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Tourer
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Central Illinois | Boots: I indeed read your last post. I am presently 65 and going on 66 but ride almost daily. I find your criteria not only poor but full of prejudices. There is no particular age at which judgement slows. You may come from a weak background, but my dad, at over 90 is still as sharp as a tack. He presently lives in Florida and his new wife is as sharp as he is. He does have a prejudice against me riding, at any age, but that is between him and me as I see it. He just thinks that riding is too dangerous for anyone to do it, he has had that attitude since I was 30. Stop trying to justify your campaign against older riders, you are simply wrong. A rider is or is not competent to ride based on their present mental and physical status, not some darned standard that you think is appropriate for someone with your personal family history of things like Alzheimers.
Edited by Oldman47 2013-03-19 5:42 PM
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Visionary
Posts: 3204
Memphis | Definitely no set age for everyone. As an Air Traffic Controller for the last 33 years I can tell that my neurons aren't firing like they used to. However, I'm as strong a Controller now as I have ever been. How can that be? The newest generation of controllers can run circles around me on the keyboards and trackballs. They can look up minutia that I forgot before they were even born. How can I hold a candle to these guys? Experience. I'm 30 minutes ahead of these guys when working traffic. I can predict what a pilot wants before he even asks the question. I can predict where weather will be throughout the day and plan accordingly. I don't get flustered with a student pilot who is flailing his way through his first solo cross country or practice IFR approach. (New guys have no patience for the unexpected.) Riding a motorcycle has been the same way for me. I survived being poor and not having the money to maintain a bike like it should be maintained. I survived the crotch-rocket and off-road phases. Even though my motor/mental skills aren't what they were at my peak, my experience and judgement more than make up for that drop off. I can afford a safer bike now. ABS, lighting, handling, comfort; all of these things give me a much larger margin of safety than what I was riding in my 20's and 30's. I buy the best riding gear I can afford. Maintenance is not optional. I am much more likely to say "No." to that little voice in my head that tempts me to do something stupid or even marginal. I'm much pickier about who I ride with. All of these things give me a huge advantage over a younger, less experienced guy who is at the top of his game mentally and physically but is cutting corners in other areas. The day it's not fun any more. That's the day for me. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 255
New Brunswick , Canada | +1 SongFan |
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Visionary
Posts: 2118
Pitt Meadows, BC Canada | Lojak - 2013-03-19 6:18 PM +1 SongFan + Me Too !!! Plus when I get tired of harassing some of you .....  |
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Cruiser
Posts: 169
Iowa | What data are you using to say there needs to be an old age limit? The low end age set was set by who? Our government? Well they get a lot of things right. Maybe it's time to review the low end again. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | I'm only 43 and I'm offended and angry that someone might want to set in concrete a magic age when I must stop riding. that's like telling me when I have to die.
Edited by jimtom 2013-03-20 8:00 AM
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Iron Butt
Posts: 691
Manchester, CT | Jimtom
No one. This link is hypothetically speaking. I guess the author was just pondering the question. |
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Visionary
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Sand Rock, AL United States | I was just responding to the notion. THe notion is hyothetically offensive and infrenges on personal freedom and the "pursuit of happiness". |
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Visionary
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Jasper, MO | jimtom - 2013-03-20 7:52 AM
I'm only 43 and I'm offended and angry that someone might want to set in concrete a magic age when I must stop riding. that's like telling me when I have to die.
I'm offended too. Too much Government intrusion in our lives already. Damn Socialists.
Read Obamacare. They are already telling you when you have to die (when care and medicines will be withheld, due to bureaucratic, not medical, decisions).
And now, some young whippersnapper wants to arbitrarily place a limit on the age at which I can ride. What's next? Soylent Green and nothing over a 16 ounce drink to wash it down?
Ronnie
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Visionary
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Sand Rock, AL United States | SOYLENT GREEN! |
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Visionary
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Sand Rock, AL United States | Amen Ronnie! |
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Tourer
Posts: 411
Dallas, Texas | jimtom - 2013-03-20 8:38 AM
SOYLENT GREEN!
Oh my...perhaps if you understand what that reference is, you might be getting too old to ride..lol |
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Visionary
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Sand Rock, AL United States | I like classic movies  |
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | iluvink - 2013-03-20 10:05 AM
jimtom - 2013-03-20 8:38 AM
SOYLENT GREEN!
Oh my...perhaps if you understand what that reference is, you might be getting too old to ride..lol
It IS almost 2022. And Nanny Bloomberg and company are "looking out for you". Of course, being one of the elite, he probably has his "furniture", and won't be assigned to "go Home" right away. 
I've only been riding for 48 years. That's not enough yet, and I'm not ready to "go Home".
Ronnie |
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Cruiser
Posts: 152
| How about we make a special age requirement for you say your current age! How do you feel now that we have taken away one of the things you have lived and worked for for your whole life? What you fail to realize is with age comes wisdom and a respect for the Road,the bike and your abilities, I know a 66 year old that speed skates 3 miles every morning and gets on his Vision and can leave the young punks on their sport bikes eating his dust, how you ask? Experience and an intimate knowledge of his machine and what it can do. His name is Wild Bill and I respect him and his ability more than any twenty something that barely is wet behind the ears. If you think age is limiting watch the movie The Worlds Fastest Indian
( the story of Burt Munroe) |
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | another instant classic movie! |
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Cruiser
Posts: 152
| By the way Boots you should really live by your quote from Ben Franklin that you use at the end of your post or drop it all together, it make you a hypocrite. |
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Visionary
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Sand Rock, AL United States | I think it's funny that someone would even get on a Vision forum and make a discriminatory post about aging, I bet they would react similarly on a GW forum |
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Tourer
Posts: 599
New Mexico | bob5219 - 2013-03-20 11:42 AM
By the way Boots you should really live by your quote from Ben Franklin that you use at the end of your post or drop it all together, it make you a hypocrite.
Well, you could look at it that way. I would say, though, there are some 'freedoms' I give up to live in a society. Just like I don't think you should yell 'Fire' in a crowded movie theater, even though I admit it is a violation of my freedom of speech. Sometimes, very rarely (hopefully very VERY rarely), for the greater good, we have to restrict the behavior of individuals who can not restrict themselves. It seems most folks who have responded are willing to take a good look at themselves, and will make the right judgment when the time comes.
Others, however, are in denial of the facts of aging. They put themselves, other drivers, my kids, and my grandkids at risk by being pig-headed. Calling me prejudice, discriminatory, and being 'offended' instead of looking in the mirror and taking an honest assessment of what is looking back. Perhaps this is a wake-up call for some of them, and that can be a hard thing.
Old man time catches up with us all, my friends. I was recently diagnosed with Arthritis, which brings to stark reality the fact that someday I won't be able to ride. Made me wonder how long I have left in the saddle, how old are others when they choose to stop, how they come to that decision, what restrictions society should enact, etc. Hence this thread...
Edited by Boots 2013-03-20 2:03 PM
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Visionary
Posts: 1308
Sand Rock, AL United States | who is the one to determine that I am unable to restrict myself, That I am putting their "grandchildren" at harm? A little dramatic. I see younger/new drivers having accidents (turns out it's always someones children or grandchildren). So we should raise the driving age to 20,30? Aging is a variable , not the same for everyone. Some experience negligable degradation , why punish everyone because someone with dimentia gets on the road and has an accident, if it's good for one age group , it's good for all age groups that have accidents and statistics show that all age groups, ethnic groups,etc have accidents . "we have to restrict the behavior of individuals who can not restrict themselves" , not in this country, at least not yet. Everyone that agrees with you is right and everyone that doesn't is in denial? I'm sorry you have arthritis. At least no one else will make you stop riding when you still can enjoy it safely, you will make that decision when you decide you can't, as it should be |
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Tourer
Posts: 573
Central Illinois | Soylent Green, I remember seeing it in the movie theater. That is not a good criterion. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | I have been a professional truck driver for a lot of years and millions of miles. I'll tell you who the dangerous drivers are, and it's not the gray haired old farts. It's the young drivers who think they can talk or text on their cell phones because they "have fast reflexes". It's the young drivers who pass when they shouldn't, drive way too fast for conditions, and are generally unconcerned about the others on the road with them. It's the young drivers who are in such a big hurry to get around that old fart who is driving sensibly, and therefore "holding them up". It's the idiot young drivers who switch lanes 20 times in 10 miles trying to get ahead of everybody else, only to end up at the same stop light as everyone else.
From my what I've seen after millions of miles on the road, people shouldn't be allowed to drive before they turn 35. Most of the over 50 crowd are pretty darn safe drivers. Most of those under 35 should be banned from driving on public roads because they are such a danger to me and my grandkids.
I've lived with arthritis for several years now and have had to take pain medication just to function. If not for the medication, I would probably had to quit working before retirement age, and then all you youngsters could have supported me.
I was committed to the idea that I was going to have to give up heavy full dress touring bikes when the Vision came along, and if fact already had. GL1800's were too much for me to handle anymore. That's one reason I hung onto my Sport Cruiser. I could handle it. The Vision put me back on a luxury touring bike, just in time for me to retire and enjoy it. When I can't handle it, I'll get something smaller or go to a trike.
A good friend of mine passed away last year, but he built a RANS Light Sport airplane when he was 85 and was still flying it when he was 90. He decided for himself that it was time and sold the plane when he could no longer hear the radio reliably anymore. His mind was still sharp as a tack and he was still running a machine shop. The point is, a one-size-fits-all regulation fits nobody and takes more of yours and my Freedom away. Why the hell would any rational person want that? You've been listening to too many Liberal/Socialists.
I'm a realist. I'll know when it's time. I don't need some government bureaucrat deciding for me. Neither does anyone else.
Ronnie
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 32
East Haven, CT | Since when is turning right on red mandatory?
I have a rule that I stick to all the time, Right on Red is ok except when towing a trailer or riding my Vision.
The truck/trailer combo isn't agile enough to get going in the case of an a**hole rushing through the intersection and with the vision I am usually riding with my wife on her bike so it's easier to stay together and just safer too. |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 10
baltimore | i have a good friend that 88 years old & a very good rider good for about 3 to 4 hrs |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 10
baltimore | i have a good friend that 88 years old & a very good rider good for about 3 to 4 hrs |
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How old is too old to ride?
