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A very good reason to ride a sport type motorcycle
not-fishing:
My father suffered for nearly 20 years from Spinal Stenosis. The doctors told him it was from arthritis of the spine from his x-rays. He would get the usual leg pains then shooting pains across his chest as the "choking" moved up his spine. Even though he was a gifted athlete when he was young his lifestyle of stress, smoking, drinking and lack of exercise did a lot of damage. He had to stop working due to the disability at age 55 or so. He died more than a decade earlier than his father and grandfather. His treatment was a couple of decades of drugs and only when he saw God up close and personal did he start walking two hours a day. This gave him 10 more years of difficult but acceptable life.
My brother has it and I know that I have it.
I attribute my ability to function at age 60 from 45 years of riding a bicycles with drop bars including week long tours, mountain passes, some commuting and mountain bike racing. A decade of racing single sculls in my 30's also helped.
This last decade of only work activity and 30+ years of not having a motorcycle, another story, I decided it was time to get back into motorcycles and took the Motorcycle Safety Riding Course. It was amazing how much better my back felt after riding a motorcycle. Six months ago I bought my Griso and it has helped my back immensely.
I agree with your "sporting position" helping those of us with back problems along. I actually find the "sport" position to be very upright compared to my old Cafe bike with clip-ons. The drop bars of a road racing bicycle are lower and a track bicycle is much lower still. The Griso is more like a Downhill or jumping Mountain bike.
More older people should ride motorcycles as physical therapy, it would really help them. Unfortunately here in California I see a preponderance of "ape hangers".
segesta:
I see the original poster's point: on a sport bike, bumps are absorbed by the rider's legs, whereas on a cruiser those bumps travel right up the spine. On the other hand--no pun intended--a sport bike puts my weight on my forearms and wrists that I find uncomfortable and numbing, even when I was younger.
redrider:
If memory serves, I think Cycle magazine from the 70's reported on this. Your spine is best when slightly curved as in a forward lean. Try not to stiff arm and use your lower back muscles for support. Cruisers have always been uncomfortable for me.
Last August I had severe lower back spasms related to crash damage in January. Two days in agony and another month of therapy with no ability to ride. An Inversion Table and exercise have me good as new. Also try some Calcium/Magnesium supplements with Valerian Root. Valerian really is the Bee's Knees for relaxation.
not-fishing:
--- Quote from: segesta on January 04, 2015, 10:21:46 AM ---a sport bike puts my weight on my forearms and wrists that I find uncomfortable and numbing, even when I was younger.
--- End quote ---
Hands going numb is a common problem of road bicycle riders, it usually comes from them not changing hand positions enough while riding and from not having enough tricep strength to support part of their weight with their arms bent.
I also have the numb hand problem with my Griso but have found opening up my grip, having the inside of my knuckles and the open palm on the throttle along with a cramp buster paddle to really help. I had the same problem with mountain bicycle handlebars.
My problem is without "spinning my legs" like on a bicycle I have to get off and walk a bit every 90 minutes or so.
actwin:
I have had back problems since I was 15 with it getting worse as the years go by. I switched from Harleys with the upright position, to sport bikes in 1998 due to the pain limiting my miles per day plus the Ducati's I owned were WAY more fun. I still couldn't do the 400-500 miles a day I did when I was younger but again WAY more fun. Then I got my B1100 and started doing 350 mile days on it plus it was WAY more fun than the Harleys... perfect. Last year the pain got worse when riding and I put on fewer miles total for the year with only a couple days over 200 miles. I have 3 conditions with my back, 2 vertebrate out of alignment, bulging disc's and narrow passages for the nerves to pass thru. I had made up my mind to get surgery than I considered going back to an upright riding position after my pain management doc told me leaning forward will worsen the pain. So I got to doing research on cheaper touring bikes that had comfort as their biggest asset. After sitting on a few bikes the 2 bikes that seemed to fit me were the California 1400 and the Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad 1700. I wanted to keep the Breva and Griso Tenni so I had to go with a 2010 Nomad do to the difference in cost between it and the Cali. The Nomad I have only has 4500 miles on it with a backrest, luggage rack and front spotlights. It's wired for a gps and brake light flasher too. I paid $8700 out the door for it and it was local. So far it has been much better on my hips and knees and to a lesser degree my lower back but I plan on trying longer trips this year, maybe a 400 mile day. The moral of the story is everybody's body is different and will respond to different remedy's , this may not work for me in the long run and I could still need surgery to ride farther. Only time will tell. One thing is ,the Nomad is slow, drags to easy and has too much chrome compared to the Guzzi's but it may have the best seat I ever used and the rear suspension is plush.
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