How old are you? Are you still riding?(Poll)

If you are still riding:

  • Less than 40 years old

    Votes: 16 4.8%

  • 40-49 years old

    Votes: 14 4.2%

  • 50-59 years old

    Votes: 41 12.3%

  • 60-69 years old

    Votes: 178 53.5%

  • 70-80 years old

    Votes: 80 24.0%

  • Over 80 years old

    Votes: 4 1.2%
  • Total voters
    333
73 in two weeks.

When ride I'm ageless.

Getting my eyes and back rebuilt this Fall so I can be a proper curmudgeon; my eyes and back haven't slowed me down, but just want to make sure I get the new "parts" before they become NLA...

Best.
 
5 years difference doesn't help me at all, so guess I'm stuck with it.
 
80% of respondents are between the ages of 60 and 80. Here I thought I was too old to take up riding again at 71.

Add the one rider over 80 and that brings the total up to 81%.
 
66 completed orbits, well into 67th, road race and ride Enduro (neither very well it has to be said). Planning some trips into Europe inshallah (attempting to relive past adventures I suppose ) though I really need to retire as work really gets in the way!
 
Retire then because if you mind your Commando maintenance devoutly and tinker with everything on it you've got little time for frivolous endeavors such as working.

Do not allow work to interfere with your marriage to the bike and it's needs.... meant to say ownership, but.... you know....
 
74 and still riding my commando.Been riding nortons since my first new one in 1971.Rode to the national in michigan 2 years ago but forgot to put in for oldest rider riding a norton to the rally.Damn,guy was only 58 that rode in.Oh well not a trophy I wanted to be in the running for anyway
 
70 and still 'scratching' on my 71 roadster, and doing the same on my 77 Zed 650,can't keep an old dog down.
 
i wonder what the age results would be of Harley owners, including modern bikes. Maybe not all old dotes like us but the average age might be older than you think.
In fact the average age of all higher capacity road bike owners seems to be approaching the biblical ‘three score plus ten’. I wonder what it was about us ‘baby boomers’ (I’m 62) that made us crave the ‘wind in the hair’ and the ‘heroic materialism’ of high power bikes and the open road.
As an 18 year old, to roll open the throttle on a high performance and feel the bike launch beneath me (T160) was thrilling and to ride past the city limits into the wide open country was real freedom. How computer games, virtual realities, skate boards and other diversions of our youth could possibly a substitute for a bike run with mates followed by beer and camaraderie is beyond me. On the plus side, it’s a lot safer, we lost a few.
Im surprised that some younger people I know aren’t even interested in a car licence or vehicle ownershi, this would have been inconceivable to us.
regards
Al
 
Alan L said:
i wonder what the age results would be of Harley owners, including modern bikes. Maybe not all old dotes like us but the average age might be older than you think.
In fact the average age of all higher capacity road bike owners seems to be approaching the biblical ‘three score plus ten’. I wonder what it was about us ‘baby boomers’ (I’m 62) that made us crave the ‘wind in the hair’ and the ‘heroic materialism’ of high power bikes and the open road.
As an 18 year old, to roll open the throttle on a high performance and feel the bike launch beneath me (T160) was thrilling and to ride past the city limits into the wide open country was real freedom. How computer games, virtual realities, skate boards and other diversions of our youth could possibly a substitute for a bike run with mates followed by beer and camaraderie is beyond me. On the plus side, it’s a lot safer, we lost a few.
Im surprised that some younger people I know aren’t even interested in a car licence or vehicle ownershi, this would have been inconceivable to us.
regards
Al
Click to expand...
The aging demographics of Harley owners is one of the reasons the company is in a slump - near everyone that would buy one already has ... and they are nearly at the end of the road and won’t need another. Add to that corporate leaders who use liquid company assets to buy back stock to increase the share value because they get bonuses based on share value ... add to that no more Mr. Reagan yielding protectionist tariffs ... add to that the lack of interest that you mentioned from the current generation...
 
A plus to this is my son age 35 just bought a bike. He had ridden in his youth and now that the kids are a little older he's getting back into riding. Not out buying a Harley but a KTM. The youth of today like techy things and are making more money the we were at age 35. Some day something will trip their trigger, hopefully a motorcycle and things will change. Some still admire older objects. Not all youth are tied to their phones and computers
 
NPeteN said:
I own two Harleys and a Norton and I'm 32. Go figure.
Click to expand...
Good for you Peter!
But I guess you almost demonstrate what I was trying to say.
Born in 1959 I hankered for bikes all my sentient life, from pump-up scooters to pushie, to mini-bikes till that glorious day in 1975, all grown up at 16 and nine months when I could get my L Plates and me and my Honda XL175 were king.
From there I progressed to a Yamaha TX500 (very quick) while still on my Ls and at 18 to my T160 which I still have.
The point is, back then a 30 year old on a bike was unusual and we thought of them as somewhat geriatric but fabulously interesting because of their wealth of life experience whilst remaining cool enough to still ride.
So a 32 year old seems young now but to the average bike rider then, it was old.
Anyway, excellent work in owning a Norton, I have to keep pinching myself that in 1976 a pre unit bike from the early sixties seemed impossibly old, an Arial Square Four or a Vincent from the fifties were from a golden age of bike production in another epoch and if I was riding a bike then as old as you are riding now it would nearly be a veteran possibly with leather belt drive and exposed rocker gear. At least the bikes from the seventies are very fast by traffic standards today so quite rideable which you can’t say for bikes substantially older.
all very interesting
Al
 
Alan L said:
Good for you Peter!
But I guess you almost demonstrate what I was trying to say.
Born in 1959 I hankered for bikes all my sentient life, from pump-up scooters to pushie, to mini-bikes till that glorious day in 1975, all grown up at 16 and nine months when I could get my L Plates and me and my Honda XL175 were king.
From there I progressed to a Yamaha TX500 (very quick) while still on my Ls and at 18 to my T160 which I still have.
The point is, back then a 30 year old on a bike was unusual and we thought of them as somewhat geriatric but fabulously interesting because of their wealth of life experience whilst remaining cool enough to still ride.
So a 32 year old seems young now but to the average bike rider then, it was old.
Anyway, excellent work in owning a Norton, I have to keep pinching myself that in 1976 a pre unit bike from the early sixties seemed impossibly old, an Arial Square Four or a Vincent from the fifties were from a golden age of bike production in another epoch and if I was riding a bike then as old as you are riding now it would nearly be a veteran possibly with leather belt drive and exposed rocker gear. At least the bikes from the seventies are very fast by traffic standards today so quite rideable which you can’t say for bikes substantially older.
all very interesting
Al
Click to expand...
Well said Al.
 
Alan L said:
Good for you Peter!
But I guess you almost demonstrate what I was trying to say.
Born in 1959 I hankered for bikes all my sentient life, from pump-up scooters to pushie, to mini-bikes till that glorious day in 1975, all grown up at 16 and nine months when I could get my L Plates and me and my Honda XL175 were king.
From there I progressed to a Yamaha TX500 (very quick) while still on my Ls and at 18 to my T160 which I still have.
The point is, back then a 30 year old on a bike was unusual and we thought of them as somewhat geriatric but fabulously interesting because of their wealth of life experience whilst remaining cool enough to still ride.
So a 32 year old seems young now but to the average bike rider then, it was old.
Anyway, excellent work in owning a Norton, I have to keep pinching myself that in 1976 a pre unit bike from the early sixties seemed impossibly old, an Arial Square Four or a Vincent from the fifties were from a golden age of bike production in another epoch and if I was riding a bike then as old as you are riding now it would nearly be a veteran possibly with leather belt drive and exposed rocker gear. At least the bikes from the seventies are very fast by traffic standards today so quite rideable which you can’t say for bikes substantially older.
all very interesting
Al
Click to expand...
We had similar conversations back then
We thought that anyone that was 40 was really old
My foreman always used to tell me I'd never reach 25 !!
 
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