All middle aged men I know who've done this find the thirst for 200mph at least once hard to resist. Apparently it all gets a bit wobbly at 190 though. They've all sold after a year or two at most, thankful to still be alive, and bought upright touring bikes with huge fairings, but even these are silly fast and the ash stays in the ashtry. You know yourself what sort of person you are and how keen you are to carry on living.
just watch some of Ghost Rider's post on youtube...Bi-supercharged Hyabusa...it's enough to make you weep
I got my Triumph Thruxton 7 years ago and love it there's a lot of choice out there, you don't have to go for something super fast. My bike has a top speed 120 but is really good in the middle range, rubbish in a drag race but hard to catch me on the twisties. I learnt to ride in London, so not very fast but scary, thrilling, adrenaline packed three years. Only one minor accident in three years. Then moved to Cambridge , excited about the country roads but realised I'd never really learnt to ride or gone round a bend @ 70! Some very hairy moments. Did the bikesafe course run by the police, which was great and I would recommend and then did and passed the advanced motorists, which was really helpful. In short, go for it!
Heard a joke at school today, that your youngest would appreciate: Went to Tesco's for some alphabetti spaghetti....there were no queues.... bought some Velcro....what a rip off!
I commute on a Honda Blackbird through most weather....filtering long lines of commuter queues can be very satisfying! A lot of born again riders are over confident in their own abilities...there are a lot more cars on the road since we were young and modern bikes are mega mega performance machines Having said that bikes are brilliantly liberating...maybe do a refresher course before getting back on...I would or maybe an advanced rider course, Donnington used to do road riding training days on the track.
where`s @jonbott I think he might have fallen off his bike... If I had to commute I would get a bike ,for fun my pushbike down the Pyrenees is enough..
Do it. Classics are great too, cheaper to insure and plenty fast enough to keep ahead of most car traffic.
I can't imagine not having a bike. I wrote off a very nice Kawasaki ZX9R that I had Maxton suspension, full akra race exhaust etc. on in December 2003 in a silly low speed accident and was without a bike for one whole month and it felt wrong even though it was winter and I wouldn't have been riding, I bought the Aprilia in January 2004 and felt complete again. The Aprilia is so good I can't imagine ever selling it. I have done loads of mods to it so whilst it looks stock it isn't and is perfect for fast blasts or long trips down to Italy with a bag on the back. That said I properly fancy a cafe racer as well (must be getting old) I did say "as well" as the RSV is here to stay.
I use to have bikes and was into the speed thing didn't get my first car until i was 24 but with the state of drivers on the road now i don't think i would enjoy it now
I have a couple of bikes. . A little 125 cc .and a 1200cc bmw . I use each for different purposes . The 125 is a everyday use that is filled up for 13 pounds and it does 230 miles on that tank full, last me around 3 months . No parking cost in my area , colleagues at work pay five pounds a day to park. Low tax i think it was 7.50 for this year but don't quote me and 65.oo fully comp insurance (i am 53). However i only use it for work and back . I use back roads as its the shortest route vand i don't think a day goes by when i dont need to take some sort of action to avoid some sort of incident , normally a very minor incident , but an incident on a bike can have serious consequences . By bigger bike is only ever used in England to get to the ferry of chunnel train to travel around Europe , the tank on this takes me just under 400 miles of pleasurable riding on the continent , i hate riding it on the road in England , somehow i don't feel as safe as i do on my smaller one , its almost as if British car drivers have it in for bike riders . So even though i ride my big bike generally on the wrong side of the road with foreign road signs i feel so much safer on it in europe I would recommend getting a 125 and use it for work and get used to it over a couple of months , it wont cost much and you will get a feel for the way bike riders are treated using uk roads. If you like it then upgrade but keep the little one for daily use . Bearing in mind its now winter , probably not the best time to start riding again .
i'm a bit like joker took off my bike about 10 yrs ago, smashed ankle, split knee cap, shards of glass from a windscreen in back and balls the size of buster gonads in viz while squashing tank between both knees. my brother is building a hybrid chop Harley /gsxr 1100 custom and i'm jealous but don't know if its because he's building it or that I don't ride anymore
been ridin bikes for years,me and my brother rode down through France into Spain a few years back,it was great! ridden all sorts of bikes and usually ride like a bit of a tit,but now had a very stupid minor accident which has scuppered my biking days..... the problem is nowadays there are loads of stupid bike riders and even more stupid drivers that don`t see bikes and if you hit a car its gonna hurt.. I`m sure I probably will be back on a motorbike despite what the consultant says...
