There’s a big change happening in motorcycling these days. A lot of older people (50+) are buying motorcycles because they always wanted to ride but they couldn’t afford it when they were younger. Mix in the fact that many old riders are now giving up their bikes and selling them … but young riders are not buying them because a young new rider can’t afford the insurance for the bike. Younger riders will go for new smaller engine bikes and many of them are now migrating towards electric bikes … it’s getting to the point where small engine bikes are as powerful, fast and economical as a good sized electric bike. Plus its easier for a young new rider to insure an electric bike than a gas powered one.
The danger with all those old riders is that many of them didn’t grow up riding a motorcycle … they always wanted to but never had the chance. But now that they’re older, have a bit money and have a bit of time, they want to ride but they’re old now … which means, they don’t have the reflexes, they don’t have the strength and they don’t have the awareness of what it feels like to get hurt on a bike. Most riders like myself learned to ride as kids on dirt bikes and ATVs … it’s a great training ground because you ride fast and do all sorts of stupid things … and most importantly, you fall and hurt yourself … so you learn from a young age what it feels like to fall on a bike a low speed and that it hurts a lot … you realize that if you go faster on a paved highway, you’re really going to get hurt.
Being an older rider you don’t get that experience and those guys usually only have one accident … and it either severely hurts them for life and they give up riding … or it kills them.
Thanks for the insight and perspective! Motorsports are admittedly not my thing, but I’m pretty sure older dudes buying motorcycles in middle age or retirement is far from a recent trend; it’s a pretty well known stereotype. Hell, Wild Hogs is almost 20 years old at this point. Not that that invalidates what you said about the dangers they pose learning to ride so late.
I’ve seen a lot of younger people in my region riding e-scooters with a seat attachment or electric mopeds.
People like me between the ages of about 40 - 55 are at a great period for riding motorcycles. There are a lot of people selling amazing old bikes that young people either don’t or can’t buy. We’re at a good age for insurance (if we have years of experience). I love biking and I’ve accumulated 6 old motorcycles with 3 on the road and 3 as project bikes. I don’t think this period will last tho … as those old bikes will start to become too expensive to maintain and mechanics no longer want to service old bikes. And everyone will be switching to powerful electric bikes that will look like full sized motorcycles.
What all this means in terms of your noisy neighbour is that there is a 50/50 chance that he won’t be riding for very long.
Sometimes these old guys just enjoy riding and continue riding for a long time.
Or they give up on it because they end up scaring themselves with a near accident or their bike breaks down because they don’t know all the ways of taking care of a bike (it’s all dependent on the make, model, age, type and little details of the bike) … they often end up with a mechanical problem and they either don’t want to fix it, it’s too expensive or they just don’t know how and just give up on the bike and biking.
There’s a big change happening in motorcycling these days. A lot of older people (50+) are buying motorcycles because they always wanted to ride but they couldn’t afford it when they were younger. Mix in the fact that many old riders are now giving up their bikes and selling them … but young riders are not buying them because a young new rider can’t afford the insurance for the bike. Younger riders will go for new smaller engine bikes and many of them are now migrating towards electric bikes … it’s getting to the point where small engine bikes are as powerful, fast and economical as a good sized electric bike. Plus its easier for a young new rider to insure an electric bike than a gas powered one.
The danger with all those old riders is that many of them didn’t grow up riding a motorcycle … they always wanted to but never had the chance. But now that they’re older, have a bit money and have a bit of time, they want to ride but they’re old now … which means, they don’t have the reflexes, they don’t have the strength and they don’t have the awareness of what it feels like to get hurt on a bike. Most riders like myself learned to ride as kids on dirt bikes and ATVs … it’s a great training ground because you ride fast and do all sorts of stupid things … and most importantly, you fall and hurt yourself … so you learn from a young age what it feels like to fall on a bike a low speed and that it hurts a lot … you realize that if you go faster on a paved highway, you’re really going to get hurt.
Being an older rider you don’t get that experience and those guys usually only have one accident … and it either severely hurts them for life and they give up riding … or it kills them.
Thanks for the insight and perspective! Motorsports are admittedly not my thing, but I’m pretty sure older dudes buying motorcycles in middle age or retirement is far from a recent trend; it’s a pretty well known stereotype. Hell, Wild Hogs is almost 20 years old at this point. Not that that invalidates what you said about the dangers they pose learning to ride so late.
I’ve seen a lot of younger people in my region riding e-scooters with a seat attachment or electric mopeds.
People like me between the ages of about 40 - 55 are at a great period for riding motorcycles. There are a lot of people selling amazing old bikes that young people either don’t or can’t buy. We’re at a good age for insurance (if we have years of experience). I love biking and I’ve accumulated 6 old motorcycles with 3 on the road and 3 as project bikes. I don’t think this period will last tho … as those old bikes will start to become too expensive to maintain and mechanics no longer want to service old bikes. And everyone will be switching to powerful electric bikes that will look like full sized motorcycles.
What all this means in terms of your noisy neighbour is that there is a 50/50 chance that he won’t be riding for very long.
Sometimes these old guys just enjoy riding and continue riding for a long time.
Or they give up on it because they end up scaring themselves with a near accident or their bike breaks down because they don’t know all the ways of taking care of a bike (it’s all dependent on the make, model, age, type and little details of the bike) … they often end up with a mechanical problem and they either don’t want to fix it, it’s too expensive or they just don’t know how and just give up on the bike and biking.