I just don't understand these guys riding around with shorts, tank tops and tennis shoes

I guess I'm part of a dying breed. I'd owned four or five motorcycles before I owned a leather jacket, motorcycle boots, or even riding gloves. I even used to pull people around on a piece of 1/4 inch plywood when I was about fourteen and they would literally float when I made a turn. I had a trail beat down and after making a turn around the shop there was a pond about thirty feet or so away and if I made the turn real fast I could skip them across the water without them even getting wet.

There was even a gravel road about a mile from where I lived where I could get on the tracks for about a five mile ride before the next gravel road where I could get off and theres been many times I rode down the track from one place to the other. Those cross ties get pretty smooth at about fifty or sixty and I got a kick out of outrunning trains. (The ones coming from behind me had passed through town and had to build up steam) Anyway, a couple of times I ran into oncoming trains and the first time I had time to get the bike turned around and get back but the second time I had to ditch the bike and the hill was so steep that I had to get my dad to go with me and help get it up the hill and back on the track. We had to walk about two miles and boy was he mad.

When I was fifteen there was nothing that I loved more that riding a wheelie around a car at 55 on my cz400 and looking to see the expression on their face. (wish I still had it)

Anyway, I could go on and on. I don't expect you guys to believe all that stuff but that was typical for around here in those days so you'll have to excuse me if I smile to myself sometimes when I see and listen to the new generation.

Even now I sometimes get up and go to the store in the morning in house shoes. (Love that heel shifter)

As I said RAZOR, my son will hit the stupid age soon. When I look back on some of the riding I and my friends did when we were teens, I'm amazed none of us died or even went down. We didn't have dirt roads in downtown LA, we learned on the freeways in all types of altered mental states(folks, it was 35 years ago those days are LONG gone). I think my son has more respect for riding because he has grown up with it and with the strict rules I apply to riding. No one in my family rode so I learned on my own. My son knows if he screws up I will take the bike away and he will not ride till he proves his responsibility again to me. He has also been taught trust is earned, and once lost it is 10 times harder to re-gain. He'll still do stupid things, hopefully just not as stupid as
some of us did. Either way, I'll still worry.

. He'll still do stupid things, hopefully just not as stupid as
some of us did. Either way, I'll still worry.

My son is fifteen and has never asked for a motorcycle,,,knock on wood, and I'm not sure that he would get one if he did. He's already thinking about a car which I would much rather he had. With him being from the x-box generation I doubt that he would be as as crazy as I was but there is a big difference between now and then where I live and it's traffic. I feel like people can tell you all day long to watch for the other car or that cars will often not see you but at that age the only thing that really makes it sink in is that near miss that will eventually happen if you ride long enough and quicker for some than others.

My real point is that I don't feel like I need to get dressed like Darth Vador in order to go for a ride. There isn't any big metro areas where I live and I feel perfectly confident that I'm going to make it back in one piece after years and years of doing it.

With that being said, there are a couple of things that scare me. One is being behind a big truck and the other is nighttime but I "can" remember when that wasn't the case. While I almost never wear a helmet in the daytime, theres not enough gear in the store to make me ride at night in this part of the country. Theres just too many deer, rabbits, coons, possems, and armordilla's to be safe but I see people doing it all the time. I read about them all the time too.

Anyway, tell him welcome to the world of motorcycling and hopefully those miles with you have given him a head start. Ride like your invisible!

a safer way!

Man , I hope that's Photo-shopped , esp. The seat belt! BB

Big Bear wrote:
Man , I hope that's Photo-shopped , esp. The seat belt! BB

No .... it's going to be the new law in Canada. First helmuts, now airbags, seatbelts, next rollcages.

Our government is very protective of its citizens welfare.

Doc

next thing ya know it'll be 4 wheels....

WOW that ......that is really something..... I'm all for engine guards but, that takes the cake

Steven

wow ... I've heard of roll cages for bikes but never seen one!

That would be a good investment for the yahoo I saw on a sportbike a few weeks ago on highway 101 ... wearing a full face helmet, swim trunks, and flip-flops ... thats all. NH has no helmet law, so why even bother wearing the helmet? if he goes down, he is toast!

Congrats to your son on entering the world of riding ... wish I had started sooner myself! I am sure he will be a safer rider from your guidance than if he had none.

A lot cooler than a roll cage ...

http://www.ecomobile.com/

If I had one of these, maybe I could ride in the winter certainly could ride to work in the rain!! Only thing is no way could I afford one

They are made in Germany and a friend of mine told me about seeing a ton of them over there to combat the high gas prices.