When are people too old to ride motorcycles around town?

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

One of my bikes is a Versys1000. It's the best tourer imo, as long as you stay on tar roads of any quality. But "my" speed is more between 80 and 150 kmph- I don't like highways. So for me it's not the top speed that counts but the torque

Having riden in UK and going track days also racing 150 kph is not that fast to me in the right place. 

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Kwasaki

[Damrongsak]

5 hours ago, yogi yogi said:

too old for the road?  get a motocross bike and go off road.  no one to hit

When my brother was a young teen (in the U.S.), he was practicing on a track on an off day on his Montesa 125 MX bike.  Another guy was riding the wrong way and they collided.  My bro lost a knee cap and had a severely shattered leg.  He spent weeks in traction at a hospital and ended up with a leg that was one inch shorter.  The collision sheared off the bottom of one of the fork legs.

[scubascuba3]

10 hours ago, Hummin said:

My fear on smaller bikes is to be boxed inside by traffic with no escape. Especially being on the side of trucks who start pulling over before they use signal, no matter whats on their side, forcing them to brake and let them pull over.

that scenario just doesn't happen

[scubascuba3]

10 hours ago, billd766 said:

I am 77 and gave up riding my bike 3 years ago (200cc Honda Phantom) as I had trouble getting on to it. With 2 STS kneecaps and a bad back it was getting harder to ride and wait with one foot down, plus I was concerned that if I dropped the Honda that I wouldn't be able to pick it up again.

 

I still have the bike as it is an old friend but nowadays my biking is down to the big village and back (6km each way).

 

I do miss riding it, but having the pickup truck means that I can still get around. 

 

As several posters have mentioned your body tells you when it is time to pack in biking, and mine did about 3 years ago.

Scooters are very easy to manoeuvre being so light i would switch to that if someone still wanted to ride

[ChaiyaTH]

14 hours ago, Denim said:

In Thailand the locals have set the bar pretty low so I think most of us can say that.

Ouch, like it seems to be easy being good at anything or everything whilst in Thailand due to that LOL.

[scubascuba3]

9 hours ago, sungod said:

 

 

Old people should get tested yearly, they are a danger to the rest of us.

to be fair the most dangerous are the young who take the most risks, the oldest take the least risks, plus tourist falang who are a hazard in Pattaya

Edited January 30, 2022 by scubascuba3

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

After a few run-ins with trash cans around the neighborhood, and a minor fender bender at an intersection, it was time to take grandpa's car keys away at 80. We were lucky that's all it was. He then tried finding spare keys around the house and sneaking into the car, so we eventually got rid of it. Sometimes one knows it's time and stops on their own, or others have to do it for them.

[seedy]

9 hours ago, In the jungle said:

I reckon granny ain't getting much action after his sore prostate has been pummeled by that vibrating piece of junk.

Can't afford one - or too weak to ride one ? Or just an ash whole ?

[Moonlover]

2 hours ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

After a few run-ins with trash cans around the neighborhood, and a minor fender bender at an intersection, it was time to take grandpa's car keys away at 80. We were lucky that's all it was. He then tried finding spare keys around the house and sneaking into the car, so we eventually got rid of it. Sometimes one knows it's time and stops on their own, or others have to do it for them.

When it comes to the scenario that your talking about, a motorcycle has a distinct advantage over a car. Even if one is near crippled one can still get in a car and to drive it. (or at least attempt to)

 

It's not so easy with a motorcycle. If you lack fitness, balance and coordination you're unlikely to even get going in the first place.

 

It's very likely that there are far less infirm riders on the roads than there are infirm drivers. And the latter are a lot more dangerous.

[transam]

12 hours ago, sungod said:

The problem is old people who think they are young, how many commenting  on here had a bike license in their own country?

 

The problem here is old fogies who never had to do a decent test, suddenly reinvent themselves with lax Thai testing standards,

 

Similar to the blue diamond effect.

 

Old people should get tested yearly, they are a danger to the rest of us.

Perhaps you come from an African country or similar, but I can tell you, I passed my bike test at 16, a test where you were given a route to ride whilst an examiner walked the streets watching what I was doing, plus he would jump out in front of me to test my emergency stop.

 

I passed my car test when I was 18, I passed my heavy goods vehicle test at 21.

I passed them all first time...????

 

My mother was still driving at 85 until she had a stroke, my father gave up driving at I think at 80, because the cost out weighed usage...

 

A driving test is just that, to see that you understand the fundamentals, experience comes from years of driving and learning, old folk have that experience.

Now I don't think you know what you are talking about, you just have a stigma regarding ageing folk, if ol' Stirling Moss was still around, he could probably give you a lesson or two in how to drive...????

[VocalNeal]

12 hours ago, In the jungle said:

I think there is too much emphasis in this discussion on reaction times.

Yes. Most people have the same reaction time. This can be checked with a friend or child by doing the drop pencil test. I've seen one where Jeremy Clarkson has the same reaction time as Michael Schumacher.

[mancub]

17 hours ago, simon43 said:

Ah I see.  What happens when you are 71?

That's when you can't remember where you're going to anymore !

[Henryford]

I am coming upto 69, been riding for 50 years, but thinking it won't be long before i have to stop, maybe 72 ish. I think my riding is still good, better than most thais for sure, but feel the consequences of even a small crash would probably finish my life here. Not worth the risk.

[OneMoreFarang]

42 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Yes. Most people have the same reaction time. This can be checked with a friend or child by doing the drop pencil test. I've seen one where Jeremy Clarkson has the same reaction time as Michael Schumacher.

There is the reaction time to see what is happening and then there is the time to (automatically) react to avoid or minimize the problem. The second part has to do with a lot of training. I.e. when I was younger I liked to (kind of) drift with my car. I didn't do it all the time but often enough to have a feel for what to do when the car was oversteering. This helped to handle difficult situations because I was used to a drifting car. If the same would happen now it would be a surprise and it would take longer to react.

[VocalNeal]

4 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Scooters are very easy to manoeuvre being so light i would switch to that if someone still wanted to ride

[Hummin]

17 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

There is the reaction time to see what is happening and then there is the time to (automatically) react to avoid or minimize the problem. The second part has to do with a lot of training. I.e. when I was younger I liked to (kind of) drift with my car. I didn't do it all the time but often enough to have a feel for what to do when the car was oversteering. This helped to handle difficult situations because I was used to a drifting car. If the same would happen now it would be a surprise and it would take longer to react.

I have been riding motorbike and driving car on snow and ice, and I would say that experience have saved me a couple of times here in Thailand. Driving pick up in rain and also had two wheel slide with my motorbike, I did not even needed to think, it was all muscle memory and reflexes. 
 

Anyway, I like to keep the traffic behind me, and Im always driving in the active line, not the passive line, and therefor having a big bike with enough power and torq to stay in front. 
 

Im not doing alot of small driving in city or town, and mostly long  touring when firstvriding. Since covid started I believe I have done almost 40k and a few k,s offroad on dirtbikes as well. 
 

The last 5 years about 85k total in Thailand on motorbike + 50k driving car

Edited January 31, 2022 by Hummin

[actonion]

Im 75 and i will still put my Driving / Riding experience  & reflexes  against any Thai teenager, ++

[Lacessit]

I'm 78, ride my scooter daily. Useful around town, no parking problems as with cars.

I drive defensively. I don't drive the scooter at night. If it's a longer trip, I take the car instead. My top speed is 50 km/hr.

My metric for giving up the scooter is when I feel I can no longer be in control of balance, with my GF riding pillion.

[Hummin]

5 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

that scenario just doesn't happen

When you understand what can go wrong, you can better prevent it. As said, when you get older, know when to stop before to late. The last person to understand it is time to stop, is useally the person itself. At least my experience riding in groups here in Thailand. 

 

Murphy's First Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

16 minutes ago, actonion said:

Im 75 and i will still put my Driving / Riding experience  & reflexes  against any Thai teenager, ++

Driving / Riding experience: yes

reflexes: I very much doubt that part

 

We are all getting older and our reflexes are not getting better. We might be good or even top of our age group but definitly not top all all age groups.

 

[toofarnorth]

19 hours ago, MartinL said:

I'm 68. Been riding 50+ years, usually pushing my skills rather than taking it easy.

 

I'm totally convinced that riding a motorcycle - and I mean 'riding' a bike, not just pottering around town to Tescos - maintains and preserves your bodily faculties. Although it mightn't look very energetic, biking means you're constantly using your body to balance forces, responding to road defects, planning your route through traffic, bends, looking into the distance for hazards, whatever. Most of the time all that's done without any real conscious effort on the part of the rider; it's instinctive. Like a physical and mental workout every time I start that engine and ride.

 

While writing this, I searched 'Motorcycling and health' and found this

https://slipstreamer.com/health-benefits-motorcycling/

which I've not seen before but it sort of fits what I feel about biking.

 

Night vision is poorer now but, since I never ride at night anyway, that's largely irrelevant.

 

I'll keep riding as long as I can and at the moment certainly don't see any need to consider hanging up my leathers before I'm 75.

I am not considering stopping riding my Forza just yet and I will be 75  in 3 weeks time. Bought it new in 2015 and now done 53,000k on it.

[toofarnorth]

22 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I'm 78, ride my scooter daily. Useful around town, no parking problems as with cars.

I drive defensively. I don't drive the scooter at night. If it's a longer trip, I take the car instead. My top speed is 50 km/hr.

My metric for giving up the scooter is when I feel I can no longer be in control of balance, with my GF riding pillion.

You have reminded me , my Forza just below this one.  I too don't ride at night , only the odd occasion do we go out at night and 'tis always by car.

[Henryford]

34 minutes ago, actonion said:

Im 75 and i will still put my Driving / Riding experience  & reflexes  against any Thai teenager, ++

Good reflexes are sometimes not enough. The only accident i have had in 50 years was, in Thailand, when an idiot (farang) rode straight into me. The quickest reactions in the world wouldn't have saved me.

[Hummin]

13 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Driving / Riding experience: yes

reflexes: I very much doubt that part

 

We are all getting older and our reflexes are not getting better. We might be good or even top of our age group but definitly not top all all age groups.

 

I just hope I remember what I said now, when I get older!

 

53 years old, driving and riding my whole life almost since 11 years old.

 

I know I'm not better driver today, than 20 years ago, and I understand from now and until I'm 65, I will loose some reaction time, and also total overview, balance, hearing, and I will perceive and understand the whole picture much slower than before. 

 

If The traffic is as it is today, I might park the bike when I'm 65, and start playing golf. I can only hope I remember it, and will be preventive when the time coming. However I'm still fit, and just have done my yearly health check, my Dr said I had become one year older since last year, and are now 36 year old. 

[toofarnorth]

13 hours ago, overherebc said:

Never tried a bsa twin???? Both pistons went up and down at the same time, that was vibration.

Yep , my brother in the late 70s was given a Triumph Bonny as a way round paying tax by his boss.  When I took it for a ride the vibration so bad that not only could I not see anything in the mirror but it kept falling and twisting tound the handle bars.  V twins are better but of course cost more to make.

[VocalNeal]

2 hours ago, Hummin said:

I understand from now and until I'm 65, I will loose some reaction time, and also total overview, balance, hearing, and I will perceive and understand the whole picture much slower than before. 

You think you have one foot in the grave already?

[Hummin]

5 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

You think you have one foot in the grave already?

Realistic, and like to do quite challenging different things, but also perform good. Details, its all about details. 
 

I have accepted I do not have the same power or same stamina as I had when I was at my best, and i can accept that in the gym. On the road on a motorbike, no, 

 

As said, it is based on what I see n the different groups I have been riding with! Some of them is not aware of it, some have never been better, because they started riding late in life, and some will never admit it, even they had several close calls, of course, caused bye other riders in the group or just the traffic, never themselves who is part or mainly because of their actions. Everyone else is the problem
 

 

[Kwasaki]

4 hours ago, Hummin said:

I understand from now and until I'm 65, I will loose some reaction time, and also total overview, balance, hearing, and I will perceive and understand the whole picture much slower than before. 

Well I didn't up to 65 and still OK at 74 so how do you know you will have problems.

 

[JustAnotherHun]

If you are in a good physical and mental condition, an experienced driver by many years, know about the ideal line, the limits of your bike and if you do some hard brake tests from time to time, I cannot see there's a limit by age when you should stop.

After maybe 30.000km on my 125-wave-super bike among the crazy Thais in Pattaya, I even think, I'm a better rider than before. Because here you really learn to be alerted permanently. No Soi where you don't have to be aware someones turning in without looking, no stop at a red light without watching who's behind you.

I'm quite sure I'm not more slow on the road and through curves than ever before, but I'm  more anticipating. Thailand tought me.

[Hummin]

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

Well I didn't up to 65 and still OK at 74 so how do you know you will have problems.

 

Most of the guys I have been riding with is still alive, and as far I know, no one have gone by now because of an accident. Obvious they still have some lucky coins left. 
 

I do not say I will have problems, but I think it is a good time to prepare for an end of the chapter, and be ready to start something new. 
 

Maybe I will be riding at 75, time will show. It cant hurt to to be aware of it, and at the same time challenge the older riders here to think about it, and find good reasons to continue and also challenge me back. Cant se any harm in that, except maybe annyed one or two. 

Edited January 31, 2022 by Hummin