Your riding style.

[avion]

I would be grateful for some input here, and seeing how triumphtalk is a bunch of pretty decent people, on how you ride bikes.

Why have you changed the way you ride now and how you did when you were a youngster?

Is it purely maturity? Perhaps the fact that you have people, like family relying on your now?

Could it perhaps be down to experience, you've done all you wanted to, you've had your hooligan years and now you just enjoy the feel of being on a bike?

Did you have some bad accidents and learn't the hard way?

Is the way you ride now down to having a lot of very close calls?

Perhaps you still ride now as you were taught, either by schools or a father / friend?

You can't ride like that anymore, due to 'getting older' and the flexibility and reaction time has become limited?

I guess I just interested in how you became an experienced biker, instead of worm food?

care to offer some life tales guys?

...

 

[Rocky]

I stopped riding in 1958 and didn't ride again until 1992 on the eve of my retirement at age 55.
I wasn't much of a hooligan as a kid. I think I was always mature and sensible for my age. I enjoyed "spirited" riding then and I still do now at age 71. I still like to carve corners, but I do it in a calculated way. There is still a tiny strip of virgin rubber on the very edge of my tire treads. I run out of bravery before I run out of rubber :ya2:
I did have the only and only bad crash in my life last year, but that was a year ago and I'm riding as if it hadn't happened. I'm not afraid to twist the throttle, but I know my limits.
In spite of my age my physical condition is as good as it ever was. My eyesight and hearding are top notch and I have great reflexes.
I'm truly blessed with good health and I don't intend to waste it or throw it away by being stupid. I like pushing to the edge, but know when to back off.
It's not in my nature to go balls out and take the consequences. I'm a planner and think ahead and try to calculate and evaluate as I ride to avoid situations in traffic. This is my survival tactic, but where I live we don't have the thousands (millions) of people, cars and rat race traffic like many parts of North America - and the world. This is a very safe place to ride, but I have ridden in the USA and heavily populated regions of Canada where it is far less safe and had no problems.
I suppose I'm bragging again, but "getting older and slowing down" just isn't in my vocabulary :ya2:

 

[The Seeker]

I don't think I ride much differently than I did when I was young, perhaps with one exception....

That being that when I was younger, there wasn't as much traffic on the roadways as there is today. The more traffic, the more crazies! So, I may be more alert than I had to be back then.

But, I was always a defensive-style rider, just as I am in a cage.

As far as where I learned to ride goes....

I guess I taught myself mostly. I began around the age of 9 with a lawn mower engine powered minibike. I graduated up to my first real motorcycle around age 11...a Honda Trail 90 which was great for a beginner. I then rode mostly dirt and trials bikes of all kinds until age 16 when I got my first street bike (Harley-Davidson 350 Sprint). The dirt bike experience I feel made me a very safe rider on the street as I learned to control a sliding bike and use body english on the dirt...so it helped in emergency situations and low grip conditions on the street too.

 

[Silli]

When I was a teenage biker, my budget never ran to getting decent tyres.
This, along with the often wet and slippery roads in England, meant that I was never
a balls to the wall biker at all. Very conservative really.

I ride far faster these days, with decent tyres and a good bike under me.
That said, I still ride well within my own limits.

 

[CarlS]

Why have you changed the way you ride now and how you did when you were a youngster?

I used to ride a lot faster and a lot further than I do know. I also used to do a lot of dirt riding. I was young and invincible then. I am more cautious now: maturity, old age?

Is it purely maturity? Perhaps the fact that you have people, like family relying on your now?

Mae Lyne can no longer ride distances like she used to be able to do. So instead of taking the bikes and camping along the way, we take the bikes in a trailer and save our riding for our destination.

I limited my riding when when my kids were small; I didn't give it up. As they got older, I began to ride more. From 1994 until 2003, I did not own a bike, though I still rode occasionally. During those years I was TDY (temporary duty) a lot and there wasn't much sense in owning a bike. On top of that, few bikes in that era appealed to me. With the resurrection of Triumph and the new Bonneville, I fell in love again.

Could it perhaps be down to experience, you've done all you wanted to, you've had your hooligan years and now you just enjoy the feel of being on a bike?

I guess I've done most of the stunts and riding at the limits I care to do. Now I just enjoy getting in the wind - just me and the bike.

Did you have some bad accidents and learn't the hard way?

I had some get offs on the pavement and learned the hard way about gravel and sand on the road and to watch out for dumb moves by cagers. But I never really got hurt. I was blessed. I have certainly had my share of get offs in the dirt. The worst get off I've had was my high side back in January and even that was minor - only a broken ankle.

Is the way you ride now down to having a lot of very close calls?

No, the way I ride now is to avoid close calls.

Perhaps you still ride now as you were taught, either by schools or a father / friend?

Most of us taught ourselves to ride and I hope I ride a lot better than I did when I started riding in 1958. I have never taken a motorcycle course except a sidecar course. I was riding long before motorcycle endorsements came to be and was grandfathered.

You can't ride like that anymore, due to 'getting older' and the flexibility and reaction time has become limited?

I honestly don't notice much of a decrease in reflexes and reaction time. But I am most certainly not as flexible. I would probably notice a difference if I were riding at the limits as I once did. My main reason for being a more cautious rider is the accidents I've seen and knowing that I don't heal like I did 50 years ago.

I guess I just interested in how you became an experienced biker, instead of worm food?

care to offer some life tales guys?

I don't really have any tales. I learned to assess the risks. I will still ride hard in the twisties but I will check the route out first to become familiar with the road. Then I will ride more aggressively. My idea is to improve my skills in all types of riding and in varying conditions.

 

[devo]

As a youngster I was rather mellow and cautious

Now......I'm just a nutter




Really, tis a bit like silli said, the bikes, tyres and roads are so much better now that speeds are up.
And so is experience to watch for those wee danger signs.Tis wot keeps the shiny side up.

 

[Dilligaf]

Why have you changed the way you ride now and how you did when you were a youngster? Heck yeah I have. I ride slower and smarter.

Is it purely maturity? Perhaps the fact that you have people, like family relying on your now? With maturity comes a wise fear.

Could it perhaps be down to experience, you've done all you wanted to, you've had your hooligan years and now you just enjoy the feel of being on a bike? I've dragged knees, bumped hadlebars and have no need to be a Hooligan.

Did you have some bad accidents and learn't the hard way? Nothing really bad but I've been down and broken bones.

Is the way you ride now down to having a lot of very close calls? You learn from close calls, you learn to ride safe and reduce the likelyhood of a close call.

Perhaps you still ride now as you were taught, either by schools or a father / friend? Combination of both.

You can't ride like that anymore, due to 'getting older' and the flexibility and reaction time has become limited? I could ride faster then most if I wanted to.

I guess I just interested in how you became an experienced biker, instead of worm food? By learning to always leave myself an out.

 

[Gary]

Started in 1958 also, but have ridden some sort of bike or bikes since (gosh, that's 50+ years now).

I went for a ride Saturday afternoon, again on Sunday morning and plan to again today after work. The weather is absolutely glorious right now - high 70s with sunny blue skys, fluffy white cloulds and light cool winds.

When I was young I rode at 10/10ths of the bike's potential as much as possible until I knew each bike's absolute limits. I usually found the turn limit with a low side slide (once off a very steep and long enbankment and into a barbed wire fence). My style could be summed up as WFO. I rarely checked anything on the bike except the gasoline level unless it was broken. I almost never checked the oil or tire pressures. I never washed the bike and certainly never polished or detailed it. The chain never got lubed.

At age 34 in 1982 I bought a new bike and for some unknown reason treated it almost the opposite, except for the riding part. I often even checked and cleaned the plugs before riding. The riding part changed with this bike too after I got rear-ended hard by a nut in a porsche who thought he could run as fast as me and stop as quick as me (he could do neither and I became the meat in a Buick/Porsche sandwich). This made me real cautious about city riding.

In 1995 an idiot in a Ford van decided to turn right on a redlight at an intersection with no right turn on a redlight and not only did he not see the no right turn on redlight sign, he didn't see me on stopped in the right hand lane. Another bad rear end. Now I venture into cities only to go straight to a dealership and haven't done that in several years now (last in 2004?).

For about the next ten years I dressed like I was going out into a open class road race when I went riding and often suffered from the excess heat.

Now I do a quick detail, check everything and then double check the tires and air pressure BEFORE I ride. About the only thing I am not overly obsessive about is the windshield, as there are so many bugs in my area that its futile to get the windshield spotless only to have it gunked up with bugs within the first mile of riding.

I have also relaxed the clothing a lot. I always wear a helmet and gloves and never flip flops, but often go out in shorts and a golf shirt if the weather is nice. I still ride fast and hard in rural areas. I have a lot of twisty, hilly two land rural roads in my area with very little traffic - 80-85 mph on these roads is exhilerating, and of course, on every ride I have to check the engine out and make sure my top end is right at 110 mph. I saw 111 on the bike's GPS saturday.

 

[pjamesb80]

Started with a small dirt bike in the 70's and rode like an idiot. I had a wreck (I was on the back of a friends bike) in 1975 when a station wagon pulled out in front of us.

That changed everything for me. Rode very cautiously until 1980 when I sold my Honda CB450.

Didn't ride again until 2007 and still ride very cautiously. I have had a couple of other humbling events and close calls. Now I keep my eyes open and my speed within reason.

I haven't noticed a change in reflexes except that my eyesight is much worse than in the '70s.

 

[DaveM]

Well like a lot of the rest of you I really learned to ride in the dirt in the 70's. This gave me experiences and knowledge that you will never get on the road. As far as riding style I don't think I have changed much. I was never one for speed but more low end and raw power. Even when I was younger I road much more cautiously if I had a women pillion that I would by myself. So now being attached and having the wife on the back 99% of the time I still ride more cautiously than I would if I were alone on the bike.

I have had two off that stopped me from riding for a few weeks but none where I have been a hospital case. Looking back at the condition of the bikes I had makes it seem more dangerous the way I rode. Seeing that my Bonnie never had front brakes and the back were shaky to say the least being drum. As also mentioned here the bikes we ride today are more high tech and a lot safer so just that has made me a safer rider.

I think the big thing is to ride your own ride and not be pushed past what you feel good about by others :y18:

 

[DaveB]

[quote author=avion link=topic=6447.msg35466#msg35466 date=1248113809] I guess I just interested in how you became an experienced biker, instead of worm food? [/quote]

Avion, have you ever considered riding with both wheels on the ground :ya2: ?

I returned to biking in 2007 after a 19 year gap. No matter what I do I still believe that I'm riding on tyres with the grip levels we had back in the Eighties. In many ways that's not such a bad thing. I definitely ride slower than back in the Eighties. I'm not sure why & I don't analyse it. All I know is that I'm currently enjoying my riding more than ever before because the Sprint is such a great all round bike & it's comfortable too.

The only thing that I've deliberately changed is that I try to be more careful, & therefore slower, when taking blind corners.

DaveB.

 

[Roadrunner]

I started ridding in my mid 40’s. I call it my adolescent period (lasted for 9 years). All I cared about was white knuckle ridding (100++). I did his for a number of years and ended up in two accidents, one around 70mph, the second around 5mph. I walked away from the 70mph one (go figure). I drove my earlier boonies at speeds they were not meant to be driven at for long periods of time. My last bike would get me to 60 mph in first gear in the blink of an eye yet I never rode it over 80 mph. Most of my riding piers were young enough to be my kids.
There was no particular incident that caused me to change how I ride. A few months ago I decided I’d had enough with speed and wanted a nice mellow riding machine, hence the bonnie. I’ve satisfied my need for speed and lived to tell the tales. I am now looking forward to taking my eyes off the road when I ride. :y115:

 

[Doug]

Back in the late '60's and '70's niether my friends nor I could afford decent(read fast) bikes,so pretty much everywhere we went was a flat out race. Since then the self preservation instinct has gained the upper hand and the pace,or rather the degree of desparation,has dropped off.
To put it in a nutshell,the bikes have got faster,I've got slower,and the older I get,the faster I was!

 

[Simmer]

I didn't start riding until I was 62, five years ago. I have had two low speed accidents. One was on a very tight turn at a bout 30 mph. I took it to hot and bounced my left foot off of the peg when it hit hard. The bike was fine in the lean; just too much for the peg. The other was a fall in low speed heavy traffic and having to stop quickly and not using the rear brake in a turn. These things have made me a lot more cautious in traffic and tight turns. It also has made me do a lot of practice in parking lots and on fast country roads.

Dave

 

[T-RIDER]

I have been on bikes for the best part of 40 years. Had a few spills because of my own doing. Speed was in the order of the day. Had a serious car accident in 76 that nearly cost me my life(not by my doing). Had to learn to walk,drive a car again. Started
riding again in 78. Drive and riding very defensive came the order of the day. Took up flying on the early
90's. Lost a few pilot friends and realised that you should fly in such a way that you could be able to fly again tomorrow. My motto now is: Ride today so that I can ride again tomorrow.

T-Rider :y115: