And do you think there is any correlation between that number and the skills or even experience that one might subconsciously assign to a high number? 

Got my license at 18 or 19 so...  25 years or so?  There were many of those years where my skills did not go up with time.  There were several years where my skills raised exponentially and I cherish those years.
I hope there are years in the future where that happens again as I'm currently stagnant at best. 

Favorite quote:  "You don't have 20 years of experience.  You have one year of experience that you've repeated 19 times." 

What say you?

1978 - present. Still don't know shit.

Quote from: Vulcanbill on December 05, 2013, 02:59:52 PM

Favorite quote:  "You don't have 20 years of experience.  You have one year of experience that you've repeated 19 times." 

More like 3 months experience repeated.

I had a guy in a BRC course who had been riding for 20 years on a permit.  He almost flunked the exam. 

Bet if the test was polish bike, ride to bar, stand around talking about bike, ride home, wipe bike down, he'd have passed with flying colors.

I've had my license 20+ years.

I've been riding ~30 years.

I've been licensed to do so for about 10 years. 

Since the fall of 1980, when I turned 14. I actually took the MSF course when I was 13 because the only offered it in the summer and I didn't turn 14 until September. Had a M/C as my only form of transportation until I was 16.

Lets see. I got my license in 1966. 

Geeze, it's so long ago I can't remember if you needed a MC endorsement at that time? 

26 years with the license, 33 on two motorized wheels.
LT

  My childhood riding should not be misconstrued as skills acquisition.  I had no idea what I was doing--Just turn the fast stick, hold on and don't crash.

with pain as the alternative skills are fairly quickly learned

2/24/1976. Cold day as I recall. At least the stare from my mom was cold. 

I've had a motorcycle endorsement for 37 years.  Had been riding before that.  40 some years by now.  Pretty soon I'm going to get the hang of that clutch thingy.

I've been riding for about 30 or so years. Got my license only about 14 years ago. I do not think it made me more aware or conscious or even a better rider. At some level it gave me confidence to ride past cops and not worry if I were to be stopped. Beyond that I rode the same way to the testing center as I did home after passing.

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The motorcycle was my first vehicle; 250 Yamaha where I learned to ride from a friend who had a Honda 350-4 I think (my second was a 360).

Got my license in fall of 76. Test was in Fredericksburg at the DMV. Start the bike. Turn signals, brake, headlight, horn. Go to the end of the parking lot, loop around, come back. Stop here.

You passed, here's your endorsement.

The Army required the Defensive Drivers Course before you could ride on base. A much better class. Pretty close to the ERC I took a couple of years back. Emergency stops, pay attention to traffic, here's a bunch of pictures of motorcycle accidents (he was a Md Highway Patrolman). Saved my ass at least twice by realizing the guy making the turn didn't see me and my realizing it and stopping before it went south.

I don't think I learned much more until a friend talked to me after getting back on a bike about the 6 seriously close calls and numerous ones. After that I've read and applied proficient motorcycling, read several track books, total control which was quite interesting, been to the track several times, performed most maintenance tasks (I never touched an engine leaving it to Jiffy Lube Me Up until I got on bikes). I've put 125,000 miles on the Hayabusa and another 20k or so on different bikes.

I'm no expert, but I do explore and have experience. I am better

Carl

 Spring of '98 so not quite 16 years. What I found somewhat comical was the DMV already trusted me to drive 18 wheels, but I needed a special license for just 2. I went to the local DMV when they were closed, and practiced the ride test until I had it nailed. I still practice those drills as well as other slow-speed stuff. I like being able to do U-turns on narrow 2-lane roads with my feet on the pegs.

Official license in the early 80's. Only in the last 3 years or so have I really paid much attention to skills improvement.

20 years been riding since the 70's when I was a kid

21 years licensed here.  I got the basics down in my teens and luck carried me for the first 12 years or so  . Since then luck has still been on my side, but I'm pretty happy with my progress on paved surfaces.  As the years go by, I find applying new/improved skills more rewarding then pushing an unknown limit with blind effort.  No need to "keep up" or "drop" other riders.  Off road I'm still have many new skills to apply and the more rapid improvements in my riding keep me very excited for the next ride.

1979.

Have learned a lot and keep learning. Re-learning a lot by constant practice and review of why you should do things a certain way.

The clutch is that lever on the left, right?

GEE, after reading all the posts, I'm a real  newb. started riding and got my MC license in May 2000.  maybe 75000 miles under my belt with 4 track days.


do i know much?  nope. still a newb.

pretty humble group.

I got my motorcycle only (100cc or less) license early in 1972 at age 15. I turned 16 at the tail end of 1972, I upgraded to the full license in 1973 and jumped up to a 550cc big bike after having a year of riding under my belt. Seems like yesterday. 

Got a learner license in the early 70s but didn't get my full license until 1980. I kept failing the test. 

I was stationed in HI when I got mine.  Speaking of humbling, it was an interesting experience for a white guy to learn what it feels like to be a minority, and not a favored one, in the US.  15 of us showed up to take the test.  2 of us passed.  Tester was a local cop w/ hair down to his waist who showed up on some custom chopper and ran the whole test before we got started.  Impressive and intimidating and it totally ruled out any possibility for someone claiming their bike just couldn't do it.  Instead of bringing my nighthawk 650, I rented a 250cc scooter downtown and took the test on that.  The other guy that passed was on a KE100 or something similarly tiny.  Tester was miffed that he had to pass me and made no bones about saying it.  That was probably the beginning of what I consider a pretty high standard for skills. 

To this day, when teaching someone, I will always show them what the standard is before asking them to try to attain it.   

I rode 'dirty' for two years before getting proper paper in '79.