Have you ever considered giving up riding?

[DarkLord]

After I wrote off my first bike in a crash and spent the following week dealing with the sobering reality that I wasn't quite as awesome as I thought I was and all of the insurance bullshit, I considered getting myself a cage instead.

But it just did not sit right with me, I knew it wasn't the right thing to do, especially when another bike came up that was newer and better and that my insurance payout would just cover.

Once that happened I knew that it was not only the right thing to keep riding but that I'll probably ride for the rest of my life.

[avgas]

i managed 18 months once. But i imagine my future may have a longer period in mind for me to be bikeless.

[toebug]

I'm not so sure you can give up! Reading the posts it seems most of us have times when we have "gone without" but we all seems to come back. I've had a few bins, the last about 2 years ago which was my first with kids and a mortgage, It shook my confidence but I just went and bought a slow bike and rode that for 6 months.

But at the end of the day I'm pretty sure I have a addiction, and there are no rehab clinics for this one, nor should there be!

[Jantar]

I haven't ridden a bike since 25th May. That's 13 weeks tomorrow that I've given up.

However, tomorrow afternoon the bike comes out from undercover and gets a good clean and check over. Sometime this coming week will be my first (tentative) ride to the end of our driveway and back, then within another week, back to regular commuting and rebuilding my skills.

[Blackbird]

I haven't ridden a bike since 25th May. That's 13 weeks tomorrow that I've given up.

That's because Alexandra has been under 2 m of snow all that time

[Jantar]

I wish. Plenty of snow on the hills, but none on the ground at all. Weeks of lovely motorcyling weather wasted.

[Highlander]

So how is the shoulder healing Jantar?


I had 12 years "between bikes" thought about it nearly every sunny day. Regularly talked about getting back on.

[Joni]

Yes!

And at the risk of another KB flaming, Im still in that zone.

Has not stopped me from loving bikes, being around them... in fact I could never have a life without bikes.

However 3 people, 2 in South Africa and Loosebruce passing away has really shook me up. Where I used to get on a bike and be ok, I now get on one and Im scared, and I mean deep down petrified... If Clive can die, anyone can, he was one of the best riders I have ever seen, I am a novice compared to him...

Something clicked in me, that I have not managed to unclick it yet!

I'll get there... love them too much to not ride ever again... but for now Im hiding in a comfort zone.

[Jantar]

So how is the shoulder healing Jantar?...

I'll be able to answer that better next weekend. At the moment I believe I Have regained sufficient strength to wheel the bike out of the shed, so should be riding within a week. Then to build up strength, skills etc ready for next year's Southern Cross.

[Disco Dan]

Hmm okay, thought I should post in here...

I have always been a huge fan of mini's (the cars and the skirts). After owning close to 15 different cars in about 10 years with 4 of them being mini's I went and got a bike. Four bikes later and I saw a mint cooper on trademe and within 2 hours my ZX11 was on trademe and sold. It was a easy decision.

My family (in England) have always been motorcyclists and my Dad used to be a courier in his younger days on his Goldwing Interstate. He told me lot's of stories of him traveling across Europe for various jobs on it. It was also a one of a kind in the country.

However my uncle lost his life to motorcycles and my parents where very upset when I arrived home one day on a motorbike.

When I began getting all the training I could get my paws on they saw I was making a good go of it and being safe etc they felt much better. Then when I started the AWNMR they were almost comfortable with me riding!

But when I visited my parents in my new mini cooper after selling the rocket ship that was the ZX11 the look on their faces said it all....

When your own mother is unable to sleep properly at night for fear of the "phone call" it just wasn't fair on her.

I have been into mini's for much longer than bikes, and know my way around a mini better than a bike!

I remember one weekend three friends of mine had their bikes itching for a good ride (blackbird - xxxblackbirdxxx and ZX11 - astrocat). So we left Auckland - the two bikes and me in my mini following down to Big Bay. Awesome twisty roads, and yes I had no chance on the straights but on the corners I kept up. I still laugh when my friends tell people how they stopped at a gravel turn off (to our batch) ...I came zooming around the corner and saw them stopped, handbraked turned and slid around the corner doing at least 100kph right past them down the turn off. They told me later that the look on my face was amazing - flicking the car around and the whole time looking as cool as a cucumber as if it was nothing.

That same trip, on our way back to Auckland I managed to force one of my tires off the rim from going too fast sidways around a corner... I had forgotten my jack... so we loosened the wheel nuts and two of them lifted the mini onto two wheels - spare tire went on, nuts went on and they let the mini down. The looks on peoples faces was fantastic!!

For those of you that have never had 'the pleasure' of being in or driving these classics they are truly amazing and still ahead of their time even by todays modern car standards.

So as you can see - the decision for me to sell my bike was an easy one. But i'll be back... when I can afford to run two vehicles at the same time i'll no doubt buy another bike. Probably a blackbird or a concourse.

See my profile for a picture...

And even more pictures here: http://homepages.xnet.co.nz/~dsoutham/Site/Home.html

[FJRider]

After I wrote off my first bike in a crash and spent the following week dealing with the sobering reality that I wasn't quite as awesome as I thought I was and all of the insurance bullshit, I considered getting myself a cage instead.

But it just did not sit right with me, I knew it wasn't the right thing to do, especially when another bike came up that was newer and better and that my insurance payout would just cover.

Once that happened I knew that it was not only the right thing to keep riding but that I'll probably ride for the rest of my life.

Self proclaimed awesomeness comes with lack of age and experience... you either GROW out of it, or DIE of it...

[FJRider]

That's because Alexandra has been under 2 m of snow all that time

Not sure how much... the guage was buried in snow...

[TLDV8]

No,maybe tomorrow,who knows.
What i do know now is, life is not short (generally) but it is a one shot item and even with the risks involved i have no intention of wrapping myself in cotton wool when you can live it in Colour.

Yesterday was a 600 km round trip on the DR to the Oenpelli community in Arnhem Land.
Guess what that is in the red circle sitting out in the middle of the Cahill Crossing on the way back life be in it even if sometimes it has big teeth.

[Henk]

Left the bike sitting for about 18 months once, can't remember why.

[Big Dog]

I gave up riding once.
Reason? To spend more time with my kids and eventually have them live with me.
Those were the six hardest years of my life.
Every day was a constant challenge not to find some crackpot way I could have a bike.
When I finally got another bike I thought I would keep my car. I love my falcons, after 6 months of not driving it decided it had to go.

Will I ever be without a bike again? Who knows what the future holds, but should that ever be the case you can bet I will be scheming right from day one how to get back on something with two wheels and an engine.

Having to humble myself to commuting on the scooter to afford to keep the busa has alos taught me a new lesson. There is a greater challenge to a smaller bike and no real shame just small minded peers.