Mid-life crisis and motorcycles

acotrel

acotrel

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I suggest people should not have a mid-life crisis and decide to ride a motorcycle. I know 3 racing car drivers who thought riding motorcycles would be good. They all had serious crashes almost immediately. The best racing car drivers began their careers by racing motorcycles, but doing the reverse is not good. It is completely different. I told a car club member this, and it became a pissing competition. He said downhill racers have the best reflexes - that shows what he knows. Michael Schumacher smashed his head on a rock. Motorcycle road racing is not much about reflexes - it is a learned technique.
John Surtees was world champion on two wheels and four. Some racing car drivers are delusional. Surtees was world champion on motorcycles first, cars came later.

 
I was on a bus on Victoria's Great Ocean Road talking to the driver. He mentioned the number of middle-aged guys who buy Harleys and bounce off the guard rails on that road.
 
What midlife crisis, as I don't have a midlife crisis as I ride my bikes all the time from my youth to now, dirt bikes and on road only, gets rid of any stress or tension that you may have in life, has worked for me for over 50 years on two wheels.
 
ashman said:
What midlife crisis, as I don't have a midlife crisis as I ride my bikes all the time from my youth to now, dirt bikes and on road only, gets rid of any stress or tension that you may have in life, has worked for me for over 50 years on two wheels.
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Same here
I'm 64
Been riding (legally 😉) since I was 16
I'm not actually sure what a mid life crisis is ????
 
Maybe Al is having a midlife crisis as it's been so long since he has been on 2 wheels or racing, that will never happen to me, ride or die, never going to stop, 66 next month and hopefully have a lot more years in me, prefer riding than thinking about it, overthinking about it makes things worst I say, on your bike and enjoy it.
 
baz said:
I've often wondered exactly what a mid life crisis is
Maybe I've skipped it or never reached it
My old foreman used to tell me on a regular basis I wouldn't make 25 !!!
🤣🤣🤣🤣
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When I was 18 with an XS1100, the old guys at the shop wanted my SSN to buy a life insurance policy on me.
They figured it was gonna pay better than the retirement plan.
 
I have a friend who recently retired from the Dept of Motor Vehicles. Middle aged guys would show up on a heavily dressed Harley and want to take the motorcycle license test - the sort of thing best done on a 175 cc Honda. Of course they would fail and be upset in the direction of my friend, who took no guff. Then they would storm off.
 
nortonmargie said:
I have a friend who recently retired from the Dept of Motor Vehicles. Middle aged guys would show up on a heavily dressed Harley and want to take the motorcycle license test - the sort of thing best done on a 175 cc Honda. Of course they would fail and be upset in the direction of my friend, who took no guff. Then they would storm off.
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And on the other side of the coin we had a woman DMV examiner in our area who would look to fail anyone who showed up for the test on a step through clutchless machine .
 
My mate Russell had been road his 650 Triton for about 15 years - he had never had a road licence -Bought a Honda CB1100 RD, went for the licence test and failed, but got it on a repeat. Took his wife on the back for a ride and dumped both of them on the road - wasn't used to the triangle of stones which is pushed-up by cars.
For me, I did not race until I had finished my first diploma at age 29. I had road bikes from age 15. The first time I raced, I crashed at about 90 MPH in front of a sizeable crowd. Doing that probably helped me to survive. Loss of ego is not all bad.
We all probably tend to believe all motorcycles are similar, but some are very different. It is always safer to begin slowly and work up to speed.
I do not know if I am a good rider - I am faster than some and slower than others. The top guys are probably fanatics who only live to race.
 
Ashley, Your featherbed Commando is probably a very good thing. I touched the front brake on my Triton as I was in front of Russell going into a corner, and it came on much harder than I expected. He was riding my Seeley when it had the Laverda 750 motor. The idiot road around me in the corner, and grabbed a handful of disc brake - he crashed me. When he rides his own 650 Triton, he does not have that capability. It is the reason I tracked the Mk 3 Seeley down and bought it. The Featherbed and Seeley frames are chalk and cheese. When I ride the Seeley 850, I am fast enough to win. It is not me causing fastness, it is the bike - absolutely effortless.
Seeley frames are well worth the money.
 
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Fast Eddie said:
My missus reckons she’ll tell when my mid life crisis hits as I’ll STOP doing stupid shit and start being sensible !!
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My wife is the same, I haven't grown up yet only the body has, I still ride the same as I have always have since I was 15, I still do stupid things, I still ride all my bike hard and get me in the dirt with my CRF450X and the young lad in me comes out to play, I am a hard rider and push all my bikes to the limits and sometime more, but it works for me and I have no intensions to change but I do take more notice in what is going on around me, bikes or riding on the road or bush don't scare me, if I was scared I would have given up on the bikes a long time ago, but I am having too much fun and it keeps me young in mind, yes I been down a few time and a few minor injuries but I never give up and back on the bike straight away or when the injuries have healed (3 left knee injuries and 1 fractured left arm had put me down for a while) not bad for 50+ years on 2 wheels, I have had more incidents with using tools at home and the workshop than on the bikes lol, but I never make the same mistakes, only once lol.

Ashley
 

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