Officially an ex motorcyclist

[Blackbird]

Not sure if you're serious, but I am very aware of the issues around being an older biker, thank you.

It's something we all have to face at some stage. I'm 71 this year and motorcycling has been part of my life since I was 16. A few close calls through 50 plus years of bad habits and progressively adding more with a few near misses along the way made me want to future-proof my riding as I aged - as much as possible anyway. Have been trying to stay reasonably fit even with dodgy knees and have been riding to the Police Roadcraft standard since 2011. That's made a massive difference to my riding enjoyment. Enjoying my GSX-S 1000 but going back to a lighter Street Triple again is probably the next step to keep riding for a few more years.

The time will come when either health issues or prudence will tell us when it's time to pack it in. That's probably not going to be too traumatic as long as we have a fall-back interest to fill the vacuum of something we've all been so passionate about . In my case, have done just that by buying a new boat this year to go fishing with my Chief Financial Officer who wipes the floor with me most times we go out. Quite fancy competitive bowls too. Another small handful of years riding will do just fine. Every good wish to you, Old Steve!

[GazzaH]

Is this your lady delivering the bike to the buyer, Old Steve?

[Michael Moore]

AllenB, if you've got some spare money and a place to stash things you'll pick up all kinds of interesting bikes that a more prudent person might avoid. A drawback is you end up swamped with the stuff, and since I've always been better at starting projects than finishing them it is easy to find having those "gems in the rough" causing depression/panic and inducing a lot of avoidance of everything in the shop/storage. It didn't help that I was interested in lots of different bikes for different types of competition.

Many of us would do much better by saving up the money to buy a nice clean running example of those interesting bikes and avoiding the money spent to buy the dilapidated bike (and don't forget the extra parts bikes) and the storage rent that buys the bike several more times before you finally sell it for a fraction of the original purchase price.

It is hard to let an orphan bike pass unbought. I could see the potential, but I was generally not the person to make that potential an actuality so I was often a temporary (but often long-term) custodian.

There's another load to go out today. The buyer went to get his 12' enclosed trailer yesterday and found his girlfriend had it loaded with furniture she'd bought at an estate sale, so we put what we could fit into the back of his small pickup truck. We'll meet later this morning and finish clearing the warehouse space and then come back to the house for the other two bikes and tubs/piles of parts. Then I get to start sorting out the stuff I'm keeping and figuring out good places to stash it.

It is nice to be able to walk in the garage and not worry (too much) about tripping and impaling myself on something!

cheers,
Michael