Anyone interested in motorbikes?

Exactly - and I love the natural world bit, too. Yep, faster and less lycra ;-)

Yes, I am in my mid-twenties.

"When the cost of "functioning" becomes too great , the cracks start to show, and that is when I figured it out"
 
-- Yes, exactly - sounds like you had a very similar experience to me - and I guess a heck of a lot of us - in only finding out about ASD after reaching a mental health crisis. I only realised things related to ASD, after years of anxiety and depression.  I do feel lucky about knowing relatively early. Definitely impressed by those of you who have got diagnosed later on, and struggled through more of your life. Knowing 'why' is such a relief. :)

Another American tractor fan here :-) They are great, aren't they? I like them because they are solid and remind me of the bikes I rode in my teens, heavy things made out of proper chunks of metal. And they smell proper, of hot metal and oil.

I also like 4 wheeled american tractors, the type with V8s in them!

Well, yes it's similar to being alone with your thoughts on a bicycle .... gliding along, enjoying the nature around you (which I also enjoy). Of course it's faster though ;-) 

I was another late diagnosed person. Things were getting to the point where I felt like I was going nuts or heading for a nervous breakdown, and so I started my usual level of obsessive research into what could be causing it. Found an article about ASD and thought blimey, that sounds familiar, then read more and most of it I could use like a checklist. With hindsight, it's amazing it wasn't picked up earlier, but I suppose as long as you are "functioning" no-one thinks too much about it. When the cost of "functioning" becomes too great , the cracks start to show, and that is when I figured it out. My self-diagnosis was then confirmed as a cut and dried case of Asperger Syndrome by a professional!

I'm guessing you're younger than me... If so, I think you're lucky to have a diagnosis earlier in your life. I have found that it makes things easier, if only because I finally know WHY for a lot of things, and can be a bit less hard on myself!

hello :-) 'two wheeled tractors' - haha. Ah, yes, I have heard elsewhere that riding is great therapy - an escape - literally. I don't know much about enduro or motocross, tho motocross looks like lots of fun - is that dirt bikes? And I follow MotoGP obsessively.
also - what does it feel like to be diagnosed fairly late, at 52?

hello :-) Good to hear from another woman with asd. Harleys are great. Riding looks like a really liberating activity - I love being outdoors (on a regular bicycle!) on my own, no-one to talk to or worry about, so I can kind of imagine what you mean by the feeling of 'freedom'.
as a woman, when did you find out you are autistic? You don't have answer if you don't want to, of course.

hello,welcome to here. i ride and once ive convinced myself i might enjoy a ride out,ill get 1 out and go off somewhere.i ride american 2 wheeled tractors, you can guess...

i call it my "helmet time" helps me focus and gets rid of some negativity,a temporary fix !,theres the friendship that goes along with riding,meet ups at cafes and such.sometimes i like to be left alone but other times its nice to chat to fellow riders about stuff.got back into bikes after a long spell,used to do alot of enduro and motocross when i was much younger.i was diagnosed aspergers late last year at 52 ..

Hi and welcome :-) There are quite a few of us bikers on here, as I discovered when I mentioned my bike when replying to a post a while back.

I am a biker, and female too. Got my bike license when I was 18 - 30 years ago now - and have been riding them ever since. I have never been into sports bikes really, more old classics and Harleys. 

You are right, bikers are lovely people and very non-judgemental. It's a very inclusive "society", where people are just left to be who they are. I have met quite a few fellow aspies in the biking world. As for anxiety stopping us from riding, not for me anyway! I am probably at my most relaxed when I am on my bike, just me and the machine, at one. No need to make conversation, think about how to act, just ride and enjoy. It is the ultimate freedom and I would recommend it to anyone :-)

I'm an old fart - I got diagnosed at 42 - a decade ago. 

I don't get anxiety driving but I do get tired because of the concentration required.  When I was younger I used to commute from London to Malvern & back every day - couldn't do that now.

Also, that was before speed cameras and 10 million more drivers on the roads.

Lucky him. Yeah, I always take a slow walk past nice bikes I see parked, or stand staring at them, but then I start to get funny looks - especially because I'm female and I look about 12, ha, it's a bit of a strange sight I guess, haha. One of the things about autism, apparently, is higher than normal anxiety. Do you find that? I think I'd be much too anxious to ride on roads on either a powerful bike or a little 125cc. When did you get diagnosed, if you have one?

Yeah - they're nice - I had a good look at a brand-new Fireblade and there's nothing to it - big engine, lots of flimsy plastic and 2 wheels - and that's it.  Crazy fast.

I've got a friend with a zero-mile Ducati 999R and V-Rod in his garage.   Nice to just sit and look at them.

eek, I winced reading that. You're making me glad to be a 'cager' now, haha. I had a friend who wrote off his brand new bike after about five months, trying to keep up on fast roads. He'd been in hospital with injuries several times. Yeah, sportbikes look quite uncomfortable for long rides... buuut they're so pretty... sigh

Yep - them were the days.....

The guys I worked with would go out on summer rides together - but it's actually quite lonely burning up the roads - the slowest guy at the back is most likely to be killed taking risks while trying to keep up with the faster riders.

The old injuries they had were quite bad - one had a new hip at 42, another twisted his shin until the two bones splintered around each other.   Another dislocated his leg and ripped a load of tendons - walked with a limp afterwards, another fell off on a mountain road, almost went over the edge and got smashed by his bike squashing him against the barriers.

Also, the bum-in-the-air guys found their backs & wrists were suffering with the accelerating & braking and their 'bits' were being bashed on the petrol tank under heavy braking. 

Errrr- no thanks.

I'll drive my air-conditioned 4-wheel tank with airbags and ABS - much more comfortable & safe.

Wow, can't believe you could get a bike licence so easily in those days. Yep, the danger element is quite off-putting - no matter how competent you are as a rider, you're so vulnerable to other drivers being idiots.
Drifters are nice motorcycles, I like that vintage look. I do envy the camaraderie amongst the biker lot, like when you see them nod to eachother out on the roads.

It was high-tech engineering.   I'm of the age where I should have ticked a box on my driving licence application all those years ago and I'd have had a full bike licence too - now I'd have to spend a load of cash on a Direct Access training & test.

Unfortunately, every one of the bikers I worked with was carrying an old biking injury so it sort of put me off.

If I was going to have a bike, I'd probably go for a Kawasaki VN1500 Drifter (the Indian Chief lookey-likey with relaible Jap mechanics).  It has big street-presence so you can justify your position on the road rather than being squeezed into the weeds by the BMW-idiots & trucks.

nice, what sort of place did you work, with all those bikers around?  I'm not a biker either, as it's an expensive hobby, and I can't afford it, but wish I could.  I do love a good Fireblade. What types of bikes/aspects of bikes are you into?

I'm not a biker but I got into bikes by working 20 years with a bunch of bikers - I was the only one not on 2 wheels.   They brought in all the magazines so I assimilated all the data - everything from Rudge-Whitworths to Fireblades, Goldwings to BSA GoldStars.

Do you have a bike?