Getting my dad back on a bike

[deleted111]

Evenin' chaps!

Basically I was wondering how many older bikers there are amongst us?

I'm yet to gain my full licence but I have a CG in the garage that I bought last month, I just need it going through the MoT and job done.

I'm 18. For what it matters. So I know I have plenty of time ahead of me for biking, and I fully intend on doing my test asap and getting myself a nice saucy 33bhp 600 or something .

My dilemma lies with my father.

I wouldn't normally state his age on a public forum but in this situation I suppose I'll have to... He's 48, soon to be 49.

He used to race motocross for Leicester back in the early 80's on an RH125 and a KX250 A7 and had a TY50 (I think) and a DT175 on the road back in the day, with L plates. He's always loved bikes and just never got round to doing his test.

When the CG was delivered, he was happier than I was, and I let him ride it up and down the drive quite often, when he's nice to me .

I keep saying he should do his test, or atleast his CBT (but unsure if he even needs it?!?!) so that when I upgrade to a bigger bike he can have my CG, so if he decides he's not keen on road riding after all, it's no loss!

but all I ever get is "No Steve, I'm too old for that now mate"

Bulls**t! So come on guys, he's not too old at all is he, it's just an excuse? I know full well, he'd love to do it. How many of the BCF massive are 40+?

Just needs a bit of persuading I think, as he appears to have a preconceived image in his head of most bikers being sub 30yrs old, which is a load of old twoddle!!

Thanks so much in advance guys, I know I can't pressure him into it but I just wanna get the old sausage back on a bike 'cos I know he wants to really!!

Cheers,

Steve.

[Gone]

Tell him I'm 52, ride an old GSX1100 and am getting a Fireblade on the weekend. Never too old!

[Muscle Bike Rider]

I'm coming up to 48, started riding again last year, doing my DAS soon. I commute daily on my baby dero and love it. Wife says its a mid life crisis but kids are all grown up, i've done the sensible responsible thing so now is my time. Your never to old to enjoy life, and a bike is the ultimate freedom toy to me.
____________________
Previously Known As A5tra_G
Old Bikes :2010 Kawasaki ER6 F & 2000 Honda VTR Firestorm
Current Bike : XJR1300

[deleted111]

Cheers guys . This is just the kind of encouragement I was looking for .

Just went downstairs and had another natter with him and he said he'd consider using my CG for work since he has to commute across the humber bridge and into Hull (gets passes so bridge toll wouldn't be a problem) and he'd save a fair bit on fuel in comparison to his C-Max.

His words (as of ten minutes ago):
"If money was no issue, I'd buy one of those CCM SR40's "

To be honest I think the only issue he has is the 'riding on road' thing. He just loves the idea of another offroader and he really isn't so keen on road bikes. Obviously doesn't like the idea of coming off either, but none of us do.

Had an accident when riding on the road back in the day whereby he hit a dog, and burnt his leg on his high exhaust, still got the scars . And his knees are well and truly buggered from racing so I just need to slowly nudge him into the idea of plodding around on a tame little commuter.

Cheers again,
Steve.

[deleted111]

Oh and regarding the 'sensible, responsible' thing. You've got a point. We (My brother and I) only live with Dad so he still has my brother to look after but he's becoming more and more independant by the week if I'm honest! Obviously I'm old enough to look after myself. Even if it just means he rides a boring-ish bike on weekends, I think it'll do him the world of good, just to give him that little bit more freedom!

Cheers

[Tonka]

I'd never even been on a bike until I did my CBT at 41 and a half!!

I was totally hooked, so straight onto my DAS with my bike paid for about a week after the CBT to keep up the pressure!! Decided I didn't get out enough with not feeling confident riding in all weathers, so the following year I bought the trail bike to build up my confidence and experience.

I'm now nearly 44, have had my licence for 28 months and have ridden about 18000 miles all for fun and that includes a 2150 mile offroad trip across the Spainish Pyrennees and the whole S-N of France in June this year.

If I can do it, anyone can - if he's still got the bike bug he'll not be able to resist!!
____________________
'The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences'
Suzuki SV650S (Clean); Yamaha XT250 Serow (Dirty)

[deleted111]

Thanks Tonka.

I think he's warming to the idea but is just a bit cautious. I do definitely think he still has the bike bug I even offered to pay for his insurance as it'd be pennies on a CG and I think he's warming to it even more now

If he did eventually come round to the idea of DAS, I think he'd go for a trail bike of some sort too. Purely because he detestes sports bikes (would feel uncomfortable knowing the old sausage had a hugely powerful sports bike and minimal experience anyway, so I'm pleased in a sense) and his background in MX suggests so also.

Cheers!

[Paxovasa]

Almost 43 and I can still mix it with the young guns
____________________
Suzuki GSF600 K3 (in the fastest colour, black).

[Gone]

[Paxovasa]

[Gone]

[Paxovasa]

[pinkyfloyd]

[SirEdward]

[Gone]

[Mr_Cynical]

My mother has just done her CBT at the grand old age of 49, so tell him you're never too old to start!
____________________
Bikes: '05 Better BT125-20 => '79 Honda CB750KZ (Now a project bike) => '99 Suzuki Bandit 600 => '01 Triumph Tiger 955i
"What's my motto? I like ham."
"It's a good motto, sir."

[Dazbo666]

[Peterthepillo...]

Well your all just nippers really then, I'd never sat on a bike before September last, did cbt at 55 with the other half at 58 (she took two goes, fell off but did it anyway. Did DAS in May, A licence this June.
Should have started years ago really as there isn't that much time left to enjoy it now.
____________________
A passage broad, smooth, easy, inoffensive down to hell.

[ERM1710]

49 and started riding for the first time about 3 months ago, CBT & Theory done, Mod 1 next week - haven't had so much fun in years riding the crappiest CG125 imaginable and can't wait to ride something good when I pass Mod 2 - it's great to feel like a teenager again after so long.

As long as you are physically and mentally fit enough, there's no such thing as too old!

[Gone]

[HP]

my dad is the same age as your dads and used to do some motorcross and had a suzuki 185 trials bike, etc and when i had my 125 delivered i wasnt in so he took my mum on the bike and he rode it up the drive and it gave him the biggest smile ive seen in a while, after a rushed thought and abit of persuasion he said he will think about insuring it and doing his test, but my mum talked him out of it and he then said no as she hates me having a bike, i then thought i could talk him into it but realised i would rather have my dad alive and not have to worry, however if your dad does his test good luck to him!!
____________________
What flavour would you like the windows Harvey?

[evoboy]

I got my old man back on bikes again by donating him my XJ600.

Last bike he had was the first one i sat on, a Suzuki Gt200 X5. ( Main reason behind me getting the X7, as its the bike he wanted) That was back when i was 3 or 4 so a good 18 years ago.

Hes enjoying it so much, were getting shot of the XJ and getting him a GPZ500s to replace it with. Mainly as he just uses it for commuting and cant get on with the weight of the XJ.
____________________
Suzuki GT250 x7------- Fazer 600------CB250RS------Aprilia Rally 70----- Bandit 600

APT Motorcycles

[Darth]

I didnt get a bike until i was 30 - my mum would never let me but then one day i realised i was probably old enough to decide for myself by now!
____________________
Harold_Shand wrote: I suppose it's like anything, you get your fingers burned when you start out, you learn from it and eventually become a complete arsehole about the whole thing.

[Teflon-Mike]

Think I must be one of the Young Guns too, then, 'cos I'm not 'quite' forty yet! Despite thirty years in the saddle!

If your Dad was into dirt bikes in his youth, AND is a little worried about road riding.....

Trials!

Took Snowtigeress over to a trial weekend before last, to show her what it was all about, & it fired her enthusiasm for dirt riding. Fact that there were no cars to knock her off was a big plus!

And the thing about trials is that its a passive sport. Slow speed, all about control and balence, and its scored by how many dabs you have on a section, not how many people finish infront of you, its competative, but only as competative as you want it to be, you can forget all the other people riding and simply ride against your own score, if you want.

AND they have an over 40's class.....

It could well be a good way to re-kindle his enthusiasm for biking, and answer a lot of his worries about the state of modern roads, etc.

But! Dont shove too hard, let him come round in his own way.

Anxiety about doing something like this, can be daunting, and it is a bit wiered. I mean, at 40 we look back on what we got up to when we were 19, and think just how uttery foolish we were, and how incredibly daft some of the stunts we got up to were... and then ponder the fears we had asking a girl out, getting married, becoming a parent, buying a house!

Riding a bike can be a temprary release from the worries we have.... or it can simply add another one.....

In his youth my Grandad was utterly pasionate about bikes. Local lore recounts how at 12 he was nicking his brothers Nortton and grass-tracking it over the local alotments; how at 14, he was sent to get his elder brother home from teh pub, and ended up constructing a twelve man piramic on this bike to get his brother and all his pissed up mates home, then many more tails, as an aprentice mechanic, before he joined the RAF becouse Spitfire fighters were a little faster.... stunted them too.... and got in trouble for it!

Top-Gun eat your heart out! Aparently in Sounth Africa during fighter Training, he was dog-fighting with an instructor; to loose the tail, he dived into a gorge, which to fit in he had to fly with the plane on its side.... which wasn't TOO bad until they came to a railway bridge..... so he flew under it...... side on! And got grounded for the privilidge!

Plenty of storied about the stunts he got up to on bikes too! His favourite was orchestrating grass-track races round the perimeter oval.

After the war, he returned to civvy street, as a mechanic, working for the AA.... who gave him a BSA and side car. My gran always grimaced at the mention of that one....

Then they moved to Africa where he worked for the Uganda police, managing thier motor-pool. He convinvced them to get the Askari motorbikes to replace thier bicycles, so they could cover more ground more quickly, but then had to teach the native officers to ride the things..... he did...... next thing the colonial police force knew was that they had a display team for the queens corronation tour, leaping through hoops of fire, doing twelve man pyramids (err, whrer did he learn THAT one!) etc...

After that, he went to work for the Roots importers.... (I wonder whether he was just a 'little' too rebeliouse for the colonial police!) They had an Areil concession.... The Governers Humber was left languishing in the repair depot.... George was to be found out at Nakamari dirt-track..... with a couple of the local aprentices and a pair of 350 Red Hunters.... fitted with short stroke 250 cranks, & 500 barels to make them screamers, ported, cammed and generally tuned beyond credance, being campaigned in 350 and 'open'!

He came home in '61, with the rise of Idi Armin, and a young family, and that was it. Biking was consigned to the past.

There was a small flicker, when my uncle, aged 15 'got into' bikes, but that was only a moment, as his best mate was killed on a CB72 at 17, leaving a legacy of old Lambretta & BSA bits littering the garage for Pops to grumble about.

Few years later, I came along, and dragged an old Batavas moped my mother had bought to get to college on out the back of the garage, where it had laid since it had failed its first MOT.

Pops tried to ignore me, pottering around teh garden on it. Steadfastly found excuses for not looking at it when I sized it up, until ONE DAY, I had 'unsiezed' it, but having taken the cylinder head off to do it, couldn't hammer the head-gasket flat enough to seal again. And had left the bike in the drive.

He came home and spoted it, saw the problem, mangled head-gasket hung on the pedal! And in a fluke of charity, or possibly an extra G&T at the boot on his way home, went in teh garage, found his old copper hot water tank he kept for such situations, and cut and anealed a new gasket for it.

I was alerted to his actions by the sound of the motor firing up, and reving past my bedroom window.

I came down-stairs, to see him wheelieing up tha garden. He dissapeared behind a tree, to re-appear stood on teh seat.... then wheelied it again...... THEN he took his hands off the bars, and stood cruciform on the saddle...

But the bike didn't have a friction throttle, and wasn't very fast..... so it slowed down.... and he fell off!

I TORE up the garden, to find him in a tangle with the bike and a tree, LAUGHING his bloody head off!

In teh following few years, I bought my comp-trials bike, and my Uncle, having over come his mourning for dead mate had got back into bikes, and after a few road bikes, got himself a road-race bike.

Pops was in his element, spannering the bikes, but didn't matter, he wouldn't get on any of them.

I dont know why, exactly.... but as a good guess..... you can look back at the 'glory days', and remember them fondly, but you can NEVER re-capture them.

Doing it over, you have to do something different, becouse its never the same, and if what you did before was something so special, the encore CAN be nothing more than an indian summer.... a mere shaddow, without the same spark, and end up diluting the original.

Sometimes a GOOD memory is enough.....

AND, we CAN enjoy experience through our kids... we DONT have to do it for ourselves.

Watching you get your CG, seeing you grow and learn and enjoy something HE did, giving you a shared experience, even if seperated by twenty five years or whatever, CAN be just as good.

Its great that you want to share this experience of yours with your Dad, BUT, when you are encouraging him to get back on a bike, just have a little care, and ask yourself WHO you are doing it for? Him, becouse he REALLY is missing something, or YOU, becouse you would like to do something with him.....

BEST encouragement you can probably give him, is nothing to do with commuter savings or the freedom of riding, or how doung bike CBT would refresh his driving skills, or anything like that......

JUST tell him how you feel, and that you are discovering the joys of biking, and you would REALLY like to share that journey with him, and ride with him, and do SOMETHING you both enjoy, together.......

Provided thats your underlying motive........
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[deleted111]

Tef mate, that's one of only a few of your posts I've read start to finish

But thanks a million, you've pretty much summed it all up for me!

I understand there are risks involved with getting him back on the road and I also understand that he's not quite as nimble as he used to be, and he would feel vulnerable on the road on 2 wheels after it being roughly 30 years since he last rode a bike properly.

But you're spot on with the 'shared experience' stuff.

I've had my fair share of MOT failed, rustbucket 2 strokes in the past, and he's always been more than happy to tinker with them and help me restore them, get them running, etc etc.

I think me getting a CG, has refreshed all his memories of how he used to spend hours on hours sat in his garage tinkering with his MX bikes and the few road bikes he had.

I guess I AM being a little selfish, in that I haven't quite seen it all from his perspective, and just really wanted to be able to go on ride outs with my old man. But having took everything into account, I think he'd be just as happy helping me with the maintenance side of things, and the odd bike-related conversation over a cup of tea.

My dad and brother are all I have, and the worry I'd have everytime the old sausage goes out on a bike, isn't worth it.

Thinking about this a bit more clearly, and I honestly think we'd both (dad and I) be much more content with biking discussions, and hours together in the garage mending bikes and reminiscing on his past experiences.

Thanks fella, really made me think now.

Cheers,

Steve.