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

[Visian]

Good lord.... that's like a gajillion eilenvectors!

 

[36654]

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?!

The Harley / Gold Wing trikes are rapidly becoming my favorite targets of verbal wrath......... Yes, they don't need a side stand, they are definitely not stable in a turn, as demonstrated by their trundling, slow crawl around any exit ramp.

 

[Rinty]

My question to you......my Beemer Bretheran, have you ever considered opting out, selling your bike, finding a new love/hobby?

I went through this a few years ago, and sold my bike. I got a 911, and my wife and I took it on some memorable trips.

But it felt odd not having a bike, so I ended up getting another BMW, an ST, and it's pretty much the right bike for me.

I think many of us go through phases, and we end up doing more of this and less of that. I don't worry about it.

 

[rad]

I have considered giving it up from time to time. If I do my main two wheel fix will stay, I bicycle about 400 miles a month and even raced years ago.

I gave up teaching motorcycling this year and find my bike sitting in the garage for weeks at a time. Just a couple years ago I would have been horrified at something like that.

I started riding about 55 years ago and it has been a constant in my life, but I suspect there will come a day when I no longer need to ride.

I could see myself being just like the OP, giving it up only to buy another a short time later.

 

[osbornk]

I quit motorcycles 4 or 5 times until I discovered that it is an incurable illness that might go into remission but it always returns. I was an insurance adjuster for 30+ years and after I had a really bad claim where an innocent rider was badly injured or killed due to the negligence of another, I would swear off riding. After a period of time, the memory fades and I returned to my illness.

 

[Bud]

Yes and yes.

I have been done riding several times.

Sold a 95 GS and said I was done.

Bought an Oilhead R

Sold it because I was done.

Bought an Oilhead RT

Too big and heavy? Bought a WeeStrom.

Went to an Un-Rally last June in WI and bought a Hexhead GS.

Now, with the RT and the GS in the garage, I've bought a sailboat for my wife and know my riding next year will be somewhat curtailed.

Some bike has to go.

 

[36654]

I have been done riding several times.

Sold a 95 GS and said I was done.

Bought an Oilhead R

Sold it because I was done.

Bought an Oilhead RT

Too big and heavy? Bought a WeeStrom.

Went to an Un-Rally last June in WI and bought a Hexhead GS.

Now, with the RT and the GS in the garage, I've bought a sailboat for my wife and know my riding next year will be somewhat curtailed.

Some bike has to go.

IIRC, Last winter you quit the MOA.

It appears you have an issue with that commitment thing......

 

[nakwakto00]

Since 16 years old I've owned a motorcycle or motorcycles (mostly Honda's). When I got married I sold my Kawasaki 750 (screaming' fast machine) and bought two Honda XL's for off/on road riding. Then kids... not easy to put kids on motorcycles. Back in the 80's side cars weren't so popular. So we sold the bikes and went "adventure boating." That is, we boated up to remote places on the BC coast for 25 years. The kids grew up and moved away and I sold the boat and bought 4 BMW motorcycles - 2 GS bikes and 2 RTs (couldn't make my mind up for dirt or touring). My wife has her own rides. As I contemplate 60 and beyond, I visit the gym regularly to maintain strength and balance so I can keep riding - safely and comfortably for as long as I can. However, I'm sure the day will come when I'll have to make another transition - to a trike or hack side-car rig. Motorcycling is in my soul while on this earth and beyond.

 

[bigskyrider]

Thanks.......

Thanks for all the great replies!
I'm still loving my new ride, have even thought of buying a "winter" project bike.
Not sure I'd ever opt for a "trike" bike, but I might buy one if I hit the century mark.......when I hit the century mark!

Cheers!

 

[bigskyrider]

Ps........

Why I love to travel and ride, after reading "Travels With Charley" and reading this opening paragraph I was hooked. Lived in Africa (Peace Corps) lived and worked for ten years in Mexico and the Caribbean........loved every minute.

“When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age.In middle age I was assured greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ships's whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, once a bum always a bum. I fear this disease incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself....A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we not take a trip; a trip takes us.”
― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

 

[markaz]

Where & when were you in the Peace Corps? I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970/71.

 

[bigskyrider]

Peace Corps Vol. 1988 - 1989 Morocco. It was one of the best times of my life.

 

[markaz]

It's definitely a life changing experience. I certainly don't regret it but I don't think I'd do it again, at least not in the RDC.