Baby Boomers riding through retirement on motorycles

By: Tamara Gignac / Calgary Herald

For aging Easy Riders, the open road looks much better on two wheels.

Alberta is seeing a surge in motorcycle ownership among baby boomers who share little in common with the stereotypical rebellious biker.

Forget RVs: statistics suggest many of the 50-plus crowd would rather strap on a helmet than take to the highway in a hulking Winnebago.

“They are buying motorcycles because they’ve worked their butts of their entire lives raising a family. Now the kids are gone and they have the disposable income to go have some fun,” said Mick Cawthorn, owner of Kane’s Harley-Davidson.

Indeed, the proportion of motorcycle-class licenses held by people aged 55 and over in the province has soared in the last decade, nearly tripling from 36,000 in 2004 to more than 92,000 in 2013, according to figures from Service Alberta.

The average age of a Harley buyer not as young as it use to be. Cawthorn said Baby boomers are looking for thrills — but also practicality.

“People could buy a boat or a trailer instead, but you’ve got to find a place to store it. That gets real expensive. So motorcycling — whether it be a Harley or not — is a more convenient way to have recreational fun.”

Okotoks resident Bob Duncan was 58 years old when he felt the urge to embrace his inner road warrior. In 2008, he bought a traditional “cruiser” — a classic, easy-riding bike — but recently swapped it for a Yamaha touring bike better suited for long, leisurely drives to Las Vegas, Montana and South Dakota.

“You can ride it all day and your bum doesn’t get sore,” he laughs.

Duncan belongs to the Foothills chapter of Retreads Motorcycle Club International, a group of bike hobbyists aged 50 and over from Calgary, Okotoks and the surrounding area that meet regularly and even travel together.

Most share a few things in common: an empty nest, disposable income and a desire for adventure.

“I’ve travelled Highway 3 probably a hundred times in the car. The first time I did it on the bike, I felt the road for the first time. It was a totally different experience,” Duncan recalled.

“You get complacent driving in a car; it’s like a cage. But on a bike, you feel alive.”

Greying riders turned out in droves to the Calgary Motorcycle Show this past weekend to check out the latest equipment. It’s an annual event that attracts older bikers as well as younger males and — increasingly — women.

But manufacturers are aware that the aging — and affluent — boomer generation can be relied upon to indulge themselves in new cruisers, touring bikes and modern gear.

“They would be the most consistent purchasing group, considering the challenges we’ve had with the economy in the last few years,” said Tim Chandler, Kawasaki’s assistant marketing manager in Canada.

“Younger riders may have fallen off as far as numbers but the boomer group is able to invest in the rider experience.”

Proper driver training is critical for anyone without experience driving motorized two-wheelers: According to a 2013 study published in the journal Injury Protection, older riders are three times as likely to be injured from a motorcycle compared to younger bikers.

Cawthorn considers it a refreshing sign of the times to see older Calgarians leave their comfort zones and embrace a new hobby. There’s nothing wrong with embracing a little bit of rebellion, he said. “For some people, they’ve never done anything remotely dangerous or rebel-like in their entire lives,” Cawthorn said.

“They are scared of change. So now they get to live on the edge.”

Now that Duncan has belatedly discovered his love of motorcycles, he never plans to give up his affection for chrome. When his legs give out, he’ll ride three-wheels instead, he says.

“There’s an element of danger to it, which I like,” he said. “And it’s much better than sitting on the front porch whittling a piece of wood.”