T7 Owners Age Poll & use

[AZJW]

The last bike forum I hung out on was when I owned an FJR and the average owner age was in the mid 50's.  My guess is the T7 will be lower, but thinking we might have some older owners whose age might surprise us.

 

I'll start, 66 years old, trying to keep my miles 50/50 dirt street.

 

[SeaRun1]

Well I’m 50 and ride the road and dirt too.  I get about 30 days a year on the dirt.  Hoping to do some longer trips on the road this year so we’ll see how that goes.

 

SR1

Edited January 1, 2022 by SeaRun1

[jdub53]

I turned 62 ten days ago and retired yesterday (yay!). Been riding since I was a teenager, have gone through many bikes and brands both on and off road, and just passed the 500k mile mark on BMWs. My T7 has impressed me as much or more than any other bike I've owned, and I'm looking forward to putting many, many miles on it doing BDRs, etc.

[Landshark]

Yes, old guy here as well.  63 and still running as well as my T7 does.  This is my last bike.  I'll keep it until I croak or something else goes wrong.  I don't think there is a lot of young folk jumping into the motorcycle hobby these days so I'll wager that most of us enjoying this forum are up there in years.  

[qInvention]

In order to lower the average by a bit: I'm 34 

[sracer]

64. going  on 40.

[Wintersdark]

Late 40's.  

 

It saddens me how few younger people are interested in riding, not just offroad, but anywhere.  Seems fewer and fewer people all the time, which is unfortunate.  Even the younger people I know who do ride, don't seem to have the same love for it that people of my generation and older do.  I mean, I've got a few people I ride with at work, and their riding is limited almost exclusively to a bike trip or two per year plus maybe a sunny day or three commuting to work, but that's it.  

 

Tough for me to understand, really.  I don't expect people to be as on board with year round riding as I am (particularly here) but it's like pulling teeth to get young guys out for a couple hour tear through some twisties, some offroad exploration, or what have you.  

 

For me, from my very first ride as a strapping and stupid teenager to now, as a sadly feeble, aging dad, every single time I get on a motorcycle - any motorcycle - it's an experience of pure joy.  I literally resent occasions where I'm forced to drive. 

 

Going to keep riding as long as I'm physically able at all (and probably past when I should stop), but... yeah. 

 

 

[DORTx2]

Just turned 30, been riding about 3 years.

[Desert Mariner]

62 years old.

 

I started riding around age 12 and got my motorcycle endorsement as soon as I got my license at age 16. I rode until my mid twenties, culminating in a trip across the US on a Yamaha XS650 with a backpack strapped to the seat. I sold the bike, and I got into other outdoor activities that I eventually made into a career. When I got diagnosed with a serious heart issue at age 54, my trip leading and intense physical activities had to be put on hold. I was pretty lost for a year until a good friend suggested that I take up motorcycling again. I rode 12K touring miles on and off road the year before I had open heart surgery in 2017. I'm now back to leading wilderness trips, my health is pretty good, and riding motorcycles remains my favorite recreational activity.

 

I'm far from retired, and I work away from home a lot. When I'm home, I ride on and off road. My T7 is for easy dirt rides and longer trips. I'm heading to Baja in March for a much-needed vacation. I have a WR250R for riding harder stuff locally and for exploring off road. My current project is mastering the art of riding in deep sand.

[WildBill]

48, started with a 1980 JR50 at 6. I’ve had street bikes cb550’s 750, CBRF4I. R1, and dual sport, 2 KLR 650’s XR650l and Xr650r, several motocross bikes.  I think I found a long term keeper with the T7. with cases. 

[slawmir]

I am 47.

I bought my first bike before I get the drivers licence  when I was 16, it was MZ ETZ 250, the blue one, bike made in Eastern Germany.

I had to sell it before I joined the army when I was 19 and I stayed there for 16 years, so I had no time for bikes during the service. 

After retirement I had three Suzuki Dr650 within about 12 years.

Now, I ride my T7 as often as I can because I might join the army again late this year.    

 

[SO_Rider]

57

 

Rode my first bike, a honda 50, at 7 or 8 years old. Grduated to a Yamaha 8o and then a Honda 250 and rode those around the ranch I grew up on. Rode motorcycles during summers during college for a job building hiking and motorcycle trails all over the western US. Rode mountain bikes pretty seriously for about 30 years and hadn't rode motorbikes during most of that time. Bought a WR250R about 3 years ago to throw on the back of our B Van. Bought a second home/rural property in SW Oregon about 18 months ago and realized we had a huge ADV playground right out my backdoor! Explored hundreds of miles of logging roads on the WR during that first year then realized I wanted to stretch those rides into longer explorations. Bought the T7 in March and haven't looked back. Planning longer routes throughout SW Oregon and N. CA.  Really enjoy this forum as a platform for learning and sharing experiences! 

[Mapbook]

Been riding since i was 12 YO junior Moto cross rode British, German, Italian, Japanese.

Camping, touring and for the last ten years Iron butt rides as well.

In 2020 i sold all my bikes and got a T7 my first new bike ever at 72 YO this one will see me out  

[Kosmo]

63, and been on bikes since I was 9, but almost exclusively dirt bikes.

 

A number of things transpired meaning it was time to move on from pure dirt bikes, so I thought I try an ADV.

 

Honestly, at this point, not quite convinced. I probably should know better, but I am not finding it a replacement to weaving through single track in the woods, and dang, are automobile drivers ever a challenge/frightmare!

[Husafreak]

63, Only rode/owned dirt bikes before, mostly enduro, hare scrambles. Sold my KTM 2007 450EXC in 2019 just before Covid hit and I got an early retirement. I tried not owning a bike but it didn't work, I never wanted to ride highways so a pure road bike was not interesting. Some friends have been getting into ADV touring and it looks interesting. I feel like I can't or don't want to try to keep up off-road, no longer interested in riding "extreme" terrain. In fact I had done a bunch of dual sport rides just before I sold the KTM and actually envied the guys taking the easy splits! So with this Tenere I can dabble off-road, I've got a good excuse for avoiding the really rough stuff if I do, and I can still ride with my friends even on road bike oriented long distance adventures and not suffer too much. I need to go back to my favorite OHV riding areas and find the trails that my T7 was made for

[Rider 101]

61 and has taken me all this time to find this thread 

[NeilW]

71 been riding since I was 12. Street and dirt. I split my riding between My Yamaha midnight venture touring bike and my Yamaha provided T7 project bike. 

[Revy]

I made a wrong turn somewhere... dont mean to disturb the seniors here. Can someone point me back to Tik Tok?

[mjepps72]

50. Riding since 5. 

[Hollybrook]

I'm certainly not the oldest here at 66, but have been riding since I was 12 or 13.  Just today, I took the T7 and tried to keep up with my buddy on his modified MT-09.  We met riding dirt bikes over 50 years ago!

 

For those who worry about younger people not being interested in riding, most of my buddy's sport bike riding group are young enough to be his kids.  And my 23 year-old daughter bought a TTR125 and is learning to ride.  There is a lot we can do to nurture young riders.

Edited February 26, 2023 by Hollybrook

[jmoth79]

Glad to see I should have a few years of riding ahead of me.

[olliechristophe]

62 here. Started riding about 10 years old.

 

My dad built me a mini bike with a 4 1/2 HP Tecumseh engine. To this day I have not seen any minibike with the mad scientist gearing that he did. It had a centrifugal clutch with 2 chains and 2 sets of sprockets. I would get up to about 20mph then the other set of gears would kick in and scare the bejesus out of me with speed wobbles.

 

After that is was a Honda Street 90 with ribbed tire in front and knobby in the rear. We used to go to the races at Ascot with my grandpa. After seeing a few I tried to slide my Honda into the corners. Lots of skinned legs and arms later, figured out I could not do it. 

 

From there I borrowed various bikes from friends and would unhook speedometer from my dad's Triumph 500 and ride it when he was at work. Unbeknownst to me until I was an adult, he knew I was riding it. I asked him how he knew? He said the oil drip was a few inches off!! LOL 

 

My dad tells me a story of Irv Seavers. All the brand new BSA's and Triumphs had drip pans under them. They all leaked. 

 

Just as I turned 19 my uncle cosigned for my first brand new motorcycle. We went into the Yamaha dealer and I picked out a Daytona 400 2T. My uncle secured a loan with the bank and we went back to the dealer with a check to pick it up. Well that day they had a brand new batch of XT500's lined up looking pretty. I begged (but not too hard as the XT's were cheaper) and came out with the XT 500 and all new riding gear including a nice full face Shoei helmet. I loved that bike!! 

 

Then came the Navy Seabees and got a few good street bikes (KZ 550 and KZ750) and rode some of the first water cooled Japanese dirt bikes (Yamaha 250 I think).

 

One thing to note was when my buddy bought a brand new 1st year Ninja 900. IMHO, that bike changed everything we think of in terms of advancement in technology.  It took one ride down the back stretch of CBC base Gulfport MS to make anyone a believer!! 4th gear at over 100mph and it felt like you could put the kickstand down!! It was that smooth and mind bending fast. It took bike handling to a whole other level. 

 

From then it's kind of boring. Various Sea Doo watercraft, KFX700 beast of a quad, XR 600, XR650R, Ninja 650R, KTM300 (biggest money pit ever), Beta 498 dual sport (most reliable bike ever) and Super Tenere.

 

And now I'm still a novice who turned gray and old!! What the hell!!!

Edited November 16, 2023 by olliechristophe
grammer

[NeilW]

71 here have a Tenere 700 and 900# Yamaha Venture for 2 up with the wife. Ride the T7 on forest dirt and gravel when ever possible along with 400 mile back roads days. Learned my lesson to not take it on single tracks where there is a high probably to drop it. Well, it’s not the drop part that is the problem, it is the pick up part! 

[maddog123]

will lower the averaged here as well... I am 34 ... I can see why the T7 riders are older, I believed one need some experience to drive this bike off road.  I drive the roads to get off road but off road is by far my preference. 

Edited November 16, 2023 by maddog123

[maddog123]

On 2/26/2023 at 1:44 PM, Revy said:

I made a wrong turn somewhere... dont mean to disturb the seniors here. Can someone point me back to Tik Tok?

lol, let me guess you are the one ?