When is a Bike Old?

kawa zx9R not comfy? with my roughly 6'7" i like my '98 ZX9R way beter for comfort than the XJ...

 

You must have pretty short legs... :lol:

 

"But if you want to carry a pillion, you don't want a sportsbike anyway."

Have another look at my avatar and ask yourself if you want to carry a pillion or not.

 

well, my GF prefers the kawa above the XJ as being passenger...
don't know exactly why...

 

You mean you've got 4 bikes and you don't let her ride any of them? :lol:

 

have two bikes, XJ and Kawa ZX9R
she doesn't have bike license... yet, she own's the car

 

Hillsy, this is a family friendly forum, so I won't explain the advantages of a pillion passenger! Let's just say it's nice to have warm shoulder blades!

 

Umm, I meant to ask Big Ross - but thanks for the update

 

that, plus riding an AJS 500 single? My cap is off, mate... You are quite a man!

yes, that is essentially what I was also asking some posts earlier. I have a 650 Max that is mechanically near-mint. Reliable, disc brake, electric start... What improvements would I gain from having a new model bike?

That wasn't a rhetorical question; I truly wonder what significant "quality of ride" issues may have arisen.

Sounds as though newer suspension may make smoother riding, and a proper FI could be simpler to live with. But, as a now-occasional sport rider (no long hauls anymore), I'm not certain there is much else to gain.

 

when you have to work on it more than you actually ride it.

 

Wait...thats a Harley. Harleys are old even when they are new!?

 

hey speak for your own kids im 17 and i had to buy my own cheap insurance and i cant just write off my crashes i have to fix it by myself. obviously you old timers only pic out a few but alot of us kids own old bikes and maintain better than you do cause there the only freedom we got. dont single out kids either ive seen 50 year old guys on new sportbikes lay em down as much as kids. and im a kid and i dont break stuff cause i took the initiative to learn how to ride on my own and i know my limitations. so the next time you rant about kids being bad on bikes get your facts strait.

 

i would say my bikes old but i loe it not only cause its my first but because older motorcycles are easier to fix on your own. besides its got loads of character and potential!

 

well my son has a bike, and he's 2 years old.. not a bicycle, a motorcycle. the little Razor PR200's.

as far as what you do? right on, as far as what the "kids" here do, that's all i know, and remember, i'm a kid too. I'm not and old fogie.

I doubt you maintain your bike better than me. It's your only freedom, but it's my life. Not only that, everything I do reflects upon my business, so everything has to be in tip top shape with the best care taken.

Sure, when i get a newer sports bike, i'll do a wheelie or two. Infact i'm pretty sure i'll be doing more than that.

I ride illegally though, no insurance. I don't believe in paying for someone else for a card, then having to pay them some more when i have an accident. I wreck, I have to fix. Out of pocket money. Which instead of paying to insurance, i pay to my savings account. Sure if I get pulled over i'm screwed, but don't do anything illegal infront of cops, and you won't get pulled over!

Just remember, because your "17" and "responsible" doesn't mean everyone is. Hell i know someone older than me, who stunts on sports, and if he wrecks he buys more. Now his job is less than "legal", and he has lots of "money". I also saw some kids in a bike shop looking for sports bikes, mommy and daddy was buying them one. Which is how it is around here.

 

One thing that should always brighten a young rider's heart...

Yeah, a lot of us older riders can be pompous old fogies (I have my own days like that).

And we sometimes put down young riders for doing the same things we did at the exact same age. (Sometimes we're being hypocrites and shouldn't that; sometimes we've lost buddies and don't want that to happen to anyone else.)

But the thing for young riders to remember, and grin about... when an old f*rt like me lays down my bike, I'm gonna ache, and limp, and whine a lot longer than you will. Yeah, I was a hot dog racer, dirt and track. And I don't apologize for that, though I mighta done a few things differently if I knew I was gonna wind up now with more rebuilt parts on my body than on my bike.

So can we make an XJBikes deal? Please be patient when we old goats tell you stuff you don't need to be told, and please also remember we say some of it because we think you're worth a lot and deserve years of safe, healthy riding.

just my $.02

 

From the airline world, the saying goes:

There are OLD pilots,
And there are BOLD pilots,
But there are no old, bold pilots........

Cause they end up mangled or dead.

And in my mind, being mangled for life is much worse than being dead.

No one is in control of events and situations as much as they'd like to think that they are!

 

one thing I started to realize as of a few years ago: the older you get, the more you realize how little you actually know. Experience is everything :mrgreen:

 

i love the older mens input but im young and all i have of my own in my large family is my bike....so it in anessence is my life too. i know you guys werent tryin to come down hard on the younger members i just thought i would stick up for the young ones like me who do take care of their bikes. \/

"turbobike"
as far as the whole kids thing goes i fet what your saying but as far as your taking care of your bike i can agree it reflects my buisness as well since the only money i get is what i make and i have to earn all my money from what i know which is working on trucks cars and bikes. so i have to keep mine looking as good as possible to keep my customers coming back.and even though im 17 its my daily driver to school and that is my life i want to finish school just like you want to get to work.

and to the old fogies i love hearing the old stories of the illegal street racing you can message me anytime it gives me the hope that one days the streets will be as lenient as back in the day. and its fun to see older guys getting into stunt riding, it puts their experience back into the levels of the youth.
bottom line im not bagging on anyone i just think some kids who try hard with their bike dont get the respect or the recongnition we deserve.

 

THAT is the key statement and a mature one. Most reckless people don't know their limitations, regardless of their age.

People who don't have as much experience ("time"), whether due to age or how long they've been riding (or driving, or flying a plane, or operating a frontend loader, whatever) USUALLY do not know their limitations, simply because they haven't had the chance to push the envelope enough times and learn what their limitations are.

Of course, the very process of "pushing the envelope" entails risk, and some people feel that they are infallible, and above it all. Us old fogies like to refer to such people as "dangerous" and "not long for this world".

And it's not just your own envelope that's being pushed. Motorcycling, no matter how far into observing your own limitations you might be, is inherently dangerous. What would be a fender bender in car becomes a broken skull and visual impairment, or mental impairment for life on a bike. Trying picking up chicks with that sort of handicap........

Allstate (the insurance company) had a recent series of ads on TV where they show someone driving down the street (in-car camera type of shot), maybe it was a woman turning to talk to her daughter next to her, or a guy reaching down to change the radio station for a brief moment, and just as they are returning their attention to the road, BANG! they're smashed head-on or from the side by another vehicle. The commercial is rather dramatic to watch because the viewer is put into the position of feeling "in the scene", and the unexpectedness and violence of the crash is astounding.

Trust me, from someone who's has been there: what is portrayed in those commercials is EXACTLY how it happens: tooling along, everything fine, a fraction (millisecond) of recognition of "something's wrong", and then boom.

Same thing with "pushing the envelope" without a CLEAR and VERY CONSERVATIVE APPRECIATION of what you, your bike's, and the combo of you, your bike, and everything else's contribution to what the true limitation really are, or could be.

 

i have crashed but never on the street to find out what i can do after around every two weeks of riding or so i go to a parking lot and set up some cones or use the planters and just push myself to the limit to see how much better my skills have become. to me i dont need to show off to someone just being on one at my age is enough i work hard at skill for the spots it comes in handy like swerving to avoid an accident. i practice it and i know that i can only go so far and only so fast till i do crash. i am confident the way i ride wil save my life one day. i know how to have utmost respect for the road......and besides they built tracks to go fast or pull stunts its the new age if you want to ride the best way is cool,slow and easy. save wheelies and the racing for the track.