Late starter

freddie1970

Anybody get into bikes at a later stage of their life..I'm in my mid forties and have a real urge to learn how to drive a bike and tour America and Europe...this is something that has been simmering inside me now for years ..I have tried golf but it's not cutting it .
am I crazy or just going through a mid life crisis ....

aaakev

Correct me if im wrong but isn't that exactly what you are meant to do when you have a midlife crisis? ???? Do it man, do it now or you never will!

jimgoose

My mid-life crisis started when I was around 23 and shows no sign of abating, praise be. Go for it, man. :cool:

prunudo

If its been simmering for years you should go for it. You'll only regret it the longer you leave it. Start with ibt, at least you'll know soon enough if it's for you and it won't cost too much in the grand scheme of things if you decide against.

arybvtcw0eolkf

freddie1970 wrote: »

Anybody get into bikes at a later stage of their life..I'm in my mid forties and have a real urge to learn how to drive a bike and tour America and Europe...this is something that has been simmering inside me now for years ..I have tried golf but it's not cutting it .
am I crazy or just going through a mid life crisis ....

Later stage of your life is mid-forties?.. ffs would you give it over.

The perfect movie for you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSvwmgWCJ2s

Mid-forties, later stages ~ lol.

I'm 49. I still compete at Judo, train MMA regularly. Cycle at least 40km per day and twice that on a Sunday spin.

You're hardly living :P

All joking aside, watch that movie because its fecking hilarious. And get your arse on a bike ASAP

fatty pang

Tyler Salmon Sea wrote: »

Later stage of your life is mid-forties?.. ffs would you give it over.

The perfect movie for you

And for those who who have been at it for some time... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRQyEBY5YjQ

"We came into this world screaming and covered in blood so why not ride motorbikes that increase the chances of leaving this world the same way"

arybvtcw0eolkf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRQyEBY5YjQ

Seen it before, its fecking brilliant

freddie1970

I think the main reason I feel I need to start living is because I have a chronic illness and have tired and sick all my life...so missed out on sports and everything when I was younger ....I have recently got medication which has made me feel much better ...so I feel I must start living

arybvtcw0eolkf

freddie1970 wrote: »

I think the main reason I feel I need to start living is because I have a chronic illness and have tired and sick all my life...so missed out on sports and everything when I was younger ....I have recently got medication which has made me feel much better ...so I feel I must start living

Get a bike, live the dream.

two wheels good

Just be aware.
If you listen to those voices now, in years to come, you'll never have the pleasure to look back and think "Wow, I got my handicap down to single fiigures!" Can you live with that?

freddie1970

Yeah that's true something I will have to think about ; ) handicap or motoring ...could leave the handicap till my sixties

fatty pang

Tyler Salmon Sea wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRQyEBY5YjQ

Seen it before, its fecking brilliant

An ockerised version of the Blue Oyster Bar – going with satnavs and mob-handed is for pussies.

30 years ago I went solo round the place on an XL500R. Underpowered on the straight sealed roads but dogs bollox jettisoning the gear and going bush. One of my few regrets in life was not having taken the Gibb River Rd coming out of Derby. Had to stay on the still partially un-sealed Victoria Highway due to fuel limitations. Wouldn't be quite the same doing it now with all the tourist traffic.
A few pre-digital pics attached for anybody who's interested.

freddie1970

They look brilliant must..I'd love to tour the state's myself ...did u buy the bike over there

fatty pang

freddie1970 wrote: »

They look brilliant must..I'd love to tour the state's myself ...did u buy the bike over there

Wrong continent pal. Australia.
I bought the bike fairly cheap as it was blowing a fair bit of smoke and needed the piston ring replaced. Did that over a weekend with the help of a Haynes manual and ended up with a spare o-ring :eek: Put another 25,000km on her before selling it on. Lovely bike to throw around but could be a pig to kick over in the heat if it didn't start on the first go.

two wheels good

OP, if you're anywhere near Cork with your own field or private race track let me know.

arybvtcw0eolkf

fatty pang wrote: »

Wrong continent pal. Australia.
I bought the bike fairly cheap as it was blowing a fair bit of smoke and needed the piston ring replaced. Did that over a weekend with the help of a Haynes manual and ended up with a spare o-ring :eek: Put another 25,000km on her before selling it on. Lovely bike to throw around but could be a pig to kick over in the heat if it didn't start on the first go.

I blew so many DT and RD pistons back then I'd replace a whole piston kit within the hour

Nice photos btw, I loved the XT's but couldn't afford one so I'd to make do with a Yamaha DT175 until some kunt robbed it and I never got it back.

fatty pang

Tyler Salmon Sea wrote: »

Nice photos btw, I loved the XT's but couldn't afford one so I'd to make do with a Yamaha DT175 until some kunt robbed it and I never got it back.

Thanks. I learnt to ride on a mate’s DT175. First bike I had was an XL185s. Took that one across Europe and down to Juba in Sudan… slowly. Was planning on going further south but had my toolkit nicked and with my 21st birthday coming up decided to head home. Attached pic is on the road from Alexandria to Cairo.
Navigation facilities consisted of 4 pages photocopied from a Readers Digest world atlas from the local library. Glory days.

arybvtcw0eolkf

fatty pang wrote: »

Thanks. I learnt to ride on a mate’s DT175. First bike I had was an XL185s. Took that one across Europe and down to Juba in Sudan… slowly. Was planning on going further south but had my toolkit nicked and with my 21st birthday coming up decided to head home. Attached pic is on the road from Alexandria to Cairo.
Navigation facilities consisted of 4 pages photocopied from a Readers Digest world atlas from the local library. Glory days.

Wow, not much I can add expect to say you have my respect.

RESPECT man.

antiskeptic

freddie1970 wrote: »

Anybody get into bikes at a later stage of their life..I'm in my mid forties and have a real urge to learn how to drive a bike and tour America and Europe...this is something that has been simmering inside me now for years ..I have tried golf but it's not cutting it .
am I crazy or just going through a mid life crisis ....

It was a near-miss-that-could-have-been that finally had me hang up my gloves after 25 odd years of 365 riding. There was no fright involved - just the later realisation that had I arrived around the corner I arrived around 4 seconds later, then the horse-drawn tourist caravan I just caught disappearing around the corner 200 yards up the road would have actually disappeared. And that I would have ploughed into it, or, if I had managed to pick the bike up to avoid it, would have run off the bend and into the trees lining the "escape route". We were out for a Saturday spin, nothing outrageous. Just a simple 50mph collision with an immovable object.

At that stage in my career, there wasn't a huge amount to give up: I'd taken to commuting by car and only took the bike out 10 times a year. The imminent arrival of my first-borne sealed the deal: sacrificing the bit of biking I was doing vs. being around to see him grow up.

The hundreds of thousands of biking miles experienced including couriering, daily commutes across the city, advanced rider training, top grade tyres etc. had allowed me to trim the risk right down but as the above made me realise, death or serious injury is an ever-present danger for a motorcyclist that can't be reduced to levels enjoyed by an average car driver.

And if you could draw a graph of risk vs. experience then you'd see it very high at the start and very low (but not low enough) at 25 years everyday experience.

What you're proposing to do is to embark on a career in riding which will place you at the entry point of that graph. You will have age on your side: you probably won't have the extra risk that comes with be both young (where death and the lifelong consequences of serious injury are something you are blind to) and inexperienced. You'll just have inexperience.

You could, if you are sensible, embark on training but there is no replacement for having all the near-misses that come with miles upon miles of riding. Near misses which you need to come out on the lucky side of in order not to be killed or seriously injured. You would be the same as a fresh faced young soldier arriving up to the front without any inkling of the dangers that face you and which see your chances of taking a hit far higher than all the experienced vets around you.

I'm not advocating not taking to a bike (although in hindsight I couldn't advise it) but you do need to properly evaluate the wisdom of engaging in a pursuit that could very easily leave you crippled for life or worse. And whether the enjoyment is worth the not insignificant risk. Bear in mind too, that care-free, wind-rushing-through-your-helmet riding is the preserve of the uneducated. You having that feeling will be based on being inexperienced. For experience teaches you to have a much more cagey approach to riding, where you life is spent not so much enjoying the freedom of riding, but enjoying the challenge of evaluating and successfully navigating the risks as you encounter them. It's not that the experienced don't enjoy riding but it is tinged with the ever-present need to defend. The ever present need to compartmentilize the possibility that around the next corner is a pile of gravel, a diesel spill, a horse-drawn carriage.

That you wouldn't have these concerns until such time as you had near-misses enough under to your belt to cause them to be raised, is the chief concern of one starting out. Ignorance might be bliss, but it's potentially lethal.

My aim is to ensure to balance your decision.

Pugzilla

This antiskeptic guy rears his head again. I remember his crazy 'point duty in Vietnam' posts from years ago.

antiskeptic

Pugzilla wrote: »

This antiskeptic guy rears his head again. I remember his crazy 'point duty in Vietnam' posts from years ago.

A good analogy then. Although it was Band of Brothers I was thinking of this time round, having recently watched the boxset.

Pugzilla

antiskeptic wrote: »

A good analogy then. Although it was Band of Brothers I was thinking of this time round, having recently watched the boxset.

Do you happen to drive a silver Seat Leon?

antiskeptic

Pugzilla wrote: »

Do you happen to drive a silver Seat Leon?

That'd make me the Wehrmacht. German car but not Seat.

fatty pang

antiskeptic wrote: »

It was a near-miss-that-could-have-been that finally had me hang up my gloves after 25 odd years of 365 riding. There was no fright involved - just the later realisation that had I arrived around the corner I arrived around 4 seconds later, then the horse-drawn tourist caravan I just caught disappearing around the corner 200 yards up the road would have actually disappeared. And that I would have ploughed into it, or, if I had managed to pick the bike up to avoid it, would have run off the bend and into the trees lining the "escape route". We were out for a Saturday spin, nothing outrageous. Just a simple 50mph collision with an immovable object.

....The hundreds of thousands of biking miles experienced including.... advanced rider training....

And yet you still went into a blind corner at 50mph

Cienciano

My advice is to ignore antiskeptics post and go out and get a bike. Some people think it's the most dangerous thing you can do. I know lots of people with hundreds of thousands of biker miles and zero incidents.
If you want a bike for the odd spin it's even safer. Go out in dry weather, nice days. Brilliant way to spend a day, and the variety of bikes is great too. Moped, tourer, sports, sports tourer, street, off road, supermoto, cruiser, custom, classics there's something for everyone and all riding styles.
If it's not your main mode of transport and you have a garage, working on it yourself it good fun too. Especially with the internet to help.

And if you decide you don't like it, you can always sell it in a couple of years. The only negative of getting one is all the poxy red tape of getting a licence, but at least you'll know the basics of riding after you get one.

Wonda-Boy

Cienciano wrote: »

My advice is to ignore antiskeptics post and go out and get a bike. Some people think it's the most dangerous thing you can do. I know lots of people with hundreds of thousands of biker miles and zero incidents.
If you want a bike for the odd spin it's even safer. Go out in dry weather, nice days. Brilliant way to spend a day, and the variety of bikes is great too. Moped, tourer, sports, sports tourer, street, off road, supermoto, cruiser, custom, classics there's something for everyone and all riding styles.
If it's not your main mode of transport and you have a garage, working on it yourself it good fun too. Especially with the internet to help.

And if you decide you don't like it, you can always sell it in a couple of years. The only negative of getting one is all the poxy red tape of getting a licence, but at least you'll know the basics of riding after you get one.

THIS!

antiskeptic

fatty pang wrote: »

And yet you still went into a blind corner at 50mph

It was a corner that you wouldn't be able to stop from 50mph to zero in the amount you could see around the bend. Not at all an untypical scenario on a bike. Have a look next time your taking some bends and see if you can stop, on your side of the road in the distance you can see around the bend.

I predict slower than usual progress

antiskeptic

Cienciano wrote: »

My advice is to ignore antiskeptics post and go out and get a bike. Some people think it's the most dangerous thing you can do. I know lots of people with hundreds of thousands of biker miles and zero incidents.

And I don't know one. Where 'incident' is defined as something which, except for fortune, would have resulted in a spill.

jimgoose

antiskeptic wrote: »

It was a corner that you wouldn't be able to stop from 50mph to zero in the amount you could see around the bend. Not at all an untypical scenario on a bike. Have a look next time your taking some bends and see if you can stop, on your side of the road in the distance you can see around the bend.

I predict slower than usual progress

If you can't stop upright in a stop-or-die scenario, drop it down. You have armour, right? It's no worse than most people in cars taking most bends at 50mph.

the dark ken night

antiskeptic wrote:

And I don't know one. Where 'incident' is defined as something which, except for fortune, would have resulted in a spill.

You could say that about anything ffs!!

My butter knife would have landed on the floor butter side except for fortune.


I would have shít myself except for fortune


OP -

This man has a fcuked up view of biking that he thinks everyone should share. Please don't listen to him.


Fwiw - I had numerous spills in my 16 yrs of biking. Not one of them made me regret biking.

zubair

OP, if you decide not to buy a motorbike, you won't actually live longer... It'll just seem longer!

fatty pang

antiskeptic wrote: »

I predict slower than usual progress

One of the fundamentals of 'advanced' riding I would have thought....

antiskeptic

jimgoose wrote: »

If you can't stop upright in a stop-or-die scenario, drop it down. You have armour, right? It's no worse than most people in cars taking most bends at 50mph.

Drop it down, slide across the road into the oncoming lane and if avoiding cars/trucks/whatever you're having, into the trees lining the outside of the bend. Using the word "armour" kind of overeggs the pudding to my mind.

I can't say I've ever much believed in stories of folk "laying it down" when faced with impending, a-second-or-two-to-impact scenarios. If you tend to ride around with your foot hovering over the back brake ever ready then perhaps. But not in the normal course of riding. It seemed to me that if you've enough time to assess all the variables so as to decide laying it down the best course of action, then get around to having your foot carry out your command, then you could as easily carry out a controlled stop.

Not in your dreams is stopping a car in a hurry on a bend on a par with stopping a bike. You don't stop a bike in a bend fast: you brake, it stands up and you head across the wrong side of the road.

antiskeptic

fatty pang wrote: »

One of the fundamentals of 'advanced' riding I would have thought....

One of the fundamentals of advanced riding is to the take what helps you for the riding you do and leave the rest. Do you think Garda escort riders always ride in such a way as to be able to stop in the distance they can see around a bend?

SeamusG97

freddie1970 wrote: »

Anybody get into bikes at a later stage of their life..I'm in my mid forties and have a real urge to learn how to drive a bike and tour America and Europe...this is something that has been simmering inside me now for years ..I have tried golf but it's not cutting it .
am I crazy or just going through a mid life crisis ....

Ted Simon learned to ride a bike in his early forties in order to ride around the world in a four year journey that made him a legend. That was 1973 and he's still alive. He did it again in the early nineties.
Mid life crisis is something to be embraced and enjoyed. Go for it.

jimgoose

antiskeptic wrote: »

Drop it down, slide across the road into the oncoming lane and if avoiding cars/trucks/whatever you're having, into the trees lining the outside of the bend. Using the word "armour" kind of overeggs the pudding to my mind.

I can't say I've ever much believed in stories of folk "laying it down" when faced with impending, a-second-or-two-to-impact scenarios. If you tend to ride around with your foot hovering over the back brake ever ready then perhaps. But not in the normal course of riding. It seemed to me that if you've enough time to assess all the variables so as to decide laying it down the best course of action, then get around to having your foot carry out your command, then you could as easily carry out a controlled stop.

Not in your dreams is stopping a car in a hurry on a bend on a par with stopping a bike. You don't stop a bike in a bend fast: you brake, it stands up and you head across the wrong side of the road.

I never mentioned the back brake. You're as well off away from motorbikes. And you'd be amazed by my dreams.

arybvtcw0eolkf

antiskeptic wrote: »

Drop it down, slide across the road into the oncoming lane and if avoiding cars/trucks/whatever you're having, into the trees lining the outside of the bend. Using the word "armour" kind of overeggs the pudding to my mind.

I can't say I've ever much believed in stories of folk "laying it down" when faced with impending, a-second-or-two-to-impact scenarios.

Agreed.. They're bullsh*t stories.

jimgoose

Tyler Salmon Sea wrote: »

Agreed.. They're bullsh*t stories.

Really? Tell that to my scarred arse!

antiskeptic

the dark ken night wrote: »

You could say that about anything ffs!!

It's in the comparative context of riding a motorcycle vs. driving a car and taking a bus I was speaking about. The reality is that a motorcyclist, most especially a learner one, is going face any number of near misses, each of which can unpack to be something horrendous. Much more so than near misses (of which there will be appreciably less, all things being equal) will unpack unfavorably for a motorist or busist.

Someone considering whether to embark on a riding career ought to be aware of the much-increased risk, especially given they can't avoid having to navigate through the learner (read: years) period.

This man has a fcuked up view of biking that he thinks everyone should share. Please don't listen to him.

You might begin to dismantle what I say. It's a realistic view of bikings risks. I don't see any reason that they should be suppressed simply so that a rose-tinted view of biking be maintained. The objective reality is that biking is a risky business, especially so for someone starting out.

Fwiw - I had numerous spills in my 16 yrs of biking. Not one of them made me regret biking.

I had numerous spills in my 25 years of biking and any number of sphincter-puckering near misses. It was only when there wasn't so much to be given up in exchange for the benefits (I'd have more certainty when it came to sustaining a career as a father) that I decided to quit. The spills didn't make me regret biking - especially since I got away comparatively lightly on the injury front each time.

In deciding to quit, I did consider the regret I would have if I continued on and did myself some serious damage. Partially to do with the costs to me but mostly to do with the costs that would have to be borne by my wife and son.

Regret is something felt only after sufficiently severe penalties have been incurred.

antiskeptic

jimgoose wrote: »

Really? Tell that to my scarred arse!

It's certainly possible to overdo the back brake in an emergency and inadvertently (and maybe even fortuitously) lay the bike down. I'd doubt intentional, considered picking of that option under those circumstances however.

antiskeptic

jimgoose wrote: »

I never mentioned the back brake. You're as well off away from motorbikes. And you'd be amazed by my dreams.

That's where such laying down events occur. Or in a retrospective re-modelling of an event where the bike went down, slid across the road and that turned out to have been the best outcome.

I'd accept there are fighter-pilot like types out there with super-attenuated instincts capable of making such split second evaluations and able to pull a bike down so as to consciously take the possibly lesser evil of avoiding hitting a stopped caravan.

I was talking about your typical biker however.