haven't been able to fish the bike out to get photos for an ad. I have rounded up all of the little spares and things. Its amazing all of the stuff you pile up for any vehicle I guess. I think I have finally settled on a selling price point as well. It is kind of tough to say what it should be worth but thats all part of the game I suppose.

 

[Presto88]

What bike are you selling and how did you "finally settle on a selling price point"?

 

[SheepnJeep]

What bike are you selling and how did you "finally settle on a selling price point"?

It's a Triumph scrambler. It took me a while to decide on a listing price because it is a 2006, which is now old, yet it has less than 18,000 miles. Not really a lot given the age. I just took a while and looked at past eBay final sales, searchtempest craigslist ads, etc to get an idea what they are going for.

 

[Zuber]

My best tip: don't sell your riding gear. Keep one complete set, just in case. You may want a ride again.

Then, in seven years, if you haven't used it, throw it all out. If you can.

 

[SheepnJeep]

I ended up selling my Aerostich stuff and keeping one jacket for the future. Man does 'Stich stuff depreciate. Its like driving a new car off the lot!

 

[dar395]

After riding about 50 years or so I gave it up as my riding partner did also, than low and behold my bud Danny goes out and buys a scooter of all things, ya 1200cc of power to less then 100cc, I followed suit. Then moving up to a 150cc scooter I tried a dual sport a little TW200 on the back of the travel van and hey I did not known how much you can miss being on a bike this fills my needs, don't need another Goldwing or Hd just the little 200cc TW200. Some think it's a safer bet to get off the bike all together my thinking is that I want to give this body of mine back beat to hell, we watch people around us in their 50's giving up the things they love! I hope I never give up hiking, traveling, sex. beer, dance and truly riding a two wheeler, hope you don't get caught sitting in a chair watch some BS show when it's your turn in line to see Saint Peter, Butt please don't hit we while your texting about that BS show! if you do!

 

[jkam]

I live full time in a small class C RV. Instead of having to tow a vehicle, I chose to carry a small dual sport motorcycle on a rack.
This has been my exploration, grocery getter, and laundry transport rig for more than 11 years.
It has been cheap to keep, allow me to still enjoy motorcycling but on a much less demanding basis.
So, for me, as long as I can safely throw a leg over and go for a ride, I will do so.

 

[b dkw1]

I am currently without a bike but not buy choice. At 48 I have been riding since I was 4 and always had at least one bike up until we moved from California to Kansas 3 years ago.

The main thing that has put off the purchase of a new bike is what to buy.

A crotch rocket would yield a plethora of speeding tickets.

Dirt bike, nothing comparable to the Socal deserts or Baja around here.

Dualsport? Why? In Kali traffic where you could lane split the KLR was the ultimate cheap commuter. Here, there isn't any real traffic and no lane splitting.

Harleys? I need something that can fall over without doing 2K in damage. Also not My style.

I would love to get the new CRF450L, but it's had to justify the cost on something like that when you only use it a couple times a year if your lucky. Colorado is a 9HR drive and the closest place that has what I would consider real riding.

So I guess I will just sit here and be bored till I figure out a way to get out of here.

 

[SheepnJeep]

Get a triumph and make your own fun! I'm actually not kidding around they are very fun

 

[Martinjmpr]

All right, not trying to be a total dips@%t here but I genuinely want to hear feedback from riders on this: What is the appeal of riding a motorbike for overlanding/exploration purposes?

You're exposed to the elements.
Your traction is very limited, to the point of being a hindrance, in many situations.
Your payload is extremely limited.
Crashes seem to be inevitable, rather than an exception to the norm. I'm not saying all of them will be catastrophic, but every rider I've talked to has mentioned having at least a few crashes under his/her belt.

I get the appeal of riding a bike for weekend cruises. But for traveling into new, and potentially remote, areas, I just don't understand the appeal of a motorbike.

Been riding 36 years this Summer but to be honest I don't quite get the "adventure bike" thing either. Other than an occasional dirt road, I ride strictly pavement. I can understand the appeal of dirt bikes but at 56 with both knees pretty thrashed (my avatar explains why) my biggest fear going off road is that I'll take a bad wreck and injure myself badly enough to not be able to ride back. On the pavement that's not a consideration but off road it is, and hence the reason I don't ride off road.

I do my off-road exploring on 4 wheels. It's safer and frankly, a lot more comfortable. I don't mind long motorcycle rides (I'm an "Iron Butt rider and have done two Saddlesore 1000 rides where I rode 1000 miles or more in < 24 hours) but pavement is just more enjoyable for me. I can carve corners and enjoy the thrill of speed.

I also don't motorcycle camp. I've slept on the ground enough in my life.

EDIT: Having said the above, I am contemplating picking up a lightweight dual sport for low-speed trail riding. Right now the TW200 is the main contender. It's such a cool looking little bike with its fat tires, and it's street legal as well.

 

[Clutch]

EDIT: Having said the above, I am contemplating picking up a lightweight dual sport for low-speed trail riding. Right now the TW200 is the main contender. It's such a cool looking little bike with its fat tires, and it's street legal as well.

That is what I mainly do, don't get out of 3rd gear too often...maybe hit 6th on the transfer sections, but rarely go over 50. Just kinda bump along. (might miss a trail out the corner of my eye if I go too fast )

Was out putzing around yesterday and found a trail I haven't been on before...was mostly this, then it turned right and went straight up the side of the mountain...no pictures of that since I was struggling for my life.

Was out doing trail maintenance 2 weeks ago.

Now ya see it!

And now you don't!

 

[jadmt]

I started riding in 1971 and lived and breathed motorcycles and at one point I added up 500,000 miles on them (it ultimately was much more but I got tired of counting). I put 40,000 miles on a bmw R1100S bike in 1.5 years and for a long time averaged about 20,000 miles a year on bikes. mostly Hondas, BMW's and Harleys. I did an 8 year stint where I got paid to ride Harleys. I would ride them 10 hours a day get home and jump on my dirt bike or sport bike to relax. I had a Honda XX up to 165mph indicated and could embarrass sport bikes on a hog riding HWY 12 in Montana (I rode it at least 4X a week so was pretty good at it) and I was never without at least one motorcycle and sometimes up to 3 from 1971 until 2015 and one day I quit cold turkey. People that knew me were stunned and many upset as it was what I did for my whole life, even my wife was bewildered. Why did I quit? for one very simple reason. I really just rode all the miles I wanted to ride, no close calls, no friends getting killed on them nothing like that just flat got it out of my system.

 

[Eaglefreek]

I started riding when I was 12 and managed to avoid injury for 9 years, until I wound up in the hospital for a week after a streetbike accident. Three months later, I took a spill attempting road racing and decided to give up motorcycles. Fast forward 20 years and after a divorce, I said screw it, I'm getting an off road bike. Well, I did well for about 2 years and then I tore my MCL, broke ribs twice and then destroyed my shoulder. I once again decided to give them up. Not due to the pain and injury, but I just don't have the finances to miss several months of work after an jnjury. If I ever somehow get to a financial position where I can, I'll probably hop back on a bike, but not on the road. It's too damn dangerous.

 

[Tex68w]

I started riding when I was 5 years old, I had a Honda Z50 followed by a Honda CR80. When I got a little older I raced Kawasaki KX125's in middle school and messed around with 125's, 200's and 250's through high school. I went off to college and got my very first street bike, a 2002 Yamaha R6, followed by a few Honda CBR 600RR's and then a 1000RR. After I graduated from college and started making good money I got really into European sport bikes and had a few handfuls of Ducatis, MV Agusta's and Aprilia's and lastly BMW S1000RR/HP4's. I messed around with track days and even some CMRA events. One day I woke up and said that's it for the street and track, I had had enough and the speed no longer thrilled me in the same way. That was in 2013 and other than messing around on scooters and a random DRZ Motard I haven't been back on a street specific bike since.

I've picked up a few KTM 300's over the past decade and rode them mostly at sanctioned trails (no public land in Texas) or at our family property, and I took them on a few trips on back roads. I went into the service and completely got out of bikes during that time, it wasn't worth the risk and the ******** storm I would face with my CO had I gotten hurt. When I got out I came across a smoking deal on a really low mile and clean DRZ400, it had motard wheels to go along with it and I enjoyed taking it around town and down to the river to fish, but it left a lot to be desired in the performance department. I sold it off last year for a small profit to a college kid as his first bike, he still rides it to class today.

Since last year I have put bikes on the back burner and I only tooted around town occasionally on a Yamaha Zuma 50cc, but I ended up flipping that for a nice profit not too long ago as well. My other half isn't a fan of the two-wheeled machines and finds them quite terrifying. I have done my best to leave it all behind for her benefit but lately all I can think about is getting a dual sport/adventure bike and taking trips out west and down to the Baja. I am only in my mid 30's but I have a bad back and I only have one riding buddy close by and the other is on the other side of the country, this makes the idea of adventure riding hard seeing how the majority of my trips would have to be solo (not a lot of adventure riders or riders at all in my AO). Nevertheless, it still eats at me and I have an opportunity at a very nicely modded Africa Twin that I am struggling to pass up.

At the end of the day it's not my passion for riding or the inevitable injuries, expenses, and time and money away from home that give me pause, it's the overwhelming amount of idiots on the road who text and drive today. I am not sure if I want to play the numbers game anymore and down here you have to use a lot of main roads in order to get to the less traveled ones, it's impossible to completely escape the cagers. I guess one can't live their life in fear of what could be, but it's just starting to make less sense. I enjoy off-road travel in a 4x4 and I spend a lot of time hunting, fishing, and shooting guns, but riding on two wheels and flying are both huge voids in my life these days. I don't foresee an airplane anytime soon so maybe picking up this adventure bike is what the doctor ordered?!