Confirmation that I am a dinosaur of a biker

I wave to all on 2 wheels even pedal bikes , as we all risk a fall at every stop and worse …. I do admit to having difficulty getting my left hand to acknowledge the growing number of 3 wheelers out there , they just not riders ….

htown16 said:

Generally found people into vintage cars are more into old bikes than people riding new bikes.

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Recent experience:
Rode the mostly original not very shiny Roadster over to the local Sunday Cars & Coffee. A woman looking to be early 40s clearly into vintage cars was checking out the Norton. Didn't have any idea what it was but declared that it was a "pantie dropper".

NickZ said:

Recent experience:
Rode the mostly original not very shiny Roadster over to the local Sunday Cars & Coffee. A woman looking to be early 40s clearly into vintage cars was checking out the Norton. Didn't have any idea what it was but declared that it was a "pantie dropper".

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Hope you got her number …

Richard Tool said:

Hope you got her number …

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Not sure the wife would have approved of that.

For me, a wife has always been a temporary affliction (through no major fault of my own I might add...) - Always good to have a couple of sure things in the hip pocket!! lol

Craig said:

I wave to all on 2 wheels even pedal bikes , as we all risk a fall at every stop and worse …. I do admit to having difficulty getting my left hand to acknowledge the growing number of 3 wheelers out there , they just not riders ….

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My wife cannot ride a push bike, because nobody ever told her the front wheel must be turning for the bike to stay upright. When she brakes, the bike falls over. It is a silly thing, but something most of us take for granted. Some people believe light wheels on a motorcycle are a good thing. But if the wheels have less weight, it can adversely affect the gyroscopic effect. When you are whizzing around corners on a motorcycle, the forces in the steering and in the frame can become very large. It is interesting when you start adding vectors of the forces and looking for the resultant. There is one vector which comes out through the centre of each wheel.

htown16 said:

Generally found people into vintage cars are more into old bikes than people riding new bikes.

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With two vintage vehicles ('74 Commando, '88 Classic Mini), I definitely resemble that remark!

Ok OK I'll start to wave at other bikers! My normal attitude is "I don't know you!" I usually do talk to bikers in a bar or gathering, although last weekend one "gentleman" approached with a line of bullsh-t. After that conversation my wife declared "It's a wonder you have any friends!"

mean gene said:

Ok OK I'll start to wave at other bikers! My normal attitude is "I don't know you!" I usually do talk to bikers in a bar or gathering, although last weekend one "gentleman" approached with a line of bullsh-t. After that conversation my wife declared "It's a wonder you have any friends!"

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Attaboy Gene !

We have a big Sunday ride once a month with the mates, some of my riding mates have been together for over 49 years, we all have different bikes, we don't care what bikes come with us as we also take on new riders friends of friends etc, some of the old mates have a few bikes so never know which one they be on till we meet up, a few of my old mates are now Harley owners/riders and they started riding with the old mates but now they have decided to only ride within their own group of Harley mates, I still socialise with them as we are old mates that live close by and have grown up together from school days.
We were having a few beer together one night 3 Harley owners and a 2 other old mates I after awhile I asked my old mate Steve (Harley owner) why he and the other Harley mates no longer come on our monthly ride no more and was surprised in his answer, we start to early, we ride to far and to quick, we don't stop to often and we ride all day, well I did say we stop to meet up and about 9am we stop for brekkie and long chat, we have pee stops (we are getting old lol) we do have short breaks and we always wait for the slow riders to catch up before turning off.
When we do stop we talk about anything and everything, about bikes and what we all been up to, its a very social ride with old and new mates no matter what bikes we ride, we average about 450km on our monthly ride, long ride, not really for a all day ride, so I couldn't really under stand my mate Steve, we have all known each other the old mates more so as we always put sh.t on each other in a good fun way, but it seems the old Harley mates can't handle that part of our friendships, yes they keep telling us all we should be all riding Harley's with the miles we do clock up and they like to put sh.t on us normal bike riders but they can't handle it when its at them, they live in a one sided world their Harley world, to me and the other mates couldn't give a rats arse, mateship is very important to our group of friends and getting together once a month is all part of friendship/mateship whether old or new friends, its not about the bikes its about the owners and life long friendships that count and if we see anyone in trouble on the side of the road we are always there for them no matter what bike the ride.
As for being a Dinosaur, no I am old school and riding bikes has been my life, we all have our choice of bikes we ride and have never had any problem with chatting to other riders no mater what they ride and if they don't want to chat no problems but that is very rare, but it does happen sometimes, its a shame really as we enjoy two wheels, the life style and friendships we make on the way, we even take the time to chat to anyone that show interest in what we ride or do.
Attitude plays a big part of what we do but its not good having a attitude problem or have that tuff angry face look when out riding as a lot of Harley riders do, most never take any notice but I do and some of my Harley friends have changed over the years of friendships while out on their bikes.

Ashley

I have always waved at all oncoming Motos, regardless of brand. For that matter, I generally don't even notice/pay attention to what kind of Moto they are riding - it's motorcycle so I wave. If they don't wave back I just assume they were on Harleys.

Like Mexico Mike, I always wave at all two-wheeled riders that are out enjoying the day. I have not experienced any bad vibes from anyone in my travels. I really don’t care what they ride and hope they are enjoying the day as much as I am but the guys in short pants and sandals piss me off!
Mike

dobba99 said:

Touring switzerland in the summer of 2017 one evening at the quaint little hotel i stopped at, there was also a German called Fritz on a Harley. Talking about bikes with him, he complained that he was always losing bits off his bike...
The following day going up the simplon pass i was following another bike with a funny looking numberplate. He pulled into the cafe at the top of the pass and i joined him for a cuppa and a chat. He was on a harley and his numberplate had fallen off and had to make one from cardboard! He was hoping to get home to germany without getting stopped by the police as it would create loads of bother having to reregister his bike.

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Daytona Bike Week 2015, my buddy Rod (lifelong heavy equipment repair shop owner) had his Harley eject the license plate & bracket. I noticed it at the next BBQ stop. The token doofus we allowed to come along, whom I had nicknamed "Dudley" early on in the week, (for good reason) speaks up: "I saw it go flying by me."

Chorus: "Why didn't you stop & pick it up!?!?"

Dud: "I was afraid you guys would leave me behind."


After I got between them, I reached in the cardboard dumpster to make a temp plate.

I had a friendly Harley rider attempt a wave on a leaned over fast corner. I was doing about 75 mph and nearing my fun limit. I'm not sure what speed he was doing, but he almost lost it in my direction. I did catch a look of horror on his face as he passed by and nearly passed on!

Glen

Andy, a colleague from work told me the tale of when he was on holiday and wandering around the town where they were visiting he went into the local motorbike dealer who also dealt in harleys. 'Interested sir? Why don't you take it for a test ride' said the salesman. So he did, A mile up the road and three roundabouts later Andy pulls up at the kerb. 'How did you like it, good aren't they' said the salesman who was following on another harley 'Are you going to buy it?' 'No' says Andy, 'It doesn't go, it doesn't stop and it doesn't handle' he then handed the salesman the key and said 'I'll walk back thanks'
I should mention that Andy usually rides a VFR Honda (i think)

Harley's have loads of power nowadays. I think the new 107 is about 90 horses and over 100 ft lbs.
Handling- that's a very subjective thing but it seems natural that a heavy bike will be more work to ride on a challenging road. Most Harley riders take things a bit slower in the twisties. Never a good thing when a floorboard makes contact with asphalt.

Some do get very angry when you pass. That happened to me last week. A fellow on a full dresser was trudging along at 40 mph through the windy bits so I scooted by on the Commando. About one mile later, me doing 70 mph to a posted 60, he goes by at 90 mph, straight pipes blaring " I am the King, how dare you pass me!"

worntorn said:

Harley's have loads of power nowadays. I think the new 107 is about 90 horses and over 100 ft lbs.
Handling- that's a very subjective thing but it seems natural that a heavy bike will be more work to ride on a challenging road. Most Harley riders take things a bit slower in the twisties. Never a good thing when a floorboard makes contact with asphalt.

Some do get very angry when you pass. That happened to me last week. A fellow on a full dresser was trudging along at 40 mph through the windy bits so I scooted by on the Commando. About one mile later, me doing 70 mph to a posted 60, he goes by at 90 mph, straight pipes blaring " I am the King, how dare you pass me!"

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Sad, but accurate in the US. One of the things I LOVED about Europe, overtaking doesn't mean "I hate you & want to fight" like here.

worntorn said:

Harley's have loads of power nowadays. I think the new 107 is about 90 horses and over 100 ft lbs.
Handling- that's a very subjective thing but it seems natural that a heavy bike will be more work to ride on a challenging road. Most Harley riders take things a bit slower in the twisties. Never a good thing when a floorboard makes contact with asphalt.

Some do get very angry when you pass. That happened to me last week. A fellow on a full dresser was trudging along at 40 mph through the windy bits so I scooted by on the Commando. About one mile later, me doing 70 mph to a posted 60, he goes by at 90 mph, straight pipes blaring " I am the King, how dare you pass me!"

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That is very true, Harleys make good power and better torque these days even though they are basically de tuned by the factory (probably cos of emissions I guess). It doesn’t take much to get serious increases by playing with off the shelf stuff.

Handling is an interesting topic, most modern Softail‘s handle surprisingly well, I also rode a Road King which handled ridiculously well for it’s size. My 2016 Dyna S handles very well indeed, especially since I fitted Avons tyres. It takes a fairly keen sports bike rider before I start to be unable to keep up. But, on the other hand, I recently rode a new Fat Boy which has a 240 rear tyre and a 160 front. I knew the handling would suffer due to this obscene level of ‘form over function‘ design, but even against my low expectations, the handling was surprisingly bad !

Why do they put such a little motor on 'em?

I toured Wales and Scotland last year on the latest Softail Slim. A well built bike, I thought. It broadly kept up, but it was hard work, hard on the tyres and I had to repaint the underside of both frame tubes, before I sold it. Incredibly comfortable on straighter roads though.