Ageing biker come-back

[Insanity_rules]

I like spotting the well off older newbies myself, you can see them a mile off. Usually with a new ninja 250 and wearing impossibly clean big dollar label gear. Good on em for suiting up and going for it but guys please brand new fully faired first bikes are a really bad idea.

[MIXONE]

Can't be arsed reading the whole thing....
I'll just say that for all the chucking-off at this bike type or that, ultimately it is the rider, not the bike, that causes any problems.
I've followed Fatboy riders on roads and at speeds that would have some of you crapping yourselves.
Now, obviously, a GSXR/HD race can really only have one outcome, but my point is that Harleys are not the handling equivalents of wetfish that some of you seem to think they are.

Agreed.I had a hard time keeping up with a mate on his FXD through the Buller Gorge.Mind you he has been riding it for more then 30 years.(The Gorge not the HD).

[Ixion]

The original contention seems perverse.

I can think of nothing more illogical than to demand that a new rider must qualify as a racer on a racetrack before being granted a licence.

That would be to endorse exactly the sort of behaviour that should be actively discouraged.

[James Deuce]

Ridden a few Harleys now. I think maybe you should too mate. I used to flatter myself that ignorant bigotry was a qualification to bag someone else's ride, but I was wrong.

I almost agree with the comment about bikes suitable for NZ roads, but the reality is Kiwis buy Sportsbikes and Cruisers and Trail/Enduro/Dirt/Farm/Adventure bikes.

Stuff like V-Stroms, TDMs, Versys, Triumph Scramblers, Motor Morini Scramblers, Multistrada/Hypermotards, Shiver/Dorsoduro which really suit NZ roads well don't sell because they're ugly/as techy as a hammer/engine too small for most Kiwis to be bothered with.

[McJim]

Notwithstanding, we old-floggs do a good line in desperately attempting to replicate our youthful days. The fact is, we may look 50 or 60 but we still 'think' we're teens, and we hate the fact we are not.

Speak for yourself dude. I may look 50-60 but that's just a side effect of too many Glasgow pub brawls, too many illegal drugs, smoking since I was 8 and drinking since I was 10...I'm still this side of 40....just...

And I ride a Ducati coz they go round corners easily. :

[PirateJafa]

I see just as many shite riders on sportsbikes as I do on cruisers.

The problem is not the bikes - it's the riders.

And I ride a Ducati coz they go round corners easily. :

You put Ohlins on your trailer or something?

[b1unt3d]

the problem is not the bikes - it's the riders.

ding ding ding

[Big Dave]

Triumph Scrambler and Moto Morini work well for the larger gent Jim.
My Buell does too - and suits the conditions well.

As I've posted often - It's the sportsbikes that don't.
Rolled up in a ball clutching narrow, below the instruments handlebars, with maximum weight on the front wheel, short travel suspension and motors that come alive over 7,000rpm is great for a swept track - and quite poor for dealing with a sudden blind washout or the dozens of other hazzards on the public roads.

[Big Dave]

By posting what you just did it pretty much proves the exact opposite

You missed the irony of it.

[wbks]

You missed the irony of it.

I see that now... Too distracted looking out the window at my wanky sportsbike lol

[The Stranger:Me]

Ha, got you there.

There's Tigger, ET, Bugs, Sylvester and Teddy.
So...

You forgot your good friends Patrick and Scumdog.

[slowpoke]

For a bloke with a dedicated track bike I never thought I'd say this, but I reckon there is plenty of fun to be had on a cruiser. Having just bought a late model sportsbike I can honestly say it's an absolute waste of time on the road. It's capabilities render it boring at anything less than full attack mode, which I'm old enough to realise is not a recipe for long term survival. You become blase about supersonic speeds and there is no way other road users can anticipate or recognise that you are doing those sorts of speeds. You may feel like the biggest baddest predator in the jungle on one of these things but unless you take it to the track you are kidding yourself.

Somewhere between 2000 (my old r1) and 2007 ("new" K7 GSXR) sportsbikes went from being old camaro type fast to being BMW M3 type fast. They are better in every measurable way yet somehow they are less enjoyable to ride at close to normal speeds as a result.

Everybody has there own definition for "acceptable performance" but I reckon getting a few mates together on M109's or V-rods etc would be an absolute hoot, and you wouldn't have to be doing 200+ to get your rocks off.

Back to the original foolish statements, when was the last time you went to a M/C wreckers? I was at a big one in Perth a few weeks ago, chasing up some bits for my race bike, and it was noticeable that for a brand close to leading the sales charts there wasn't a wrecked Harley in sight. Same goes for the crashed bike auctions on TM (Star Insurance etc) in NZ.

[MarkH]

No-one has the right to dictate to a returning motorcyclist what type of bike they can spend their money on.

I agree with that sentence.

I would also say:
No one has the right to dictate to a KBer what sort of threads they can start. I have no problem with dpex inquiring about whether the choice of bike might be a factor in accidents. I don't like the idea of censorship or the implication of some of the posts here that the starting post has asked questions that no one should dare to raise.

Rather than dictating what people can ride maybe a day course run by HOG to teach new riders about handling their shiny new chromed Harley would be a good thing to have available? Or maybe there is no need for such a thing? Maybe someone that rode a 250 for a couple of years is perfectly capable of riding any road legal bike 30 years later with no help from anyone?

Is it possible that if the returning riders bought some kind of well handling sports tourers that there would be just as many accidents and that choosing Harleys is not really a factor at all? Feel free to discuss this in a reasonable and rational way.

[Robbo]

[QUOTE=PirateJafa;1129412301]I see just as many shite riders on sportsbikes as I do on cruisers.

The problem is not the bikes - it's the riders.



Best post yet. Well said PJ

[dwnundabkr]

[QUOTE=Robbo;1129412684]

I see just as many shite riders on sportsbikes as I do on cruisers.

The problem is not the bikes - it's the riders.



Best post yet. Well said PJ

+1 here