Your First Bike

[fz6xlr8r]

I thought some of us would like to tell of our first motorcycling experiences. It could be fun for some of us and painful for others.
I guess since I bruoght it up I'll go first.
Around 1990 I got the itch for a motorcycle. My dad had bikes off and on when I was a kid and I loved to ride on the back. Another reason for the itch was my best friend had a bike and the girls would fall all over themselves to get a ride.( On the bike.) Anyway, I knew a guy that had a bike for sale and he wanted $500.00 for it and so happened I had the 500 bucks and no sense of what I was getting myself into. I get to his house and there sat, a 1979 Honda CB 750 in all its glory.(A lot of its glory was in cardboard boxes.) I gladly handed over my hard earned cash, rolled the bike into the back of my dads El Camino(threw about three big cardboard boxes of parts in with it too) and I was off.
After about a week of figuring out what went to where, getting the rust out of the gas tank, treating the tank with rusty tank stuff and about $100.00 dollars worth of black Crylon spray paint I was ready to go. I was ready to go but the carbs were not, so my friends dad pulled the carbs and got them cleaned up and didn't charge me a dime to do it.( I think he felt sorry for me.)Carbs back on, bike fires up, running like a top. I pull out on the street, go down the block, come back, get off the bike and say to my dad" This thing sucks!" I was so disappointed at how it handled. The power was there but the bike had a huge fiberglass wind-jammer that made it feel very top heavy and for a beginner this is not a good feeling.( The wind-jammer looked dorky anyway and no girl would get caught dead riding on the back of that bike with me anyhow.) Two weeks later I sold the old CB 750 for $750.00( About what I had in it) and got a nice deal on a 1983 Yamaha 650 Maxim with 500 miles on it. Cut my teeth on the Maxim but gained a lot of valuable lessons with that Honda. Sometimes I wonder why I still wanted to ride after that experience and then I remember"GIRLS" Oh ya, thats why.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

the first bike I ever rode was a neighbor's. He taught me how to ride this Bridgestone 350 when I was 10 years old and let me ride it around on the street from time to time.

My own first bike was a 1977 R100RS.

 

[wrightme43]

My first bike was a 05 kawi, ninja 250 with 1506 miles on it. I absolutely loved that bike.
No exciting stories though. I bought Houghs, profcient motorcycling I+II, then Parks Total Control, then Hahns Ride Hard Ride Smart. I practiced and practiced, and practiced. I wore the stock tires out, in two months, bought a set of avon super venoms, and swapped them myself. Adjusted the valves, swapped over to stainless lines, ebc pads, and new b. fluid. Cleaned it constantly, and waxed it to death. Removed the decals, and had custom flames in retro reflective blue made. Sold it for $100 less than I paid for it 8000 miles of riding later.
It went to a guy in beaver dam Ky who is loving it now. I hope he takes good care of it, and passes it on to another new rider.

Well I guess I do have one interesting story. Went to Nashville to get a another pair of riding pants, on the way back I hear a strange new noise from the engine, exit, stop and listen. Oh hell, it sound sick.
Limp her home on the back roads. Get it opened up, and the cam chain tensioner had failed. I found a used motor less than 2k miles on it, for $400. Swapped it over and went back at it. Sold the bike about three weeks later.
Got my FZ6. I am looking at getting a 1970 honda cb175 dream. It was my ex mother in laws bought new in 1970, hardly riden, sat in the garage till the 90s and then moved to sit in another garage. I think it will be fun to get back to going, and ride around for the hell of it.

 

[gmickey2001]

My First Bike

Just out of college, never ridden a motorcycle. Driving by this dealership and decide to check out the used bike selection. Salesman encourages me to take this 1980 Honda CX500 for a spin. "Do you think I can safely ride this bike, I have no experience?" No problem he says as I proceed to pop the clutch and almost flip the bike over as I take off. So I buy the bike. Next day I am riding home from work. Take this smooth curve at about 50 mph. Bike is going wide and I panic! End up hitting a sloped curb, jumping a drainage gulley that is on the other side. I land in a dirt lot with my hand still holding the throttle open. I think to myself "Yeah...you badass...you made it!" Just then I realize I am heading straight for a barbed wire fence! Don't know what happened next, but end up sliding across the lot on my head and left shoulder (thank god for the helmet!). I get up and I think to myself "Yeah...you badass...you didn't get hurt!". The I go to pick up the bike and realize I had broken my collar bone! Isn't that the classic newbie crashes new bike story? This same story with only minor variation probably gets played out every weekend by hundreds or thousands of poor shmucks!

 

[wrightme43]

That is a hella cool bike though man. I sure would like to find one to play with.

 

[gmickey2001]

Cx500?

That is a hella cool bike though man. I sure would like to find one to play with.

You mean the CX500?

 

[wrightme43]

Yeah man. That looks like what comes automaticly to mind when someone says motorcycle.

 

[gmickey2001]

The interesting things about this bike were that the engine was aluminum and that it was shaft drive.

After my crash, I fixed it up and after that, it had built in cruise control. The replacement bars were a few mm thicker than the originals, so the throttle would stay wherever you left it! Talk about living on the edge!

Young and stupid

 

[pedwards89]

This is a facsimily of my first bike. Mine was a shagged out field bike I bought off my mate for 10 quid

 

[pedwards89]

When I was 16 I nicked my Mum's Raleigh Wisp briefly. Got to be said there wasn't much kudos with the Wisp.

A couple of months later I got my 'Fizzy' - King of the road or what!! :Sport:

 

[Bo67]

My brother and I went halvsies on a 1971 Honda CB750K back in 1982. We worked on it over the wintertime (replacing hoses, tires, brakes, some wiring and by the time I got my endorsement in '83 the bike was ready to go. I repainted the bike myself at a boat manufacturing plant that I worked at back then. I remember it being a very forgiving bike for a new rider straight out of his safety class. Plenty of power for me and a pretty good handler as long as you didn't push her too hard.

We sold the bike because my brother fell in love with a Virago he saw and I fell in love with every bike that was introduced during '83-'85. There were waves of new bikes back then as their popularity grew. The first bike that I owned completely was a 1984 Honda VT 500 Ascot. It was a flat-track inspired bike based off of the Shadow. Mine was red and black. A lot of the mods guys are doing to the FZ6 now my Ascot had then (blacked out bars, pegs, exhaust). It was one of those bikes that didn't do anything great but did everything good. I remember I paid $1499 for it brand new out the door.
I sold the bike after a year and bought a 1985 Suzuki GS1150E.

I LOVE my FZ6; it reminds me a bit of my Ascot as a good all-around bike but there will always be a little something special about the little V-Twin I had when I was young (and had a Camaro mullet!).

 

[mikebike]

the first 4

Lil indian from 1962

kawasaki 75

HOdaka super rat

Montesa 250 king scorpion

 

[mikebike]

the next 4

 

[Bo67]

Love that 360. My neighbor had one in green. Cool bike.

 

[OneTrack]

My first bike was a used 1959? Triumph Tiger Cub T20. I rode it around our housing estate in Hooley, Surrey, England in 1st gear all day until I got the courage to upshift and then hit the 'open road'.
I blew up the engine on the M1 while riding it from Hooley to Harrogate in Yorkshire...the little 200cc engine just couldn't take the blistering flat-out pace that I set it at 70 mph.
Photo taken on my first day with my Tiger Cub in 1963 when I was sweet sixteen.

 

[Chaosratt]

My first real bike was a Suzuki. I have to apologize for not remember what model/year.

Second was a Honda Shadow Spirit 750. 2003 with only 3k on it when I got it. I had to move out of town for about 8 months and my dad sold it while I was away . Wasn't the quickest thing around, but it had some torque and straight pipes that could put the best Harley to shame .

Third was/is my current Fz

 

[wrightme43]

Love the CB350 Mike. It has that perfect motorcycleness.

 

[Nelly]

My First bikes

So I guess its my turn to give my first biking history:
Suzi ER 50, still at school 16 years of age. Working 4 nights a week as a KP. Saved up £230 in three weeks and brought this baby. I loved it. My brother broke my heart when I came home from college one day to find he had decided it would be better suited as a field bike. He dumped every thing. Lights, indicators, battery, mud guards the lot. It caught fire shortley after that. After he removed the crank case number and engine number with a hammer he dumped her in the woods.
Next was the Yam YB 100. What a bike that was, unfortunately I'm not a photo taking kinda guy so the pics arn't my originals. However my YB 100 was the cleanest thing on the road. I got it from a neighbour in three boxes for £40.00 (1986) My mate and I got it running, His dad worked for BA at the time as an engineer. He took every single piece of metal and powder coated it for me (Talk about berfore my time) I could only have BA colours though, Red, White & Blue. It was a great little bike and would wheelie easily in the first two gears. The guy who had it before me dropped a couple of teeth in the front cog. The problem with this bike was. You could only do 65mph for about 40 seconds before the piston would sieze. The engine pitch would change from a whine to a scream. I then had to pull the clutch in to stop the back locking up. It would take 10 minutes at the side of the road to cool down before you could kick it again. I sold it for £100.00 to a mate.
Next came the GS 125. Another great bike used by many a learner. This bike did a true 70mph, missile (when you have just come of your BMX). The best feature about this bike was that it had an illuminated gear indicator. My brother then needed this bike for a long commute. So I got the RD200. Mine was a black one with a stan stevens stage 3 tune and micron exhausts. It was very quick in a straight line and would pull to 95mph. I loved this stroker you can't beat a power band. Unfortunately I wrote it off when I drove over a drain cover in the road that collapsed under me. (at this time in the UK , there was no definition of an unsafe drain) I was unable to sue the local authority. 1 Broken shoulder blade, 1 Perforated ear drum and facial paralysis that lasted for two years. Gutted as the bike was a minter and I couldn't afford to sort it. Next came the Benly. I got it from a car mechanic who found it in a relatives garage. I was short of funds and desperate to find transport (I only took my car licence in 2003) It was noisy and used as much oil as petrol but never broke down. I used it for 12 months on a daily 50 mile commute. It was stolen from my garden shed one day never to be seen again.
Alas the bug bit deep and I would ride anything just to keep me on two wheels.

 

[wrightme43]

Dang it man, you have had a heck of motorcycle time.
I wish we had more small cc bikes over here.
Anything under 500 cc is considered lame, and people give you crap for riding a 250. I loved mine and still miss it. I should of kept it, I had it perfect.

 

[Maverick]

1984 RZ350 - bought new and still have it - picture taken 2006... there is something special about a modified 2-Stroke on the pipe!