Born again bikers

OVER-50s bikers don't so much have an image problem as a need to remain adventurous, even if it means taking the odd tumble.

Many have ridden without a break since they were in their teens; others return to the joys of the open road after a long absence.

The idea of two-wheeling at speed on today's congested highways is to some just heart-stopping lunacy.

But for the older and initiated, it is a source of prolonged pleasure, a link with their youth and an opportunity for comradeship and camaraderie among all ages.

Because biking doesn't require much physical strength, over-50s motorcyclists are able to apply accumulated road-sense while responding to the excitement of rapid acceleration.

But it's as well to make sure someone else considers them fit to kick-start again.

Nor should they think of buying an all-action Ducatti if they last rode in the 1960s on a scooter.

As for that image problem... well, in leathers they might look intimidating, but once their helmets are off they could present Blue Peter.

FOR a woman who has ridden abroad on the back of a gleaming Harley-Davidson, 61-year-old Jan Paine's only claim to being an accident statistic was when she fell off a pushbike.

She and her 60-year-old husband Ken, (main picture), from Croesyceiliog, had zoomed to the south of France and hired bicycles for a spin among the sunflowers.

While enjoying the scenery, she ran into a ditch, broke an ankle and had to be airlifted back to Britain with her leg in plaster.

Teacher Jan, a committed pillion when motorcycling, probably lost her balance, which has a bearing on her lack of ambition to ride a motorcycle herself.

"Perhaps it's a reservation about balance and co-ordination," she said. "I used to cycle a lot but my co-ordination isn't very good.

"I have always ridden pillion and at first I was very nervous because I'd had no experience of motorcycling. The first time was on a camping trip, when I could actually see the countryside I was travelling through.

"There's nothing you can do at the back except put all your faith in the driver, though Ken probably felt my knees digging into him a few times."

Mortgage broker Ken had ridden a motorbike while a youngster but later in life opted for cycling with like-minded friends. In his 50s, that got physically more demanding so, after a long absence, he reverted to biking, in the early days on a BMW then Harley-Davidsons with his former cycling friends.

Although he has the advantage of superior roadcraft as a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, he doesn't underplay the excitement of biking.

"I do like opening up the throttle," he said. "Any bad image of motorcycling usually comes from motorists who see riders taking three lanes to pass one car driver. We'll also overtake car by car, which other road-users think is idiotic. But we have looked ahead for about 300 metres. Acceleration isn't dangerous, it's planned."

The Paines haven't encountered hostility. When attending rallies, all the bikers, even the 'hard-looking' ones, are more interested in their machine, a magnificent Harley Ultra 1340. And once pubs and cafes see that they are older, prejudice evaporates.

"You do see a younger element," Ken said. "Some are wild boys without experience; we older ones are wild with experience!"

Jan is all for the image of motorcycling as an illustration of eternal youth.

"When I go on a bike I feel younger," she said. "And people you mix with are young in their ways, just like us."

KEITH Seagrim admits that his 51-year-old motorcycling wife Gail is a tad wild, a view that probably accounts for the fact that she rides a pink Sachs 650.

But it also sums up her outlook on life.

"I have so many plans for when we retire," she said. "You never know what's around the corner. I'd like to just take off and go round the world on our bikes. Keith's got his feet more on the ground, whereas I'm a bit more impulsive."

The Seagrims, ( left), from Rogerstone, are taking part in the 2006 Enduro India charity motorcycing marathon, a result of their exuberant attitude to biking.

Gail, a police scenes-of-crime manager, returned to the saddle a few years ago after a long break to bring up a family.

She took her test on a small machine - she also owns a Yamaha 250 - before buying the sporty Sachs. Keith, a 47-year-old policeman, rides a BMW 1150.

Perhaps because of their jobs, they have a more responsible attitude to biking but without shedding any of the thrills.

"Many will take direct access courses where they can learn to ride on a big machine, pass a test then buy any bike on the market and go out with only a week's experience," Gail said.

"The best way is to take the standard test on a little bike and work your way up."

Working her way up to the Sachs, however, didn't help avoid a nasty accident at a Newport road junction for which she was blameless and at which Keith was the attending officer. She was off work for six months and out of the saddle for a year.

"At the hospital, the first thing people said was that I wouldn't be doing that again. I suppose an experience like that should put you off. But it just made me more determined

"Other motorists are the biggest problem, not so much because they don't care, more because they are not so aware. On a bike you have to concentrate 100 per cent."

In their leathers, Keith and Gail have encountered anti-biker prejudice, on one occasion being asked at a restaurant to pay before they'd been served their meals. But it is a rare event.

"As a born-again biker with Keith, there's so much I want to do," Gail said. "On holiday abroad, people are happy to sit in the sun. I couldn't imagine anything worse."