Returning to Motor Cycling after 30 years

I offer the following for anyone interested in returning to motorcycling
after a substantial break.

I took delivery of a new Suzuki GS500 today after 30 years away from motor
cycling. While the machine is learner legal, it seems to have adequate
performance at least for the time being. I am pleased that I did not buy
anything more powerful. 100km/h requires about 5000 rpm with the red line
at 11000. It looks like it will cruise at the legal limit of 110 km/h
without difficulty.

John Dwyer

 

I offer the following for anyone interested in returning to motorcycling after
a substantial break.

Apparently, you're in a very high risk category of motorcycle riders.
Everyone here will strongly recommend that you go to HART, Stay Upright or one
of the other motorcycle rider training organisations and receive some
professional tuition to make your riding experience a safer and more enjoyable
one.

Welcome back.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R
'02 CBR1100XX

 

Welcome back, John. May the happiest days of your life be just about to
arrive.

Did you know that Hammo has a VTR250 for sale?

 

Nev will tell you which courses give the best advice on trowelling big-bore
sportsbikes.

 

It's probably got the horsepower of an 850 Commando with tons better brakes
and comfort.
Who needs more?

 

Good onya mate, welcome back to the fold.

Learner legal doesn't make your dick drop off so don't worry about that, it's
more important to be riding a bike you can learn on and bring your skills up on
than something that scares the bejasus out of you so much you're scared to twist
the throttle.

The GS is a good honest bike and capable of providing a lot of fun, hope you
enjoy yourself.

JL

 

I can only echo Nev's sage advice - I'm doing some work for IAG (Insurance
Australia Group) and I took the time to research the bike stats, and
returning motorcyclists such as yourself are among the highest risk
operators of any vehicle/age. Please go and do a HART or Stay Upright or
similar course for your own sake.

Absolutely.

Manning

 

What you need now is experience (or 're-experience').

I recommend that you ride every day. 20-30 minutes is enough. Just get
used to the bike and riding again. Weekend rides alone won't give you
this. Commuting is good and will teach you a lot about traffic
(everything you know from car driving is not valid).

Ride within your own limits.
Scretch yourself in small steps and you will be fine.

....and don't forget the sun screen.

Burnie M

 

"Trust me on the sunscreen"

JL

 

Nev,

Thanks for the information. I have already enrolled in the Stay Upright
course for learners and a course for experienced riders returning after a
long break. I anticipate benefiting from both courses.

John Dwyer.

 

Welcome back, at least you are smart enough to realise you dont need
the latest greatest sports bike!

Take it easy out there, car drivers are 1000000000000% more fucked
than 10 years ago let alone 30!

 

Thanks for the advice. I am lucky to have a good idea of these problems as
I have covered about 25000 km in Canberra on a bicycle over the past seven
years.

I have been close to being knocked off my bicycle on several occasions
because drivers claim, despite the bright clothing that I wear, that they do
not see me. They make this claim even when I approach on their right and
they do not have any screen pillars to obstruct their vision. We have an
urgent need to build simple driving simulators out of PC games technology
and have everyone assessed at licence renewal time, about every five years.

That I can hold a motorcycle rider's licence for 30 years, not ride during
that time and climb on any maching that I care to buy is worrying, just as
it is worrying to see the number of car drivers who demonstrate absolutely
no roadcraft.

A number of changes are required.

It is great to be back on two wheels.

John Dwyer

 

great to see another rider back.

but yep, please take it easy

according to two wheels magazine, the number of over 50 deaths is up by
something like 80% over the last decade (if i get the stats wrong, please
correct me).

 

Welcome back to the fold.

The Fizzer is flouro orange like a traffic cone and its lights are always on
on. You'd think it would be impossible not to see me, but they just don't.

Do a course, learn the tricks about where to stay in a lane to maximise your
visibility, get eye contact at intersections, all that defensive driving
stuff.

Stay safe, and don't be one of those stats.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 1 Dec 2003 23:19:39 +1100

The number of riders over 50 in crashes has climbed, yes.

But the percentage of riders over 50 who crash has dropped.

In other words, the baby boom strikes again! THere are more riders over
50 than there ever were, so there is going to be more crashes involving
riders over 50. But percentage wise, there are not crashing as much
as their numbers suggest, and not crashing as much as other age grouos,
say the infamous under 25s.

When they crash, it tends to be single vehicle, possibly because they have
traffic smarts gained over many years of driving and so can avoid the
problems less experienced riders have with cars. Multi-vehicle crashes
have a higher chance of being fatal than single vehicle ones.

I have no hard figures (the RTA ain't releasing them officially or
unofficially, mainly because they don't have them and their crash stats
gathering sucks anyway) but from what I can gather the single vehicle
crashes aren't mostly "bornagain on big sportbike that's so different
to his old Triumph" but more "cruiser rider gets the brakes or the
cornering wrong". Possibly because there seems to be more cruiser
riders than bigbore sportbike riders in that age group.

That is all *major* speculation though, there's no good figures on who
rides what and how much, and very few on what was being ridden and the
cause of the crash beyond ticking the "speed" box.

Definitely any new or returning rider of any age should be doing rider
training. Especially if they've been driving cars for 30 years, some
fatals have *definitely* been tied to the car driving reflex of stomping
hard with the foot on the brake. Therefore locking the back wheel and
either not using the front or not being able to control the skid.

Zebee

 

Well said, Zebee.

Conehead

 

They _will_ pull out in front of you sometimes... Be prepared to deal
with it when it happens - being "in the right" doesn't stop it from
hurting...

big

 

"Zebee Johnstone" wrote

I'm a coupla years too old to be a 'boomer', so I must be safe.

Theo

 

and another Doug quote:

"Except maybe that lights-on don't do shit, even if you're bright red, 17
tonnes and howling like a banshee"

If they aren't looking, they won't see you.

If they aren't expecting to see you they won't see you.

Noise and bright colours are trying to catch their attention, if they
haven't got any, you won't catch it...

And even if they *do* see you, there's no guarantee they will give way.
They may decide to chance their luck, they may decide they have right of
weight.

Expect that most drivers will do the right thing, be ready for the ones
that don't. Create buffer zones to give yourself time, and know what
you are going to do and where you are going to go when they don't do
the right thing.

Zebee

 

...snip

Not, <gasp!> preplanned responses !!

JL