I came across this in doing research on biker films. old news, but still unexpected.
April 8, 2001 Sunday FINAL EDITION
Baby boomers becoming broken bikers: Study shows middle-aged 'easy riders' are dying at twice the rate of teen bikers
BYLINE: John Harlow
SOURCE: The Sunday Times
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A6
LENGTH: 384 words
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
The inspiration may have come as much from modern screen icons such as George Clooney as from the stars of the 1969 cult film Easy Rider. But baby-boomers who try to recapture their lost youth on large motorcycles are dying at double the rate of teenage bikers.
Sales of $30,000 U.S. "superbikes" such as Harley-Davidsons are soaring among men in their 40s. The age of the average bike buyer in the United States has risen from 25 to 39 during the past decade as middle-aged males have decided to indulge their teenage fantasies before their nerves and knees give out.
Yet imitating a new generation of celebrity bikers such as Clooney, Val Kilmer and Bruce Willis has resulted in a sharp rise in accidents. Over the past five years fatalities among bikers aged over 35 have risen by nearly 60 per cent, compared to a 22-per-cent fall among younger riders.
It is not just that grey-haired bikers can afford more expensive, more powerful machines and in many states are not required to take safety courses obligatory for younger riders. It is also that they may not be strong enough to catch the 230-kilogram machines if they topple over at the curbside. Ribs crushed in this way are among the injuries detailed in National Highway Traffic Administration statistics published last week.
California has been the heart of the "weekend outlaw" biking tradition since Marlon Brando rode out of the desert on a Triumph 650 in the 1954 film The Wild One, which for many years was banned in Britain. The freewheeling spirit of Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider 15 years later captured the imagination of the baby-boomers when they were young.
This year the typical first-time buyer in California will be a 42-year-old white-collar office worker with an income of $76,000 U.S. a year, whose other hobby is golf, according to JD Power, the market analysts.
Medical tests at a recent bikers' gathering in the Mojave desert showed that half the leather-clad outlaws and their equally middle-aged "chicks" were on medication, largely for hypertension.
Of the 1,400 older bikers who died on U.S. roads last year, one-third suffered heart failure before they came off their bikes. Others came to grief because stiff neck muscles prevented them seeing the road.
PERSON: GEORGE CLOONEY (92%); GEORGE CLOONEY (92%); BRUCE WILLIS (56%);
COUNTRY: UNITED STATES (92%);
STATE: CALIFORNIA, USA (92%); MOJAVE DESERT (79%);
CITY: LOS ANGELES, CA, USA (79%);
SUBJECT: BABY BOOMERS (90%); FILM (78%); CELEBRITIES (78%); MOTORCYCLES (77%); MARKET RESEARCH & ANALYSIS (76%); VEHICLE TRAFFIC (72%); CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE (64%); DESERTS (64%); HYPERTENSION (60%); MOTOR VEHICLES (57%);
LOAD-DATE: April 8, 2001
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: Black & White Photo: Although Peter Fonda's Easy Rider, character may have been an influence for nouveau riche bikers, a, random survey of one weekend bikers' gathering showed half the, participants on hypertension medication.
TYPE: News
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