The story of your first bike.

[Oldhway]

I've been riding for 41 years as of this year. First time I rode, it was a Rupp mini bike at age 9 (Please do not do the math, I already know). At 10, I bought one for myself with paper route money and by 12 was riding adult sixe motorcycles (kawasaki 90 first, 5 up, neutral on the bottom, sister's boyfriends bike).

I bought my first real motorcycle when I was 18. It was a 1978 Honda
XL250S Dual Purpose bike I bought from a place called L and F motors in Litchfield Connecticut. When I bought in, there was a new Goldwing on the floor with an S type fairing and Krauser bags that I thought was just the coolest thing. Small fairing, removable bags, and a shaft drive, just like a BMW, how neat (years later I built a Suzuki GS850G set up that way, I guess I always wanted a BMW).

Anyway, I had a friend co-sign the loan since my parents told me they would kick me out of the house if I bought a motorcycle. Even kept it at the friends house, he ended up buying a '79 just like it. I rode that bike everywhere. Rode up to Portland Maine on the slab and then all over the fireroads when I went to visit friends. 75mph was as fast as it would go and I would tuck in behing semis to draft and stay out of the wind. I was young and dumb, I'm not young anymore.

One day I came home from work to find my Mom waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs in our house. She was holding an envelope that had come in the mail. As I went by her to go upstairs, she handed it to me and said "the Tax bill on your motorcycle arrived". I tried to be cool, took the envelope and proceeded up the stairs in the deafening silence. As I reached the top of the stairs and turned towards my room, I heard her finally speak "What motorcycle?".

Well I kept that bike (My parents relented but I still coudn't keep at the house, plus I told them it was a dirt bike. Sorta true.) and later had it crated up by my friend and shipped to me in Wichita Falls Texas where I was in the Air Force. I ended up assembling it with tools from the bikes tool kit, in the barracks parking lot while the black clouds rolled in and the tornado sirens wailed. Today it seems funny, back then I was terrified. All I knew was that I hadn't ridden for 4 months because of basic training and tech school and I wasn't gonna let a tornado get my bike. I was still young and still dumb.

I rode the bike all over North Texas and Southern Oklahoma, off road and on, until I traded it for a Suzuki GS 1000E.

Today that XL250S is gone and so is L and F motors. I still miss it.

So, what is the story of your first bike?

[The_Veg]

So, what is the story of your first bike?

See the April 2007 BMWON, page 32.

[swall]

I have also been riding for 41 years, except I started when I was 17. Honda CL160, great little bike.

[BubbaZanetti]

See the April 2007 BMWON, page 32.

see some other issue of the ON, prob on a different page.:scratch

[kgadley01]

1967 Honda S 90 in 1969 for $ 100.00

[Oldhway]

Those are cool first bikes but tell me THE STORY. Why that one? What made it special and do you remember it fondly? I love hearing how people got started and the purchase of the first bike has usually got a great story with it.

:lurk

[BubbaZanetti]

Those are cool first bikes but tell me THE STORY. Why that one? What made it special and do you remember it fondly? I love hearing how people got started and the purchase of the first bike has usually got a great story with it.

:lurk


two words, Cafe Racer.

that's really what it started with. i'm very much a fashion before function guy in a lot of ways. i grew up with scooters and was very into "mod" culture, suits, the who and the jam, looking good and being stylish. on the other hand, i love adventure, which is generally a function before form endeavour, which, i guess, led me to motorcycling.

i started of with a 1980 CB750F, a reasonably reliable bike, which could be made to look cool with choice mods and whatnot. trouble is, i bought my first one for 420 dollars, with all the caveats that surround a 420 dollar bike (like holes in the pistons).

although i'd always regarded BMWs as "old man bikes" i knew the airheads had potential to be made "cool". i luckily tracked down my 84' R100 for 1400 bucks and when i heard it start up and purr, i was all for it. add some low bars, a custom licence plate bracket, some slightly rear set pegs and bar end mirrors, it was the perfect combination of "hot bike night stuff" and "practical x-country complete with krauser bags" machine.

from then it's been a wonderful ride meeting lots of great people and awesome adventures.

[coalminer]

My first bike was a 50cc Honda Mini-Trail. It was blue and silver. I got it for Christmas when I was about eight years old. On my first ride, I cranked it up, gave it the gas, and rode wide open straight into the laundry room wall.

Since then I've had a Kawasaki 90, Kawasaki 100, Kawasaki 350, Honda CR250R, Husquvarna 250, BMW R100RS, Harley Road King, Honda ST1100, and (2) Harley Electra Glide Ultra Classics.

I sold the latest Electra Glide a couple of weeks ago and just bought a new BMW R1200 GSA. I should pick it up in a week or two.

I've loved every one of them but the only one I regret selling was the R100RS. I'm excited to be back on a BMW.

[KGT1200]

See the April 2007 BMWON, page 32.

What he says....x2

Mini bike with Harley forks..lots of welding and industrial strength 75cc Briggs and Stratton engine that came together to be the best and heaviest bike ever made for a 12 yr old!

I can still remember the thrill of wide open throttle and still going faster...and faster...and faster.... for the first time...I remember that day

[R80RTJohnny]

Started a thread "can a motorcycle change your life" a while ago.

Still have the 1982 Yamaha 400 Seca. I added a 2008 R1200RT to the stable this year. I still ride the 1986 R80RT.

My parents were right. Cars are boring and expensive. Better get a bike instead.

Always listen to your parents!

Have fun...

PS: Not to be outdone my father bought an R1200RT this year as well.

[kstoo]

I had just gotten my license and couldn't afford a car so I was looking at used motorcyles. I almost bought one of those Honda scooters but happened to find a Sears Allstate 124 (Gilera) that I liked even better. It had a Harley style windshield on it that had a decal of a girl with a bikini if you looked at it from the front but from the seat side ... no bikini. Perfect bike for a 17 year-old in 1972. The speedo never worked but other than that I had a great summer riding that thing around northern Illinois back roads. One fall day I showed up at work and one of my co-workers who had been behind me on the way to work asked me how fast I thought I was going. He had clocked me well over 70+ mph. I thought that I was going 45. Those little Italian 124cc could really go. He bought that bike from me on the spot, he was so impressed.
I could write a book about things like the Yamaha 100 twin that I tried to ride from California to Rockford IL
When I got back to California I bought a Triumph Tiger Cub that had already been poorly abused. I liked that bike but it was already too late to save it.
Then came Honda CB500T,
CB350F,
CB750K,
1969 BMW R75/5 (German 6 gallon chrome-sider),
1953 BMW R51/3 (never got it running .. dang)
Triumph T100C 500cc scrambler (fun with SAE, metric and British Whitworth)
1974 R75/6, put a California Sidecar on that one,
Suzuki GS550,
Honda CB400T,
BMW R80RT,
Honda VF500C,
1988 BMW R100RT,
Honda CB450C,
1980 BMW R100T,
1974 BMW R60/6,
1982 BMW R100RS,
1975 BMW R60/6 ... I am such a slut ...
but my first ride was that Gilera 124. That is such a good memory. When I bought this 1980 R100T a couple of years ago, still my main ride, I nick-named it 'Gilera' because it was that kind of fun!

[rcliffor]

I had just graduated from college and accepted a job at General Electric in Schenectady, NY. We had no money and my wife needed a car to drive to work at Monkey Wards. I bought a 1971 Honda SL100 for my primary transportation to drive to work. I also used to ride it down to New Fairfield, CT where my in-laws lived. I eventually sold it to my brother-in-law. This was a cool bike at the time, I would not mind finding one on ebay just for old time sake.

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj148/rcliffor/180px-1971-Honda-SL100K1-Green-6705.jpg

[madcatdad]

I can't remember a time there wasn't a bike in the garage...
My parents took me to kindergarten in the "back seat" of a Triumph TR4, or in the "front seat" of a 70's Yamaha enduro. Neither of those would be considered legal or safe these days, but they set the bug for me.

When I was 10 yrs old (my sister 8), we spent almost 2 months on a cross country family trip. Me and my dad on his R/90, mom and sis on the R/75. I never realized that most families didn't go to the laundromat, grocery store or vacation on motorcycles!

My first bike was a Jawa Moped I paid $400 for @ Alex's Cycles in Warren, Ohio.
That allowed for a job, girlfriend in another town and the opportunity to see the road w/o looking over someone's shoulder.

My first real bike was an air-cooled, 2cyl/2stroke, Red and White, Yamaha RD 350B (punched out to a 400) that I beat mercilessly throughout high school.

I can still hear that 2-stroke screaming as I pegged the needle for the first time, practiced hanging off in the turns and tried to get a wheelie into second gear. I rode the bike when it wasn't snowing and drove a 1974 MG Midget when it was....Hey it worked for my Dad, so I figured it would work for me!
That bike/car expanded both my travels and my mechanical acumen!

I rode a friend's /5 Toaster to the BMW national rally in Ohio, got a youngest rider award and fell in love the 650/LS that debuted that year.

Since then I've had a barn full of bikes, nothing ever newer than a '88 R100rt that I sold with over 100K on the clock. My current ride is a '85 K100rt that's 90% restored and my first ever K-bike.

My daughter is 7 years old and we've already begun negotiations for a mini-bike...and so it continues!

[osbornk]

Gas was almost $.30 per gallon and I couldn't afford it in my 41 Chevy Special Deluxe so I bought a 59 Allstate Scooter (Cushman) for $70 and used $.50 worth of gas per week to go to work and run around.

[swall]

I had wanted a motorcycle since I saw my first Honda S90. I was finally able to get my parents to let me get a bike when I was 17. I had just read a road test in Cycle Guide magazine (long since defunct) on the Honda CL160. They had a shot of it on a dirt road; it just looked so cool that I decided it was the bike for me. And it cold go 80! It was at the top end of my budget at $625, new in 1967. Put 7000 miles on it then traded it in on a '68 CL 350 the next year.

[Troutluck]

Vespa "Piaggio" moped two-seater. Belt-drive w/torque converter. Hard "bags" with battery on one side. First one (blue) was stolen. Upgraded to "deluxe" red edition with lotsa chrome. That one was stolen, too, but eventually recovered in the woods. I reassembled it, sans several parts, and rode it for another year until I got my first car at 17.

First "real" bike was an 883 Sportster "Hugger" bought new without even a test ride in 1994. This was when you had to be on a waiting list to get anything from the "Motor Co." Best bike in the world for 50 miles. Then, you begin to lose all feeling in your body, beginning with arms and eventually, brain, which convinces you to buy a chrome battery cover. Sold it for more than I paid for it three years later.

Next bike was a K75T, which I was too stupid to figure out you could lower before I sold it. :banghead

[lagator]

My first bike was a Simplex Service Cycle. In place of the original Simplex engine I installed a 5 hp B&S engine to a belt drive with an idler pully. The thing ran great untill I threw a rod out of the side of the block one day while running at top speed. My first real motorcycle was an NSU 250cc with a side car that I purchased from a barracks mate while stationed in Germany in 1965. He had just purchased a BMW R69S used from one of the locals and sold me the NSU. I had gone to see the BMW with him and really wanted to purchase it myself but couldn't afford the $600 back then on military pay. I think that's when I was probably bitten by the BMW bug. There was just something cool and unique about that strange looking engine with the cylinders sticking out to the sides. Anyways I had to settle for the NSU which I rode all over Europe. It was a very easy bike to maintain. My tool kit consisted of a plug wrench, scredriver , and a roll of electrical tape. It never left me on the road. In the late 60s I bought a Suzuki 185 a road it for a while before getting a Hodaka 90 Super Rat. That was a fun bike although my neibors didn't seem to appreciate the noise from the expansion chamber. After that I was sans bike for about 33 years. I finally realized my dream of owning a Beemer in 2003 when I suggested to my wife that we get a motorcycle and she said O.K. So off I went to the dealership. I purchased an 03 R1200CLC new and loved it. We rode to the Smokies several times onit as well as a few rallys and other trips. I put almost 28,000 miles on it in a little over two years and would probalbly still have except that I made the mistake of demo riding a1200RT in May of 06. I bought one two days later and have since put over 42,000 miles on it. I love everything about it, the looks, the ride, the handling, the fuel economy. I don't know if I'll ever get rid of it but if I do, it will probably be for a 1200GS. Hmmmmm, there I go again. That's how I got the RT, I already had a perfectly good bike.:german

[hardbargin]

i started on a 1965 allstate 250 puch. learned to ride it on a track field since i had no tags at the time. had a blown head gasket. got it for $75.00 i was 16 years old at the time

[Prof. Robert]

I was fourteen years old and hanging out at Starvin' Marvin's shop, lusting on a Vincent Black Shadow. Of course, I knew that not only could I not afford such a beautiful piece of art, I also could not get a license to ride it; nevertheless, I meant to have something with two wheels and a motor although the motor could not exceed five horsepower, and I had a little over $300 dollars saved up from my newspaper and shopper routes.

My Dad (bless his heart) hauled me around looking at different brands that fell into my price range. I finally decided on a light blue Sears Allstate Crusaire. I remember needing about $30 to do the deed, and Dad covered what I needed. My world was changed forever. My god, the fun I had on that little scooter!

Around a year later while I was riding to school one cold morning, some jerk ran a stop sign, hit me broadside, and kept going! Fortunately, except for some scrapes and bruises, I wasn't hurt. But my luck didn't end there. The guy who was following me recognized the hit and run driver, and the police were able to find the jerk. As it turned out, the kid didn't have a driver's license or insurance, but his dad had a few extra dollars. My next bike was a Triumph Tiger Cub.

Good Thread,
Robert

[jenunn]

Those are cool first bikes but tell me THE STORY. Why that one? What made it special and do you remember it fondly? I love hearing how people got started and the purchase of the first bike has usually got a great story with it.

:lurk

Like Oldhway my father (Mom died when I was 12) absolutely forbid talk of any motorcycle in our household. I had been lusting for a motorcycle since age 6 after a ride on the back of a cousin's HD. When my father died unexpectedly when I was 17 I was pretty much on my own. Late summer following his passing I was living with my sister in Ann Arbor and playing drums in various bands. I wasn't making much money and couldn't afford a car. I happened to see an ad in the local paper placed by the equipment manager of a newly formed band (The Stooges of Iggy Pop fame) offering to trade a 1959 BMW R59 for a set of drums. It was a win win situation...Iggy needed drums and I needed to put as much distance between my sister and I as I could. As I had never actually driven a motorcycle before, the ride home after the trade was pretty interesting, but the R59 was a pretty tame beast and I managed to make it safely. After a couple of weeks of self training I decided I was ready for the road. I bought an old leather jacket in a Goodwill store, threw a couple of pairs of blue jeans in an old duffel an attached the pack to the seat with a couple of old belts. It was 1967.....riots in Detroit, war in Viet Nam was in full swing, and the Rolling Stones still couldn't get any satisfaction and I had met a girl that summer who lived in Sarasota, FL. It was a cooler than normal October morning. Leaves were falling as was a light rain and I headed south................

[Peter_Krynicki]

I've been riding for 34 years and believe it or not my first bike was a used 1967
R69s. I learned to ride on it, took my NJ motorcycle license test on it, and rode it from 34,000 miles to just under 100,000 miles. I traded it for a new R100CS and heard that two weeks later, whoever bought it blew off the left cylindar.

Pjk

[screwtop]

My first bike was a 1982 Yamaha 650 Maxim. I bought it for $1,000 from guy who decided riding was not his thing (it had 2,300 miles on it). I saved the money working at a hardware store. The first thing I did when I got it was slap on a set of Dunlop K391S raised white letter tires.

My best friend had a Honda 450 Hawk and we used to really tear up the asphalt. We used to race down route 14 from Geneva to Watkins Glen, NY and then back. Those bikes could really take a thrashing. Looking back on it, I'm rather shocked at how we used to abuse them. My friend used to put the front wheel of his Hawk against the wall of the highschool and "light 'em up" much to my delight (I was a bit more gentle with the Maxim). Anyway, the Maxim met its fate at the hands of a 1976 chevy monte carlo and the 17-year old operator (kinda hot as I remember) who plowed through the garage where I had the bike stored. I used the insurance money to pay my first 2 semesters of junior college.

[Oldhway]

Like Oldhway my father (Mom died when I was 12) absolutely forbid talk of any motorcycle in our household. I had been lusting for a motorcycle since age 6 after a ride on the back of a cousin's HD. When my father died unexpectedly when I was 17 I was pretty much on my own. Late summer following his passing I was living with my sister in Ann Arbor and playing drums in various bands. I wasn't making much money and couldn't afford a car. I happened to see an ad in the local paper placed by the equipment manager of a newly formed band (The Stooges of Iggy Pop fame) offering to trade a 1959 BMW R59 for a set of drums. It was a win win situation...Iggy needed drums and I needed to put as much distance between my sister and I as I could. As I had never actually driven a motorcycle before, the ride home after the trade was pretty interesting, but the R59 was a pretty tame beast and I managed to make it safely. After a couple of weeks of self training I decided I was ready for the road. I bought an old leather jacket in a Goodwill store, threw a couple of pairs of blue jeans in an old duffel an attached the pack to the seat with a couple of old belts. It was 1967.....riots in Detroit, war in Viet Nam was in full swing, and the Rolling Stones still couldn't get any satisfaction and I had met a girl that summer who lived in Sarasota, FL. It was a cooler than normal October morning. Leaves were falling as was a light rain and I headed south................

Good stuff. Now you have me waiting for part II........:lurk

[The_Veg]

Good stuff. Now you have me waiting for part II........:lurk

+1!

[RNowell]

I was intoduced to bikes by my uncle who showed up at our house on a new 650
BSA. Wow, what a machine. He took me for a ride to my grandparents house by
going on the twisty backroads. Its scary to see the road getting closer to you as
you lean over. Years later, as a much more mature 14 year old, I tried to talk my folks into helping me buy a motorcycle. I finally won and the trophy was a '62
98cc Ducati without an exhaust pipe. It sounded like it was underwater. My first
corner sort of included a neighbor's yard as well as the entire road. This beauty lasted about 2 months before its mysterious death. I must have pushed it more than a mile trying to start it. Later, in the family basement, I tried to disassemble
the engine and found that none of Dad's wrenches would work (who ever heard of metric). I got so frustrated, I threw a wrench at the bike, it bounced off the front tire and hit me in the forehead. I got rid of that bike and didn't get another
until '69 when I graduated high school and had to have the Kawasaki 500 triple.
After learning to be a mechanic on this bike for a year and 6 months, it was traded
at a dealership for a new '71 R75/5 BMW. I haven't been the same since.

[EXR911]

In 1958 I transferred to a different high school which was across town and difficult to get to by public transit and too far for the bicycle.

I bought a one year old Ariel Colt (200cc, single cylinder, 4 speed g/box) and rode it all fall, winter and through the next spring to school and back, 5 days per week. Pretty cold some days and I carried a piece of hockey stick in one of the canvas saddlebags so I could poke the frozen snow, slush and ice from underneath the fenders when the build-up threatened to prevent the wheels from turning. Fell off a few times on icy roads but never any damage to speak of.

Have owned 26 different makes and models of motorcycles since then; this year marks my 50th riding year.

PT9766

[SheRidesABeemer]

10 Years Ago...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2256/2233953654_65c39491f8_o.jpg

About a week after obtaining my motorcycle endorsement, my office mate, a Yamaha rider, told me he passed a BMW for sale on the way to work.
We rode over at lunch to check it out. I didn't know a K bike from an R bike.
But I knew it was a BMW and was purty. :thumb It was an 11 year old K75 with 38K miles on it.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss. That lunch time trip was the extent of my shopping and research.
It was in my price range and that was good enough for me. My friend took it out for a spin, after all I had a 3 day old license and all of 5 minutes experience on a 250cc. He thought it was ok. I bought it. We trucked it home a few days later. :dunno I promptly dropped it like a million times learning to do a U turn.

My first bike is now 21 years old with 86K miles, it's no longer intimidating tall nor heavy and I love riding it as much as ever.

Last Weekend
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2735307839_7ef02fc718.jpg

[Rod Sheridan]

It was 1974, and I purchased a used 1973 Triumph Bonneville, despite my mothers objections.

The bike was certainly a learning experience, although being a slow learner, I later traded in the Triumph (and all my cash) to purchase a 1975 Norton Commando, that I still own.

The present ride is a 1976 R90/6 that was purchased to replace my previous 74 R90/6, which was killed by an SUV, just shy of 500,000Km.

It took almost a year to find a replacement R90/6, which was the unhappy offspring of a divorce. When I gave the cheque to the woman who owned it, she started crying.

I felt so bad that I offered to loan her the bike for the occasional trip or ride. Normally people only cry when they try to cash my cheques.

As for my mother, 34 years later she still asks me when I'm going to smarten up and give up motorcycles. My answer, hopefuly not until I'm dead.

I guess I'm lucky that Diann rides (an R60/7), it certainly makes spending time and money on this hobby easier.

Keep up the stories, I enjoy reading them.............Rod.

[lagator]

Great stories everyone, keep em coming:thumb

[Troutluck]

My first bike is now 21 years old with 86K miles, it's no longer intimidating tall nor heavy and I love riding it as much as ever.
And you *still* have that windshield? :brow

[jenunn]

+1!

I made a decision early on to avoid expressways though there weren't that may completed by 1967 anyway. I chose US 23 as a good route to follow in my journey to Florida, not that I put a lot of thought into it. I recall buying a map, looking at it briefly and chucking it into a waste basket. Too much planning would take the adventure out of any trip. My new (old) R59 had a dual seat so all my belongings, which included a duffel and a sleeping bag and a couple of cans of Dinty Moore were wrapped together in a plastic tarp and held in place by the aforementioned belts. I was in no hurry. A couple of hours earlier in the day I had been sitting in a morning class at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School staring out the window and now I was riding in the rain south of Toledo headed toward the sun. I had never been to Florida. My grandfather used to winter in Punta Gorda and would send us oranges and grapefruits every Christmas, but the farthest south I had ever traveled was to Nashville when I was 12 to attend a cousins wedding. The bike was running well and was pretty economical to operate, which was good because I had about $40.00 in my pocket as I recall. I had ridden a couple of times at night...enough to know that the headlight in the old bike did not provide much light, so my plan was to ride until dusk and find a place to camp. The rain eventually stopped, but I was pretty well soaked by the time I pulled into Portsmouth in Southern Ohio and started to look for a place to spend the night. At 17, sporting shoulder length hair and riding a motorcycle, I was pretty cautious about choosing a place to sleep....I didn't want Easy Rider Redux if you know what I mean. Safety in numbers. I recall finding a park in the center of town where I pulled my bike into a parking spot. Unpacking my gear I spread out my tarp and sleeping bag at the foot of a civil war monument......some general on a horse. I had one of the cans of stew for dinner.
It was about 8:00 or 8:30 by then and the town and the park were pretty much deserted. I figured I'd get up with the sun and continue my trip south. I fell asleep pretty quickly. I slept longer than I anticipated and didn't hear the two police officers approach. The first kick woke me up, and took my breath away. The second caught me in the ribs and sent me scurrying on all fours. It was 1967 and this was not San Francisco...................

[535is]

I got so frustrated, I threw a wrench at the bike, it bounced off the front tire and hit me in the forehead. I haven't been the same since. I got rid of that bike and didn't get another until '69 when I graduated high school and had to have the Kawasaki 500 triple. After learning to be a mechanic on this bike for a year and 6 months, it was traded
at a dealership for a new '71 R75/5 BMW.

There! Fixed! :thumb

[moondog]

I too had a Rupp at the age of 14 or 15. My best friend next door had a dirt bike and we rode in his back field. Round and round and round. It wasn't until my late 30's when this same friend had a Suzuki 650 he had bought in Texas and brought it home to Connecticut. It had been sitting in his basement and he sold it to me for 200 bucks. I took the riders course, registered it (after fixing it and getting it running) and off I went.
My wife at the time (now ex) thought what a hoot and got her license. We found her a 1981 Honda-matic, 2-speed automatic, 400cc engine. We even took our son Oliver, our four legged son, with us in a book bag hung on her chest. (Lots of padding :whistle ) He thought it was a hoot too :dance . Actually she could have jumped out of building and he be right behind her :confused:

During our divorce :banghead I gave the bike back to my friend where it continues to rot in his basement. In 2005 I got the itch again and was living in Maine and visited a dealer in Falmouth (can't recall the name), saw a K1100 and fell in love with it. It had 82k on the ticker and now it has 103k or so.