Who started riding after age 30

ROFL

I'm close... I started at 27. I'm 28 now.

I started at 30.

1. I got interested in riding on a whim having never ridden anything other than a bicycle and 4-wheeler. Figured it looked fun and decided to give it a try. Took the MSF course with a friend, and got my first bike a couple of months after turning 35.

2. First bike was a used 2009 VStar 950 with around 4500 miles.

3. My only regret is if I'd started when I was younger, I probably would be learning faster than I am now. Being older makes me more cautious...meaning I ride like a paw-paw sometimes.

4. Had the VStar 950 for a year and bought a 2010 Concours 14 with around 4700 miles.

Nothing wrong with riding like a paw-paw...as long as you know that if you need to take that corner sharper...you can do it...

Matter of fact when your younger...your risk evaluation is all out of whack...(the reason youngsters make great soldiers)...stay safe...

Well, I try not to describe this as a mid-life crisis, more like a mid-life epiphany.

I turned 50 in December and bought my first motorcycle, a 1995 r100 GSPD. I'm loving every single minute, and at the same time driving my wife nuts. If I'm not on the bike, I'm on my iPad talking about my bike or enjoying the many pleasures the ADV site as to offer.

This can only get better, and maybe some day she will understand.

I had very little interest in motorcycles until the summer I turned 32. That summer, I watched some TV show (think it was on Discovery) about 4 women that met up and rode cross country to San Francisco for some march or rally or something. That show proved to be the bug and a couple weeks later I was signed up for an MSF course. Three weeks after I got my endorsement I brought my first bike home, a new Honda Shadow ACE 750. It was a fantastic first bike and I really liked it. After putting just shy of 5K miles on it, I bought a BMW R1150R Rockster. Put 8k miles on it and now own a BMW F650GS twin, which really is the bike for me. The Honda taught me that I'm really not a cruiser rider and the Rockster taught me that a bigger motor is not always better.

Sometimes I wish I started riding when I was younger. But then, when I was younger I didn't have the disposable income I do now. And when I was younger, I definitely had less sense and would have probably hurt myself.

I started riding 5 months ago at the age of 52. I read a Great Divide Ride trip report shown by someone I work with and decided in about 15 seconds that I was going to do that. The only problem was I had never ever sat on a motorcycle. So, talked to a few friends who ride, took the MSF course, got my license, bought a Suzuki TU250x to learn on then bought a 2009 KLR 650 that I'll do the GDR on. This past weekend I took my first 3 day, 600 mile camping solo ride around the Texas Hill Country. Fantastic experience! Being an old newby I ride pretty conservatively, wear full Motoport gear all the time and save the beers for after the riding. I'm still too much of a danger to myself to do otherwise but I'm having a blasts and want it to last!

I will be 45 this year, got my license at 43, rode for a few months on my first bike a 91' Honda Nighthawk. Then last year I fell in love and acquired an R100GS/PD. I too find myself reading and seeing what I can do to make her better.

Safe Riding..

Me.

One good thing about starting to ride nowadays is that you dont have to ride the crappy bikes that I remember riding, didnt have much money as a kid so rode old crap. The little 50's the kids are riding now are nicer than the factory bikes when I was a kid.

I bought my first motorcycle a couple months (weeks) ago, at age 40.

I was researching areas off the beaten path for a family 4wd trip through Eastern Oregon, and came across ADVRider last year. Glad I did!

Bought my first bike on my 30th birthday. Had wanted one since I was 15.

I never really rode any motorcycles except a three wheeler my cousin let me use for a day when I was about 10 or 11. In 08 I went out and got m permit even though I didn't own a bike and against the will of my ENTIRE FREAKIN FAMILY. I started to borrow my dads harley custom trike and his road king once in a while. Finaly, last November I got an 06 Ural Gear Up. I am 41. I've already put about 4000kilometers on it. Been mudding on it and cruising the highhway w/ it. I love my Ural . I can'twait to ride it every week end. I am planning a long trip soon once I escape from work!! NAMASTE

1. Wanted one for as long as I can remember but Dad wasn't having it. Then I went through low paying jobs, school, and apartment living in NYC. At 38, I finally had a job, a house, A GARAGE, and a wonderful wife. So I signed up for the MSF course and haven't looked back.

2. Kawasaki Vulcan 750

3. Smart enough to try to develop good habits from the start. Old enough to know I'm not invulnerable and have something to lose. So I try to take the ride at my own pace and minimize risks.

4. Picking up Moto Guzzi Norge 1200 in 2 months.

I was 58, when the price of petrol shot thru the roof in 07 I bought a 125cc Daelim Scooter. Id ridden push bikes in traffic for over 40 years so i took to the scooter like a duck to water. Rode it for about 2000ks before I got around to getting my riders licence. Loved that Daelim max speed 100k/h but within 3 months I was riding it full throttle 24/7. I started doing day trips on the 125 and ended up linking with a group scooter crazies who used scooters for touring. They got sick of waiting for me to catch up so I upgraded to a Vespa GTS250. Now I was in business, top speed 130k/h I rode that Vespa everywhere, even took it interstate. I still ride it with over 50,000ks it still rides like new. Then I bought a Yamaha TMax 500cc maxi scooter, really a sports bike dressed up as a scooter, top speed 160+k/h, loved canyon racing and excellent tourer. Next was a Suzuki DR650 that was too tall for me. . Ended up riding it solo down a canyon and kept on dropping it and nearly killed myself trying to get it back out. Scared me shitless. Rode it around the country for a year but all my riding buddies laughed at the chook chaser, Youre not riding THAT THING to Snowy! I did love that single thumper and I still reckon it was a great bike but I ended up trading it in on an 04 Triumph Bonnie. Now that was the bike of my dreams. The bike I wanted as a boy. Sat on it, started the engine and knew then I had to have it! That was the year that I sold the car and started riding 24/7. I still love scooters for commuters and bikes for touring. Ive got an absolute love of riding, always wear the right gear, dont take them to the edge but I love the wind in my face and the open road. I figured in the last 5 years Ive ridden over 200,000ks. My last two additions have been a Gilera Runner FXR180 two stroke scooter, a chainsaw on steriods that absolutely rips it in traffic and at christmas I traded in the Tmax and got my first sports bike a BMW F800R. The F800R is a beautifully balanced bike that loves corners as much as I do and its my favourite ride at the moment. Having 4 machines in the stable is a bit like having 4 wives, You think that you really don't need the 4 of them and they cost a fair bit to maintain but when it comes to making the hard decision you fall in love with them again and cant live without them. Its about growing old disgracefully.

I also started late, I bought a second hand Kawasaki 440 Ltd. Which I used to commute on, then wanted something more, A freind suggested that I go the whole hog and buy a supebike, which I did A pre sling Suzuki GSX 1100. Then a few years with some smaller bikes, the evntually BMW 1150 GS, and now BMW 1200 GS Adv.

"Its about growing old disgracefully."


Sig-line material here; at least for an odl geezer like me (48 years)

I'm 45 and just started commuting a couple of weeks ago on a Suzuki TU250X.

I owned a Yamaha YZ250 when I was a teen, but this is a whole other ballgame being a newbee in heavy traffic:eek1

1. I bought my first motorcycle in 2007 at 36yrs old. I'd never ridden a dirt bike, and had only ridden an 80 around a buddies' farm while in college. It took a power point presentation to my wife to "sell" her on it being a family activity. Both of my sons (8 and 5) now have bikes and the missus is clammoring for her own. I bought it to be able to participate in my friends' adventures as they werent into pedalling like I was.

2. 2005 Honda 450X that I made "street legal", and "sold" to my mom in IN to allow it to get plated. I still get odd looks when I ride to the store on a "dirt bike" in Southern California.

3. I wish I would have started earlier, but so much of my life previous to that purchase was dedicated to MTB's and other forms of pedalling that I certainly didn't miss it. My off road experience translated very well to slower speed riding, and I can keep up with most in that area. When the speeds go up - open desert riding - I fall waaaay back and ride like I'm still the noob that I am.

4. I still only have the 450X. My boys' bikes are a CRF 50 and an Oset 12.5. After another successful powerpoint, I am looking for a KTM 990 Adventure to start commuting and to go on longer adventure rides without trailering the bikes.

I'm always looking for another adventure to look forward to. Moab and Baja last year, AZ and Grand Canyon the year before...who knows what's next?

BK