A Two Wheeled Review Of 2025.

For my years review, see above

 

Sounds like you've had a fantastic riding year, Mrs V - I have to say that I envy you both for your location and your biker contacts, not to mention the time you've had to devote to this amazing way of life. Long may it continue, and a good opportunity to wish you (both) a happy and healthy 2026.

 

I'm a much more 'occasional' rider than you, but since you asked -

I started 2025 with a new bike - Honda CL500 Scrambler replacing a Triumph 400 which was just too much of a downsize for me, and which I'd crashed in 2024 anyway!

I met a returning biker about my age in a popular biker cafe (Aberfoyle) and we got together a lot this year, just day rides and coffees, but maybe we'll venture further afield next year. I had a few group rides, usually with my cousin and/or her husband and his bike group.

I had a long weekend away touring around the Cairngorms, then in July my brother came over from Canada, rented a bike and we had a 4 day tour around the Scottish Highlands finishing with a very wet British Superbikes at Knockhill Circuit. He is coming back in 2026 for another tour.... destination still to be decided. Always bed and breakfasts, none of this camping malarky!! We finished his visit with a cousins rideout which was a first!



I had 4 day-ride articles published in Motorcycle Sport and Leisure magazine, .... and that's about my year, around 5,000 miles and probably more of the same next year.

 

I upgraded to a small house at the beginning of the year. Only done one bike trip with it though

 

Yeah, keep saying l'll treat myself to another moka pot....

 

What a fun thread, @Mrs Visor! It got me to open my calendar and have a lovely look back at 2025. In so many ways it truly was a fantastic year, especially in terms of two wheels. I don't keep a log but do have my trips and such in my iCal so I referred to that for my 2025 recap.

No new bikes in 2025! Not even new tires. Just two new batteries and the usual services. I do have to admit I'm getting just a bit of an itch when I look at the new crop of bikes. That said, I'm super happy with my current stable. This year I rode a total of 14,162 miles: 1,253 on the Speed Triple, 2,988 on the Low Rider ST, and 9,921 on the Street Glide. I don't log my miles throughout the year but I do note the final odometer readings for each bike on Dec. 31st to see how many miles I put on each and how many total miles I rode for the year.

What's really uncanny is how close the mileages on each bike were from 2024 to 2025. Check this out. I rode my Speed Triple RS only 110 miles less than in 2024. I rode my Street Glide 563 miles less than 2024 (it was the trip to Minnesota in 2024 that did it). And I rode my Low Rider ST a mere 34 miles less than in 2024! I actually considered going out for a 34 mile ride on the Low Rider today just to say I rode it exactly the same number of miles in 2024 and 2025. But it's raining so I can live with it... I also like to do an estimate of how many total miles I've ridden since I started riding 15 years ago. This year's estimate is 156,000 miles. 129,000 of those miles are on Harleys and 27,000 are on Triumphs.

Fun stuff and adventures in 2025:
At the very end of January/beginning of February, Steve, Russell, and I rode to the Mecum Motorcycle Auction where we saw a 1915 Cyclone sell for 1.2 million dollars! We love riding to the auction and are going again this coming year...we're leaving in 29 days actually, but who's counting.
In March we attended "The Prowl" down in Bisbee, AZ, a chopper and vintage motorcycle show. It's a fantastic event, but sadly it is "being paused for regrouping" for 2026. Hopefully it will resume in full force in 2027 or perhaps even later in the year in 2026. I also did a bunch of test rides at our local Harley dealership "Demo Days" when the big 18-wheeler comes to town from Milwaukee. I love to test ride and ride pretty much whatever bikes are available.
In June, Steve, Russell, Ron, and I did the 2025 version of our annual Tour de Southwest up through northern Arizona, northern New Mexico, and southern Colorado. We had such fun and nearly perfect weather this year!
Not two-wheel related, but in late June/early July, Steve and I did our other favorite adventurous activity. We did a week of scuba diving in Cozumel, Mexico Love those fishies! And the beautiful blue Caribbean.
During my fall break, Steve and I got the heck outta dodge and did a two-nighter trip up to the town of Prescott, Arizona. For me it was a much-needed respite and some motorcycle therapy which I desperately needed due to a new job I'd started in early August. Long story but I'm happy to report that I will be done with that job come the end of May!
In November, Steve and I, accompanied by Russell, did an overnighter trip down to Bisbee just to get in a few miles on beautiful roads and hang out in a town we love. If I had to move and live in a small town, my first choice would be Bisbee.
In December, we participated in a Toy Drive to raise money and toys for charitable donations for children for Christmas. It was coupled with a car and motorcycle show. I've been meaning to post a thread with pics from the show and will do that one of these days.
And on each of these major holidays--Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas--Steve and I ride out motorcycles to either Waffle House and Denny's. We sit at the breakfast bar and leave a very large tip as we've both been servers in the day and have worked holiday shifts. This year we were blessed with beautiful weather on each of these holidays so we follow up breakfast with a bit of a ride together. Traffic is always minimal on these holidays and this year the roads were nearly deserted on our Christmas ride this year.

@Mrs Visor, it sounds like you have some very fun plans for the new year! I hope you--and all the rest of my forum friends, too--have a fantastic 2026! Ride safe and enjoy life to the fullest, my friends!

EDIT(S): Yikes! I forgot to include our biggest trip of the year--Sturgis! At the end of July and beginning of August, five of us did a 15 day trip that took us through parts of Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, and New Mexico. It was our fourth time to the Black Hills. Our first Sturgis trip was in 2019 and when we got home we agreed "one and done". Nope. Something about riding through the West and winding up in Deadwood and Sturgis, South Dakota keeps us coming back. Sadly though, we just missed seeing @Bikerman and his wife by two days when they were also in Sturgis this past year. We did get to go to the Little Bighorn Memorial which was very moving.

I also forgot to include a terrific group day ride to Bisbee in mid-December. What made it remarkable was that another forum member, @Marco Wikstrom, along with his buddies, Mo and Mark, came to Tucson for a few days and stayed in Russell's guest house. Marco and Mo are from Albuquerque and have now come to Tucson for some annual riding for (I think) the past three years. Marco and I originally met via this very forum. Another reason I am such a Triumph Forum fan! Plus, for those of you who know Nikki (@BonnieCat), she's coming to Tucson in February! I'm so excited meet her in person. She's hoping to get up to see the Grand Canyon, weather permitting. Motorcycles--and this forum--just seem to connect people!

 

Wow some fantastic yearly summaries. I will have rack my grey cells and put something together later, as I don’t keep any records of my riding.

 

Happy New Year, @Wessa! Don't "rack" those grey cells too hard. Relax and enjoy the day! A random stream of consciousness and memories will do just fine.

 

Great thread!

2025 started off with me doing twice a week round trips to visit my mum in Oxfordshire - she was ill - which was a combination of the M25 (yawn/bang head on clocks in frustration/nail it to break up the tedium). decent and very familiar A roads and country roads which are alternately slippery, potholed or bloody brilliant. About 2500 miles doing that on an S1000RR. That kind of sealed its fate to be honest - looking at the trip logs I was hitting 150 at some point every single trip and even I realised that was going to put me in jail, hospital or the ground sooner rather than later. Trouble is, the bike was so very good that the only time it got interesting was when the pace really hotted up.

Took me until June to find the right bike for me. A super low mileage, very much loved Speed Triple 1200 RR in Red.Hopper. It only had 1700 miles on it, so I tripled that in the first 2 months.

Been out of the country a lot over the last year, mostly work and no bike time. I did get one great ride up to Snetterton for a friend's funeral/wake, and although Mum is much better I'm still over there every couple of weeks so the mileage is going up. The bike is everything the BMW wasn't - engaging, involving, surprisingly comfortable, fun at lower speeds - and just about everything it was - fast, beautifully stable, easy to ride very quickly if the mood takes me. It's the best bike I've ever owned, and I've had some really good bikes...

This year we're doing 3 days at Portimao and a couple of UK trackdays as well as hopefully going to Scotland for the summer solstice.

 

Me i don't make plans. I just go and get lost somewhere i am really good at it. Yes do like camping and got most of the kit for it. My air mattress gave up last year so now looking for an alterative. Don't have as many biking friends these days so no one ever calls and says lets go to where ever. So i end up riding endlessly on my own. If i plan anything i will post it on here.

 

I had a Trekology airmat from Amazon, around 40 quid. Comfy, it's curved so hard to roll off it, but didn't last too well. Also not very good insulation, so l upgraded to Big Agnes Rapide SL, very nice. Quiet and warm. Around 125 notes l think.
Like you l'm a bit of a loner these days, and the lack of motivation means l usually find something else to do-work, as often as not

 

Glad to hear you're ditching the job @Sandi T
As we all know, life is far too short and precious to be stressed about work.
All the very best wishes to you and Steve for 2026 and a belated Happy Birthday

 

Hi @Sandi T I must admit I missed your comment in amongst your long response about you leaving your job. Are you lining up another job or are you planning to retire?