what is the average age of xs riders

[MNRider]

Personally, I got this bike because it was one helluva deal. $200 bucks with about 9600 miles. It is my first bike and I wanted something that I could learn to fix on (Boy, am I learning!), and learn to ride on. I got it when I was 39. No previous riding experience, unless you count the mini-bike when I was 15!

I don't begrudge anyone wanting to modify a bike to make it their own. I certainly like the looks of my stock bike, though. Cafe racers are pretty sharp, though.

[desperado]

This will skew the average a bit. Forgot to mention when I did my post, but my ol' man is 78 and still riding his 77D. He also has a 79 Special that he is restoring (and a Suzi GR 650 "Tempter"). I run an old people's home and many of our residents are more mobile than my dad, but I tell you, he's living it to the full. The bike's given him a new lease of life! After a hip replacement, he couldn't throw his leg over the saddle, so he made up a little pedestal with a rope and handle that he was able to stand on when getting on and off the bike. He'd wedge it behind the seat and tail light and away he'd go. Today he joined me in a club run - we did about 140km's and he couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

[justin]

30. although profile says 34, it all began with have i got a deal for you. come pick it up and its yours. (77) well beyond my mechanical skills to fix i bought myself a christmas present that ran, mostly, 82 heritage special. its my first bike and i love it even though everbody i know scoffs at it. fools! when you ask a child what he wants to do when he grows up my responce at 5 was ride a motorcycle and grow a mustache. i think ill settle for just the motorcycle

[jeremy]

I'll skew it some also. 23 years old now. should have an XS DD within a month or two. was riding an XS nearly daily at 21.

[kyle]

well I guess I can chime in. I am 36 old enough to remember records and tapes were the new hot thing. I had been riding since I was 18, a few years on and off various bikes nothing special. My wife got pregnant and I thought I needed a project. started to build my bike from frame and swing arm going on three years ago now. paid $185 for titled setup and just started to aquire parts. I am $1200 into her. I guess more than I would be if I had just bought a bike but I have what I want. I don't feel so bad thinking I built a cafe. The way I look at it someone else would have chopped the old girl if I did not save her. With a lot of help from my part time mechanic cousin and friends I have made on a few forums I got her built. I have 60 or so miles in late october before I put her up to keep working on her. I think this is my on going project now. My daughter is 16 months and I have a cool ride that did not cost me college fund.
ride it like you love it.

[Cooltouch]

I hit the "double nickel" a couple months ago. Glad to see that there are younguns riding the old XS instead of modern hundred-plus hp crotch rockets. Learn how to ride before you get one of them things, I say. And the XS is a great way to learn. Unlike many modern bikes, the XS650 is almost infinitely customizable so one can truly make it ones own.

I bought my first XS650 -- an '81 SH -- in 2000. My first bike in decades. I cut my teeth on the Honda CL350 back in '68, and rode a buddy's XS quite a bit back in the early 70s. Paid $600 for the '81. It was running great, but needed an alternator rotor. Stock, except for a set of Mac 2-into-1 exhaust. First thing I did to it was ditch the roto-tiller bars and install a set of Daytona style ones. Since then, I've just done basic maintenance to it; it's been a reliable bike.

A few years later, I bought a couple more: a 77D and an '80 SG. The SG had been garage kept and was in decent shape. The 77D had been left out in the elements for years. Eventually I decided to cafe the 77D, mostly because it was a Standard. Got started on that project, then ran into money issues, then ran into health problems that kept me from doing much of anything.

Last year, I fell into another deal on a pair of XSes: a 78E and an early 70. Unfortunately the 70 was only about half there: frame, motor, forks, front wheel. I parted it out, still have the forks left. The 78E was kinda rough, but at least it was all there. It came with a title, whereas the above 77 did not. So, I switched my cafe project focus to the 78 instead.

My health has improved a lot so now I have the energy to get busy on the cafe project again. I'm in the process of stripping the 78 down to the frame. Got all the electrical off, exhaust and carburetors off the motor. I've accumulated almost all the parts I'll need. Next step is to pull the motor from the frame.

Best,

Michael

[pappy]

Pappy here,have two 650 now. one is a 1980 with 9,000 k and the other 650 is a 1975 bobber that my son was fixing up no title for it .right now i have a 20004 TRIUMPH BONNIE AMERICA.had a 2002 TBA sold it to my son inlaw bad move, i am 65 years old if i counted all the bike i had all my life it would read like this 9 triumphs,7 harleys 4 yamaha 2 hondas 1 bsa 1 norten,i went through motorcycles like went through wifes. ha, going on 66 in aug born in 1942 you do the math, and still at it ,love the wind in my face and the sound of a twin under my a-s.
later PAPPY

[leethal]

Whilst drunk and passionate last night I did the math.

The answer to the question thus far is....42.

-Thats 80 people that stated their age (not accounting for the year that they posted).
-Thats at least 80 of the most loved & best kept XS's still in circulation.
-And thats a whopping 3373 years of riding experience (more or less, I doubt anyone was born on an XS)

I really gotta find an AA...

Lee

[Fry]

I got my 79 special last summer ;D I got it because it was only $500, it ran ok, and it looked kinda cool. I didn't do any research at all I just saw it and bought it because the motorcycle bug had bit me. I had never ridden until i through my leg over it and learned how to ride... the hard way i dumped it the second day I had it but being only 22 at the time it didn't slow me down much I just picked it up and kept on goin. Although I still need to buy some new turn signals .

[grepper]

I'm a late bloomer to motorcycles at 38 yo (36 when I got my first).

Since I was a kid I've wanted a motorcycle. My mother, being a nurse, always said No Motorcycles! Being a good son, I respected her wishes while I was still under her roof. Then as a young adult I got married and my wife repeated my mother, No Motorcycles! Years later, I found myself in my mid-thirties, divorced and no one my life saying it to me. So, what the heck, I'm going to do this thing! Not wanting to blow a lot of money on a new hobby, I decided to buy a bike from a co-worker in the fall of 2006 for $450, a 1980 XS650 Special, non-running. Throughout the following winter I worked on it. That's when I discovered what a following the bike had. I rode it every chance I got last summer. Being kind of a geek and a perfectionist I had the thing apart and back together more times than I can remember. Every time making it a little better. By late summer, I was a full fledge XS650 Addict. "Hello my name is Mike and it's been one month since I've bought an other XS650".

For all the old timers who used to watch Happy Days.. Remember the episode where Fonzie lost his sight and Richie, to prove to Fonzie that he still had it, took apart his motorcycle (an old Triumph) and Fonzie put it back together blind? I bet I could do that with my bike. When ever I do something to it, I no longer grab a handful of sockets, I know all the bolt sizes by heart.

~Mike
Portland Michigan

[glennpd]

Mmmm "good looking and cheep" sounds like my first wife.

BTW, 61 years old been riding since I was 14 (Vespa). Had many bikes some which left an indelible mark n my memory, my first ride on a BSA 650, my old Triumph 250 single, backseat ride on an old Harley tank shifter, my 1971 H1 500, my brother's Honda 305 Super Hawk, my Triumph 750 tiger.

Glenn

[XSv650]

Been riding since I was 15, 43 yrs old now.

1st bike was a DT175, 2nd was R5(traded for Les Paul guitar, still have ), 3rd was CB550F, 4th was GS1000S (2 of 'em, god I wish I kept those!) 5th was XR500R - took 15 yr hiatus from bikes - 6th is/are XS's!!!

XSv

[funknjam]

I was 13 when my 1983 Heritage Special rolled off the line. I guess that makes me as old as the XS 650 itself.

My dad owned a 74 Yamaha 650 and always talked about how much he loved the bike. So, when we saw a pair of 650s on Craig's List locally last month (1981-H and 1983-SK) we snatched em up. A few hundred bucks (each) later, and things are smooth sailing.....

This weekend - front brake pads and new 4th gear for mine. Sure will be nice to start with a push of a button!

Dale in FL

[roar]

Closing quickly in on 30 here and just had the second kid. Maybe I'm starting to feel old, but I got the bike bug pretty bad. Did a little online research and found the xs to be cheap, easy to work on, and almost bullet proof. Take that and how gorgeous I thought the upright twins looked and I was off to the classified races. Found one about four hours away and traded the wife my fall canoe trip for the right to purchase what I thought would be a pretty bitchin' bobber. Plans changed as the that 75 was far too nice to chop, but I'm still getting my hands greasy with replacing the pistons while jaming out to Zep, The Doors, The Who, Steppenwolf, Jimi, and even some angry music. (Ramones, Sex Pistols, ect ect.....)

[7thxs]

I'm 38 been riding bikes since I was 12 street bikes since I was 18. My first was an XS (1980). Then an 83 Shadow, 84 V65 Sabre, Then a 750 Virago, then another XS 78 I think, Then a Yamaha Phazer, Then 2 more XS's, A TX500, an enduro, 3 scooters, 1 a 64 Vespa Basket I reassembled into life again, one more XS, and now my current XS deal made not home yet. I think I see a pattern. Regardless of what's out there and what my finaces are I keep going back to the quintesential motorcycle. The venerable old XS.

Aaron