A question for ex-motorbikers...

[yello]

What made you pack it in?

Some say family changes (new baby, new spouse, etc), others say the cost.

Me, I'm thinking very seriously about packing it in. I don't ride as much as I used to and I've found that I've become too aware of my own vulnerability. I'm happy with my own abilities (passed my IAM, assessed at RoSPA silver) but it's the twats on the roads that concern me. It only takes some dozy moron to off me and my life is over or impaired. Not a pleasant thought.

So, what made you pack it all in?

 

[BSRU]

Not being single, I was quite happy to ride around with no-one at home waiting for me but now with a family it would be too selfish.
Besides human powered two wheels is far more satisfying

 

[Spinney]

I was only riding for about 3 years. I mainly used the bike to get to work, but I had a car as well. It became too much faff to put on all the gear and take my work clothes with me, and I didn't bother in the rain. I just wasn't getting enough fun for the cost of the maintenance, insurance etc (that was back in the day when my bank balance was just about zero just before the next pay day!).

Plus the story of a motorcyclist who'd come off the road at a junction on the way to work. This was a junction leading to a dual carriageway, and there was a largish triangle full of trees and vegetation at the junction. The biker had come off into this and ended up invisible from the road. He wasn't found for several days, by which time he was dead. He had been alive after the crash, as he had taken his gloves off...

 

[TissoT]

Had a GSX r taken from my garage ... I never replaced it
I do nt miss it either have nt got time to ride a cycle and a motor bike
I still have a GSX r in my mums garage but Iam not tempted to ride ..
used to enjoy riding them ....But I think I have had my day

 

[stuee147]

family and the need for a family car so couldn't afford to keep a bike as well. iv always thought about getting back into it as i do miss it but its just not as practical to run a bike as it is to run a car. unless you live alone and never want to go out with anyone lol

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Time and money with a side order of medical issues mainly. I had on going back problems traced back to an RTA a decade or so earlier that I hadn't really dealt with properly. Finally did when life was just getting unbearable and I was having to stop things because I just physically couldn't do them any more. But in that period the bikes sat and gathered dust & rust. When I could come back to them I couldn't justify the cost, both monetary of getting a bike running again and legal and health wise because I'd altered my commute to include a lot of walking, and later replaced that with cycling. The cost benefits of commuting by bike disappeared because I now cycle the bit that is truly uneconomical by car and no longer pay out loads in car parking fees, the big two things that motorbiking would have offset. On top of that motorbiking to work would mean I wouldn't be exercising as much and I'd miss it. With commuting out of the way suddenly the bike becomes a luxury/toy and I can't justify the money when I know I probably wouldn't spend that much time out on one.

I still think about sorting something out because I miss doing it. But I don't miss it enough to make it worth it. The friends I knew from motorbiking I still know, in the main as we've got older we've all began riding less, except for a few stalwarts who you just know are always going to keep the faith. A large chunk now ride RCT's (erm, bicycles...) same as me.

 

[swee'pea99]

Quit when I had young kids - decided it was irresponsible. Funnily enough, once they reached teenhood, I decided to treat myself, and got another. The only problem is, I've hardly used it at all. I prefer cycling these days, and I'm finding it harder & harder to combat my wife's insistence that it's a complete waste of money having it sat outside month after month...

 

[pplpilot]

I rode bikes from the age of seven when I competed in schoolboy motoX until I was 18, I then had bikes on the road until 2 years ago, so the best part of 40 years.
If I had to give a single reason (amongst others) then it'd have to be the boom in popularity of biking, there just seemed to be a new crowd that was all a bit... well.. 'Wanky' . Sunday riding middle managers with full race leathers on CBR600's that just seemed to stand around bullshitting about getting their 'knee down'. I suppose the same could be said for cycling in the last few years but nowhere near as bad as motorcycling. I just grew out of it very quickly, I really though I'd miss my bikes but I can honestly say I don't. It just wasn't fun anymore. My Dad in his 80's still restores and rides British bikes...

 

[compo]

Old age and arthritic hands after many years of motorcycling. I could have had adaptations made to the bike but cost would outweigh use so I hung up my leathers.

 

[screenman]

Just got bored with it, maybe down to the mates I used to ride with not being able to get pass outs off of the new women they found. I never did get the satisfied feeling I get after a cycle ride from the motorbike, so with limited time the cycle wins hands down.

I think the fact I could buy another one at any time makes me less want one.

 

[yello]

the boom in popularity of biking, there just seemed to be a new crowd that was all a bit... well.. '****y' . Sunday riding middle managers with full race leathers on CBR600's that just seemed to stand around bullshitting about getting their 'knee down'.

I remember it well. And, tbh, it coloured my perception for a while. I began to think I was a coward for not wanting to take bends at life threatening speeds. But it's what made me start the advanced training that I did, so I guess I'm thankful to that era in a way. I'm pretty much over the 'knee down' crap now but I still get the odd haunting, particularly when a 'fellow' biker hurtles past. (And, yes, I think cycling has seen a similar growth in popularity that has perhaps lead to the rise of less appealing attitudes).

Thanks for all the stories people. They're all striking a chord.

 

[MarkF]

I rode motorbikes for 25 years going up and down the capacity ladder and not having too much fun. I then did what I always wanted to do, restored a beautiful machine and I've been happy ever since, sold my last bike, a Bonneville a year or so ago and I'd never go back to them.

OP, vulnerability is surely not a reason to give up, it didn't stop you starting?

 

[EltonFrog]

I still have a bike, which I have only ridden once in the last 8 months, my wife has one which she rides for a the occasional commute, neither of us ride as much as we use to party because of time and hassle to get ready. We prefer cycling anyway. I think I might sell mine this year.

 

[hopless500]

I was only riding for about 3 years. I mainly used the bike to get to work, but I had a car as well. It became too much faff to put on all the gear and take my work clothes with me, and I didn't bother in the rain. I just wasn't getting enough fun for the cost of the maintenance, insurance etc (that was back in the day when my bank balance was just about zero just before the next pay day!).

Pretty much this ^^

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I gave up when I was only about 20 after being offed a couple of times. After the last one I was lying in the road after a motorist had pulled out of a petrol station and knocked me off, she strode over and angrily told me 'look what you've done to my car', that was when I decided I'd probably had my free lives and it was best to give it up.