One for the Older Members of the Forum

[headlamp]

An article has just been brought to my attention that personally I think is an over generalisation!

Most of the riders I see of my, er, generation, seem considered and ride with due care - me thinks this is another example of biker vilification by the press!
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Using a mobile phone while driving a car should be made a capital offence!

[TheShaggyDA]

It's only a problem if you have a 20-30 year gap in your riding.
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Current: CB500 Previous: CB100N, CB250RS, XJ900F, GT550, GPZ750R/1000RX, AJS M16, R100RT, Enfield Bullet

[i:6e3bfc7581]But still I fear and still I dare not laugh at the madman...[/i:6e3bfc7581]

[headlamp]

Reading the article again I like the bit that says

[Bendy]

Some good comments in the 'have your say' bit.

[Tarmacsurfer]

Bloody ridiculous is what it is, it's hardly a new phenomenon.

/offtopic maundering

I'm just waiting for it to go full circle and bikes to stop being "chic" and "cool" and to go back to listening to the neighbours say "Well, there goes the the neighbourhood" again.
What happened to the leather and denim clad outlaws of yesteryear, when Southend was a good day out and scooter riders were as passionate about their machines as the rockers. A scooter was a way of life rather than just a thing you posed on until you were old enough to buy a chavalier. Nowadays it almost seems that anyone who rides a bike is in their early forties and has it (and the leathers) on HP from the local dealership, and to most a virago with an aftermarket chrome luggage rack is the ultimate chop.
If nothing else, /respect to those who are dedicated (or odd?) enough to pay huge chunks of cash for the insurance premiums involved in riding a bike sub-25 these days.


Yes, alot of this is sarcasm. I am not in a good mood today
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[bazza]

You're only on a 50/125/250/whatever until you can afford something better. By the time you can afford a sport 600 and the insurance, you're well into newlywed plus kid on the way territory and her indoors says the bike has to go so you can buy a nice people-carrier/4x4 which you promptly hand over the key so the missus can go out and revenge herself on all those she reckons are your former biking buddies.

By the time you finally get rid of the kids and (hopefully) your 4-wheeled conspicuous consumer symbols, you can finally afford a decent bike and not have to bend over and grease up for your insurance premiums and what happens? The feckin Beeb post some load of sensationalist crap worthy of the Sun on a slow day.

And to cap it all, all those jealous spods from my first paragraph agree with it.

Feh.


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"That's it. You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college."
'98 Ducati 750SS, '08 Suzuki GSX650F ©2004-2014, Bazza's Harmless Banter

[BlackSheep]

Tarmacsurfer Where i come from there is a very big difference between a Biker and a motorcyclist ,
The vast majority of people that ride bikes these days are motorcyclists I.E. race rep riders dressed as power rangers ,or weekend riders ,plus the born again lot

The Biker catagory for me means club bikers as in Patch clubs or MC clubs (if you dont know what a patch club is your not a biker your a motorcyclist) ,Bikers for who bikes are a complete way of life not a hobby or a toy , They usually start riding at a very early age and stick with it all their lives and usually build their own bikes etc

Tarmacsurfer i suspect that you know excactly what i'm talking about there are still quite a few of us left but no where near as many as there once was.
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GSXR 1100 StreetFighter

[Retro-Man]

At the end of the day how many of us here would even consider jumping on a CBR1000 after even 10 years off the saddle without getiing a little practice or refresher lessons first.
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https://domharnessphotography.webs.com

[kasandrich]

^^^^^ That'll be me

At the age of 42 I did a 4 day DAS course, then went out and bought a 1991 CBR1000fm (I guess thats not what you meant when you said CBR1000, I guess you meant a Fireblade?)

But at 42 I have a lot more sense than I did in my younger years and I am fully aware of my own physical and mental limitations, I hear on this forum, of teenagers with L plates and thus no test going faster on 125's than my self imposed limit on my CBR1000fm, and I am prepared to build my speed as I build my experience, and I've gone to the trouble of joining the local Advanced Motorcyclists Group to take further training with a view to passing an Advanced Motorcyclists test.

But please bear in mind I weigh in at 24 stone, so a) I would look silly on a small bike, and b) I need a bigger engine to obtain similar performance, (imagine you were carrying a pillion ALL the time)

There is no way I should have been let loose with this bike when I was younger, but now I have settled down enough to cope with it.

And to anyone who brings up the old "mid-life-crissis" line, this is when people suddenly realise they are getting old, that their lives are not worth living, there is no crisis in my life, my life is the best it has ever been, but I am in a position where finance is less tight than it has been previously and my kids are more independant.
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Richard

CBR1000FM

[Robchester]

Blacksheep, i cant say i agree with your comments. Id say that anyone who rides a bike, regardless of what is (as long as it isnt self propelled) then theyre a biker. I dont build my own cars but im not a carist, im a driver. I take a passionate interest in both cars and bikes, and there isnt a day that goes by without me thinking/talking/using them so i dont understand where the divide lies. Ok i dont use the bike through the winter, but i dont think you should have to to prove your "bikerness" by joining an mcc, and spending every day up to the elbows in grease. I do some of my own maintenance, as much as my ability allows me to. Where do you divide what you call a "motorcyclist" and a "biker?"

However i must say if someone says "im a biker" then i do tend to think of a fat bloke with a goattee and a range of tattoos who rides a cruiser and spends all day polishing chrome.

[Born2bVile]

[tintin]

I came back to biking after a long gap, I'd sold my bike to start a business and then the kids come along, but eventually those little voices started coming back into my head. Once you have had a bike it seems to get a grip on you like nothing else.

When I went in the bike shop the saleman tried to persuade me that a used Fireblade would be a great buy, (he also tried to offload a Suzuki RF900, hmmm). I settled on a Yamaha Thundercat and sure enough I crashed it a month later when I panicked and went straight on at a corner after I hit something lying in the road.

I was unsure if I wanted to get back on the bike, my wife was very unsure, but the insurance company gave me a brand new bike, the other one was written off. I was lucky I got away with a couple of days in hospital broken toe, ribs, collar bone and fingers, which still don't work properly. I guess I was lucky, I could have been one of those statistics. It took a while for the confidence to come back and I've slowed down and spent time learning about riding my bike. Seven years later, and no more accidents, I still enjoy my bike. I commute and use it at weekends and the odd track day but I've realised what I could have lost. My worry is not in my own abilities or my road sense but that one day a car driver will do something really unexpected and that will be it...

I think proof of a refresher course if you haven't ridden for over 5 years should form part of the insurance procedure. Not wobbling around cones but on the road with an experienced instructor.
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The older I get the better I was

[killa]

Ha!

Had one of these guys on my CBT when i had to take it for the second time (expired)
Said he did have a bike before when he was younger, think he said CG so i ignored him.
Anyway, i think he stalled the 'fun 50' some how, almost died during the test as he was over weight (obviously the result of the office work and eating doughnuts on birthdays).
He said later he was going to do full test and get a Harley.

Alot of people on here belive everything the fcuking read, and if this one is true then the argument against me boosting insurance is now void.
Old people ruin young guys fun.
Shit thats the same with almost everything!
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Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[dainesefreak]

What a load of bollocks, both the article and some of the replies on this thread.

Motorcyclist and Biker - who gives a f*ck. I don't feel the need to belong to a club or necessarily need to feel that I'm part of the biker fraternity.

I would stop and help another biker motorcyclist, I also nod, but I don't feel the need to wear a badge, go to rallies, wear leather chaps and denim cut out jackets. It's my choice to ride a bike and I couldn't give a shit what anyone thinks about it or my reasons for doing so.

I find it absurd that someone would think that they are the "real deal" and have more of a right to ride because they ride all year round or they don't have a faired bike or a sports bike or know how to alter their flanging gasket, who cares. Seems to me that the only sort of person who would care is quite shallow.

I would nod to a kid on a scooter and much as another "real biker". People are people, some of them are twats some aren't doesn't matter if they ride, drive, cycle or walk.

Get on with it and mind your own business.

Oh by the way. I do ride a sports bike, but then I've owned unfaired bikes, two strokes, four strokes, old bikes and new bikes. I'm early 30's, have always ridden bikes without a break, all year round, don't drive and now I'm trying to justify myself.

[cc123]

Born2bVile:

[killa]

I call guys who think leathers are all black and tight 'Gimps'

And the chaps who have a red and white R1's etc 'Power Rangers'

I dont care when you ride, what you ride, or how.
I was mearly taking the piss.
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Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[Wingnut]

Who cares? I don't think of myself as a biker, a motorcyclist, a motorcycle enthusiast etc etc. You don't have to pigeon hole people. I'm just a bloke who is well into motorbikes...