Ok lets get this outa the way first. What is OLD?
Not talking year or how many decades its not really just the years it can be health trauma or physical health issues which might flick a guy or gall into that OLD category. Needless to say You/ We know who we are nuff said.. ... PHEW!.
Briskly moving on.
So what does Being OLD Bring to the Motorcycling table? both good and bad and what advice can we draw from perhaps decades of motorcycling experience.
What can we share with other None OLD motorcyclists to ready them for OLd and perhaps help them in the Younger now even.
Well obviously i can only offer my thoughts on this in my current condition at 65 and if everyone does like wise we can perhaps help others and learn from them too.
Ok So i think we can safely assume as oldies our reaction times are a tad slower than a spriteley young 18 year old and if we did the sums the easy one of braking distance/ reaction times etc would probably work out at about 8 or ten foot possibly as much as 20foot for slow Phill from York.
So we got braking, but its potential much more the feel and interpretation of the feel then how quick we react might potentially put us in harms way.
The counter to this is we,, given our seniority of years could have a cart load of experience on many bikes in many varied situations and scenarios we can draw from and help out with our reaction time shortfall perhaps.
Ok for some of us, But what about chris the welder, he got is first bike a Honda shadow in 2021 at 59 and his Harley fat bob in 2022 He has only a few K miles under his belt what about him you might ask.
Well we can reasonably safely presume Chris has not been shut in a cupboard all these years, he probably drove cars truck rode bicycles etc so has road experience and probably heaps of it.
though not on motorcycles it has some merit and it might be said his age and lack of motorcycling experience and knowledge should pay dividends.
I have heard that motorcycling new comers in their 40s to 50s are more prone to accidents than riders of younger and older ages. I think this might be the sporty 40s are still physicaly in ok condition most of em and feeling that rush of adrenalin it can get them in trouble at times.
Being old brings with it to most of us some degree of Life pain, that ankle the bad knees the hip the shoulder etc. all might slow movement and potentially cause us problems even compromise our safety in some cases.
As for advice, from me at any case. just the obvious realy keep a little more distance thaat will help with th stopping thing, and ride in your comfort zone, i dont like heavily congested high speed highways , i am ok with my ability but compensating for others mistakes and being 8 or ten foot short might pitch Matty into harms way so i avoid it if i can, not sure i would have done as a youngster.
If i crack on on the back or a roads i still feel confident on the raggy edge, i can feel my way like always but i am not sure why but i just can not do that throw caution to the wind thing i did in my younger years. In a way that again is a positive even if its somewhat unconscious in nature.
Anyway thats it for now, please share your thoughts and experiences here and lets learn and teach each other a bit old and Youngish alike.
Not talking year or how many decades its not really just the years it can be health trauma or physical health issues which might flick a guy or gall into that OLD category. Needless to say You/ We know who we are nuff said.. ... PHEW!.
Briskly moving on.
So what does Being OLD Bring to the Motorcycling table? both good and bad and what advice can we draw from perhaps decades of motorcycling experience.
What can we share with other None OLD motorcyclists to ready them for OLd and perhaps help them in the Younger now even.
Well obviously i can only offer my thoughts on this in my current condition at 65 and if everyone does like wise we can perhaps help others and learn from them too.
Ok So i think we can safely assume as oldies our reaction times are a tad slower than a spriteley young 18 year old and if we did the sums the easy one of braking distance/ reaction times etc would probably work out at about 8 or ten foot possibly as much as 20foot for slow Phill from York.
So we got braking, but its potential much more the feel and interpretation of the feel then how quick we react might potentially put us in harms way.
The counter to this is we,, given our seniority of years could have a cart load of experience on many bikes in many varied situations and scenarios we can draw from and help out with our reaction time shortfall perhaps.
Ok for some of us, But what about chris the welder, he got is first bike a Honda shadow in 2021 at 59 and his Harley fat bob in 2022 He has only a few K miles under his belt what about him you might ask.
Well we can reasonably safely presume Chris has not been shut in a cupboard all these years, he probably drove cars truck rode bicycles etc so has road experience and probably heaps of it.
though not on motorcycles it has some merit and it might be said his age and lack of motorcycling experience and knowledge should pay dividends.
I have heard that motorcycling new comers in their 40s to 50s are more prone to accidents than riders of younger and older ages. I think this might be the sporty 40s are still physicaly in ok condition most of em and feeling that rush of adrenalin it can get them in trouble at times.
Being old brings with it to most of us some degree of Life pain, that ankle the bad knees the hip the shoulder etc. all might slow movement and potentially cause us problems even compromise our safety in some cases.
As for advice, from me at any case. just the obvious realy keep a little more distance thaat will help with th stopping thing, and ride in your comfort zone, i dont like heavily congested high speed highways , i am ok with my ability but compensating for others mistakes and being 8 or ten foot short might pitch Matty into harms way so i avoid it if i can, not sure i would have done as a youngster.
If i crack on on the back or a roads i still feel confident on the raggy edge, i can feel my way like always but i am not sure why but i just can not do that throw caution to the wind thing i did in my younger years. In a way that again is a positive even if its somewhat unconscious in nature.
Anyway thats it for now, please share your thoughts and experiences here and lets learn and teach each other a bit old and Youngish alike.
Last edited:
