An 83 Year Old to Admire

Mondo

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While riding back from Colorado yesterday, I stopped for gas at that huge truck stop in Iowa and saw two gentlemen sitting at a picnic table next to their BMW 650's. I talked to them for a bit and learned that one of them also has an ST1300. He is worried that he may not ride it much in the future because he is afraid that if he tips it over, he won't be able to pick it up by himself anymore. Yep, he's 83. Something to aspire to attain!

Greg
 
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Wichita, Kansas
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I read that at the BMW National Rally the oldest ride was 90, followed by two riders that were 89!!!

This goes to show you that you should have at least ONE BMW in your fleet.
 

ST1100Y

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...he's 83. Something to aspire to attain!
Reminds me to Cyril Scandrett from Birmingham/UK...
For over a decade we speculated about his age, and every year he smilingly told us he's 72... ;-)
A nice, friendly gentleman who spent at least 1/2 of the year on the roads on his ST... whilst not having Email or a cell, he never missed a Gathering though...
Unfortunately got sick at the age of 84 while touring Germany in 2008... RIP...
 

woodybelle

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I just rode 3 Flags with an 87 year old on a Spyder but the oldest rider was 88 on a Goldwing. We are talking 650 mile days. They both want to make the ride at 90.
 

Viggo

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Next time point out there is a video of a small women (100 pounder or so) picking up a Goldwing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5k4Uj3YTnY
I can attest from personal experience that picking up my Goldwing is much easier than the ST was. Lower center of gravity and it doesn't fall over as far either.

It would be great to still be riding at 83 (or beyond) but first I have to live that long.
 

Throttlejockey

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I can attest from personal experience that picking up my Goldwing is much easier than the ST was. Lower center of gravity and it doesn't fall over as far either.

It would be great to still be riding at 83 (or beyond) but first I have to live that long.

I also don't see her doing that if it was from the other side w/o having him or the kickstand to help.
 

TPadden

Tom Padden
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I can attest from personal experience that picking up my Goldwing is much easier than the ST was. Lower center of gravity and it doesn't fall over as far either.
It really helps to choose carefully where you drop it too; level ground with great traction is best when the camera is rolling :D.
 

ST1100Y

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...level ground with great traction is best when the camera is rolling :D.
Yeah, especially for those staged scenes to be posted on YouTube... :roll:

In reality you just never drop your rig on a nice, fully flat, levelled parking lot with a hard deck...
It rather happens like during a 3-way turn on a steep, unpaved, washed out farm access you incidentally landed in... with topcase, panniers, tankbag on, the full livery...

Or, like my last mishap, on a steep, gravelled parking lot, right in front of a very popular local RTE pub...
I purposely parked the ST front facing downhill there, planned to have an easy launch when leaving...
But no, a BD-cager parked his stupid car less then 1ft of my front tire...
So, you've guessed right, I had to push the ST back, uphill... right hand on the seat, left on the handlebar, and go...
Worked fine for like 2 meters/6 feet... till my boot lost grip, sending my right knee on the ground... the ST coming down on top of me...
Wind-shield shattered when hitting the left side of my neck... bike stopped bravely on its crash bar though...

I picked it up, mounted and rode off like nothing happened... under the eyes of at least 80 "bikers" observing...
 
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A couple years ago, I was in San Felipe in Baja California waiting at a hotel to meet a riding partner for the first time. He was riding a Honda XR650R. Around the arranged time, 2 guys pulled into the parking lot on XR650's. It wasn't my friend. The youngster of the two was 74. The older one was 83. Both riding the dirt roads of Baja on kick start dirt bikes. I joked with them and got down on the ground in worship because that meant I still had 30 more years of dirt riding in me (I was 53 at the time). When I got home and told my wife about it and that I still had at least 30 years of dirt riding to look forward to, she was NOT amused.
 

ST1100Y

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Ouch! That must have hurt some...
Mostly the pride... ;-)
The 5Star screen I had back then, had rubber edging glued on, so no "guillotine-effect"; also the tough Cotura of the Dainese jacket worked...

Hope I'm still able to giggle over that when I'm >80...
Gonna be a weird generation though... running around with like iPods, popping to AC/DC and such... ;-)
 
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