Topic: Does your wife ride?

[wilinfla]

I feel that I am very fortunate, my wife rides almost as much as I do. She has a Harley Sportster, a Suzuki SV650 and a 1974 Yamaha RD350. She really enjoys riding, either on her bikes or on the back of one of mine. She wants a CL350 or CL360 when I come across a good one, she likes the style of the CL's. I even get surprised by her E-Bay buys when she finds parts for my bikes on E-Bay. I think I am a lucky man, of course it took 2 other wives before I found this one It's nice to have someone who enjoys a hobby as much as I do. She just gave me "permission" to buy a new Suzuki 1250 Bandit after the first if the year. Life is good

                                    Will
                         

[martini]

Taking lessons in the spring - still haven't decided if this is a good or bad thing

[my78k]

Mine won't go near my bikes! Doesn't have any ineterest. Works out well as someone has to stay with the kids when I am riding...ofcourse I have to return the favour when she wants to go out but no big deal.

Dennis

[medic09]

Mine rides occasionally.  Has her own bike, a Shadow VLX 600.  I wish she rode more; so does she. 

It is a great advantage.  She appreciates that I want to take of my bikes, and it seems natural to here that I ride daily rather than drive a car.  The coolest thing, though, was when she got a friend of ours to help her rebuild her own front forks!     What's not to like?

We now have a little conflict because I want to move the left-over mahogany (after putting in a new floor) out of the garage to get two of the bikes back in there.  She thinks the wood is too expensive to pile up under a tarp on the back porch.  I think if she rode more, she'd be more inclined to agree with me. 

[bgfootball67]

Sounds like I am also a lucky man, my wife rides a HD Sportster also and still has her first bike I purchased her, 74 CB 360.  When we met 10 years ago I was going through my wild stage and rolling around on a heavily moded ZX-7R Ninja way too fast.  I told her I did not want to be responsible for her and if she wanted to ride with me it needed to be on her own bike. 

I taught her how to ride and even took the MSF Riders Safety course (highly recommend for all riders).  We have an understanding, I do not b*tch about the purses and the shoes and I can get the parts I need for my bikes!  It will be interesting to see what happens once our first kids arrives in 5 weeks! 

[S-Dog]

My wife is strictly a passenger... She LOVES to ride with me.  It was much more fun when I had my Goldwing... Its a little tougher on the CB..  She did tell me she wanted a moped though.   

[wilinfla]

My wife actually started riding about 4 years ago, I bought her a great little 1970 Honda CL100 to ride around the neighborhood and get used to riding. She took the MSF course and I found a 1985 Nighthawk CB700 for her. She rode that bike for a few years before she bought her Sportster. She really likes the SV650, the RD is still in the project stage right now, she took it for a spin before I started working on it and enjoyed the power though. I'm glad that she enjoys it, it makes for some nice motorcycle vacations!

                                                               Will

[seaweb11]

Yup she rides. Used it every day last summer to get to work.  Now if she could just pass the final  driving exam  

She failed again yesterday ......3rd time "in the rain yesterday".  She seems to do fine when I ride with her, but I'm not looking for shoulder checks and all the other stuf she has to do in the testf. I'm just interested in seeing she rides within her limits and do so safety.  She is getting quite frustrated.

[bwaller]

Mines a rider too. Coincidently her first bike was a 75 RD350 also.... in 1976. She still has her mint CB400F, but most recently I finished a CB550 that she has adopted. She's a good little rider.

[Ingrid]

Does boyfriends count as well. Me, girl, have been driving since I was 18 which is now 13 years ago. I met my boyfriend 4 years ago and told him to get his license because I did not want to double up with him on the back (me being 5.10'' him being about 6.8'').
He loves it now!!!

[oldfordguy]

My wife of 17 years is a rider/owner too.  When I met her, she had two characteristics I considered essential in a life-long partner:  A motorcycle (70 Yamaha R5350, and a license,) and her own rifle.  We still have the R5, but it needs rebuilt.  I have always ridden Honda's, so this year I picked up a 75 CB550 SOHC-4 to restore for her.  By the way, she is an excellent wrench in her own right, and can MIG weld with the best of them.

[Leino]

My wife rides a -82 Honda CB 400N and sometimes my CB 750 too.
Well, not in the past 3 years as it's been waiting for parts and inspiration...

[wilinfla]

I'm glad to see that so many other peoples "significant others" are involved in the sport as well. I was surprised at your reversal of it though Ingrid, that is really great that you got him involved. It's great to have the love of motorcycling in common.

                                                           Will

[Haggis]

Wifes been riding off and on since 1980(16),shes got a Moto Morini and Z900LTD.Got to keep to the low bikes as shes only 5 foot

[tramp]

she loves to ride on the back but will not ride alone

[kslrr]

We purchased our '04 Sportster Custom (in '04) originally for her.  She took a safety course and has her license.  She was afraid to practice while she was pregnant and had no time after Sarah was born.  Now she is afraid of the weight of the Harley and of hurting it.  So we got her an '81 CB650 custom.  Once I finish getting it back to normal (PO tried to turn it into a cafe'), she will learn to ride again.

edit: Like wilinfla, my enjoyment of motorcycles was hampered by my 1st wife.  Get a new wife and bike count goes from 1 to 5!

[CrisPDuk]

My wife has no interest in riding, either front or back, and to be honest we both like it that way
We have plenty of other interests in common, and we both have stuff we like to do on our own.

Like all the wives in my neighbourhood though, she can often be found helping out with the spannering and polishing, on the cars and the bikes.  Which is nice

[Dawdlin Dog]

My wife was a riding instructor for a while. She still has her Z440 LTD though hasn't actually ridden for a few years. She hates being pillion.

[Peterbylt]

My wife loves to ride on the back of my bike. I almost have to negotiate to take the Goldwing out without her on the back. A couple of years ago she decided she wanted a bike of her own and took the course and got the endorsment on her license. We got her a 79 CM400A which is acturally to tall for her (she's 5'2") and she never felt comfortable on it. Could not get both feet on the ground and as a result almost never rides it. I just picked up an 85 CMX250C honda Rebel and this bike fits her perfectly. We are in Process of cleaning and fixing a couple of rough spots. I am hopefull she will ride this one.

Peter

[Jonesy]

My wife loves her CB550. She wants to buy a new Triumph Bonneville as a grad school graduation present. (This means I get to buy another bike as she will then have three and I will have 2. Gotta keep things equal, you know! )

[my78k]

Those little Rebels really are great little bikes! My buddy's wife had one and before I got my license and my own scoot I used to borrow it from her up at the cottage for tooling around some of the backroads up there. Helps that I am no giant (5'9") and I wouldn't want to do any long distance touring on it but it was still a fun little ride (kinda underpowered compared to my CBR now though...)

Dennis

[Fuzzball]

My wife is learning--the hard way.
She put about 150 miles this season on her Rebel, before sliding out around a corner---gentlemen, (and ladies) may you never see THAT happen in your rearview mirror as I did-----. She broke her ankle pretty thoroughly but thanks to a full compliment of helmet, leather pants, armored jacket and 8 inch lace up boots, it could have been much worse.

Fully mended now, she is undaunted and looking forward to next season. The bike needs just a bit of tidying up over the winter. She's taking the MSF course next spring and I'm going through it with her (never too late to teach this old dog something as well).

Problem is she's not sure how it happened. Not going too fast. Maybe hit the back brake, maybe something on the road. I think just plain lack of experience.

We took a couple trips on the Goldwing while she was in the cast. Crutches strapped on the trunk. Quite a sight!