Getting old sucks

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I would want a 4x4 model with the Combat tune , please ....
 
lcrken said:
As they say, getting old sucks, but it beats the alternative. Still riding my Nortons at 78, but a bit more slowly every year, and for shorter distances. And definitely looking at lighter weight bikes. The heavier ones are still fine as long as I'm moving, but pushing them around is getting more problematic, particularly on slopes and/or dirt/gravel. Maybe when I get to 80 I can convert one of the Nortons to a trike, like the Harleys and Gold Wings. That would be different. More likely to do a Norton sidecar outfit. I have a Honda powered one now, but rarely ride it. Not nearly as much fun as a two-wheeler, but better than not riding.

Ken
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Hi Ken. Make sure you get one with a reverse gear.
 
My old '60 HD servi car had 3 & reverse. That reverse gear was very handy indeed.... Would have kept except a flathead 45 aint fast enough for a 19 year old.... so fast forward first wife gone + 4 years and my 850. 850 and wife #2 I've kept.... Neither are young and fast any longer, but both are running.
 
I keep thinking of that song .. Summertime Blues being young wasnt much fun either... back inthe day. lest we forget. Actually have been having a serious rethink about bikes for my old age. I began with sidecars and did thinkabout going back there. No room for a Morgan alas so then this fiendish notion of a Vmax with sidecar began to take shape. Ultimate teenage psychomobile , would have beengreat then ,but now ? My commando will stay , I intend to do130 mph on my80th and then let it go to a career of hill climbs, my ES2 is a delight toride off motorways and upthe hils and down the dales. Exciting ? It narrowly escaped a career post vintage racing and am glad it did. It isstill a joy to ride , but nowadays traffic density suggests an electric start. So it will be supplemeted by a slower boring but more usable Enfield. Have always fancied an Ariel Red Hunter so maybe one of those as well.
 
I am 61 years old but I am still doing the same things I have done in my younger days, I brought my 850 Norton new when I was 17 years old and rode it hard and to this day I still ride it hard and push it to its limits when I can, but I am smarter now in how I do things while pushing it, I no need to ride it flat out in top gear as I have nothing to prove, I still ride it and my other bikes to the ton and maybe wee bit over the ton but that's fast enough for me but with the hot Norton motor as well as my 1200 Thruxton they both get to the ton and over pretty quick and that is all I need to do, getting caught and paying speeding fines is a big dramer for me now being semi retired, in my youth I didn't care, but being my age now I still keep busy each day, have a few beers when I feel like it and not because I have to, I still listen to the music I listen to in my youth and I am still riding with the same mates I grew up with, I still live in the same house and I still go away on the bikes when I want without the wife it works great for both of us when we need a break from each other, but she comes on the bike with me when no one else wants to go for a ride.
So really nothing has changed from my youth to now, its just now I am more relaxed and never in a hurry to do things, but if I was in a hurry the wife will always slow me down as I am always waiting for her, as most women do they are always late or take their time to get ready or leave things to the last minute, I think they do that to get back at us men, who knows as I never try to work them out, my wife gets on OK in her own little world and I never go there, but its hard living with a wife who is hard of hearing, but of course she hears when she want to even without her hearing aids :mad:.

Ashley
 
I worked with guys who spent all their spare time talking about how they were football or basketball stars in high school and would "give anything" to go back. I enjoy my life far more now than I did when I was young. I can't imagine too many things worse than being forced to go back to be 20 (or 30, or 40 or 50 or...) again. :(

So far, my only age-concession as far as Motos is installing the Alton E start on my Commando eight years ago. OTOH, I would have installed e-start on the '71 Commando I rode when I was in my 20's had the Alton been available! Ultimately I sorted that out. I corrected the Commandos lack of E-start by selling it/ buying a Kawasaki Z1. :cool:
 
I'd like one of those with an old GL 1000 motor...... I really like water cooled boxers.
 
oldmikew said:
I do not agree that being old sucks ... its different and has different pleasures from being young or middle aged.
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For me it's like every day is a new adventure (read issue), and not that pleasant. But I'm learning to live with it and stay away from the dr's (and booze) as much as possible. I've not seen dr's do that much other than give me pills to keep my heart rate down and blood pressure too, 125/70 is not bad at 77. I just haven't been on the bike for a couple years though. I just haven't got the balance and reflexes I feel I need.
 
DogT said:
I just haven't got the balance and reflexes I feel I need.
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Balance is becoming a problem for me as well. Haven't given up riding yet though I do ride a lot slower than I used to. Don't have the confidence that I used to have, and I'm hoping that can be improved by putting more time in the saddle.
 
By my late 50's I had retired, children raised and college educated and wife with a well paying job. So....I got back into motorcycling which
I had given up 25 years earlier for all the usual family reasons. I finally felt like a free man and bought a '70 Triumph Tiger to replace my first
bike I bought while in college. A year later I bought a '74 Commando and thought I had died and gone to heaven. I'm 73. Over this period
of time I have owned 13 different bikes. Still have 4. Without a doubt this period of my life has been, hands down, the most productive and
satisfying of any other. Yeah, the body starts deteriorating, arthritis begins and I know one day in the not too distant future I will have to give
up riding (3-5 years?). In the meantime, earlier this week I bought this beast. Woo Hoo! Bring it on!
Getting old sucks
 
Last new addition for a motorcycle for me was the GL, and it was already 9 years old at the time. After their lengthy sleeps I'm figuring to ride both until none in my triumvirate are capable of holding the road because I've been very pleased with both the Commando & Wing as a team. They, however, could they opine I fear would find me lacking, although not in recent care & maintenance.
I'm no longer as alert and responsive as I once was, but I'm still smart enough to understand these two facts so no pushing the envelope. Just have to settle for making a little noise with the Norton, and wallow about with the old Goldwing limiting miles to 50-75 respectively so I can still walk.... If you're doing better with your carcass I wish you well..... Other than constant pain I'm quite pleased with growing old..... I just wish all of my friends were here too.... Only 3 lifelong ones left.
 
For those who have infirmities you have my sincere sympathies, but as your experience with motorcycles has shown you everything wears out; our bodies are no exception. I have lived in the fast lane most of my life; taking a hardy, calculated risk is a major part of my raison d'etre; turns out that my body was writing the checks for all this.

One day I realized that bitching about a new, or previous, insult to my body was a waste of time and that taking various OTC and prescription pain meds just made it easier make excuses and could turn a desirable calculated risk into a full blown nightmare. I stopped taking these meds and found that it wasn't too hard to tolerate the pain and over time found that I stopped noticing it.

The real eureka moment was realizing that TIME was the most precious commodity I have. You may have noticed in my posts that I have gotten a bit prickly with people that rebuild light bulbs and Reynolds chain and attach flux capacitors to their wiring harness'. If you can no longer ride and like tinkering, then fine, but for those who do these TIME wasting tasks and ride please wake up and smell the roses. Nobody really wants to hear your bitching because it brings them down, and wastes TIME. For me putting on my riding gear and adding a few MPH to yesterday's curvy road is the best therapy.

As motorcyclists we are individualists that like being near or on the edge, we do our best "work" when out by ourselves; we, typically, don't hunt in packs. When we do travel in small groups we are really just racing. Learn your limitations, challenge them every day and except that meeting your maker is part of the pleasurable journey you are on.

Best
 
"As motorcyclists we are individualists that like being near or on the edge, we do our best "work" when out by ourselves; we, typically, don't hunt in packs."

Sturgis would indicate otherwise! :(
 
MexicoMike said:
"As motorcyclists we are individualists that like being near or on the edge, we do our best "work" when out by ourselves; we, typically, don't hunt in packs."

Sturgis would indicate otherwise! :(
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I doubt that you will see a lot of antique English motorcycles at HD group gropes. I went to Laconia twice on two different Nortons, didn't see any others and my riding gear didn't make any fashion statements. When I go riding I don't have to worry about floor-boards scraping; I don't need a crowd to feel good either.

As a sailor I tend to think of Stink-Pots as a means to a different end. My dad and me would put to sea in Force 6/7 weather when others would be dropping their anchors in the bar; he was the one who taught me the difference between a calculated risk and a foolhardy errand.

Sturgis, Laconia, Daytona, et al are social gatherings, not riding adventures.

Best.
 
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