ageing bikers

[disleydog]

Hi y,all
great to read rubbish about how good everything was back then and how crap it all is now-well its true isnt it?
You might like to read MY rubbish on my blog-peterbetabiker.wordpress.com.If you,re about 58 years old and are still refusing to grow old gracefully_you might find a kindred spirit !I left the UK permanently 5 years  ago to live in France;My biking freedom has never been better!(although my stamina and skill levels could do with a jumpstart)
ą Bientot
Peter

[Grizzly]

Hi Peter

Welcome to the forum.

Wife and I had a bike holiday in the Provence area last year. First time we have been there.

Warm sunshine, fantastic scenery, great food and empty roads with motorists that are motorcycle friendly.

I like the tradition of sticking your leg out to say thankyou. Must go back and soon.

[Hoofhearted]

At 62 years of age I still enjoy riding.  I don't ride too much on the street here (SoCal).  Too much traffic to be enjoyable.  But I still take my Norton to El Mirage dry lake and Bonneville.  Although the way gas prices are going I doubt I'll be there this year!  The body ain't what it used to be but I still turn into a giddy schoolboy when I see a cammy Norton or Velo.

[ribbit]

Actually I'm not gone.  Something happened with my computer and I couldn't get back here as HH.  So I'm under a new NDP.

[twolitre]

What is all this about age?  None of you are yet qualified by age!  I am in my "late sixties", but only for a couple of months more, and I have covered almost 3000 miles touring this year.
  However. The Chesterfield Classic Motorcycle Club, of which I am a member has several members who are well into their seventies.  They seem to disappear from the scene several times a year.  Queries about their health are usually answered with something like  "Oh, he's gone camping in Germany (or elsewhere abroad) on his Ariel".  There are other classic bikes used by him and the others.
  Maybe that means I am not yet qualified to join the age debate.  I am not in the same league for age and I cheat, because although I use my 1959 Speed Twin frequently for long and short club runs I tour on my late model Kawasaki W650.

Jim.

[boardtrack]

Hi,

I'm 62 & got my first bike in Nov 1962 (an almost bike - 50cc Ducati Falcon....but soon a 200 Ducati, 175 Jawa & then a terrific  250 Ducati Diana).

I was c 17yo when a man said, 'You're not someone who owns a bike, you're a motorcyclist and that's for life.'

I like bikes from all eras & riders from Freddie Dixon to Steve Plater, Rossi & Stoner.

Last night I was on the Panther site, wrapped up in the 1930s & changes to the 600 single & today MotoGP.

I truly appreciate vintagebike & Nigel's great efforts.  

And of all the aspects of vintagebike, I find 'Period Photos' special & compelling.  

For me I love looking at classic bikes, but more meaningful is viewing the bikes, era & people who so enjoyed them.

Take care, Vin

  

  

  

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

Biking freedoms in France !
Are they not under pressure from lane control ideas, isn't it true that, you cannot build a special in France & get it registered or insured, if the engine was not supplied by the manufacturers?  That the dreaded & unreasonable type-approval has taken hold in the land of our  garlic eating cousins, (good for the blood I may add)!  Europe is full of paranoid bureaucratic legislators who do not really understand our Island mentality!

But if you now live in France, then surely the good old days must have been better for you here in Blighty, otherwise you wouldn't be out their in France, sans logick!

Having said that, things here have got mighty merde in the last 25 years, personal opinion is the EU monstrosity hasn't helped the UK @ all, we have just become a market for EU goods & given the imbecile politicians we have @ home more geographical opportunities to be imbeciles with the counterpoints abroad on le Continent.


Seriously glad to hear you are enjoying yourself in the Autumn of your life, the only way out is a bang, rather than a whisper!
ą Bientot


JBW

[Mr B]

Old or new, vintage, veteran, classic, retro or modern. They're bikes, we're bikers, so lets all just fecking ride 'em!

[wink]

I“ve given up riding on the road here in Spain because they all drive like the russians on U Tube videos. But I still like looking at them and going through my scrapbooks. I should have taken more photos.

[Akat]

I'm 69 and live in MN USA. During the summer I ride nearly every day. A big problem here is deer. Every year a number of bike riders are killed from colliding with them. Luckily I've never hit one but have had a number of close calls. Combine that with the idiots driving cars these days and riding is mostly a matter of survival. I long for the old days when riding was a lot more enjoyable but I'm still happy to be able to get around on two wheels.

[mark2]

france is a great place and the roads are a treat to any motorcyclist , but they are tightening up  ,0 .2 on the drink limit (UK 0. means no more wine with your meal  unless your on foot . also don't have a accident in some of the more remote locations as you may well die before assistance arrives , its a far larger country than the UK

[33d6]

This thread was started by Disleydog way back in 2008. He seems to have left the scene. Anyone got any news?
Cheers,

[Rex]

I expect the poor bloke drank too much of that wonderful vin rouge, crashed his bike on some wonderful French road, and when someone found him they did the wonderful "me no understand" Gallic ignorant shrug and left him there.
Yes, I have ridden there, several times, but I'd far rather ride in the Wales Scotland, the West Country or a myriad of other  places in the UK.
French grass really isn't any greener, despite all the "Year in Provence" type crap...

[mini-me]

His 'trendy' style blog, like a poor mans Clarkson style, seems to have petered out in 2012.

As a confirmed francophile I haven't been back since 2007, its gotten all too euro for my liking, to say nothing of its population changes.

[mark2]

I still like france and  spend as much time as I can there  ,but the big citys are not good ,paris is now a dump compared to the late 60s/70s