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~Road Scholars~
[OZ] Born-again to be wild
Sat Aug 14, 2004 2:24pm
209.86.135.54
Born-again to be wild
By SIMON BEVILACQUA
August 15, 2004
TINY Betty Parssey is dwarfed by her beefy BMW motorcycle.
The 59-year-old Tasmanian biker weighs a meagre 48kg while her
monster motorbike is 178kg.
But size does not worry the Hobart woman. Mrs Parssey also has a
heavy rig truck licence.
"I like adventure and a challenge," she said.
Mrs Parssey is among thousands of Tasmanian baby-boomers taking
up riding motorcycles in their middle age. There are more than
30,000 motorcyclists in Tasmania and almost a third of them are
aged 38 to 47.
Many of those rode bikes in their 20s but work, family and
financial demands saw them turn their back on their freewheeling
days. Now in their 40s and 50s, the children have grown up, and
they have disposable income.
A decade or two of selfless and conservative family life is
traded for the thrill of the open road and a rev-machine between
the legs.
These ageing bikers are known as "Bambis" -- Born-Again
Middle-aged Bikers.
Mrs Parssey is a self-confessed Bambi.
A member of the Ulysses Motorcycle Club, she started riding five
years ago.
"It's a really common thing with born-again bikers, they
settle down, have a family and then come back in their 40s or
50s," Mrs Parssey said.
The Ulysses Club has 20,000 members in Australia, 300 in
Tasmania.
Its membership is aged 50-plus, with provisional membership given
to 40-year-olds.
The club was named after the Tennyson poem Ulysses in which the
old king dreams of going adventuring again.
Its motto is grow old disgracefully.
"The people are fantastic," Mrs Parssey said.
"There are more and more lady riders."
She said many Ulysses members rode BMWs: "Often they start
with an older bike but then they come around to a big BMW
cruiser, sometimes we wonder whether we ought to call ourselves
the BMW club."
In some circles a BMW bike is the latest accessory, a fashion
statement as much as a road machine.
Motorcycles are definitely in fashion.
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries statistics show new
motorcycle registrations were up 9.2 per cent in 2003 compared
with 2002. And new bike registrations have more than doubled in
10 years.
There are more motorcyclists on the road now than in the biker
days of the 1970s.
Journalist Lindsay Tuffin is a different kind of Bambi. He is not
in a club and his bikes are far from fashionable.
Mr Tuffin is more in the mould of the late actor Marlon Brando.
Brando was anti-establishment in his T-shirt, jeans and leather
jacket.
Brando made the bikie gang member cool worldwide with his
portrayal of a leather-clad gang leader in the 1950s film, The
Wild One.
Mr Tuffin, 52, rides a 1972 Honda 750 and a 1981 GPZ 1100
Kawasaki -- and neither has been cleaned in years.
The Honda is exactly the same as the one he rode home to his
parents in northern Tasmania in the 1970s.
"I came home with a new Honda 750 and I went inside to get
my mother to show her and when we went back outside Dad was to be
seen riding off on it," Mr Tuffin said. "He hadn't been
on a bike in 30 years."
The thrill of the ride saw the late Mr Tuffin senior take up
riding aged 65.
"I guess that's where I get it from," Mr Tuffin said.
Mr Tuffin did not ride between the ages of 30 and 50.
"I kept the itch under control for 20 years while I tried to
exercise responsibility to my family but it burst out in a rash
near 50 and I just couldn't resist," Mr Tuffin said.
Mr Tuffin's 24-year-old son has now taken up the habit.
"To my horror and terror," Mr Tuffin said.
A British research organisation, Demos, recently released a
report entitled Eternal Youths.
The report investigated the growth of a new baby boomer culture.
It found that people aged 40 to 59 thought old age began at 80.
"A generation which once hoped to die before it got old, has
it seems settled for postponing the inevitable by regressing to
its youth," the report says.
The report found the average age of a Harley-Davidson owner has
increased by eight years in the past decade. In Australia, the
average age of a Harley owner was 43.
The report said a common theme in the Bambi Harley buyers was
that most baby-boomers could not afford a Harley in their youth.
Many were too busy studying at university in a haze of dope
smoke, living fast and being idealistic, it said.
Others were preoccupied with the sudden arrival of a young
family.
Fifty-two-year-old Phillip Ritchie has always had a little 250
motorcycle tucked away for moments of pleasure. But when he
turned 50 the little 250 was replaced by a sizzling 1000cc Honda
VTR Firestorm.
"Riding is a great feeling of freedom, it's much more of a
thrill than driving a car," Mr Ritchie said. "It's like
swimming nude."
The Sunday Tasmanian