How old are you guys?

36, bought the gs when i was 34. I always rode sport bikes because I was from a city and that was all I saw. Then, I was stationed in Alaska and a buddy of mine rode a gs. I followed him on a burgman 400 for a trip and was hooked! Bought the bike a month later.

55 today.

Been on a 2010 F650GS for 3 years and a KTM 350 XCF-W for 3 months. Bought the KTM after I got my kids some Kawasaki dirt bikes to learn to ride. The F650GS just isn't the right tool at the MX track.

Had a couple dirt bikes back in college, a Yamaha and a Bultaco. Then took a short 32-year hiatus to do other stuff, mostly bicycle racing and skiing. Oh, and "life"...that took up some time too.

The attraction to the ADV world for me was all about the travel. Absolutely love being able to go just about anywhere and having everything I need with me. Just so many gorgeous places in the Rockies to set up camp and take it all in.

As I was waiting for the coffee to kick in this morning, I did a quick count through the thread to date. I concur with lookaught's earlier comment: I think the age of the respondents here skews towards the younger side. Below is the approximate distribution to date. Empirically, I'd say the actual demographic is considerably more heavily weighted towards the 50's and 60's.

But as most folks in those two groups will tell you, there is this bizarre phenomenon: the birthdays keep adding up, yet you yourself kind of feel like a perpetual 39. The "Jack Benny syndrome", I guess. The only difference between 35 and 55 is that left knee, the right shoulder, both eyes, the inability to sleep well, etc, etc. Other than that, NO DIFFERENCE.

Respondent Distribution
< 20: 01
20-29: 23
30-39: 26
40-49: 24
50-59: 16
60-69: 15
70-79: 07

Well, happy birthday!

......and I'm 51 rough years old now and can't believe all the dam aches and pains I have. I had to chime in here though and say that I wasted a lot of time after I discovered street bikes on the street. Had a buddy at work that got me to buy his old Virago when he found and bought a '84 Goldwing standard. Then ran across an '82 Wing for cheap and started doing the Goldwing Rally's. We were the young and wild guys there, never participated in all of it other than being there, even got 'talked to' a couple times cause our bikes were spotted in front of the local liquor store during the rally.

Him and I really missed the boat back then, we both liked camping and hiking and did that some, but if we had known about KLR's back then we would have gone lots more cool places and had tons more fun.

Not sure why I didn't think of it, especially having grown up riding dirt bikes, guess I thought I had to ride interstate to go anywhere, now I know better, it just takes a bit more time, but the stuff/people you see/meet on the US Hwy's in this country make me stay off the interstate as much as possible.

Sure wish I was 33 again and knew what I know now.

Enjoy it guys, and just remember the more you crash, the more you will hurt when you hit my age....

"not looking forward to my 60's!"
........... but I'll take it instead of the alternative....

55, just got a 2012 F650GS twin a week ago. Most of my riding experience is off road (when I was much younger) but I look forward to many miles on the GS.

68

31 Im starting to have to pause to think about it now.

52

I think the majority of my age group are into the crotchety bikes.

It's funny you say that - I was 33 when I upgraded to a proper bike and went for a Honda Hornet because it was inexpensive, light and fun and looked good. Basically it was an unfaired CBR600 with an upright seating position and wide handlebars. It was great around the city but horrible for more than 20 minutes on the motorway (noise, wind blast etc). I had never even noticed the dual sport class.

At the end of 2011 I was having a look on BMW's website and fell in love with the F800GS - I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it before... long story short now I have an 2012 F800GS and a 2014 R1200GS in the garage... had I done a bit more looking around I would have got a dual sport first time around.

I think much of the reason so many younger people don't get into dual sports is because they are not really advertised to this market, which is a bit of a shame, they are such great bikes all round.

39 here

Too Freakin old is what I am!!

I was a dirt bike kid when I was 5 until about 15 or 16. I didnt ride again until I went to pick up my new F650GS at the dealer when I was 39. Everyone at work kept riding in motorcycles on those pretty summer days and I couldn't take it. I will have a bike from here on. I hate that I missed all those years, but I am trying to make up for it.

I'm 59.


Steve
09 F650GS

65 and counting......... slowly

Roderick
09 F800GS

47 here!

I'm in the same boat as the OP, most of my riding buddies are hovering around 60. I don't mind most of the time, call me crazy but it's easier to relate to older guys. Although while on a camping trip it would be nice to get rip-roaring drunk with someone else but most people around 60 are past that phase.

I tend to soak up most of what they have to say though, the reason being they must be doing something right to have ridden 40 years and still be doing it.

Most people my age just want to go really fast in a straight line or are into cars.

25, bought my first bike this year. F650 GS. And yeah, it's weird to me that none of my friends ride adventure bikes. Especially given the craze for all things 'extreme' - skiing and snowboarding especially - where backcountry is what all the kids do.

I am 34, but started to ride adv bikes at 27.

I also felt the same way, all people that were riding with me were older than me. Perhaps, most of the people are busy with the families at this age. After thirties, we start to look for a new excitements or coming back to the old fantasies, Now, I see younger guys than me.

51 and got back into riding a couple years ago after the blessed empty nest event occurred. First bike to get back into the swing of things was a TW200. Picked up a Bonneville and a F650GS along the way. GS gets the nod most mornings and picks up the most miles through the year.