Sold Both Of My BMW's......retired from riding......Didn't Last.....

[bigskyrider]

A little background.

I learned to ride in the desert (Southern Calif.) when I was ten and when I was a little older on the So. Cal. Freeways (what a training ground!) and since that time, I've owned and ridden bikes for the past fifty years.....Yikes I'm turning sixty in six months.

Recently my garage housed a 2012 BMW R1200GSA and a 07 BMW GS, while riding last January through Tennessee and freezing my tail off I glanced at a family cruising along next to me in a Suburban, with heat/heated seats watching a movie and for the first time in my life I wished I was sitting in there with them enjoying a hot coco or stronger and a bag of popcorn.
Following that trip and once I was back home in Montana I had to exit (stage right) the interstate after a texting big rig almost squashed me, I sold both bikes.

For awhile it felt kind of strange not having a bike to ride, clean and love in the garage. My wife became worried about me, I started spending lots of time on the couch reading my wife's cooking magazines and watching golf on T.V. I even attempted to play a couple rounds......I'm terrible. Then she bought me a kite, a nice kite.....silk with aluminum ribs, just didn't do it for me.

Then one night not long ago I was surfing Apple T.V. and stumbled upon the Documentary/movie, Long Way Around.....that did it, it was at that moment I couldn't not have a motorcycle in my life. It's like the Yin to my Yang (google it).
Sooo.......last Thursday I drove three hundred miles to my local Beemer dealer and wrote a check for a new bike.....yikes these things have gone up in price!

Today, Sunday I took the little guy out for it's maiden voyage in 40 degree weather here in Montana with a big smile on my face.
My question to you......my Beemer Bretheran, have you ever considered opting out, selling your bike, finding a new love/hobby?

Glad to be back!

 

[ahd43]

Not me, but my current ride ( RT ) came from a friend that hung it up. He lasted about 6 months or so working his way back to now riding a GS.

M

 

[36654]

Things change in your life and you do different stuff. I've always had a motorcycle, since the age of 11, but there's been years with zero or few miles. The closest I ever came to really quitting was 1985, but I decided to try this quirky lightweight bike, a left-over R80ST, and get a different job.

 

[mikegalbicka]

I opted out for 35 years in order to raise my kids. After three wrecks in my early years I did not want to chance their future for my happiness. Every spring I got the fever though. Last year got my first BMW with the wife's blessing now that we are empty nesters. Fifteen thousand miles later we are having a blast. Not sure how long this season of life will last but enjoying it while it does!

 

[dennisdarrow]

Still got those two wheels that I have had for it seems forever and been riding bikes since '62; but for these old bones my adventure riding through the woods and up to the top of the ridge is:

 

[bigskyrider]

Love it......

Awesome ride, great photo!

 

[dieselyoda]

Lemme see, back needs to be fused, ignoring that one. Hands have Arther real bad, can barely pull my zipper down to take a pee, but I have friends. Two as in 2 heart attacks and the usual doctor's conditions. Just got a new job, back in a pickup truck for 100K/year and took a big pay cut.
About $2000.00/yr to insure a bike and I have three and only get to ride good for four months a year and then do Popsicle Pete at the beginning and end of the season.
What else? Ah Ha. I spend more intimate time with my snow blower than I do with a human so that equates to bikes being way down on the important list. I love bikes.
So I drink beer, a lot. I watch hockey, a lot. I'm at that point, like the Joan River's joke, that when I pass gas, sucks to be you in the room because I have earned the right after living this long to pass gas as loud as I want.
Thoughts of selling off these Bikes Made Wierd that cough and sputter then cost you a hole in your pants, yep. Retire, put the rain/snow gear away? Get rid of my helmet that smells more like my shop when I pass wind, oh yeah.
I bought an OMT (Old Man Truck), it's got the full winter creature feature convenience package which also include that annoying back-up thing that turns down the volume of Lenrd Skynrd when I get to close to something.
It was 6C today and I had a supper to go to. Truck nice, bike cold. Picked up my girlfriend, she looked at me like I was nuts. Begged me to take her car.
In my very manly matter of fact voice I said, "What were you thinking wearing a skirt?" "You know if I squeak a ride, we be all in it."
If I can't ride, I can't imagine what my life would be like.
Oh, yes I can. I be the nut on top of building shooting crap.

 

[35634]

Can't imagine not having a bike. Driving a car is just soooo ordinary. Did add one with a third wheel so I can ride in the snow, take the dogs, wife, kids, hay bales. Have NEVER been jealous of anyone in a cage, even in winter. I look at them as un-enlightened.

 

[greenwald]

Hey - we all wander different paths, and the fact that your journey led you back to a bike meant you did the right thing.

Enjoy the new BMW and stay vigilant for 'texting big rigs' - ever more present on the roads these days, sad to say.

 

[Texpaul]

"Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known." - Garrison Keillor

 

[akbeemer]

Well if you ride the new bike to the west you should give me a holler. We live just off the road that leads up to Flescher Pass NW of Helena.

 

[robsryder]

The OP might well enjoy having an electrically heated jacket liner and perhaps heated gloves. These items, along with a balaclava under the helmet, really make riding in cool to cold weather more pleasant.

I use to use Widder, then Gerbings gear. At the RA rally in Arkansas I purchased a heated jacket liner and gloves from California Heat - seems like good stuff, but there are other options available (e.g. aerostich)

http://californiaheatllc.com/
http://www.aerostich.com/clothing/heated-gear/kanetsu-electrics

 

[8ninety8]

Close calls are an education. Nearing the seven-oh mark, picked up another old bike last year, the usual scrambling for old parts this year. A different machine means lots of reading and a new learning curve. Also another scoot if the other old old one is down. Two's enough. Picking up another engine, however. Retirement means you gotta have something to do. Some volunteering helps, pick yer own charity. Two or three hobbies helps arrange a weekly schedule. Keeping my bikes until whenever. They're not investments and their value has nothing to do with money. Best that my kid discovers them in my shop, some day.

Golf? Great upper body exercise, forget the score, get a pull cart, walk it slow, if knees can. The long several days riding is pretty much over. Personally I find it boring now. It's the fettling and fiddling that grabs my motorcycling. Joined a couple clubs, haven't got involved much, it's in the future. Cheers.

 

[deilenberger]

The first 10 years I owned bikes I started with tiny dirt bikes, and eventually ended up with a brand new Norton Commando 850 Mk-III. The first year it got about 6,000 miles on it. The next 9 years it got another 4,000 miles on it. This was after my son came along, and when he was about 8 I decided to sell it. Was bikeless for almost 10 years.

Then I got the urge again about 20 years ago and bought an R65 that I had to make run again. Spent a winter doing that - then the next summer riding it whenever I could. Miles were about 6,000 that year. Went from that to a progression of K bikes, then back to boxers, and every year my trips got longer and the miles went higher. Current bike is a '12 R1200R - got it around July, and it went from 4,000 miles to 11,000 miles since then. The one before that was an '07 R1200R - that I sold with 96,000 miles.

I've consistently over the past few years ridden more miles every year then the year before. I think this year will end up at around 18,000-20,000 between the 2 bikes. Last year was around 12,000. Last years rides included a self-planned tour of Europe for a few weeks - a wonderful ride. A solo trip from NJ to California and back this spring accounts for the additional miles, plus a little ride from NJ to Nova Scotia and back helped too. I now try to make sure I get one ride a week in all year (with a few exceptions for vacations with SWMBO.) That's actually pretty possible in NJ - there have been several winters where I didn't miss a week. Summer it's at least 1 ride a day, my car rarely left the driveway this year.

I'm riding while I still can. We all face the time when we won't be able to ride, or we have to reduce the number of miles, or miles/day, or whatever - so as they say "Make hay while the sun is shining.."

Congrats on the new GS. And get the heated gear, it will extend your season by a few months even in Montana.

 

[Visian]

Current bike is a '12 R1200R - got it around July, and it went from 4,000 miles to 11,000 miles since then. The one before that was an '07 R1200R - that I sold with 96,000 miles.

Ya know, if you rode faster you'd go farther!

To the OP's question, yeah... I reached the same conclusion after a texting truck driver came left on me while I was passing him on I-80 in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming.

That narrow little strip of pavement between the paint line and the dirt makes one think thoughts such as yours.

Come ride with the GS Giants.

Ian

 

[mrgrocer]

Honestly, nope. I am only 50 though. Been riding since I was 10. Heck, I can't even escape BMW. Bought my first used airhead at 21. i've had and have other bikes, but my daily ride has been a BMW since 1986...

And I try to find, actively, bikes I like to ride more. Doesn't work for me. Now I am down to about 7,000 miles a year but I don't see a day when I'd quit. I like to be cold, wet and scared from time to time, it keeps me supplied with adrenaline, testosterone and something to do when my teenage kids want nothing to do with me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[deilenberger]

Ya know, if you rode faster you'd go farther!

 

[GeneT]

Old Age & Riding

I am on the fence, I have been riding since I was 14, that was in 1946. Sitting in my garage all lonely is a 2008 R1200RT, I haven't even sat on it for 3 months. I have to admit with all the crazy drivers and my age I have lost self confidence. I hesitate but could give myself a spin around the neighborhood back streets and the church parking lot. But then I get tired out very easily, so any distance ride would likely end up with me parked against a tree resting. Perhaps the best thing and safest thing is selling it as much as I hate to think of it.

 

[greenwald]

I am on the fence, I have been riding since I was 14, that was in 1946. Sitting in my garage all lonely is a 2008 R1200RT, I haven't even sat on it for 3 months. I have to admit with all the crazy drivers and my age I have lost self confidence. I hesitate but could give myself a spin around the neighborhood back streets and the church parking lot. But then I get tired out very easily, so any distance ride would likely end up with me parked against a tree resting. Perhaps the best thing and safest thing is selling it as much as I hate to think of it.

Before you toss your helmet into the 'retired from riding ring,' go out and test ride a trike (any brand - I know of no one who trikes the R1200RT, except for that goofy-looking, wheels-out-front model). The stability, crash protection and increased visibility may be pleasant surprises for you.

Worth a look?!

 

[rudyinla]

Before you toss your helmet into the 'retired from riding ring,' go out and test ride a trike (any brand - I know of no one who trikes the R1200RT, except for that goofy-looking, wheels-out-front model). The stability, crash protection and increased visibility may be pleasant surprises for you.

Worth a look?!

That's a great suggestion! Those Can Am Spyders might be interesting and people seem to love the latest models. Or heck, you can even get one of these if you want to spend "a little more."
https://www.morgan3wheeler.co.uk/smallsite/smallindex5.html