The Best Motorcycle Tips for Older Riders

Summary:

• Older riders should choose bike accessories that reduce physical fatigue—like gel inserts for seats, heated grips, and beach bars for better comfort and posture.
• Slow-speed maneuvering, stretching before rides, and checking your vision and hearing regularly can make you more comfortable and prepare you to deal with hazards.
• Try giving yourself more reaction time by increasing your following distance and controlling your speed in traffic to stay safe.
• Invest in high-quality protective gear, like boots with reinforced ankles, riding pants with armor, and airbag jackets to minimize injury risk.
• Understand how medications affect your alertness and coordination—and avoid riding if you’re unsure of their side effects.

At Luimoto, we believe motorcycling is a pursuit you can enjoy at practically any age. As long as you feel comfortable and safe in the saddle, you’re never too old to enjoy life on two wheels. In fact, age often brings the kind of experience that makes you a better rider—and the kind of wisdom that helps you truly get the most out of the sport.

But it’s also true that as your body ages, your comfort and safety needs change. Spending long hours in the saddle can be more fatiguing, and injuries may take longer to heal if you find yourself in an accident.

That’s why it’s critical to make sure your bike, your gear, and your riding style all evolve alongside you as you get older. Here at Luimoto, we’ve put together a list of recommendations that will help—including suggested techniques and motorcycle seat upgrades.

The Best Motorcycle Accessories for Older Riders

If you want to keep riding well into your retirement years, one of the first things you should do is upgrade your bike. Specifically, you’ll want to pay attention to any parts of the vehicle that can cause physical fatigue or discomfort while you operate them. Focus on these areas:

Upgrade Your Motorcycle Seat

Your seat is the part of the bike you have the most contact with while riding (we’re guessing you don’t spend too much time standing up on the pegs anymore if you’re reading this article). So it’s vital to make sure sitting in the saddle doesn’t cause aches and pains.

You’ve got a few options here—you can:

Use a Gel Insert

High-quality gel inserts give you more comfort and support while you ride. Luimoto’s Gold Gel inserts are designed to absorb shocks from the road and extend your maximum riding time by reducing fatigue.

There’s also our Gold Gel R for riders who want most of the same benefits from a pad that’s easier to install.

Learn more here: The Easiest Way to Improve Motorcycle Seat Comfort: Luimoto's Gold Gel R

Buy a Seat Cushion

This is a pretty inexpensive option, but you’ll get what you pay for in most cases. Cushions might feel a bit softer at first, but the cheaper ones will wear out quickly and may not provide much in the way of lumbar support.

Learn more here: Buying a Motorcycle Seat Cushion vs. Using a Gel Pad

Buy a Brand New Seat

Aftermarket manufacturers like Corbin and Mustang produce excellent seats for many different makes and models—but be advised that these often cost thousands of dollars and can change the ergonomics of your bike (for better or for worse).

Instead, you might want to consider pairing a new motorcycle seat cover with a gel insert. This can provide you with many of the same benefits you’d get from a new seat, at a fraction of the cost.

Learn More: Should You Buy a Custom Motorcycle Seat or a New Seat Cover?

Upgrade Your Grips & Bars

When you upgrade your seat, your spine and pelvis will thank you. But as an older rider, you’ll also want to reduce fatigue in your hands and arms if you want to keep enjoying long rides.

Here are a couple of accessories you might consider:

Heated Grips

Cold weather can make your hands stiff—which can be dangerous as well as painful when you’re out for a ride. Swapping out your stock grips for heated ones is a popular way to make sure the blood keeps flowing to your fingertips from the moment you start the engine to the moment you hit the killswitch.

Beach Bars

Ape hangers might look great on your Harley, but they also demand that you keep your arms raised up and spread out the entire time you’re riding. This can put unnecessary strain on your arms and shoulders—as well as your back, since it encourages many riders to collapse their chest and round their lower spine.

If you’re on a cruiser or a bagger, you might consider going with beach bars instead. These lower, swept-back bars are designed to let you enjoy a more upright posture—and they still look great on most classic motorcycles.

Adjust Your Suspension

Adjusting your suspension can be tricky, but it can also make each ride a lot smoother. Just be advised that softer suspension can also make your motorcycle feel less responsive.

Most motorcyclists ride more gently as they get older, so this probably won’t impact your experience much. But if you still enjoy more spirited riding, it might be better to upgrade your seat (see above) instead of tweaking the suspension—that way, you can still be more comfortable without running the risk of making your handling seem sluggish.

Recommended Gear for Older Riders

Upgrading your bike isn’t the only thing you’ll want to do as you grow older—you may want to invest in some different riding gear as well.

Don’t Skimp on Protection

At Luimoto, we subscribe to the ATGATT (All The Gear, All The Time) philosophy. But we also know that a lot of younger riders are prone to choosing style over safety when it comes to the gear they wear—or don’t wear, in some cases.

We’ve all seen these riders—whether they’re rocking leather vests with no sleeves on their Harley baggers or whipping their liter bikes down the highway wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

We don’t recommend riding SQUID at any stage of your life, but leaving yourself vulnerable becomes even more dangerous as you get older. That’s because torn skin and broken bones take far longer to heal when you’re past a certain age, meaning that a scrape you would have bounced back from reasonably fast in your 20s could put you out of commission for months (or even forever) in your 60s and beyond.

Riding Gear Essentials for Older Motorcyclists

Here’s what we recommend to help older riders avoid and minimize injury in case of an accident:

• Boots with reinforced ankles
• Riding pants with knee and hip armor
• An airbag jacket (or airbag vest with an abrasion-resistant jacket underneath)
• A riding jacket with back, elbow, and shoulder armor (if you aren’t wearing an airbag)
• A full-face helmet with a pinlock and drop-down sun visor to protect your eyes from glare

You can find most or all of these things online through retailers like RevZilla and J&P Cycles—or at your local gear shop.

Changing Up Your Riding Style

Adjusting to riding as an older motorcyclist isn’t just about changing your bike accessories and personal kit. It’s about the way you approach the act of riding as well. Here are some suggestions:

Stretch Before Each Ride

As you age, flexibility and range of motion can decrease, making it harder to react quickly or maintain comfort during long rides. To stay limber, take a few minutes before each ride to stretch the following areas:

• Legs
• Arms
• Back
• Neck

These are the areas where most riders feel fatigued—so spending a few minutes on each of them is a great way to improve your overall comfort and help prevent muscle cramps while you're on the road.

Practice Slow-Speed Maneuvers

Riding at low speeds can be tricky, even for experienced riders. But as you get older, balance becomes even more crucial for maintaining control over your bike.

Practice parking lot drills and slow-speed turns to keep your skills sharp. This will not only help you feel more confident in tighter spaces but can also prevent accidents when navigating traffic or making U-turns.

Check Your Eyes & Ears

Good vision and hearing are essential for safe riding. As you age, regular eye and ear checkups become even more important to make sure you can spot hazards and hear oncoming traffic.

You’ll also want to make sure your helmet visor is always clear and able to protect you from glare. As we noted earlier, pinlocks and sun visors are great for riders of any age—but essential for older ones.

Give Yourself More Reaction Time

Reflexes can slow down as you get older, so give yourself extra time and space to react to potential hazards. The two best ways to do this are:

• Increase your following distance
• Control your speed (especially in busy or unpredictable traffic)

Some of you might think these precautions will be a buzzkill—but remember, they’re a lot better than hitting the pavement. Planning ahead and staying aware of your surroundings will help keep you safer on the road.

Monitor Your Medications

Certain medications can affect your alertness, coordination, or reaction times. If you’re taking anything regularly, be sure to ask your doctor how it might impact your ability to ride.

It’s also a good idea to avoid riding if you’re unsure of how a new medication might affect you—or if you’re feeling drowsy or unfocused. Make sure you’re familiar and comfortable with your medications before operating heavy machinery of any kind.

Cruise Into the Next Chapter of Your Life with Confidence

Following the tips above might seem like a lot of work at first—but most of the adjustments we’ve suggested are simple, and they can all make a considerable difference.

Adjusting the way you ride can improve your safety on the road, and investing in a few specific pieces of equipment will help you continue to enjoy the sport just as much as you ever have. Get started by exploring Luimoto’s range of rider seat covers and go from there.