Who's our most senior rider?

Twenty responses to the original post so far, but only 4 answered as correctly, 5 if you include Cam who asked the question, "Who is our most senior rider"?
Come on class sit up straight and pay attention, you will find the blue pill later Chris. I am 68 and coming up on 69, my old mate MotoddRob is younger than me but has more years on Laverda than me.
I am 68, 45 years on Laverda, give or take 6 months on both answers.
 
There's an old saw concerning the greater life expectancy of skydivers over the genpop.
It's true because the massive worldwide infant mortality depresses the genpop figure.
All skydivers having survived, until adulthood, when they can jump.
Therefore our most "senior rider" will date from their first ride, otherwise they are just an old person who may have taken up riding last week.
 
Paul Marx said:
I started late due to parental opposition.
How many km a year is needed to qualify as a rider?
Paul
Click to expand...
Not going to be the oldest rider .... age now 69 and a quarter .......... However ........ with reference to Paul`s query .........

I started at the age of 15 in 1969 with an Excelsior 98 .......... riding around my old school playing field with a couple of mates during the summer months ........ km covered that year probably amounted to about 10 ........ and half of that was probably running alongside it trying to get it to start .......( even more terrifying was trying to get it to stop ........ ) ........ So lets say 5 km that year ...... Still considered myself a rider though .....

Even gained some brief notoriety by being mentioned during Monday morning assembly several weeks running by the headmaster ....... ( he had received reports about what was going on , but wasn`t sure who was responsible .... ) ...... So most definitely regarded myself as a rider .......


If you include someone on a pillion as a rider , then some sort of award has to go to someone`s dad in Sweden a few years back ....... His son decided to take him for one last motorcycle ride , even though his dad had actually passed away a few days earlier ........

There`s a picture somewhere of the two of them ...... after having been stopped by a police patrol car ...... dad being bungied to the son to keep him in place ....... As usual I can`t find it right now ......... Not sure how old he was when he snuffed it , but a gallant effort to keep riding all the same ......
 
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Vexed question this one Cam, like conducting a public pole, outcome has more to do with couched terms of the question...a smile here. 1968 first ride on a Bridgestone 90 as my feeble claim on first ride, indicating span of riding years against current age....j
 
Just turned 65 but feel 85 some mornings, usually after a few too many rum and cokes. So maybe that makes me the oldest if you count with that in mind. Been riding Laverdas for 39 years. Hope to ride as long as some of you guys have done it....something to aspire to.
 
Bought my first Honda in 1966 to get to work & uni. Figured out how to ride it and shift gears on the way home from the dealer. That initial sense of freedom never went away. Keeps getting better. My 18 year old brain is inhabiting my 75 year old body.
 
The Sock said:
There's an old saw concerning the greater life expectancy of skydivers over the genpop.
It's true because the massive worldwide infant mortality depresses the genpop figure.
All skydivers having survived, until adulthood, when they can jump.
Therefore our most "senior rider" will date from their first ride, otherwise they are just an old person who may have taken up riding last week.
Click to expand...
Oh, didn’t realise they wanted first ride.

BSA Bantam, I would have been 11 years old. Then my older brothers Suzuki T20.

First road bike owned by me, illegally 😉 on the road at 16, Kawasaki Mach 111.
 
I’m 70 now, first two wheel ride was a rental 50cc Vespa for a week on Rhodes when I was 15. First real motorcycle ride was a friend of my Dads who let me take his BSA lightning up and down a rural road in Delaware when I was 17.
First owned bike was a Yamaha XS360 bought new in 1977, I wanted a SR500, but couldn’t afford it. First and only Laverda was my RGS Executive bought used in 1989 or so, can’t recall exactly when, could have been 1990.
 
Aah memories....finagled my parents at 9 years old in 1963 to buy me a Honda 50 Sport. The cost if
memory serves was $349 plus CA tax (4% ?) and title. Playing the snob game I like to claim that JFK
was in the White House when I started. Next milestone of interest,first Ducati in 1969 , a used Mach 1
for $300. Many,many more Japanese performance models and Ducati bevel twins over the next decades.
In 1982 had a tough decision....new Hailwood Rep or new Jota....stayed in Bologna ! First Laverda that 1982
Jota about 1996 that Lance Weil had vetted for me. Some memories of American Eagles and Evel Knievel
using a 750 to jump at exhibitions. Can't remember seeing very many Italian machines of any stripe as the
Japanese had sewed up buyer's choices. In those days in CA there was every brand of small bore Italian(or
Italian origin) for sale. Many bikes were raced due to the fact that most of the distributors were based in
SoCal or the Bay area. Parillas were quite successful in club racing with a guy named Norris Rancourt.
Luckily, Laverda's have stayed an enthusiast bike all this time. Went to Breganze in 2019 for the 70th and
managed to talk with Piero and his son and have the 750 book autographed. Am off to see Wolfgang Haerter
next week and buy way more stuff.
 
born in 1954, first bike at age 10 in 1964, a very battered automatic Honda 50 stripped of its bodywork and hustled around the local trails (and sidewalks and parks and streets.....). I graduated to a Honda 90, then various other old things, at age 16 in 1970 bought a brand-new Honda CB 100 single for about $650 (?) that I had been saving for years to buy, would do 60 mph flat out downhill with a tail wind. Have not been without at least one or more motorcycles since. Riding 59 years now, approximately. Have owned and ridden a LOT of motorcycles over the years. I taught as a volunteer motorcycle rider training instructor for about 17 years.

My first ride on Laverda's was 1979, a blue 1979 1200 with red stripes, my present 1979 Laverda 1200 I bought in 1999 also have 1982 Laverda 1200 TS Mirage and 1984 Laverda RGS Executive. I have had a few other Laverda's, including the 1971 8000 Series drum brake SFC 750 that I owned for a long time but then sold several years ago when my body could no longer tolerate riding it.
 
C'mon Paul THE TRUTH...you didn't fit on the SFC. I had a friend with an SFC he let me try
out on the freeway. I'm 6 foot two and weighed about 180 lbs with size 11 (Euro 45?) feet.
Luckily that many decades ago I contorted my body to conform !!! I think the SFC would
suit a 5 foot 8 inch man about 145 lbs with size 8 feet...kind of like a world class roadracer.
Now that you have the Lincoln its time to change your name,say Velvet Jones (one of Eddie
Murphy's characters) You are rockin' a Pimpmobile even though very few people would know
what that is with the then 70's mods. La dolce vita..
 
I have sat on 6 different SFCs and at no stage could I get my feet on the pegs. Not a chance. Short legs and long arms might help. They look and sound fantastic though.
 
I have long arms and size 8 feet, not much more than 5’8” and weigh less than 145lbs, so do I qualify for the donation of an unused SFC? 😜
Whilst I don’t claim to be anywhere near the most senior rider, it’s now 40 years since I first raced a Laverda and I am hoping to continue getting my leg over for a while longer yet. 😉
 
Piero the oldest rider, you know what Andy you might be on to something, he was 73 the last time we met and (I think) that was 2019, so he could be 76/77?
he is certainly the oldest V6 rider on the planet.
CLEM
 
I measure 178cm, weigh 85kg, size 43 boots and I fit perfectly on a disc brake SFC. Drum brake SFCs aren't very different from an SF.
The only problem is my aged joints.
Paul
 
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