what is the average age of xs riders

[82bobber]

I've been rode hard and put away wet ;D born in 1949 I'm 57, been on two wheelers all my life, started riding myself around at 7 years old, I think, called 'em doodle bugs then (minibikes now), then scooters, to motorcycles. Here's a pic of me and my parents, that's me in the middle.

My whole family, dad, uncles and all are bikers.

[Psychosis5150]

28 yrs old here. Been through a few bikes so far, first was a 86 interceptor 500, then a 86 suzuki savage 650, 03 GSX-R 600, now the 79 xs650 special. Hated the ride on the savage, rattled my teeth at 55mph,gsxr scared the poo out of me just in first gear(80mph!) LOL! Still kickin myself for sellin the honda though, loved the V-4... Havent had much time on the xs but likin' it so far! Oh yeah, the xs is older than the little lady hehe!!! ;D

[EvergreenXS]

I'm the same year as my bike: '79

[shag]

WELL I'M 50 THIS YEAR,STARTED RIDING WHEN I WAS 15 HAD A COUPLE OF SMALL BRIT BIKES.GOT FED UP WITH THE USUAL OIL LEAKS/BREAKDOWNS ETC.SAW MY FIRST XS WHEN I WAS ABOUT 17 & THOUGHT THAT'S WHAT I NEED BUT I COULD NEVER AFFORD ONE.NOT HAD THAT MANY BIKES,I TEND TO KEEP THEM FOR A LONG TIME.HAD A YAM SR500 FOR ABOUT 5 YEARS,THAT WAS A LOVELY BIKE.HAD A KAWASAKI Z650 FOR 12 YEARS,HATED IT, TOO SMOOTH & BUZZY.THEN ABOUT 6 YEARS AGO BOUGHT MY XS,WISH I'DE DONE IT YEARS AGO.IT'S A B ROADSTER,BLACK WITH SILVER STRIPES,SPOKED WHEELS,TWIN DISC'S.STANDARD EXCEPT FOR BSA GOLD STAR SILENCERS.I LOVE IT

[crazypj22]

Hi Shag,
stop 'shouting', turn off caps lock.
I'm from South Wales, I'm 50 this year. We have probably been to some of the same rallies(if you went to rallies in the late 70's/80's/early 90's)
Couple of my friends lived in 'Brizzle' ( Bristol, if your not from round there ;D) Spent a lot of weekends in the west country.
all for now,
PJ

[spyug]

PJ,
Shags likely "shouting" as he's had too much scrumpy seeings how he's from where"the cider apples grow". ;D

Now if he breaks out in a chorus of "I've got a shiny combine harvester" then we'll know fer sure.

Welcome aboard Shag.

Cheers,
Spyug

[crazypj22]

LOL ;D ;D
PJ

[shag]

sorry about the shouting,i'not normally loud unless i'm pissed & that's not on cider,can't stand the stuff.i'm from YORKSHIRE originally sorry about the shouting again, proud & all that.thank's for welcoming me aboard,i'll try & keep in touch.

[bill letson]

54 this is my first bike.always wanted to get a motorcycle but trying to live the american dream takes a lot of cash.i got my xs without even knowing what i was getting.i had a triumph gt6 setting in my garage taking up space,so i contacted a local british car club on the internet and ask them if they wanted it.while making the araingments for them to pick it up,i was ask if i wanted a bike .it had sat in the corner of his garage for 10 years.all i can say is that i love it.

[eric123]

31...Been riding since I was about 8...

[mashermoto]

I TURNED THE BIG 50 LAST OCTOBER...sorry...didn't mean to yell at ya ;D

Started riding bigger brothers bikes at about 8 years old. We moved to a rural acrage when I was 10 and one of the older brothers left a mini bike for my sister and I to ride. She didn't ride it much because I was always on it ;D Then the brother left a Kawasaki 120 for us to play on. The old farm rodes were never the same after that one Yukon had a great 1/4 mile short track that drew a lot of people on Saturday night. Brothers got me started racing on one of those mini bikes with the Hodaka engines.

In junior high I bought my best friends Hodaka 100 flat tracker. It was well used and broke down every race but one. Next year I bought a brand new Yamaha 125 MX. I changed the 21" front wheel out with a 18" spool wheel and flat track handle bars. Placed first or second in every race that year. Cool little bike. My next flat tracker was a 250 Ossa in a really weird frame. The rake couldn't have been more than 20 degrees. Same story as the Hodaka, couldn't keep it running. Raced my brothers Trackmaster 750 Triumph 1/2 miler on that short track one year. That was wild ;D Keep in mind I didn't weight but about 120 pounds. I don't think I ever got to wide open, but the wheel spun the full straight aways. Compression was really strong so going into the turns you could just kinda poke it in there then shut off the throttle and the rear wheel would automatically come around for a slide position, then just gradually roll on the throttle. Man, what a feeling ;D

Latter on I did some road racing on a factory Yamaha 125 twin (also very cool), some motor cross on a bultaco (also very physical) and some speedway on a Jawa 500 (also very insane).

Next bike was a 1978 Yamaha 750 special triple that I installed a high compression 900 kit. Changed out those curly handle bars with XS1100 standard bars and had lots of fun on that one

I haven't rode a bike since the 750. Then last year my brother bought a street bike, and I told him it would be cool to make a flat tracker into a street bike. He told me to go on ebay and search on street tracker. I found some there and other places on the web...and well...here I am. Hooked on bikes again. I don't know if it is because of my obsessive compulsive self, or if it was because of the good deals I found, but I now have one 650 tracker in progress, one 650 in waiting, and 1 1/2 XS1100's in waiting

Gotta love this Garage site ;D

[aaronspace]

I'm 35 and right in the middle of Generation X(S) (Couldn't resist)

So all of us GenXers were born approximately between 1964 and 1978 depending upon who's defining a generation. These bikes are what a lot of us remember from our early childhood as being what a motorcycle should be like. (Not trying to make anyone feel old here.) My father's a Boomer and I remember one of his friends used to show up on an XS as did my "cool" older cousin. So for me when I started looking for a bike to tinker with it was because of the look and feel and familiarity with the bike.

I wanted a bike that looked and sounded like a motorcycle. Pure and simple. Nothing fancy. The fact that the engine's so reliable makes it even better. I think a lot of folks would agree. ;D

[Thorny81Special]

Getting to the heart of the original question: "Why the young guns on the XSes?"

This was Yamaha's most successful bike. wasn't it? The motors had a "bulletproof" reputation when they were new, and so they lasted the 20+ years, and as they get old and the vinyl breaks down and they start getting grimy, but still running, people who are sick of seeing them gather dust are selling them off more and more, and kids that don't want a shiny bike that they could screw up buy them up (like me).

I got my first one because a guy down the road had it for sale and I'd just taken my riding course and gotten my lisence. I was 22, and so was the bike. 1981.

So yeah, my initial reason to get one was to have a starter bike that I wasn't afraid to lay down if worse came to worse, but as I got better at riding, it was way cheaper to customize it than to buy a newer honda or whatever. And that was in part inspired by the chopper shows.

The other two XS650s I've acquired since then were simply by chance. I hadn't even really thought of getting another one since mine was fine, but a friend (same age) who has a 100th aniversary Fatboy was looking for a project and stumbled across five of them for $1000, so I took two of them.

Another friend's brother (I think he's 29 maybe) also got one coincidentally because it was cheap, and he's been chopping her up too. And one of my old neighbors (probably 45) has one, which I found out after I got the cafe on the road.

I hope that when people around here get a load of my rat trap project more 650s will come out of the woodwork.

[chemist]

Fifty-seven years old! Today! I'm itching for spring so I can get to riding again.

[azbones]

My first bike was a 47 Indian Chief in 1957.Sold it to an acquaintance headed for Portland from Iowa two steps in front of a double barrel.Yeh he made it.Owned a couple of different Harly's in the late 50's. A surplus 45 and a 61.My next bike was a 250 Triumph I bought off of a local VC in Saigon in 62 to get down to Tu Do St.It was 7 miles from the airbase where I was living in a tent.The plan was if we over indulged at the bars was to chain it to a tree in front of the MP Station and pick it up later.Never happened,There was usualy 2 or 3 of us on it blasting home for the nite. I left a lot of skin and threads on those sandy cobblestone streets.I wised up and traded with one of our gunners who had been pestering me.He had a old MoPed that ran decent.Those things were bullet proof,and only ran about 30 after you got it wound up with two on it.
That was it for 40 yrs,until I bought a Vrod for my 65th Bday.Great bike,lots of smoke,but not the best bike for road trips,even though I did put 20000 on it.Sold it and got a GL1800.No better bike for covering country,12000 mi last year, but not real handy for me for the short jaunts.I know this is long winded,but now for the XS650.A friend of mine in the midwest had a cherry SF with 14000 original miles,always garaged and babied.I had told him 7 yrs ago if he ever decided to sell it to let me know.Well he bought a Shadow a couple of years ago,more comfortable for the wife to go with.Late last fall he asked if I was still interested,as the XS wasn't getting that much use,and moma was hinting that maybe he could put it in the shop with his tractors and free up a little room in the garage. I've had a $hit eating grin on my face ever since.What a kick to ride,and a perfect bike to gin around town and ride down to the coffee shop.Yes coffee shop! Older AND wiser.