I turn 72 in a couple of weeks and decided to quit riding.
Been riding since I was 15.
Getting to be a lot more dangerous people on the road these days
and I am not as quick and alert as I used to be.
I will miss the rides in the country and the enjoyment of owning a Harley.


Ride safe my friends..........It's a crazy world out there

 

Sorry to hear you are quitting, but you spent many years on the "ride" so be proud of that! I am almost 61 and have been a licensed rider since I was 15.5 years old (earliest you could get a motorcycle permit in CALIFORNIA back then).

I have ridden every since (no breaks from riding). I also wonder how long I can still ride. I hope to make it to my 70's (but physically, it is getting harder). I just can't imagine a day without a bike. I fell in love with motorcycles when I was around 10 years old and use to get Cycle World and brochures from Honda and Yamaha dealerships to drool over and dream about owning a bike...so it has been almost really my whole life around motorcycles.

I salute your sir!!

 

I also am 60, I've been riding since I was 15. Couldn't imagine not having a bike. I know someday I'll have to give it up. I also salute you sir.

 

Wow! Well done on such a long riding career! Loved to have shared a beer or two together and listened to some riding stories. Enjoy whatever you do next.

 

Wow...there are a bunch of us old timers out here riding Sportsters. I turned 62 this year. Sold my Street Glide and got a Sportster cause the weight was starting to be of concern. So now just got the Tri-Glide and the Sport.

Being a retired MSF Instructor I know that safety should always be the number one concern of every responsible rider of any age. Once that part of riding becomes compromised it is time to do some serious thinking about doing the right thing. I applaud you for this.

You may be off...but you are not out, as I am sure you'll have a big grin on your face every time a rumbling Harley passes by, and as Mr Taipan suggested...you still have many years of two wheel storytelling to do.

God Bless!

 

No kin to pass down your treasure to?

I just turned 60 and thoroughly enjoy working on my bike....it is so relaxing. Hopefully, when I retire from riding and will be able to keep the bike just to fuss around with it and perhaps take it out on short runs just to feel the joy....but that is just me.
Hope you will find something to fill the time that gave you the same joy you had with riding....say great grand kids?!?

 

I just turned 24 and I hope to be able to enjoy it like you have! I wish you the best of luck!

 

that new freewheeler looks pretty sweet if you want to stay in the wind. I wouldn't say you quit riding I'd say you retired from it.

 

I had a great misspent youth and my first bike was bought by my father. I paid for it but he bought the bike and brought it home. My uncle had a Volvo dealership and had connections to vehicles. It was a 1972 CB350 Honda. I remember a few years earlier one of my older brothers bought a chopped 650 BSA and would practice riding at the schoolyard. They came back one day with the shifter embedded in the casing. I kind of wondered how he could have done that. To me it was a bike and I pedaled two wheels everywhere as a kid. Anyways my Honda is there I jump on it and ride. I knew how to drive a standard. I had no lessons, my father didn't ride. That's not until I let him ride mine. That was fun. I had no license, tickets were $9.75 and we had a NIVF(Non Insured Vehicle Fee) of 75.00 - $150.00 when that ended.

I'm out booting the Honda around on the backstreets of the small town we now lived in. I come to a fork in the road with some loose gravel, undecided I hit the front brake and take a slide. Embarrassed and an elbow full of gravel I picked her up, straightened out myself, the clutch lever and shifter. Those will be replaced several times not only by myself a few times but I lend my bike for a car the odd time and those are the first parts to go. It didn't take a week before I was HWY driving to other towns nearby to visit etc. By the end of the summer I was on the road for Toronto. Rode the bike everyday, everywhere. I bought two more bikes following. Giving me 15 years of riding experience. The first year I took the spills. I did kill a neighbours lawn sprinkler a few years into it, but it was dark and I never saw it.

Now 30 years later I own a Softail and itching to ride it. Let's see if it's like riding a bike. Motorman says these skills need constant rehearsing. I think it will take a couple months to get things running smoothly, second nature. I will definitely be doing parking lot maneuvers from the get go. So to summarize a solid year of riding to become a proficient rider.

 

Having just turned seventy, I sometimes wonder how much longer I will ride. Safety is my concern, but, as of yet I still feel capable. I began riding at age 16. Hats of to you and your long career of riding and enjoying 'the lean'.