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Does experience really come with age?

14K views 111 replies 63 participants last post by  JMS 
#1 ·
In reading many of the posts, it is good to see the diverse group that we are as riders. Particularly striking (at least to me) are the number of posts in which we learn that the rider is (1) over 40 years old and (2) riding for the first time. I fall into this category...age 54 and my first motorcycle.

So, if I may be so impertinent as to ask: what is your age and what is your level of riding experience? :eek:
 
#40 ·
Yes, experience does come with age. It's like anything else, usually, the longer you do something, the more you learn about it, and the more proficient you become. When I first started riding bikes on the road, because I'd read all the motorcycle mags, and learnt all the stats, I thought that I knew it all. The fact is, I'm still learning. I started riding off road in my early teens, was riding a moped on road at 16 and passed my motorcycle test in 1984. I've had the odd break of a year or so, here and there, but I've always been drawn back to riding motorcycles because 1, it's an addiction, and 2, it's practical, cheap transport. I'm 47 now, 48 next month, and I wouldn't be here now, if I hadn't learnt from my foolish mistakes I used to make when I first started riding. Most of my riding is commuting, and I love it. Quite a few other riders can't understand why I really enjoy riding my bike to work and back in busy traffic, but to me, it's a fantastic way of starting and ending a busy day at work. My commute is roughly 15 miles each way. In the morning, I usually ride in on slow roads, and in the evening, I use the Motorway. I arrive at work in the morning in a good mood, as I've usually enjoyed the ride in, especially if the weather's good, and got through any traffic that I'd be stuck in in a car. In the evening, I get home in a good mood, after filtering through the first part of my journey at slow speed, then opening her up for a few Motorway miles. It usually takes me around half an hour, either way. It takes around 1 and a 1/2 hours each way on public transport, and costs as much as a weeks petrol per day. Sorry, I'm rambling, I've just finished off a very nice bottle of Rioja. :D
 
#43 · (Edited)
What's the old saying?
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement .
~~
That makes pretty good sense to me. I work in a metal machining shop and the the thing that has given me the most experience to be a better machinist is when I've totally screwed something up. Never make the same mistake twice and try to catch them the first time before they become major.
~~
 
#44 ·
Let me rephrase that. Usually, the longer you've been doing something, the better you get at it. If you're old, and only been riding for a year or two, you aren't going to be as good a rider as someone who is younger than you, but has more experience. You do learn quicker when you're younger, but if you've been doing something all you're life, you're going to be better at it than someone who hasn't, and is the same age as you. If you get what I mean. Mind you, some people never learn, no matter how old they are. :D
 
#48 ·
Well and truly the wrong side of 40 and creeping deep into middle age,
riding since I was 7.

Experienced but still pushing the envelope and making mistakes but that's learning.
thankfully now its all done on the racetrack.

'To be old and wise, first you must be young and stupid'... oh was I stupid!

still a little silly :p , but experienced enough to know that road riding is not the place for me.
 
#61 ·
When I was 18, I thought my father was pretty dumb. After a while when I got to be 21, I was amazed to find out how much he'd learned in three years.

Frank Butler
Oops, as an unrepentant Mark Twain reader, I must express my consternation at Frank Butler's misappropriation of a Twain quote: "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant that I couldn't stand to be around the old man. By the time I was 21, I was surprised at how much he'd learned in seven years."

Historically, Twain was quoted without attribution or recompense even during his lifetime. Twain also rode a CBR250 through the streets of Hannibal, MO. :D
 
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#59 ·
37, living on the CBR as my first bike for about a year. I feel my life experience at this age allowed me to start to ride wisely rather than going hooligan if I had picked it up at 18 (which in my case would have been likely a bad idea.)

Riding experience before CBR was an MSF course on their bikes and two advanced practice courses on my bike. Oh and of course at my parents request, on the back of my brothers track Daytona at high speed hoping it would dissuade me from riding at all...yeah...that didn't work well. I have a Triumph too now.
 
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#65 ·
Good for you for taking the course.

It is amazing how long it took us to learn even half of what they teach in the basic course back in the "good old days" when there were no such courses.
 
#74 ·
49 years old, been riding since I was 9 in 1973 - first bike was a Sears mini bike with a pull start Tecumseh engine. Had many different rides since then, mostly Yamaha. My CBR250 is my first Honda.
Thanks, Galik...I had really forgotten that pull-start, Tecumseh-powered minibike which my dad bought for me from a Western Auto store back in the very early 70s. Headlight, drum brakes, and even a chrome gas tank! Way cool! :cool:
 
#78 ·
I am 37 with 100k miles under my belt by my logs. I started riding in 2009, so I am not that experienced especially since I missed a year due to deployments. I still like to think I am an experienced rider with so many courses under my belt and an extremely high average of annual miles.

I have wrecked badly three times. In two of those I could have prevented them, and were lessons learned in my first 20k of riding. The last? Well, A guy at a stop sign can still hit the gas and mow you over. Good PPE is useful.
 
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#79 ·
26 and 12 years of riding in total..

8 years of legal riding ..:):)
 
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