Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet When you stop riding....

That time is now for me......coming up on 76 years old and nearly four years of nasty cancer treatments I no longer feel comfortable on a bike....I can't stand to see my bikes just sit there unused so they will be sold...
But....I can still drive ok so it's back to hot rod cars.......

Sorry to hear it, dude. No getting around getting older (but it sure beats NOT getting older).

Yes.......I'm just an old skinny guy now....funny how it just creeps up on you, lol

Nice picture! And I know the feeling. Good Luck with the Hot Rods!

I used to have a world of fun when I were just a young lad and couldn't afford anything else on a 60cc Bridgestone and a 90cc HT1 Yamaha, mostly off road and light as feathers.... Maybe a good way to complement the car?

Lannis

I've always acted as if I'm 100% invincible and felt like I'm going to live forever, but after Jeff Beck & David Crosby died within days of one another, for the first time in my entire life I faced up to my own mortality. It wasn't pretty.
Guess we all gotta make our own peace with it.

Best luck on your continued journey, Tony!

im sorry to hear that, bud. im on my own way myself.

i tried to stretch my hips out two weeks ago and ive been limping from maybe serious damage for a week.

good to see you sticki g with the hot rods.

no model As at loring. only one T that i have ever seen, that one time.

Tony-- sorry to hear of your decision--- but it comes to us all sooner or later.
I am 77 but luckily still in good health (touch wood).
I know that there will come a time when I cant ride any more but if I am honest I am in denial about that.
I have told my wife that I need to live to be 140 to get all the bikes done in my restoration pipeline!

Best of luck for the future, my friend, and may you enjoy to the maximum what life has still to offer you.

Thanks.......the docs have been exceptional but there's nothing more they can do...Palliative care keeps me reasonably free of anxiety and pain...I have a clarity of vision never before experienced...I am at peace....

Love the A10. My first BSA in 76.

Isn't that what side cars are for ?
Sorry to hear about the Cancer, hope it is gone for good

Side cars and trikes are not for me.......once esophagus Adenocarcinoma spreads it's incurable and considered terminal.5 year survuval is about the worst of all cancers....I had no real risk factors for the disease and no symtoms till it was pushing stage four...I am still alive do to the dedication of medical staff of the University of Rochester NY Wilmot cancer center..I am alive from an inner strength I never knew about.Brutal surgery, radiation,trial chemo that strips chrome plating..Lost my hair twice and it grew back, lost muscle mass, relentless fatigue,and so on.I made every decision on treatments...But I still have an imune system trying to hold back the ever spreading cancer...My wife has had my back through all of this....My life was good and I will ride it out to the end...

Tony, God bless you. You have a lot of strength coming from somewhere. I will be 71 soon and have cut back alot on riding. Not that I ever rode a lot to begin with. I have 4 bikes - The Interceptor is in good nick, 69 Triumph needs an oil leak fixed, Project 39-1/2 is nearing completion, and there's a 59 Indian Chief that needs a lot of TLC. Hope I can get them all finished.
Al

Your head is in the right place in my opinion, Tony. This ride will end for all of us. Best we can do is enjoy every inch of it while we can and try to give some part of ourselves to others.
Oh, BTW- it was a struggle but found all the parts for that gearbox we talked about. Will know how it works in about 3 weeks

Hey Tony, Sorry to hear that you will no longer be in the saddle but glad to hear that you are looking forward to some good four wheel activity! your successful efforts at the track certainly helped to motivate me and Mike to squeeze a bit more out of my junk. Respect man! I am hoping to take another shot this year. Your story is a reinforcement of 'better do it while you can man'. Keep us posted, PRT

Thanks guys....Tom, I always joke about the A65 "watermelons" but you have gotten very impressive speeds and the balls to do both forced induction and the bottle..Excellent....I no longer have any contact with my rider ..I built the bikes 100% and he paid the costs but never for labor...It worked out well..I prepped both machines for a run at El Mirage last year and haven't seen the bikes or him since...On the dyno the double engine bike was 95 rwhp and flattened out completely after 6000 rpm....It was geared for 165 at 7400 rpm, needing more like 115 rwhp at that rpm...Cutting the pipes much shorter, and dealing with random carb flooding helped a lot..But I do believe it needs the intake cam centerline retarted a bit more...
Health...Got a CT and PET scan two days ago..I have meeting with the oncologist in a few days for a detailed discussion ...I have seen the radiologist's scan reports and opinions.. there is progression of the disease of little nodules of a few cm scattered around more than the last scan in November...None appear attached to major organs...No one can really predict how fast or much they will spread in the near future,but they will....The docs and nurses are impressed at my ability to get around this late in the game......
I know there are others here with life threating diseases....Good luck to you all!

Tony has been my riding and wrenching buddy for years. I met him here in Britbike several tears ago. Proud to say I know him. He's still helping me on my Ariel and Triumph projects. We spend afternoons solving the world's problems, pontificating on all. I expect he'll be on one of my small dirtbikes come spring.

Stoic, irreverent, cantankerous curmudgeon

Tony helped me with logistics and stuff over these years in all this net of old iron lovers (I live in other Country); even my Parents were in his previous house many years ago.
I never understood such thing as "to ride" due to actually seems that I do not ride but commute or use these old irons as transportation so feeling what he says about to quit I started to think about it. Cars are very expensive to maintain here (the taxes) and cars that I like use too much gasoline (super expensive here) and pay too much (for daily commute) with the road tolls plus that I like old iron so naturally I decanted for bikes but yes; at some point many of us have not enough good health to carry on.
But Tony you always liked wrenching so you will be fine with the space you have for all those cars.

Just because you feel you can no longer ride them, there's no reason you can't enjoy restoring them and working on them.

Tony's got building work lined up[ at my house- fair amount of tuning and fabricating. My favorite quote after I expect misgivings- "it'll work...or it won't, whatever!"

So Tony, only some of what we talk about here is motorcycles, a bigger part of it is about the motorcyclists, it all comes down to people, and we all care about each other. Stay on the board, keep posting about you and your projects. One of the most interesting posts of yours to me was the Flathead lakester you built, and hey, that’s a car! Don’t be a stranger.

Yeah, me and Pete Suchawreck were in his truck to grab a car haul trailer and then a ride tomorrow to pick up my project truck.....Conversation was on my A10 for sale.......It's no longer for sale.....

Tony,

I've really appreciated what you provided into this community. I've been on here nearly 15 years now. I'm pleased to hear your positive state of mind. Like others have said stick around and tell us what's going on. You are an inspiration to me and I suspect us all and this is just one big family after all. Cars or bikes, doesn't matter as long as you are thinking about what is going and challenging yourself even just a little bit. I'm 65 and looking to cram as much as possible in the way of riding and wrenching into the next 10 years.

Best wishes
Ray

There's only ONE way to go: FORWARD, EVER FORWARD.

GOD will make the decision when it's our time to leave this life.
Until then, it's our responsibility to live as full a life as we can.

I'll say Amen to that