Hi,
I‘m sorry for your unfortunate story. We too are suffering from appalling road conditions.
I hope something positive comes out of your misfortune. I can’t begin to appreciate the pressure of looking after your adult son must put on you. I’m sure you should be commended for your love and commitment you show him.
As for giving up riding your bike, well, I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. If you, as an experienced but very mature rider, thought it was necessary to give up riding because of risk, how could we possibly allow an inexperienced young person to ride a bike who has their entire life ahead of them.
Every activity we engage in is to some extent a calculated risk. To live a cloistered life wrapped in cotton wool avoiding risk, in the hope of statistically gaining a few more weeks of life through risk avoidance, doesn’t seem much of a trade off to me, in comparison to doing something you genuinely enjoy.
Crunching the numbers on the likelihood of death or serious injury on a bike is an easy calculation but quantifying the improved quality of life by enjoying the freedom of riding, not to mention the possible increase in lifespan by staying active, is not so easy. Does age make cowards of us all? I don’t know but living the humorous cliche, ‘grow old disgracefully‘ probably extends peoples lives rather than shorten them.
Increasingly the ski slopes a full of octogenarians continuing the sport they love and I’m quite sure that they not only enjoy life more but actually live longer than those who throw the towel in. The risk of serious injury or death is more than offset by the quality of life.
I guess my uncalled for advice is to do exactly as you want to and not be influenced by others.
Regarding my original post, I’m not sure if I was exactly clear in what I was trying to say. To put it in a nutshell, I no longer feel very much in touch with many of the other participants at bike shows. My interests are much more historic and technical. I would rather see a well cared for BSA Bantam than a 2022 Harley. I would rather see a bike raced by a back yarder who scrimpt and saved for every improvement to do passably well in it’s day than today’s latest rocket ship.
Showing off a modern bike that was designed by marketing experts to unashamedly cash in on classic designs from bikes fifty or possibly closer to one hundred years old, creating a virtual parody of the original bike and then believing that somehow it is a unique artwork is an anathema to me.
Building a ‘show-bike’ by simply adding on more and more ‘off the shelf’ bling, ending up with an unridable caricature of a motorcycle that one would be likely to see in a Batman movie, fails to hold my interest.
Transforming from the average ageing ‘dude’ into a geriatric imitation of a 1% biker by the addition of leather, chains and death’s head badges somehow seems rather pointless.
Anyway, each to their own, I just don’t seem to fit the mould any longer.
regards Alan
) Incidently my brother ( rip)married a Bombala girl and both my parents went up in smoke at the cremation unit just outside that town. Finally I am not a font of knowledge with my Norton, but I am still willing to learn and try to do work myself, which is the exact opposite of what society is teaching younger generations. I do hope you come to an understanding in yourself,that just because it’s hard to accept the way part of the modern bike scene has gone, there is still a group of like minded people, such as yourself, and mate I don’t think you were designed to fit the modern mould, as we came from a different time. My comments are well intentioned if wide of your mark. Kind Regaurds Leigh
....well that what I call it...lol