Officially an ex motorcyclist

[Old Steve]

Sold my 2012 Suzuki Boulevard M50 this morning. She's gone to a good home to be a commuting bike. So I'm officially an ex motorbiker. Time, slowed reactions, age and Auckland traffic have all contributed to this change of status. The garage looks empty without her in it.



Though you all don't get off that lightly, I'll keep an eye on the goings on in here. I'll still be here to explain that Harley riders need to put 95 (or 98) in their tanks and not 91 as their user manuals advise.

[rastuscat]

Not having a bike doesnt mean you're not a motorcyclist. You don't get off that easily.

[AllanB]

I'd have kept the bike and moved out of friggen Auckland.

[caseye]

Go, om Move outa Dorkland and get anudder bike, you wont regret it.

[Katman]

Female road users can breathe a sigh of relief.

[SaferRides]

You've got me worried ... So how old are you, if you don't mind me asking?

[Old Steve]

SF, I'm 70. And my reactions aren't too bad and I can still get my bum up on the bike's seat. But I've had two accidents in the last year. The first one, a taxi turned through stationary traffic and took me out, then left the scene - dislocated shoulder and had rotator cuff damage to right shoulder. The second one, I braked on a painted line at quite a slow speed and went down on to curb - dislocated the other shoulder and had rotator cuff damage). I've also just had a largish operation on my right shoulder to remove a skin cancer and that's restricted that shoulder movement even more.

I had considered getting a bike with ABS as both accidents involved emergency or hard braking. But in light of me being damaged sufficiently in both cases to have to take an ambulance to hospital, my family are relieved that I've made this decision.

As for Auckland traffic, not only being taken out by a taxi, I've seen so many stupid things - particularly on the motorways where someone driving in the centre lane suddenly realises they just have to get off at this exit and wheel across three lanes without looking. I used to always ride in the centre lane because there you only have F**kwits on one side of you. But the increase of stupidity on the roads, mobile phone usage, sudden lane changes, speed and swerving through traffic, makes me realise that at my age I probably do react a little slower and my body probably would heal slower, so goodbye to the bike.

It's with regret that I've made the decision, and yes rastuscat I'm still a biker but just a biker without a bike.

Look out for someone in a white Toyota waving to you It'll take me some time to stop that.

[MD]

That's a shame Steve and I can understand your tough decision. Bikes are unforgiving and older bodies don't bounce like when we were teens, adults, middle age and now damn it , seniors.
Did you consider a lighter bike. That's my line of thought when the time comes. The M50 is a heavy weight.
All the best.
Mark

[SaferRides]

Thanks Steve. I've crashed twice in 2 years, and it does affect your confidence, especially when you're older. I haven't thought about giving it away, but my mate is selling his GS and I've had dark thoughts about selling the R1 to buy it. But not yet!

I hear what you say about Auckland traffic. You do see some random driving.

Take care.

[Berries]

Thanks Steve. I've crashed twice in 2 years, and it does affect your confidence, especially when you're older. I haven't thought about giving it away,

Why not? There must be a realisation at some point that you will have a third and there is a good chance you won't be as lucky as you have been.

It is a decision we will all be faced with and it will be a massive one at that, to cut the ties with our youth, our risk taking, our fun, and join the plebs in cars. But probably best to do it when you have some mobility left, not after you have punctured a lung, split your spleen and snapped your femur due to slower reactions or fading eye sight. On the wrong side of 50 or 60 the body does not recover that well and it will ruin your last years of bowling.

A hard decision for Steve, but surely the right one.

[SaferRides]

Why not? There must be a realisation at some point that you will have a third and there is a good chance you won't be as lucky as you have been.

It is a decision we will all be faced with and it will be a massive one at that, to cut the ties with our youth, our risk taking, our fun, and join the plebs in cars. But probably best to do it when you have some mobility left, not after you have punctured a lung, split your spleen and snapped your femur. On the wrong side of 50 or 60 the body does not recover that well and it will ruin your last years of bowling.

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

[Black Knight]

Sorry to hear of the "retirement" Steve-I am several years older than you,own several bikes and recently bought a 100HP Yamaha,purely for the torque,call me crazy but I do live in Northland where drivers are a little more careful,unless they are visiting Aucklanders.

[Michael Moore]

Disposing of the bike frees up space and money you can put into machine tools.

As of tomorrow I should complete my approximately 15 month slog of emptying 500 sq ft of remote warehouse storage of decades of accumulated project bikes/parts. No more vintage bikes (many of which were bikes I rode when new), no more dirt bikes (the nearest dirt riding is roughly 2 hours away if traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area is good, which it often isn't), no more drum brakes or wire-spoke wheels. No more paying SF rents to store stuff; if it can't be kept here at home I won't have it.

I'll have one street project and one track day project, and fiddling/making stuff is more the goal than riding because the streets are full of people who aren't paying attention or they just don't care about anyone else. There might, when those two are complete, be room for one more street project and for that I'm thinking of something aimed towards high fuel economy as that can be tested on the roads with less bother/expense than testing high performance on the track.

Research and design, CAD, CNC, manual machining, fixturing, panel beating and welding can all provide a lot of entertainment without having to mix it up with traffic. And if you get something built, take it for a ride.

I'll be 65 in a few months and I will admit the past 15 months have been somewhat traumatic. I had accumulated soooo much stuff, most of it in disrepair, and sorting it out and finding someone to buy it was a lot of work. Then there's the change of self-image issue. For the last 45 years I've been almost exclusively a racer - MX, trials, RR -- and builder and now the racer part of that will be almost completely gone.

Now I've got to figure out what I really want to be when I grow up.

Advisory Note: machine tools are cool, and you can spend way more on them than you can on motorcycles.

cheers,
Michael

[AllanB]

As of tomorrow I should complete my approximately 15 month slog of emptying 500 sq ft of remote warehouse storage of decades of accumulated project bikes/parts.

You Sir, sound like a American Pickers episode.

[Honest Andy]

You Sir, sound like a American Pickers episode worth watching.

fixed it for ya