You know you are getting old when:

[Hat and Rehat]

That’s where their brains are, until they’re on the pavement.

Yeah.
A large percentage of us survive to breed though. Go figure.

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[Hat and Rehat]

I recently read a stellar book, Gentlemen's Blood, by Barbara Holland. It's a history of dueling, and she recounts it with a dry wit that will make you choke. Testosterone is a bit like nitroglycerin. Perhaps it's better when it explodes on two wheels. History tells me it will always explode one way or another. The days of throwing a glove at someone who slighted your honor, to have your friends and theirs arrange a meeting are gone. For better or worse. Splattering your brains on the pavement may be the equivalent of taking your opponent's pistol ball in the head.
Boys will be boys.

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[tonyb]

Yeah.
A large percentage of us survive to breed though. Go figure.

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It’s not that anything even remotely approaching a majority of motorcyclists will succumb to injuries sustained when their two-wheeled adventures go wrong, but there’s no denying that motorcycling is a whole lot deadlier than traveling by car. Or F-150.

I’ve rubbed more than one biker the wrong way by pointing out just how much more deadly motorcycling is (28 times as deadly as covering the same number of passenger miles in a car, as it turns out).

Motorcycles were my primary mode of transport for several years. I maintain the motorcycle endorsement on my driver’s license. The appeal of the things is far from wasted on me. But I doubt I will ever own another.

 

[3fingers]

I maintain the motorcycle endorsement on my driver’s license. The appeal of the things is far from wasted on me. But I doubt I will ever own another.

Same here. I on occasion think I'd like to have one again but like a gas bubble, if I wait a few minutes the thing resolves itself.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

It’s not that anything even remotely approaching a majority of motorcyclists will succumb to injuries sustained when their two-wheeled adventures go wrong, but there’s no denying that motorcycling is a whole lot deadlier than traveling by car. Or F-150.

I’ve rubbed more than one biker the wrong way by pointing out just how much more deadly motorcycling is (28 times as deadly as covering the same number of passenger miles in a car, as it turns out).

Motorcycles were my primary mode of transport for several years. I maintain the motorcycle endorsement on my driver’s license. The appeal of the things is far from wasted on me. But I doubt I will ever own another.

I used to ride a 125cc enduro into Chicago from Indiana, daily, on the Dan Ryan (coming from 394). I tried to never do anything wheelielike.

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[vitanola]

I heard my grandparents music to the accompaniment of bubbles and an accent from the Alsace region of France.

"And a vun, and a tuoo...."

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Mine I played as a child through the horn of my great-grandfather's talking machine. My poor mother got to be embarrassed by the same old records twice in her life

 

[Trenchfriend]

And the only one thing, I miss about the old car times (90s):

>>> 1995's Kia Sephia 1.6 >>> 1.070 kilograms netto

>>> 2012's Kia Venga 1.6 >>> 1.300 kilograms netto

Good old times of natural, healthy-weighted cars!

 

[tonyb]

And the only one thing, I miss about the old car times (90s):

>>> 1995's Kia Sephia 1.6 >>> 1.070 kilograms netto

>>> 2012's Kia Venga 1.6 >>> 1.300 kilograms netto

Good old times of natural, healthy-weighted cars!

A 1995 model? That’s practically new!

 

[Trenchfriend]

A 1995 model? That’s practically new!

The first generation Kia Sephia, based on the Mazda 323 BG were awesome cars! I drove my father's from 80.000 to 130.000 kilometers.
When the Sephia started in 1993, it was circa five years ahead of it's time. Fine Mazda-lizensed powertrain, state of the art-electronics, ass-kicking aerodynamics (!) and with their short transmission, they were beast. And you could run as hell, I tell you. And all that with just the old-fashioned 175mm/70 R13"-tyres! And rusting, what's that??

Man, these cars converted to today's safety-standards, woohoo!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Mine I played as a child through the horn of my great-grandfather's talking machine. My poor mother got to be embarrassed by the same old records twice in her life

The record that drove my mother to the bughouse before it finally disappeared --

 

[EngProf]

The record that drove my mother to the bughouse before it finally disappeared --

That one brings back memories... My mother apparently liked it and thought it was funny. She would sing small portions of it as she cooked or worked around the house.
However, I guess that extended exposure to it would get old.

 

[tonyb]

I used to ride a 125cc enduro into Chicago from Indiana, daily, on the Dan Ryan (coming from 394). I tried to never do anything wheelielike.

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The only times I ever did anything wheelielike were those few initial rides astride two-strokes — a Yamaha 350 twin and a Suzuki water buffalo come to mind. I never meant to send the front wheel off the pavement, but the power on those things came on real quick. Putt-putt-putt became scrrreeeaaammmm in a blink.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

The only times I ever did anything wheelielike were those few initial rides astride two-strokes — a Yamaha 350 twin and a Suzuki water buffalo come to mind. I never meant to send the front wheel off the pavement, but the power on those things came on real quick. Putt-putt-putt became scrrreeeaaammmm in a blink.

2-stroke twins would do it! Triples were better yet, for changing the horizon line. I dreamed of an H1 Kawasaki in those 'tween' years when the state of Illinois was sane enough not to give me a driver's liscence (I was riding 2-stroke dirt bikes, so was no stranger to the wheelie). I never bought one, or might not be conversing with you today. I did spend time astride a Z1 900cc Kawasaki though, which made a pretty long production run as the KZ 1000. It would lift the front wheel if you asked it to, and I had a friend who could ride it that way from 2nd to 4th gear, with a passenger no less. He later drag raced bikes.
I never heard of anyone who could ride a wheelie on the early 70's 2-stroke triples though. When that front wheel came up you feathered the clutch praying for it to go back down. That H1 750 was the fastest production bike made for close to a decade, I believe. The Z1 900 was not it's match on the strip, given that the 750 jockey could bring himself back down to view the horizon. There was a 500-3 almost as scary.
Testosterone.
Now the bikes are much more sophisticated. They CAN do that stuff, but don't spring it on you out of the blue. So these young guys do things I would never have dreamed of! In the dirt we would get airborne and"cross it up", leaning the bike to the side with the bars turned 90 degrees. My best friend from High School's son did exhibitions at the county fair, doing complete flips in the air!
My bowells feel a little watery just thinking about it.
Boys will be boys.

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[tonyb]

I had a KZ900 fitted with the 1015 pistons and barrels. Great fun. It got totaled when it and I collided with a car whose driver failed to yield right of way (she had a stop sign). I got knocked unconscious briefly, got transported to the ER by fire department paramedics. I looked more injured than I was. The Bell helmet likely made the difference between a few scrapes and bruises (and a broken front tooth) and permanent disability, if not death.

 

[Woodtroll]

It got totaled when it and I collided with a car whose driver failed to yield right of way (she had a stop sign).

We had great fun as kids and young adults riding trail bikes, but that type of incident is the reason I have only ridden a motorcycle on the road twice in my whole life. Even if you’re a capable enough rider not to kill yourself, some fool will gladly do it for you.

 

[GHT]

A 1995 model? That’s practically new!

Tell me about it. My missus drives a 1998 VW Golf, no way could you call it a classic car, twenty one years, the engine is only just run in.

We had great fun as kids and young adults riding trail bikes, but that type of incident is the reason I have only ridden a motorcycle on the road twice in my whole life. Even if you’re a capable enough rider not to kill yourself, some fool will gladly do it for you.

My father said he would buy me a car, if I promised not to get a motor bike, he really couldn't afford it and I didn't hold him to it. His thinking was that once I was out of my impressionable years, late teens/early twenties, the desire for motor bikes will have waned. Come my 45th year, and the born again biker emerged. Not a widow-maker like the Fireblade, but something big, beautiful and muscular. A Harley Heritage Springer. I had that for five years, sold it for more than I paid, never had a wobble, not even a near miss. It did get the itch out of my system though.

The Harley gone, my beard followed a few weeks later, and with a few shekels in my pocket, there was another itch to scratch. The Wurlitzer 1015, known as: One More Time, a magnificent jukebox. It has proved to be a novelty that has never worn off, I have owned it for more than 25 years.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Even in Germany, motorcycling is very dangerous.

One word: Country-road!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

You know you're getting old when your past replaces your future.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

One word: Country-road!

That's two words.

 

[tonyb]

That's two words.

He put a hyphen in it, which my training says makes it one word. (My training also has it that hyphenating it would be correct only if it were functioning as an adjective, so ... )