What Was Your First Bike

[johnod]

I thought it might be interesting, for no other reason perhaps ,than politics are not involved,and i live in Tortola, to get an idea of what your first bike was.

What was the machine that got the fire burning, fanned the flames, the one you ate your first bug on. The one that set you on this path to destruction, and all things wrong,the machine that led you from the paths of righteousness, and..... well you get the idea.

Along with this a little background as to how old were you, and the bike at the time. How did you manage to pay for her, parents, paper route,odd jobs..that sort of thing.

Here's mine to lead off

I was 15, the bike was literally a basket case, a BSA A7,rigid, "chopped", tres cool, I think it was a 53, memory is a little hazy on that.

I paid 125 for her, she was a vision in a metallic purple as my Dad and i hoisted her( and several boxes) into the old Ford pickup, I had arrived, I was gonna be sooo cool,( there are not enough O's in cool to begin to describe just how cool i was soon to be, I was gonna be one cool frood, girls would swoon in my presence, men would step aside in awe, and fear no doubt, as I rode by, all 120 manly lbs of me.

Yeees, life was good.

2 years later.

Now she is a vision in ,rattle can ,candy apple red, over the 1/2 inch of spot putty on the "rough" bits, the sissy bar is a work of art, in twisted square stock, liberally coated in aluminum paint, and the custom seat i made from galv. sheet metal, and 1/2 mattress foam is ,,, well,, words just fail me, suffice to say , OOOOOO BAAAABY.

Ahh yes , the open header pipes with that small soft blue flame , the way she always marked her spot , how could i forget the way i lovingly hammered out gaskets on o so soft aluminum primary covers.

The way i profesionnaly cleaned the magneto by, carefully inserting an index finger, wrapped in a clean, soft, cotton rag, and kicking her over, I did such a good job that i have never ,ever had to do it again ,EVER,. EVER,, yes who could forget that, not me anyway.

So i leave this to someone else to continue, don't be shy lets hear some stories,if not i'll have to tell you the trials and tribulations of the 120lb boy trying to kick over his next bike, a 57 pan.

And you don't want that believe me.

[gotdajones]

1973 - honda 90cc brand new (left over model)
my father put me on the farm payroll, tractor work (hay and pasture clipping), tobacco and cattle feeding. $45 / month payment. instilled an item called responsibility.
responsibilty; never forgot it (thanks pop).
up thru the ranks from there, 125, 550, 1000. then the sport bug hit...went from a gold wing to a gpz 550 (1981) -what a thrill. then came the harley davidson years; needed to regain my composure. outgrew that and now i'm thrilled again !

[Billg]

72 used 450 Honda
1st gear it's alright

[HDF]

80 cc 1970ish Yamaha DT something or another with metal bars replacing the broken rear shocks. I was about 14 at the time. Bike didn't work for very long, but it was still mine and my first - paid for it with lawnmowing money.

Second bike was sold to me by my dad (yup, responsability is a great thing to instill in a kid - one more who sends out a thanks to his ole man) - it was his 1978 Honda XL250, I was 16 at the time.

[McFly]

2002 Bmw K12rs

[johnod]

Really??? BTW i found a BG 105 postcard, no poster alas...

Originally Posted by McFly

2002 Bmw K12rs

[schmidttoo]

1968 Norton Atlas- 650. In 1973. Paper route and part time job. Thirds on parents and responsibility. Put a Barnett clutch in when the first slipped. Banged a few gears to test it out. Got stopped on the street by a motorist to tell me my license plate and tail light fell off when I did it. Next car had picked it up and handed it to me. Could get smoke out of second gear. Lucas electrics. Prince of darkness. Norton motto, if and when it starts. Broke it, fixed it and sold it to get a new amf H-D FXE 1200.

[Kevin C]

1982 Kawi GPZ-550

Bought used in 1985 from a friends older brother.

[DEPARKER1817]

1969 Maico 250 Square Barrel. Bought it used in 1972 and raced it while in college. 1972 _1973.

[thegr8td]

I was 19, my first bike was a 1971 Kawi 350. Well it wasn't really mine, a friend let me use it because he crashed it so many times he was afraid of riding it anymore.

His only advice to me was: "don't use the front brakes, you'll flip over the handlebars if you do". So I only used the rear brakes.

I needed it 'cause I dropped out of Georga Tech and worked at the Nantahala Outdoor Center and had no other way to get to work.

One bright day in 1973, I rode from point A to point B:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...41077&t=h&z=12

Point B is a very nice decreasing radius right hand turn, I came in faster than I could handle so of course I hit the rear brake. I recoverd from the resulting slide by riding straight off the road - into the woods on a very steep downhill towards Fontana lake.
I remember seeing green (trees), brown (dirt), green,brown,black.

When I came to I didn't seem to have any broken bones, but my right leg wasn't working right, so I had to crawl way up to where the bike was. The frame was wrapped around a tree and the bark was stripped from about 6' up. I crawled the rest of the way to the road and ended up at the Twentymile ranger station. The ranger's wife wouldn't let me into the cabin (I was a hippy at the time and her husband wasn't home). So I laid down on the grass. She called a state trooper who was very nice but gave me a ticket for driving on the wrong side of the road. I couldn't argue with that. I don't remember how I got to the hospital but I do remember getting a nice prescription for Vallium.

Two months later I borrowed a Norton, just to see how it would feel. Within minutes I had the throttle twisted to the max. I just couldn't help myself. I decided that I was going to kill myself so I never rode again until four years ago.

[edl]

'56 Pan Head,black,fatbobs, wideglide front end,bates solo with p pad,drag bars and pipes,flat fenders front and rear,no front brake and hardly any rear. I was 21 yrs old when I bought it,it was a funky chopper,took me a year and a half to get it the way i wanted it.Thank goodness the frame had not been cut on. Wish I had it back.

[11ohio]

My wifes Kawi. KZ550. She told me she was going to buy a K100rs, and if I wanted to see her again, I should learn to ride!

[CJS350]

1975 Kawasaki Z1B - went like stink, handled like it had a hinge, if the front brake got wet it was useless. I loved it.

[Flyboy]

Originally Posted by CJS350

1975 Kawasaki Z1B - went like stink, handled like it had a hinge, if the front brake got wet it was useless. I loved it.

I had one of them...in GreenKZ 900 Z1...Man, that bike was fast..but not my first. my first was a 1974 Husqvarna CR450 that I made street legal. But I still miss my Pacific coast...the fast one...in RED!

[Karlb]

first street bike, what else a BMW R60/5 Short wheel Base toaster tank in black with a windjammer fairing and craven side cases and top case at 16yo I took a lot of youngest rider awards at BMW rallies.

[Kneedragger]

Yamaha YDS2... 250 cc two stroke twin... yep, I had to carry a bottle of oil with me and pour some in the gas tank whenever I got fuel. I think it was a '63 model. It looked like this...



I was 18... this was also the first bike I crashed... no helmet, no protective gear... took all summer for the road rash to heal...

[ronherbert]

Takin' me way back guys...Early'60's Triumph 250 Cub in a basket. $50. and lots of busted knuckles later...I was lucky to live one street over from a guy who rode with the local chapter of The Outlaw biker gang and he kind of took pity on this naive teenager and gave me a lot of help. It had the most beautiful lime green metalflake paintjob known to man ( 20 coats of clear lacquer ). What great memories. Didn't ride for a lot of years but had an early GL1100 Goldwing also. Never took the noise and vibration route ( sorry HD guys...). I like my KGT a lot and am currently considering an S. Love those go-faster models !

Ride fast...ride safe

Ron

[zombiewolf]

1973, just dropped out of college, got a loan from HFC for $250, bought a '69 R50/2 for the $250 + 10 hits of acid. Killed that bike within 2 months and got a '73 R75/5, LWB with the toaster tank...my girlfriend at the time and I rode the hell out of that thing, even doing a 2 month tour in '74 (a month in Mexico, and a month in the States). BTW, for the benefit of any LEO's or Narc wannabes, it was 1973...is it just me or was life really simpler then?

[R1100S]

In 1989, for the grand sum of $500 I bought my first bike, a largely neglected 1974 H1 500cc Triple (sort of green). I didn't have my license yet, and I shared a helmet with my roommate. Everyone said that the bike was deadly but I rode it and had no idea what the fuss was about. I decided I would launch hard a lot and see if I could glimpse some of these undesirable traits. Months passed and the only danger I ever saw was to the environment and the huge puffs of blue smoke I would leave behind.

Then one day, and I remember it pretty well, the third cylinder actually started working and I did my first and last wheelie. I was pretty much riding around on 2 cyclinders up until that point. There were many other painful details, and I probably pushed the bike half as many miles as I rode it.

I learned that I suck at judging used bikes and really havent tested those waters since.
I did pass my MC license test though, despite the throttle cable that broke halfway thru the test.

[kf6jxf]

My first bike...1979 Honda CX500C. I bought it for 500 bucks in 2000, from my then brother-in-law. It ran like a sewing machine.

Cornered like it was on rails...provided the rails never deviated much from strait.
Very comfortable ride though...just too little protection from the elements.

I remember riding it home from my parents house...@ about 10pm...in pouring rain...with my weather approved denim jeans, perf'd leather gloves, and my TourMaster jacket...without my liner. What a lovely ride. Got home, and my garage door opener wouldn't work...apparently they aren't waterproof enough to withstand a gallon of water in my tank bag. Whodathunk??!

Was a great bike overall, but paled in comparisson to my first Beemer...2001 R1100RT.

[RFW]

Used Honda 50cc "Cub". This one was the original "You met the nicest people on a Honda" Honda! (If any of you are old enough to remember the mid 1960s Honda ads). "First gear, hold on tight, second gear, it's allright...." as the Hondels sang it!

[geesterz]

My first street bike was a Honda CB400 hawk in beautiful seventies orange! I was fifteen, breakin' the law ridin' it on the street. Great learner bike, never dropped or wrecked it. Graduated to an 82' GPz750 that lasted a few months before totalling it. Then an 84' GPz750 that lasted a long time for me. Wow, seems like forever ago...........

[cabnfvr]

Originally Posted by johnod

I thought it might be interesting... to get an idea of what your first bike was. ....

I'd been drag racing for several years, but had never owned a bike. My brother rode, and loved it, so one day I just stopped by the Kawasaki store and bought a bike. 1981 KZ750 LTD. Black.

[Muddy1]

March 2004

2004 Suzuki 250GZ purchased new (still have it for my girls)
slender, black, could only get it up to 65 mph!
Rode her for the first month of riding.

Today, doing it again, I'd get a little Ninja!



Wow!! Most of you kids have been riding a long.. long time...
probably since ......before I was born!!

[Kneedragger]

Originally Posted by Muddy1

March 2004

2004 Suzuki 250GZ purchased new (still have it for my girls)
slender, black, could only get it up to 65 mph!
Rode her for the first month of riding.

Today, doing it again, I'd get a little Ninja!



Wow!! Most of you kids have been riding a long.. long time...
probably since ......before I was born!!

You really look cool on your bike, Pat...

[Htheater]

My first bike was a 1970 Suzuki TS90 Honcho. I was 14 and purchased this almost new (only had about 100 miles on it) bike for a song.....the owner didn't add oil to the injection tank and the engine seized. I had never taken an engine apart, but dove into this simple single cylinder two-stroke. $15 for a new piston, rings and gasket and she was as good as new!



I rode her hard....mostly on the dirt, but, at 15 I got my "below 100cc motorcycle only" license and thought I was Steve McQeen! All the girls thought I was a bad ass.

I met my wife on it! We were both 14 about to turn 15, she was sitting on the curb with her younger sister and her next door neighbor. I pulled up and introduced myself. When I turned 16 and got a car, I asked her little sister out. She turned me down because she said Terry was in love with me. I was flexible so I asked her out! We have been together (mostly) ever since and will celebrate our 30th this May!

My first street bike that I rode was a 1972 Suzuki GT750 "Water Buffalo".

The first street bike I ever owned was a 1973 Yamaha RD-350....WOW was that a blast on the curves! It was fun smoking the Kawasaki 500 and 750 triples down a winding road! All this in tennis shoes, jeans, a t-shirt, gloves and a BELL Helmet!

After many different bikes, both street and dirt, I took a 17 year or so hiatus at the wife's request until our kids were grown and I had more insurance. In 2004 I purchased a new KRS that I loved....she treated me well. My 30K service transformed her into a 2007 KS that I also love. The BMWs are a whole different class and forced me to learn riding all over again. I wish I could ride every day as I don't tire of the excitement!

[Paughco]

Hi guys:

My first bike was a '53 K-model Harley Davidson. This machine had been bored and stroked (plates between the case and the cylinders), ported and relieved (whatever that was), Sifton cams (very nasty) and straight pipes. The machine had a magneto ignition. The guy sold it to me and my dad for $200 because if the San Bruno cops ever caught him on it they'd probably shoot him and dump the body in the SF Bay.

I was 15 and 1/2 at the time, with a California learner's permit. This was in 1962. Classic. The bike had knobbie tires on it, more knobby than a set of Continental TKC-80s, which I have ridden with on my R1150GS. The bike came with several cardboard boxes of parts. These were all the stock parts, like the headlight, the "tin" parts around the forks, the tailight, etc. Well, I bolted most of that stuff back on. I never wired up anything. Just bolted it on. We did go down to the local DMV to take care of the paperwork. I had to find three neighbors who would sign that they had not witnessed the machine being operated on the streets in an unlicensed state, in order to get an "Emergency Operating Permit." This was a little bit hard to do, the way my pappy had been riding the thing around (image of the machine popping a wheelie in a 2-3 shift comes to mind) our local streets. Hard to miss with those straight pipes. Still, we did have some blind and deaf neighbors who signed and the paper work was in process. I found a license plate in those boxes of stuff, with a bunch of stickers. I peeled the stickers off until I got to one that had the same color combination as the 1962 sticker and ran that. I rode the machine to Capuchino High School and instantly moved from nerd to cool-guy in one leap. All those guys on their Cushmans and Vespas were in awe.

The machine blew up on Skyline Blvd one afternoon while I was riding home. Bummer.

After that I got a 1950 Pan. I still have that machine. There are pictures of it on this website, also on

www.drizzle.com/~leopard.

Seeya
ATB

[BlueSeaMiami]

It was July, 1995... Pulp Fiction had just come out and everywhere you went in Manhattan, all you heard was that old 'surf twang' soundtrack music from the 50's playing (Commanche's, Dick Dale- Miserlou, etc. Great stuff!). I'd always dreamt of a bike but had been a car guy up until that year and knew I probably would've gotten myself into trouble with a bike before then, anyway. I picked up a copy of Rider magazine and there smak in the middle was the coolest bike I'd ever seen (pre-RS). A lowered, black and chromed out Honda Shadow American Classic Edition 1100 V-twin, with orange and yellow custom flames painted on it. It was such a beautiful bike and just what I wanted (and needed) to blow off steam after working 12 hour+ days six-days a week. With the surf twang playing in my mind, I had visions of me boulevarding up and down Jones Beach on a sunny afternoon... sunglasses on, wind in the hair, smiling at the girls and feeling like a bad azz.

I ran right out and signed up for the beginner MSF class from Gasper Trama's school at Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn. I'll always feel I had the best instuctor ever- tall guy named Ken (BMW rider as well- thanks, Ken for the best training). He told us that "riding will change your life." Little did we know just how right he was. So much to learn, though! Crowned roads, oil slicks at tollbooths, suburban dog evasion strategies, traffic strategies, mattresses in the road, the three-second rule, evasive manuevers, F.I.N.E.C., S.I.P.D.E., look, lean and roll-- it seemed like so much at the time!

After acing the long, hot and rigourous three day course (funny how tiring it was the first few days of riding), I made a beeline for Big Time Motorsports in Melville, Long Island to purchase my Shadow ACE. I walked right in, plunked down my Visa card and ordered one. Black & chrome- just like in the magazine. Like an expectant father, I drove out from NYC a couple times after that, when she was delivered and being assembled just to look at her... I was counting the minutes til I could pick her up. Then the good news call finally came. She was ready and waiting for me.

I'll never forget that day. The sheer joy and butterflies in my stomach- my mind racing a mile a minute-- would I be able to handle an 1100 for my 1st bike? Ken said yes, but the MSF training bikes were only Nighthawk 250's... As a new, inexperienced rider, would I be ok riding my first bike in psycho NYC traffic every week? It seemed so heavy (lol). But I was a man on a mission. Nothing in the universe was going to get in the way of my determination, happiness, dreams of riding and anticipation of my new 'coolness' (right with you, Johnod) . I took her around the empty lot a few times and was ready to head back to Manhattan for my first ride on a brand new $11,000 bike. Can someone say "a little scary?" There I was, just two weeks prior, duck-walking across the tarmac, learning on a 250cc and was now taking a brand new $11,000, 1100cc, bike back to the heart of NYC for my very first ride ever in traffic! Had I lost my mind completely? I was gonna make it work and everything was going to be fine, I told myself. I edged up to the very busy county road, heart pounding with excitement and butterflies, waited a loooong time til the traffic was clear, and with a twist of the throttle and a rumble, I was off down the road for the very first time. It was utterly euphoric. And so began the love affair.

It turned out everything went just fine. And my MSF instructor, Ken had been so right. It changed my life forever... and in the best possible way.

-Jeff

[rlward]

First bike I owned was a 1973 Honda CB350G. Great to have on campus (UNB) and go home whenever I wanted or go see my grandparents in Nova Scotia. Rode to Ontario and back one year with my Dad. Good times. Ran it a bit short on oil and blew the motor one fall day.

[vics]

1998 K1200RS (red)

[aja]

In the late '70's my dad picked up a Motobecane Moby Moped. It was baby blue with optional removable grocery baskets and extra long seat. It was hideous - the exact vehicle which the fat girl joke was written about. My buddies and I were riding our bikes every day and that thing seemed like so much more of a "motorcycle" than our 10 speeds and BMX bikes. I was too young to ride it but spent all sorts of time pretending in the garage. We though it was the coolest things ever and as I grew older it became the vehicle we would sneak out when my parents were away and cruise around town looking "cool". When I was old enough it rode it all over in every weather, on-road, off-road, over jumps, etc.

In the late '80's when I was in college, I had no car so picked up a Nighthawk 450 from a dealer. I had absolutely no clue about how a "real" motorcycle worked and needed the sales guy to tell me which lever was the brake and which was the clutch. When I bought it we loaded in the back of a buddy's van and I rode home holding onto it (no tie-downs) since I was terrified of learning how to operate this beast for the first time in traffic. I will never forget as we were shutting the back door of the van and getting ready top leave, the sales guy asked "you do know how to ride right?" I gave him a dismissive "Oh yeah " and hopped in the van to hold onto the bike for the ride home. I firgured out how things worked from friends and just riding and at the time never took any rider classes. After a year or so of owning that bike as my only transporation in Massachusetts, I realized it really wasn't practical afterall so ended up selling it a while later.

I had no bikes for about 10 years after that, but then got back into riding with a much different approach than those first two rides. Good times!!

[beemer1]

'75 (maybe) Honda MT-250 Elsinore. 2 stroke of course, I changes alot of plugs. Definitely an under powered sled. Then an '82 Honda CB650, Honda V65 Magna, Honda CBR1000F, Buell Lightning (yeah right!), BMW R1100RT and the K12RS.

[TEXIAN]

Does a Sears Minibike count? That was at 8 yrs old. Then a Honda XL75S at 13. Both were family bikes. First machine I bought, 1978 Honda XL185S at 16, now back on sale almost unchanged as the CRF230L.

[Sahadafakaya]

1974 Honda CB350 4-cylinder. Year was 1979, paid $700 for a very clean garage kept all-original bike with 5K miles on it. I was 19, working at a building supply company. Engine was butter-smooth, but gutless, with a whopping, arm-stretching 34hp. 65mph in 5th gear turned the engine at 6K rpm. Sold it in 1980 for a '71 Triumph Bonneville (loved it!), then a '73 Norton Commando (hated it!), then a 1983 Honda V45 Sabre (indifferent to it). Sold the V45 in 1986, no bike until 2001 When the Hinckley Bonneville came out. Sold the Bonnie last Sept, and bought the '99 K12RS I ride now.

[Melimar97]

1976 RD400 Black/Gold. It was a smoker (2Stroke), and I immediately converted it into a cafe racer with clubman bars, hacked out seat, funky 70's speed fender. What a hoot! Wish I still had it today....alas, my back and knees would bring me back to reality! Now it's just a glimmer of a tear in my eye.

[ROB]

In 1975, right after reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I bought a 1971 Honda 750 K1. It was a horse, and I rode it across the continent and back that summer. Some 8,000 miles. It had a solid steel chromed sissy bar with a trident-looking affair on the top. I bolted a wooden frame onto that and then bungeed my Kelty back-pack (sans frame) to that. Really classy looking. In Denver on the way west I bought a Windjammer fairing, so I could smoke cigarettes while I was riding.

I kept it for three or four years, pulling off the fairing, alternating colors between orange-peel black and refrigerator white, adding Hooker 4 into 1 headers and Morris mag wheels(which included a disk brake for the rear wheel). Then I traded it for a GL 1000 naked Gold Wing (big mistake). A couple of years later I sold the Gold Wing and bought another 750, this one a CB 750 F. But if I could get the first one back, I would.

Now about women...

[dogwatch]

2005 BMW F650CS..... started LATE ... do i win newest first bike?

[fastlikehell]

In '68 I had a 175cc DKW off road bike. It must have been more than ten years old then and didn't start out as an off roader, but was converted to one. must have been 15hp or there about. Took it to a short track as much as I could. I had smaller (50cc Eysink) bikes before that - from age 12. These were no true motorcycles, but mopeds (great difference in Holland).

[K1DUDE]

Not my first ride, but the first bike that was actually mine was a Bultaco 250 Pursang.
My first BMW? A K1 of course (I still have it).

[Florian]

A used 1979 Kawasaki KZ650....put a big fairing on it and rode it all summer long sophomore HS year.....got rid of it when I dropped it on a gravelly corner and road rashed myself all up.


F

[beemerbum]

The attached photo of a Yamaha YG-1 80cc was my first real motorcycle back in 1965. My Father bought it used for $175 US from a co-worker at the aircraft company he worked at in San Diego. When he rode up to the driveway on it, my brother and I were drooling. Alright Dad...you rock and still does to this day!!

[beemerbum]

Originally Posted by RFW

Used Honda 50cc "Cub". This one was the original "You met the nicest people on a Honda" Honda! (If any of you are old enough to remember the mid 1960s Honda ads). "First gear, hold on tight, second gear, it's allright...." as the Hondels sang it!

RFW - I too grew up in the sixties and remember well that Honda slogan...they sold a mess of bikes that way and send a generation on their way...Bless them...everyone...

[beemerbum]

BTW, I was 10 years old back in 1965 and already was a "Seasoned" rider of Sears Puch bikes, Montgomery Wards mo-peds, and Taco mini-bikes...LMAO!!

[Martin_D]

My first bike was a 1973 Honda CB 350 . I was too young at the time and my parents didnt want to sign for me , so my brother who was of legal age did !!!

http://www.bikepics.com/pictures/1104670/

[ROB]

Martin, the first bike I ever rode was a CB 350 Scrambler (with black up-turned pipes) that belonged to a roommate of mine. The coolest bike ever, at that time.

[RustyJC]

My first motorized 2-wheeled contrivance was a Simplex Automatic. My uncle found it in the classifieds in Fort Worth, Texas back in the mid-1950s. I was 8 years old when I got it - we lived on a ranch, so I didn't have to worry about niceties like a driver's license.

My first real motorcycle was a Honda CB305 Super Hawk, purchased in Odessa, Texas for $350 when one could still get a motorcycle license in Texas at the age of 13. I had to wait until I was 14 to get a license to drive a car. I rode Hondas until my first BMW, a 2003 K12GT. I've now been riding for 52 years and counting.

Rusty

[Sventek]

A Honda VTR250 for me.

[Martin_D]

Originally Posted by ROB

Martin, the first bike I ever rode was a CB 350 Scrambler (with black up-turned pipes) that belonged to a roommate of mine. The coolest bike ever, at that time.

There you go mon ami !!!


HONDA_CB_350_CL_350_Scrambler___1973.jpg

[ROB]

That's the CB 350 Scrambler, allright. But what I rode turned out to be (after a ridiculously long search) a Honda SL350. And it looked a little sumpthin' like this:



Only red, not pukey GT green, or coppertone, below.

[RustyJC]

I believe the scrambler's (as shown in Martin's post) model designation is CL350. The CB350 was the street bike. Picture attached below.



Rusty