A question for ex-motorbikers...

[jazzkat]

I've still got a bike in bits (it's nearly finished, honest, but the enthusiasm to finish it isn't really there, to be honest) in the garage. But the last road worthy one went last year.
I use a car for work now (its just more practical for the job) and if the weathers nice over the weekend I'd rather cycle.

 

[pplpilot]

BSA C15 of course!

British bikes eh, constant joke between me and dad who is british through and through. I recall when Triumph released a new bike not long after triumph came back from the brink of bankruptcy, it was at the launch at the NEC bike show someone had put a meat roasting pan underneath to act as a drip tray!!! It was ages before any triumph staff manning the stand noticed!

 

[raleighnut]

That was done years ago by Stavros (Steve Parrish/ Yamaha) on a rivals stand as was sneaking another brands bike onto the Honda stand.

 

[GrasB]

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?

For some reason I can't tone it down on two wheels. Everything ends up being some sort of competition. At least on a pedal cycle I can convince my self it's all training for something bigger. On a motorbike it was hard to turn every ride into a GP... I still sometimes hire a motorbike for a track session.

My last bike was a Kawasaki ZX9R... completely determined to dump you on the ground & didn't much care which way, a true battle of wills on track but so rewarding to ride even though it was never that fast compared to its peers on the lap times. I miss it but I'm much better off without it.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

<snip>
*His first words when getting out of the car were to ask me, sitting in the centre of the road, bike with the forks bent under the engine lying on its side on the white line,were,'Did I hit something?' My reply, harshly edited for strong language is still, sadly, unprintable. He got 9 points on his licence and that was, for me a lenient penalty. I'd have strung him up.

Nice, I don't think the taxi driver that got me suffered anything, her first words were 'I got a call in the other direction so just turned the steering wheel and floored it'. I was filtering well out from the traffic about 3 car lengths away, by the time I saw her she was already perpendicular to the kerb. I got to practice somersaulting over the bonnet (I wasn't built for it). Wrote off my Tenere, but I think it did the same to her minicab. The CPS didn't prosecute because 'someone in the traffic might have flashed her out'. Two wheeled justice, doesn't matter what you use as an engine. :-/

 

[stephec]

I got taken out by some daft coo in a ****panzer who clipped the back of my bike while giving me a very close pass. She cleared off leaving me in a heap of twisted metal and bits of flying plastic everywhere (the bike was a Gpz 550 - one of the early monoshock jobs) with a broken pelvis, broken wrist and a couple of cracked wrists. To top it all, I was a an IT Contractor for a company who were not willing to wait for me to heal enough to travel to work on the train (can't blame them I suppose). Bike was a right off, I was out of action for 6 months or so.
When the insurance came through I bought a car as my hips were too stiff to ride a motorbike any more.
I still remember being a dizzy in London very fondly. In my memory it didn't rain so much.

Did you used to wear all leather Saluki?

 

[surfdude]

i hit
a lemp pot at 75 when the wife was pegrent and she topped me giting a new bike .

 

[surfdude]

Oh no, did it rob you of the power of coherent speech as well?

no i be pi**ed

 

[Saluki]

Did you used to wear all leather Saluki?

Of course. Unless it was raining and then I had my all in one waterproofs to put over the top.

 

[stephec]

Of course. Unless it was raining and then I had my all in one waterproofs to put over the top.

I've got a image of Suzi Quatro in my head now.

Or should that be Saluki Quatro?

 

[Saluki]

I've got a image of Suzi Quatro in my head now.

Or should that be Saluki Quatro?

If I looked like Suzi Q, I would be a very happy woman.

 

[stephec]

If I looked like Suzi Q, I would be a very happy woman.

I bet you did when you had those leathers on.

 

[Saluki]

I bet you did when you had those leathers on.

I'm a bit tall to look like Suzi Q, however I did have spray on leathers for promo work, back in the day when I was a model. I used to do some bikestocks events, car shows, bike shows, boat shows etc.I had more of a Toyah hairdo back then. Sadly I have no pictures from back then after a burglary.

 

[stephec]

I'm a bit tall to look like Suzi Q, however I did have spray on leathers for promo work, back in the day when I was a model. I used to do some bikestocks events, car shows, bike shows, boat shows etc.I had more of a Toyah hairdo back then. Sadly I have no pictures from back then after a burglary.

That sort of kills my next question then.

A tall Toyah Wilcox sounds very nice, she still does it for me now.

 

[Saluki]

That sort of kills my next question then.

A tall Toyah Wilcox sounds very nice, she still does it for me now.

Yup, the buggers took all of my record collection. Whoever burgled me knew what they were after as I had inherited every record in the top 10 since 1962. My Aunt had collected them and handed them on to me and I carried on buying the records in the top 10 right up until I was burgled. I lost heart then.
The burglars took all my photos, which were conveniently in boxes marked 'photos' and the month/year. Hi-fi gone, all my cameras the lot. The charmers even drugged my dog. I thank my lucky stars they didn't kill him. They did poo on my bed though.