This is a semi-serious question as I sense it it looming out there in the distance for me.

Health and abilities change over time and road damage mounts up in our joints, etc.   We decline in our ability to ride long distances ....

When I started the Dragon runs with Toymaker and Lancer and all, we were starting the grey top and hair loss thing, but we were all spry and were gettin' on it good and we ripped around right smartly.

We went for like 5 years in a row and I noted the body mobility decline in the others (I already was well aware of my own and made jokes about falling over when getting off the bike at overlooks).

Now I have hip or knee episodes that park my one remaining bike (my Savage) for a month at a time now as I don't want to aggravate the knee damage, etc.

Some of you jokers have finally hung it up except for an occasional joyride -- seriously, if you can talk about it without pain what finally caused you to hang the helmet up on the hook out in the garage?

I haven't hung my helmet up yet and have looked for other solutions to keep riding. I have arthritis and fibromyalgia (bad knees/hips) and sometimes have to let the S40 sit. I bought my Suzuki Burgman 650 so that I can ride on days that I can't swing my leg over the S40 and will eventually trike the Burgman or get a VW trike.

Whatever you do, don't turn riding into work!  You do not have to ride at all, and if any particular outing does not seem like fun, don't do it.  The surest way to procrastinate/never do something is to begin with a sense of obligation.  Screw that.  You worked hard in your life and now it is time to just have as much fun as you want.

I (very loosely) plan to prop the hell out of myself as I lose mobility, so that things remain fun at each stage.  When I don't want to ride a tall motorbike anymore, I'll switch to a cruiser.  When it is too much trouble, or painful to swing a leg over a cruiser, I'll switch to a scooter.  When it is trouble to balance a scooter, I'll switch to one of those Can-Am things or a sidecar rig.  When I am too "out of it" to be safe on the road, I'll switch to a Kubota tractor and see if I can do some real damage. Then when they pull me off the tractor, I'll get an electric wheelchair that I can steer with my face. Once I can't steer with my face, technology willing, I'll transfer myself into a fully digital entity like on that Star Trek episode. But none of these steps is going to happen if it does not seem like a good, fun idea at the time.

So, not only do you not have to force yourself to keep riding a particular vehicle, you don't have to plan out everything to the grave either.

I think avoiding rigid obligations, and recognizing that you don't have to do anything.. ultimately leads to more getting done and more fun being had.
Kind Regards,
John

I'd have to say when you feel unsafe to yourself or others, you gotta hang it up.  Gotta be honest with yourself.

Don't sound to me like you will ever give up riding. You may have some years, but you are most likely alot tougher than most of the young folk. If you get tired of swinging the leg over and having to hold the bike up, remember they make a trike conversion for the 650 Burgman. Hang in there, have fun on the upcoming ride (pictures???).

I just turned 55. Been riding 6 years. I wish I would have started riding a lot younger. Actually, I did have an old Honda 50 back in my teen years. It is already getting difficult to swing the leg over. And my a$$ + back can only take about 50 miles at a time. I also have a lazy eye with glaucoma, so I pretty much drive 1-eyed. Things that make me think about giving it up? Well the large-rock-in-road incedent didn't help matters much. And there is the crash factor. We are so vulnerable as bikers.

This morning I found out that an old friend of mine plowed his Harley into the back of a delivery truck, sliding on sandy pea gravel from a construction site. Apparently the truck slammed on his brakes to avoid rear ending some OTHER biker. Well, my buddy's wife got thrown off the back--she's ok with minor injuries, but my buddy got pinned under the bike and of course, there was fire. He got burned pretty bad, I guess, and died a few hours later at the hospital.
Is it time to hang up the helmet I don't wear? No sir. It does make you think long and hard. But, when I can no longer physically get on the thing, then, maybe.
Oh, and that Trinity Savage Trike? SWEET !! I want one !!


RIP Larry Lussier

I have been riding since 1953. At 24 years old I wound up with 6 screws in my lower back ( a ruptured disc from welding in a shipyard )

2005 I got 3 rods a 10 screws put in my neck at the VA hospital ( spinal stenosis ) 2007 I had a quadruple bypass at the same hospital.

March of 2008 I bought my 2007 LS650 and had it 2 years and sold it. I then bought my 2010 Triumph Bonneville T-100 which I have put 6000 miles on already. I am 75 now and I look at age as just a number. I am not saying that I don't have any aches or pains as I have lived with low back pain since I was 24.  I get on my Bonny and I'm singing within the first mile. As long as I can keep singing I'll keep on riding. The first hundred years are the roughest and after that, it's all down hill.



                                                                                                                                                     Ride Safe
                                            Marine5317

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 08/29/11 at 07:58:25:

I would give my left you-know-what for a w650, but that's what the Savage cost me.   It's kinda like the doctor says about knee and hip replacements. You'll know when it's time. I hope you ride a long time.