Not sure if I'm allowed a question like this in here, but here goes:

There seems to be lot of reference to motorbikes, particularly when talking of battery maintainers.
I'm a motorbike fanatic (I come from the Isle of Man, home of the famous TT road races, so it's usually a given), I raced them, I restored them, toured on them, live by them.
As a biker the XK is the one and only car that appealed to me enough to lose some garage space.
Wondering who else is a biker? What do you ride? What are you into? And which XK do you have?

My XK is the XKR 4.2.
Bikes - I have: GSXR mk1, Triumph Speed Triple mk1, Bandit 1200 mk1, TZR250 mk1, XL400 for trail riding, Velocette KSS 350 to restore, and my old FZR400 race bike to restore.
My main interest is real roads racing, though I like following motogp, wsbk and British Superbikes.

 

I've ridden motorcycles, on and off, since I was at university in Scotland way back in the day. I had a Triumph 250 then and getting it going in the morning to get to class was always an adventure. Lucas electrics, if I recall correctly.

There was a long hiatus until my next bike, since I had a young family and a wife who was completely opposed to motorcycles. I did have a Porsche during this time, but nothing on just two wheels. When I got together with the woman who became my second wife, she encouraged me to get a motorcycle so that we could ride together. That led to a Suzuki 800, then a BMW R1100RT, a BMW K1200GT and K1200RS. She rode with me on all of them except the RS.

I tried to retire in my early 50s and decided to try for a BMW motorcycle dealership. I won the right to open a new BMW "point" in northeastern New Jersey, but - long story short - that was not economically feasible, so I bought out another dealer. As it turned out, that was a big mistake. At that time, BMW was trying to make over their motorcycle dealerships in the mold of their car dealerships. But the math just did not work - car dealers have exponentially more revenues than motorcycle dealers and the cost of running such a store was prohibitive. I closed the dealership and BMW and I divorced.

I sold my BMW bikes and bought a Yamaha FJR1300, which I rode for many years and really enjoyed. My wife rode with me early on but a bad ski accident (she was hit from behind by an out-of-control skier and broke several vertebrae) meant she could not sit on the pillion for more than a few minutes. Even though I enjoyed regular rides with members of the motorcycle club I was in, I missed having my wife along.

COVID was the final straw. I had had accidents on bikes before, and did not want to end up in hospital again. And my wife developed a wonky immune system over the last few years, so I could not chance bringing the virus home from the hospital.

I sold the Yammie over the summer and began to look for a sports car or GT so that we could both ride together again in greater comfort and safety. I bought the XK in September and joined this forum shortly after.

Do I miss motorcycling? Yes. Could I have continued to ride at my age? Yes. But every time I look at, sit in or drive the XK, especially with her, it's all good.

 

Yeah gave it up when my oldest was 2. Last bike I had was a chopped HD '1957' knucklehead. (no I it didn't have ape hangers) but it was a hard tail and lost 9 ft long. And like Jaguars, If Harleys didn't leak oil, it's because there isn't any in them. Fun to drive to Sturgis from Denver back in the day. Nice rides up Thompson Canyon and up 285 to Breckenridge.
Glad I gave them up. Even with running straight pipes, people would not notice you on the road. Now with cell phones, it's a given.

My son gave up his Harley for the same reason. My sister and brother in law still have theirs but stopped riding about 5 years back.

 

Yes. I grew up in a motorcycling family. My father‘s first motorcycle was a World War I surplus Harley Davidson that he got in 1926 at 10 years old. He was too small to ride it so learned how to repair it. He continued with Harley Davidson‘s as he grew up and became a local racer and eventually a dealer after his service in World War II. Unfortunately his 6 veteran belt drive Harley Davidson‘s were given away to the war effort scrap drive by his sisters while he was fighting in North Africa and Sicily.
My brother continued the tradition with a 50cc Zundapp and 250cc NSU in the 1950s. He had numerous Japanese bikes as well as Triumph T100s and a 1956 Matchless G80CS through the years.
For myself, I had several Honda’s and Yamahas over the years (better half and I toured Vermont on our honeymoon) plus a Triumph T100C and a 1959 AJS model 18. Several work and pleasure travel trips to England involved chasing vintage spares adventures for myself or friends. IoM vintage races are on my bucket list. The only bike I regret selling was a 1974 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport hence my forum moniker. Absolutely a great motorcycle!
Last bike was a LARGE Yamaha touring bike sold about 3 years ago after our at-speed way too close encounter with a black bear in western Massachusetts. Distracted or oblivious drivers on 4 wheels also helped make bikes a thing of the past.
The 2008 XKR filled the motorcycling spot earlier this year. Awesome performance and safe car that allows my mechanical tinkering itch to be scratched. I always wanted a Jag and this one is just perfect!

 

Hello,

I own a '16 HD Street Glide Special and have been riding for 13 years. I've decided to give up riding (for multiple reasons) and have made room in my garage for a 2009 XK Convertible. I love the car!

Two Wheels to the Ground!

 

Message me when you get round to doing this, I know the Island like the back of my hand and can give you the advice you need for a decent trip

 

Thank you for the offer! An insider’s advice will be welcome. Have to get through this Covid first so we can even travel to neighboring states!!
My favorite video is Honda’s V4 Victory with dearly missed Joey Dunlop riding the circuit WFO. Terrifying onboard camera view🙀 Those riders are nuts!

 

Life will be normal soon enough. The TT and Classic TT will never be normal - yes those guys are nuts. It will be well worth the trip though.
However...as good, without question..for the bucket list...add Le Mans...its seriously good

 

👍

 

Bought this new in 1999.😀Still love it.If i had to chose would definitely be the bike.

 

Harley Ultra riding is the other passion

 

Love bikes as well as cars.🤗
Mine are,
Ducati Panigale 1199 (14)
Ducati Diavel (11)
MV Agusta F4
Hayabusa (owned for 20 years so far)

 

Does my UserName give it away?

Like others ITT, I'm a 2nd generation enthusiast. Dad owned an Indian and his last bike was a 1937 Harley EL that he had painted "the color of a shiny new penny". He returned from the Korean War to find out that his older brother sold it to pay for his schooling to become an electrician, which kind of broke his heart at the time.

I started riding when I was a kid as we had a neighbor that taught me how to ride on his BSA. From there, it was a Honda when camping and when I got old enough I had a variety of dirt and street bikes across multiple brands until my mid-20's. I eluded two near deadly experiences in the same day, and sold the Kawasaki that day. To be fair, one of them was my fault (twisting that throttle was addicting) and the other was just another idjut car driver oblivious the presence of motorcycles on the road.

Fast forward to my mid-40's and I bought my first Harley (Heritage Softtail), which I eventually traded for a Road King Classic and then onto the Ultra Classic Electra Glide. I had the Ultra when I brought home my 1st Jaguar convertible. One fine Sunday afternoon, I looked at the fun suppressor and said, "Let's go for a ride".
"You betcha!" was her reply (she's from Northern Minnesota originally, so it's better if you imagine the conversation with her accent).

Five minutes later I bounce into the garage in full motorcycle regalia: leathers, gloves, helmet, etc. only to find the fun suppressor sitting in the passenger seat of the Jag staring up at me.

Me: "You're never getting on the Harley again, are you?"
Her: "You're brighter than you appear to be. Hop in."

Did you ever have one of those simultaneous moments of joy and sorrow? The initial joy was related to a momentary vision of freedom, just me on the bike tearing off in whatever direction the Gods willed me that day. It was immediately replaced with the knowledge that I might just as well sell the bike as she was now firmly ensconced in the convertible club, and there was no looking back. So I did just that.

Later on, I became President of a Honda & Yamaha Motorcycle/ATV dealership for a period of time, and essentially had the same experience as @Bill Mack did with his BMW dealership: the numbers are rough. And to put it bluntly, the manufacturers can be real asshats to deal with regarding new vehicle inventory. Getting a couple of the good selling models meant they wanted to continue to stuff the warehouse with the crap we couldn't hardly give away in order for them to make unit sale #'s, and the battle was persistent and fugly. So we scaled the more profitable parts and accessories business using the internet and built an online parts fiche tied to OEM parts and had a good run. New investors moved in when we needed to scale by adding additional metric brands, and we jointly determined that two company Presidents were redundant and expensive. So I left and returned to the IT services space, which I greatly preferred to managing motorcycle dealership employees.

With all that said, I've been sans motorcycle for about 7 years now and truly don't miss it. I rode for roughly 50 years, and the only legit wrecks I had were in the dirt and the only things that got mangled were handlebars, rims, etc. Given my reflexes at the tender age of 62 (they're still pretty good, but not as good as they once were) I'm far safer to drop the top on the XK when I need to be "in the breeze". Plus, I have several buddies with multiple motorcycles who perpetually encourage me to go for a ride with them and are happy to let me ride one of the spares. I enjoy the day trips with them, and I'm grateful each time I park them safely in the garage when we're home.

Rubber side down for those of you who still ride, ya hear me?!

 

Some real good stories on here!!!

I also grew up on bikes, my 3 older brothers all had dirt bikes and my Dad had a Suzuki GS850L cruiser back in the early 80's. I learned how to ride on my brother's dirt bikes, before I could ever touch my feet to the ground my Dad would let me drive his 850 down the cul-de-sac and back, he would have to hold me up while I took off and catch me when I got back. My Wife thinks that was horribly irresponsible, she doesn't get growing up with 4 boys in a family, there was no time for fear or timidity.

When I turned 15 the first thing my parents did was buy me a Yamaha 125 for my Bday, in Florida you have a learners permit at 15 which means you have have an adult in the car with you, well if you are on a 125 or less you can drive on your own!!! Woo hoo, I was off and running baby.

Fast forward and in my 40's I bought a 2005 Honda CBR1000RR. Very much enjoyed riding for 10 years or so, but the roads have become very congested in Tampa, as has been mentioned it has become dangerous. I have friends with Harleys and others with sport bikes, we all rode together at times. That got old for me and using it around town was just a risk every day so I sold it...still long to ride. Every once and a while I look into buying an MV Augusta F4 as was mentioned above, such a beautiful bike.

My other passion is the dirt bike of the water, my Kawasaki SXR800. Like holding on to supermans cape under full throttle, a thrill and rush and guess what, on the water so less painful than concrete. Launching at 48mph from a wave and flying at 10 feet high for 30 feet is exhilarating! Oh yeah, and exhausting.

 

Joe getting the Hog out for the cabinet meeting with Hell's Angels.

 

Loving these stories. 1st prize so far goes to Loudhogrider for a new term to cover the word "wife" - "the fun surpressor"

I thought i was alone being into 2 wheels, but there are ao many of us. Please keep these stories coming

 

Both my wife and I ride. We've been very fortunate to have ridden to all 49 states from Oklahoma over the years, did a fly to then rent and ride Hawaii twice (Big Island and Maui over separate trips), a lot of Canada, a good portion of Mexico and the southwestern corner of Australia. I've also ridden some of Western Europe over the time I was there. They've all been really good trips. Not without issues, but no issue ever really stopped us. They may have slowed us down some, but nothing more. Every trip but Europe was done on Harleys of some flavor. We both currently ride Ultra Classics.

 

Seeing the lower 48 US states + Hawaii on a motorcycle is a terrific accomplishment - hat tip!

Before moving into the IT sector, I did sales product & skills training with a major US-based LTL carrier. For her 40th birthday, the fun suppressor and I went to the Big Island of Hawaii for a week and did a fly-n-ride day rental just to see the place on two wheels.

The woman who ran the Harley dealership there at the time had a deeeeep southern accent, and having lived in the Atlanta metro area during the sales training days, we struck up a conversation about life in the deep south. As it turned out, I had her "baby brother" in several of my training classes. He was a pretty big baby as he was a defensive lineman for Clemson in college - backup to Michael Dean Perry for you hut hut fans on the board.

It truly can be a very, very small world at times.

 

Also, I've been remiss in not posting some photos of some of the bikes over the years:

First family motorcycle: the venerable Honda 90:



The Kawasaki 650 LTD (near death cycle). Gee, I wonder why it was dangerous ...



Harley Heritage Softail Classic - riding this to/from Sturgis in 1999 convinced me to get the Road King Classic



Harley Road King Classic - much more comfortable. Wore out a set of snakeskin cowboy boots using them as training wheels on this thing returning home one evening from the "Dundee Dell" after too many Captain & Diet Cokes. That would be the last day I "drank for effect" (August 24, 2001). I've been sober ever since (booooooring).



Harley Ultra Classic Electra Glide - the bike that convinced the fun suppressor to give up ridin'

 

I was a biker long before I had the resources to get an enjoyable car. Went through about 9 different bikes and did a cross-country tour on an old BMW airhead before getting married and giving in to the light but constant pressure from the wife. Also moved to Dallas, which was a lot less enjoyable riding country than what I was used to. So I put bikes out of my mind while getting occupied with family and sunk as low as having a minivan as my daily driver. Then I finally realized my little family didn't really warrant a minivan, so I picked up the XK, and life enjoyment improved immensely. THEN a couple years ago, I won(!) a Harley in an online sweepstakes, and it was my ticket back to riding. Turned out my wife really didn't care anymore, so I dove back in and sought out good riding in my area which I was just too lazy to do when I first moved to the area. Promptly traded the Harley in for a Triumph Thruxton which is a great two-wheeled counterpart for the XK. The renewed obsession actually blossomed during Covid since I found myself with plenty of extra time to go ride, and I'm now at 6 bikes. Still love the Jag, but weather permitting, I'll pick two wheels every time until I'm physically incapable. A couple pics from the current stable