Need a bike again.

Author
Discussion

gareth_r

5,712 posts

236 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
quotequote all
Prof Prolapse said:
Genuine question, when "older" riders want to commute, why do they immediately start discussing adventure bikes?

Surely a commuter or upright naked bike is the obvious answer?
Probably because, with a very few exceptions, they are the only bikes that don't cramp our their ageing knees.

BrassMan

1,482 posts

188 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
quotequote all
Biker's Nemesis said:
...Because of its off road abilities and obvious filtering prowess during the urban commute the BMW GS is the choice of the dead below the neck biker.

If I ever get one of these things will someone please put me permanently out of my misery.



Silly question. Those panniers look like the second widest point on the bike. Aren't they a massive pain in the arse in traffic?

Pothole

34,367 posts

281 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
quotequote all
battered said:
Prof Prolapse said:
Genuine question, when "older" riders want to commute, why do they immediately start discussing adventure bikes?

Surely a commuter or upright naked bike is the obvious answer?
Because they want to be something that they aren't and never were when they were young enough to be that thing. That's why middle aged sales account managers buy Swiss divers' watches that are capable of 200m dives even though the buyer never goes in the sea any deeper than his neck on his annual holiday to the Med. Same reason why my Dad, in his mountain rescue days, remembers seeing the same guys strolling round the same pubs in Keswick every weekend with a rucksack and a climbing rope around their shoulders. He never saw them in the hills, and at the end of the season the gear still looked like new.
He "remembers" them does he? Nobody likes a yarn more than those who think they bloody know it all.

I thought of a Tiger Sport because commuters and upright nakeds are boring as st and my Speed Four has started to make my wrists ache a bit. I'm 51.

The bike's epic, btw.

battered

4,088 posts

146 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
quotequote all
Pothole said:
battered said:
Prof Prolapse said:
Genuine question, when "older" riders want to commute, why do they immediately start discussing adventure bikes?

Surely a commuter or upright naked bike is the obvious answer?
Because they want to be something that they aren't and never were when they were young enough to be that thing. That's why middle aged sales account managers buy Swiss divers' watches that are capable of 200m dives even though the buyer never goes in the sea any deeper than his neck on his annual holiday to the Med. Same reason why my Dad, in his mountain rescue days, remembers seeing the same guys strolling round the same pubs in Keswick every weekend with a rucksack and a climbing rope around their shoulders. He never saw them in the hills, and at the end of the season the gear still looked like new.
He "remembers" them does he? Nobody likes a yarn more than those who think they bloody know it all.

I thought of a Tiger Sport because commuters and upright nakeds are boring as st and my Speed Four has started to make my wrists ache a bit. I'm 51.

The bike's epic, btw.
Yeah, he does. I've seen similar. Funnier enough I remember them too. Wannabes and never wases who buy the gear in later life because they can't be 25 again but they can buy the gear.

Like a yarn then, do you?

Rosscow

8,723 posts

162 months

Friday 30th September 2016
quotequote all
Perhaps they do so much climbing in one day they need fresh rope every morning biggrin

black-k1

11,887 posts

228 months

Friday 30th September 2016
quotequote all
Prof Prolapse said:
Genuine question, when "older" riders want to commute, why do they immediately start discussing adventure bikes?

Surely a commuter or upright naked bike is the obvious answer?
I think it has a lot to do with aging bodies not being comfortable on smaller sports focused bikes but still wanting something that can “make progress” when asked. Also, most have a requirement for an occasional pillion and an occasional long run/tour.

That, and the fact that the market for non-sports, non-tourer, non-cruiser, fast(ish) bikes is dominated by large adventure bikes.

battered

4,088 posts

146 months

Friday 30th September 2016
quotequote all
Rosscow said:
Perhaps they do so much climbing in one day they need fresh rope every morning biggrin
biggrin
I like that one.
biggrin

I've got a CG 125 with 2 shiny new tyres in the garage, I had to swap them becase after an 8 minute 'Ring lap and burning off my ex-BSB mate on his R1 on the way home they were completely knackered.

CarsOrBikes

1,135 posts

183 months

Sunday 2nd October 2016
quotequote all
I still a superbike, but added a Moto Guzzi Stelvio, which the op will find used significantly cheaper than a GS, and not particularly slow considering it's size and weight. Definitely not as frumpy as some wallowing pigs of a similar style.