I Tried Riding a Motorcycle for the First Time at 55

Every channel has an origin story. Mine starts with a 55-year-old, 5XL, extremely comfortable couch enthusiast who genuinely believed the hardest part of motorcycling would be choosing the helmet colour.

It didn't go the way I imagined. It went better — and considerably more embarrassing.

The Cast: One Cat, One Bike, One Midlife Crisis

Before the riding starts, you meet the family. There's Moku, our rescue cat — found outside the house looking like he'd picked a fight with the entire neighbourhood and lost. He now runs the household and judges my life decisions from the intro of every episode. And there's Manchalee, my BMW R1250 GS Adventure. The name is Urdu, by way of Persian — someone who follows their own will. Riding her feels like riding a sofa with wheels: extremely comfy, slightly absurd, exactly right.

How a 17-Year-Old Started All of This

Here's the part nobody guesses. I didn't wake up wanting a motorcycle. My daughter turned 17, discovered that in the UAE you can ride a bike six months before you can drive a car, and deployed the classic teenage divide-and-rule strategy on her parents. Mom said no. So she came to me with the one line no Gen X dad can survive: you always said you'd treat me like you treated the boys.

My wife worried about her going to random driving schools alone. So I volunteered the only logical solution: I'd get the licence with her. Keep an eye on her. Bond a little. Tick off a bucket-list item that had been quietly growing dusty for thirty years.

She got the licence, decided motorcycles were fun but not safe, and switched to a car. I had to pay for that too. And somehow I'm the one who ended up buying Manchalee.

That's how Gen X impulse works. We don't do anything from our bucket lists for decades — and then we do all of it in one financial transaction.

What This Channel Is Actually About

The first ride itself? Wobbles, fear, a clutch that behaved like it had a personal grudge, and the slow discovery that real motorcycles don't have a restart button like PlayStation. You'll see the bloopers exactly as they happened, because I'm just a guy figuring out at 55 whether it's too late — and I would definitely like to find out.

Being 5XL is part of the story too, and not for laughs: finding riding gear in my size in the UAE was a genuine expedition, and everything from mounting the bike to buying a jacket works differently for oversized riders. If that's you, this channel will save you my mistakes.

This isn't really a motorcycle channel. It's about second winds, rediscovering passions, and having a moody cat judge you along the way. If you're a GenX-er staring at your own bucket list, consider this your sign — and maybe start with the Dubai beginner's riding guide.

🎥 Like what you see? The full moto-chaos lives on YouTube — subscribe to @MotoMoku and never miss a ride. More ride stories on the Video Log.