How Many of you are Lifers??

[TerryM]

On and off for me. Parents wouldn't let me have a motorbike when all my friends were getting them in our early teens (so I rode theirs when they'd let me). Then other interests got in the way until early 30s when I bought my first. Life got in the way again when we bought a place in SF with no garage and then work transfer to Europe. Got back into riding about 12 years ago - mostly commuting now. I certainly enjoy it and plan to continue until I don't, but given the facts, guess I'm no lifer.

 

[motomania2007]

Started riding in 1969 at age 6...

I never thought about how long I had been riding until someone asked me about 15 years ago and it had been more than 30 years at that point...

First ride was a neighbor's minibike with a $5 Kmart helmet...

Rode dirtbikes as a kid, a little woods racing at about 11 or 12

Street bike license at 15 1/2 to ride an S2 and then a R75/5 then a plethora of bikes since.

Roadraced about 5 years in the late 80s, early 90s

Started teaching my kids and then other people's kids how to ride in the early 2000s, finally took the plunge in 2009 to go learn to be an instructor.

Been teaching (sharing my addiction) ever since.

I love teaching people how to ride.

I "think" I am a lifer.

Ask me again in about 20 years and I will know for sure!

 

[Not Sure]

Both of my parents were motocross racers in Indiana back in the 70's.. my very earliest memories are at the local mx tracks.

Been here ever since :ride

 

[clutchslip]

I just renewed my AFM license for 2017. I figure I'll last a few more years on motos maybe.

Stop being such a show-off!

I haven't ridden in over a year because of things. I took four years off after a big head-on. There are still a couple of liter bikes hanging around my house, though. Sooooooo, I figure it is just a very little more time before I pump up the handlebar adrenaline, again. It's a hell-of-a-lot easier than surfing, and I do love the speed and hanging off and fast bike things. I really do.

EDIT: Actually, I took a "newbie" for a tour over Hecker Pass, this year between health issues. Hmmmm. I guess I am going senile, too. So don't ride with me, because I won't remember your name. :laughing

 

[cg_ops]

Started in 2000. Stopped in 2005 after a crash that severed my left arm, broke my neck/back, and had my femur puncture my leathers. I suppose I road for the rest of my life after starting because I flat-lined for 30+ seconds... I only stopped because I promised I'd never ride again without their blessing. It took 7 years to convince them that riding was a part of who I was. Got back on in 2013 and haven't looked back. I may or may not be a lifetime rider but it sure as hell isn't just a phase or fashion statement for me.

 

[DReg350]

Dunno, Budman. I'm on the fence right now. Stopped riding for few years after witnessing Gary hit deer #3. Stopped again for a bit after taking out my left collar bone on a Tunitas Creek low side. Aside from ridding my bike home from the shop after getting it fixed after it broke on my way home from Hawthorne... I haven't ridden since Hawthorne. Watching a man die on the road has really taken the wind from my sails. I've started getting rid of gear already, and will be putting bike #2 up for sale next spring. Will I sell bike #1 also? Don't know yet. But, it seems odd that I've been considering it. :dunno

 

[FreeRyde]

As long as I can throw a leg over and see down the road, I'll be on two wheels.

 

[Killroy1999]

I took the MSF and started motorcycling on the street as soon as I could at ~15 years old with a permit. I don't know if you can do that today.

I took a break in college to race cars with 600 cc motorcycle engines (Formula SAE).

Then when I graduated I bought myself a used R6. I had a couple of those, but I was riding bicycles more, so they got sold for 6 years.

I always liked EVs and I had a life crisis, so I bought my Zero, which I commute on daily over 17. I could ride more, but I usually do something else on the weekend.

 

[budman]

Dunno, Budman. I'm on the fence right now. Stopped riding for few years after witnessing Gary hit deer #3. Stopped again for a bit after taking out my left collar bone on a Tunitas Creek low side. Aside from ridding my bike home from the shop after getting it fixed after it broke on my way home from Hawthorne... I haven't ridden since Hawthorne. Watching a man die on the road has really taken the wind from my sails. I've started getting rid of gear already, and will be putting bike #2 up for sale next spring. Will I sell bike #1 also? Don't know yet. But, it seems odd that I've been considering it. :dunno

Understand. There was another thread where a member was going to hang it up because of a kiddo coming. Dan (hawaiin rider) then wondered if he would come back after being taken out.

Bottom line is there are some nasty things that can happen to a human because they ride a motorcycle. We all hope (some pray or??) that they won't. Circumstances of reality often guide those decisions as you know.

I am just sending out a Christmas Card to Brad and Katrina tomorrow. It took along time just to figure out what to say... and I am just writing. What you went through very well could have me choosing a different path. I don't think it would, but it could. I saw people die when I was racing and I just kept on... but I have never gone through the trauma of actually being so hands on to the situation and now I am not this single minded young man.

Wish you peace in your decision G.

 

[seralat]

Rode my first time on a minibike at Camp Cottontail in SoCal when I was 8 or 9, but didn't really start riding regularly until around 15. Got my Moto license the week after I took my driver test a few days after my 16th birthday. So I've been riding going on about 37 years, pretty much all of it on the street.

It's not a religion for me, it's just how I get around. It's a hell of a lot more convenient than a car, and generally more fun. It's also been my primary mode of transportation since the late '80s. At this point, it's hard to imagine how much extra time I've had to do other things in my life because I don't have to wait in traffic.

If that makes me a lifer, then I guess I am one.

 

[louemc]

I have been riding since I was 8.

Are you hooked for life..like me:teeth

:smoking

Been at it since I was 17 (had to buy my own bikes), and 77 years old now, so ...
60 years. Moved so much, can't say what friends did.

While living in Portland Oregon, and riding muddy mountain trails, (steep Accents + Decents)..

One friends Dad, said we came back, looking like we had been wrestling Bears and Bob Cat's...,
and having fun, doing that. :laughing

 

[pulsar]

Definitely a rider for life, I grew up in a part of the world where it isn't sport, its just basic transportation and if you don't ride there is something wrong with you. The first time I rode (a 90cc scooter) was at age 11, I used to steal rides on my father's borrowed scooter and ride it inside the campus we used to live, couldn't flat-foot it, used to carefully stop at a kerb so I could put my foot down. He would elaborately pretend he didn't notice. I've been hooked on it ever since. But even back then, I was so excited about riding I didn't consider it basic transportation, I have always been enthusiastic about it.

 

[Hlenoble]

I've been hooked on motorcycles since I rode my friend's mini-bike when I was 10 years old. I bought my first bike when I got my license at 16 and have been riding since then, 39 years! There were times when I rode more and times when I rode less but I always had a bike and always had the love for riding.

I was off the bike entirely for over a year recently following back surgery and I missed riding terribly. I've been back since July and appreciate it as much as ever, maybe more actually.

 

[chuckwarren]

I've been riding for 50 years. I don't plan to stop any time soon.

 

[islemann]

Lifer? Uh, yeah.

I started riding on my own at 7yrs old. My first ride on the back of a bike was when I was 4. I turned 61 this year. I took a break from motorcycles when my daughter was 3 and stayed off of bikes until she was 8. It had to do with her burning her hands on the exhaust of my CB400f and guilt. It took me a long time to get over her injury. Longer than it took her. That's the longest I've been without a bike before or since.

Usually, I've had multiple bikes in the garage. At one time the count was 16. That might have been n+too many. Now that I live in a van down by the river - I only have one motorcycle. Based on an email I received today, I think I might have accidentally just bought another. Oops.

 

[David919]

1979-now, one break when it took a while to convince the second wife that having children and riding was not completely stupid. Hell, even with so many more motos on the road now, I think it's never been more dangerous. Maybe it's the decrease in driving skills for the general public and an increase in numbers of every kind of vehicle, on what is basically the same roads as 1979. Maybe I'm becoming an old fart?

 

[bikewanker]

This

Maybe it's the decrease in driving skills for the general public and an increase in numbers of every kind of vehicle, on what is basically the same roads as 1979. Maybe I'm becoming an old fart?

All of the above :thumbdown Being a lifer is a damn rewarding challenge

 

[weak_link]

25 years, mom was anti bikes when I was a kid or it would be longer. Don't see myself giving it up anytime soon.

 

[Gixxergirl1000]

Years later... currently broken (for about a year now), walking with a cane... but I can sit a bike without it hurting, and was out racing end of October! :teeth

CanNOT give it up... WILL not give it up.

Riding and racing is my soul's life...

 

[DIY]

I came to motos later in life. They are a source of joy but if I needed to leave them behind I think I could, for the most part. I know this because I cut back drastically on my riding after my daughter was born. At the time her needs were far more important than my own and she makes me happier than all of the motos in the world. So, in short, I consider motos to be one method to produce happiness but the reality is, is there are many other ways to happiness as well.