Have you ever considered quitting riding?

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Strewth Rocky, I'm 70 next February and you are an inspiration to me!

Cheers mate.

[Rocky_imp]

Strewth Rocky, I'm 70 next February and you are an inspiration to me!

Cheers mate.

Good on ya mate
Last January my daughter, her husband and I spent a week in Sydney and had the time of our lives. We also spent a week in Melbourne and in Port Douglas in the north.
We got to see the Blue Mountains; Bondi Beach; Manly; the Rocks - plus many other attractions and sites around Sydney and area.
Too bad that I wasn't acquainted with you then, but I had no idea a CB would be in my future three months later.
This was the trip of a lifetime and we had so much fun and were welcomed so kindly by everyone we met.
But I have to admit that it was a bit hot for us Canadians and our Eskimo blood

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Well Rocky, maybe next time.

Cheers

[Houtman_imp]

I will stop riding when I can not get it up anymore , on the center stand I mean.

[Guth_imp]

My story is a bit different. I haven't had a bad accident that caused me to give up riding. I did have a run in with immaturity however, that I feel I was lucky to survive.

I grew up with dirt bikes as a kid. My dad loved motorcycles so it was no surprise that I would want to experience them as well. My mom on the other hand wasn't such a fan. Before I was ever allowed to have a dirt bike, she made me promise that I would never ride a street bike. I didn't have too much trouble keeping that promise — as I grew older, I found motorcycles less appealing overall. I still noticed bikes, but they just didn't do much for me. In 1988, I had my first decent job after school and was living in Dallas. That's when Honda released the Hawk GT. I found myself back inside a Honda shop for the first time in years (even though the dealer was located just a few blocks from my apartment). The Hawk was even more seductive in person.

I hadn't forgotten my promise to my mom, but this bike was so tempting that I went ahead and filled out all of the paperwork. Then in a rare moment of maturity during that time in my life, I decided to sleep on the decision. I don't think I could recall how I got home the next morning which unfortunately was not totally uncommon for me back then as I tended to drink way too much. That was the point when I decided that my life was a bit of a mess and I couldn't allow myself to hop back on a bike. You think that I would give up partying, but it got to the point that I had to call a cab to scour the streets trying to retrace my steps and figure out where my truck was. It was a miracle that I never hurt myself or anyone else for that matter. A motorcycle would not have been a wise addition to the equation.

Years passed and I managed not to totally screw up my life. I met a wonderful woman (who became my wife) and had no regrets over my decisions. But over time, I did think more and more about motorcycles and I definitely never forgot the Hawk. I've told the story elsewhere on this forum how my wife, who wasn't a fan of motorcycles, attended a buddhist meditation retreat and come home saying that she no longer felt it was right to forbid me from owning a motorcycle. Later that year (2007), I found myself in Seattle picking up a blue Hawk GT just like the one I was mesmerized by in the Honda shop all those years ago. I've been riding ever since, and I find it to be most enjoyable. The funny thing is that after owning the Hawk for a while, I called my mom to catch up and decided I'd tell her about my purchase. After revealing my big secret, she laughed and said that she knew that I wouldn't be able to keep that promise for my entire life.

I will say that getting back on a motorcycle again felt totally natural, but riding on the street after never doing so felt a bit more unfamiliar than I had expected. Now I commute to work by bike daily and am at home on the street, but man, you can never let your guard down. It's a good way to clear the mind (of which I'm glad that I still have one after surviving my youth).

[Rocky_imp]

Cool story Guth.
I loved the Hawk GT while I had it - and in many ways wish I still had it.
Much truth about not letting your guard down

[ThomWill_imp]

Not really. I rode dirtbikes, snowmobiles, and all sorts of things when I was young. There was a guy who lived up the road, Frank, who had a whole garage full of Bonneville's and all us boys would go up there and he would let us ride them up and down the road. (trying to picture my response if a neighbor kid wandered up to my garage and asked to ride one of my bikes now). Time and tide took me away but I never ever forgot the feeling of the cool air over my knuckles and the sure surge of adrenaline that came with a twist of the throttle. Met and married a wonderful girl who used to ride with her brother when she was a kid. We talked about bikes from time to time, but we were busy raising a family. Once the kids got old enough I mentioned in passing one day that I would like to get a bike and she looked at me and said. "Ok". I could not get out the door fast enough. A couple of years later I was pondering a cross country ride on my own Bonneville, and she said "Why not get a bigger bike and we can ride together?" SOLD! So now I have a bunch of bikes and ride every time I can make a moment. We commute to work together on the big bike and we do a big trip every summer trying to explore all the U.S. numbered routes. I hope not to stop until I just cannot mount up anymore.

[Rocky_imp]

Great story Will
Couldn't get out the door fast enough, huh
That lady of yours is a keeper. Good on her - and you

[Blockhead_imp]

My story is about starting to ride late in life instead of quitting but similar to others on here. I grew up in the 70s and come from a family where nobody rode motorcycles. Only one person in my neighborhood even had a mini bike and he almost killed himself on it when he lost control and careened down a steep hill into a creek while celebrating with the brand new bike on his 8th birthday haha....what a fiasco. Anyway, my parents felt bikes were taboo so I never figured I would have one.
After my first year of college and a lot of partying I had a chance to ride on the back of a friend's CB350 (this was 1980). I loved the feeling of being on that bike and he said he was selling it to move on to better things. I offered him $500 for the bike and he accepted on a Friday, saying he would keep it that weekend and shine it up for me and I could pick it up Monday. I gave him a $250 deposit and he subsequently took it out for one last ride before turning it over to me and he totalled it after he broadsided a lady who had turned left in front of him. He was beat up pretty good and I took it as a sign that owning a bike wasn't meant to be. I got my money back and didn't even blink when I saw a bike for the next 30 years, had totally lost interest.
Then 2010 rolls around and I lost my dad to a freak accident and then my mother a year later and then the middle age stuff fully kicked in. The next thing I knew I was at the local Kawasaki dealer with my butt parked on a new Vulcan 900 with a stupid grin on my face and I had to have it. So, at the present age of 52 I've been riding a little less than three years and I'm on my third bike and loving it. I plan on riding as long as my body can take it.

[12cb96vfr_imp]

Funny I'm just now seeing this post.......I'm dealing with this very issue right now. In fact both of my bikes are currently up for sale. I'll explain:

Back in like 2008 I woke up one day and said "I want a motorcycle". I'd never ridden before, I only knew how to ride from my buddy telling me one time how to use the clutch and change gears. I went out and bought a cruiser (Honda 750) that day and taught myself to ride. I jumped right in and loved it - I averaged about 1-2k miles/month on the ol' girl and had a BLAST doing it. I wore a turtle shell helmet, no other gear and never EVER considered I'd have a wreck....ahhh ignorance is bliss I suppose. My best friend rode a Screamin' Eagle Deuce so I just NEEDED something faster to ride with him lol, so 1 year and 20k miles later I sold the 750 and got a Yamaha Warrior. Then I realized how much fun it was to go FAST.

Then one Friday afternoon in March 2010 I rode my buddies new CBR600 and said "taking curves while going fast is fun, I'm buying a sport bike". The next day I went and bought a Z1000. I remember while driving it home I couldn't even open the throttle all the way it scared me so bad haha, what a beast. I made more sport bike buddies and was riding A LOT. Me and my buddy started a motorcycle group and it got HUGE fast. My whole life revolved around motorcycles and I was loving every second of it.

Then June 6th 2012 happened. One of my buddies calls and says "lets ride to hooters they have bike nite tonight". I remember I was checking my tire pressure when he called, but I had no plans on riding that night. Long story short, 2 hours later I low sided at about 50mph - thankfully the time I spent riding with my sport bike buddies taught me all about gear, so I was geared up and relatively unhurt. A few cracked ribs and overall soreness, but nothing major - the Z was totally destroyed.

That was the moment it all changed.

I went out the following Saturday (6-13-12) and bought the VFR that I have now. I still had the Warrior but I figured I needed to get right back on the horse after my wreck. I have not been able to get back the joy I used to get from bikes since my wreck. Now when I ride all I think about is a car pulling out in front of me, or getting hit by some drunk a**hole, or hitting gravel, or oil, or a dog, or the million other things that can go wrong while riding. I can't go out and clear my mind like I used to. I have forced myself to do it for 2 years now, but I realized last week that it's getting worse.

The hardest part for me is that my entire life revolves around motorcycles - my friends, my money, my whole life outside of work is bikes. It was nothing for me to go into my bike group, post a last minute dinner ride and have 5 (or maybe 25) buddies all go out and have a great time. Or there would be a large event and we'd have 100 friends show up and we would LOVE it. Now when I ride I'm constantly paranoid about something going wrong, I've always ridden very cautiously, but now it's taking the fun out of the ride for me.

So that leads me to today. Both bikes are up for sale and I have NO CLUE what I'm going to do once they go. I have my sights on a hot rod or muscle car, but I'm afraid that they won't do for me what bikes did. I don't know how to get the old feeling back, or if its even possible?

Well that's my sob story haha. So actually I've not quit riding yet, but I guess I'm in the process of it. I keep hoping that something will click in me and reignite that flame, but so far it just ain't happenin......