My First Bike

[QOTFU]

I got my first bike in 1972. It was orange with yellow pin stripes. It was a Yamaha 60 and I LOVED it. I have no idea where it went. I guess my dad got rid of it when I discovered boys and cars!

[SteveL]

Me and my first bike. 23 years old. 1973.

[hubcapsc]

My first bike was a 1972 Yamaha 100 enduro... my buddy down the street had a
Mini-enduro just like yours...



There was a guy on a purple Kawasaki 750 triple two-stroke with black expansion
chambers who used to go by the gas station I hung out at every day, often on
one wheel...

-Mike

[Big IV]

My first bike, when I was 18, was a 1974 CB750. I'd been shopping. I went to Claude's a neighbor that trades in used motorcycles because a friend thought that Claude might have something I was interested in at a good price. When I pulled intot he driveway and saw her sitting there on the center stand freshly washed...wow.

I don't have a pic handy, sorry.

I loved that bike.

I made a lot of my first mistakes on that bike, and learned a lot of important lessons on that bike.

I eventually sold it and a truck load of parts to a VRCC member in SC so that I could put a little money toward paying off my Valk. He was hoping to restore it. I wonder how that turned out?

[Evil One]

My first "bike" was a 1955 sears allstate scooter... made by vespa.
My first motorcycle was a 1978 Honda Hawk 400 twin.
Learned a LOT on those 2.


Jim

[Scott from FL, now in Maine]

First bike, I was 14. 1972 Kaw enduro 100cc 

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2354877770105092357LtZFxL

[Jack]

This Sears 106 is similiar to mine.  Actually I wore out 2 of these before my first Honda.

[bsnicely]

1977 CB750F

[BonS]

My '65 305 Dream. I can "kick" start it with my hand. It was also the first bike with an electric start as I understand it. I still ride it to work some days. Gee, what ever happened to pressed steel frames? I wish I kept every bike I've ever owned.

[Black Dog]

My dad picked up a '67 HD Legaro at a police auction.  My brother and I treated that thing like a full blown 'dirt' bike, riding the fields and woods around my grandmothers farm, in Milford MI...  Took a licking and kept on ticking 



Black Dog

[RDKLL]

1969 or 1970 Hoda QA-50

[Michael K (Az.)]

Posing with little Sister, my first "bike"!
Made by the "Go-Cart" company, it had a Clinton 2-1/2 hp. 2 stroke engine that I upgraded to a 5 hp. West Bend 2 stroke!


--- And this was the first bike that scared the piss outa me!! Whoo-Hoo! Screamin 500 cc 2 stroke, high revvin canyon carving Mo Fo!!


Ya gotta love those brakes!

[Jabba]

1983 Honda CB 650.

I was a newlywed stationed in Pearl Harbor in 1991. I bought it from an Army Officer who just got back from the Sainai.  He couldn't get it to run.  It'd start... then die after a second or two.  He could hear gas in the tank so he KNEW that wasn't it.  Long story short... I bought it for $500, loaded it into my truck, and put 1 gallon of gas in it and had it purring before I even pulled out of his driveway.  The enlisted Navy guy in me needed to tosshim a little FU.

I rode that think 40K in about 2 years there on the island of Oahu.  It was my ONLY vehicle.  My wife drove our standard cab S-10.

Jabba

[vanagon40]

Honda S65.  Mine was red.  Got it for my 13th birthday in 1971.

By the time I was 16 I had split the engine in half not once but twice to replace transmission gears.

[Wizzard]

First bike at age 9  tore it down and put it together by age 11 just to see how it worked.



Second bike age 14
















Third bike age 17




Fourth bike age 22




Fifth bike age 50 and still today

[TwoDogs]

Number One, 1970



Number Two, 2008



Number Three, last week

Just imagine a bone-stock black '99 Interstate here.

I knew you could. 

[TwoDogs]

Michael K - you had a Mach III back in the day and you're still alive today ??
Lucky, lucky, lucky    I rode one of those -once- and it scared the crap
out of me, too.

[Rowdy]

A 1970 Honda 350 CL purchased in summer 1971 
Just out of the Marine Corps - purchased from local Honda mecanic - latter became my riding buddy.
Eventually rebuilt engine, painted the blue seen in picture added Z-bar ect 
Sold and purchased a 73 CB 500 in 1974.

[QOTFU]

Amazing how many "first bikes" were in the early 70's!

[Clark]

My dad picked up a '67 HD Legaro at a police auction.  My brother and I treated that thing like a full blown 'dirt' bike, riding the fields and woods around my grandmothers farm, in Milford MI...  Took a licking and kept on ticking 



Black Dog

   BLACK DOG!!!!!!! that was my first also.. my hero put on a raised aluminum front fender made the exhaust into a high pipe put on a skid plate and a foot shifter kit.. I of course pulled the baffles out and my neighbors wanted to kill me.. then it got worse.. got a superhawk.. put on some apehangers.. cut the ends off the mufflers and gutted em.. IT was BADDDDASSSSSS

[Black Pearl's Captain]

Number Three, last week Just imagine a bone-stock black '99 Interstate here. I knew you could. 

I don't see it. It's been a real long time since I've seen an Interstate that was "bone stock".

Raymond

[Slyk Willy]

Here's my first, '67 Super Hawk

[Slyk Willy]

BonS, Great looking Dream! here's mine

[Willow]

She didn't live long.



I'm sure I must have another picture of her somewhere.

[QOTFU]

Hey Willow.... I'm diggin' those shorts!

[BonS]

BonS, Great looking Dream! here's mine

Nice pipes and bags! Got baffles? Some one had bologna sliced my originals and ruined them.
Since the picture was taken I got some new, repros, from Australia made in stainless steel - no rust!
I do love to go from riding "the hulk" to the Dream. I hate to say it but I get more comments on the Dream.

[woody]

man, all those old bikes, and the pictures.....fantastic.
I was too broke to afford anything even resembling nice, and from the looks of those bikes you have either restored them or had beautiful bikes to start with.
My first was an old beat up DT175 yamahaha.
Bought it from a bloke who only rode it twice, but it was dumped in the shed when he broke his arm and not ridden for 5 years. Still had gas in the tank.
It took me two weeks to get it running, tyres were pretty bad, leaky forks broken clutch lever (you could only use two fingers) blinkers didnt work when you were idling. I didnt fix those things I just rode it regardless.
Hated that piece of S#$%.
It also had a bad habit of falling over when ever I parked it. Someone would always back into it because it was lower than a cars rear end and they couldnt see it.
I certainly glad that they made the Valk, its the best of many bikes Ive owned.

[Willow]

Hey Willow.... I'm diggin' those shorts!

Hey, now!  Be honest.  It's not the shorts; it's the legs.  lol   

[BF]

Here's my first 4 bikes.  I don't have any original pics of me and my first bikes.....wish I did, but......  

First bike, well, was a scooter.  I was 12 years old in 1965.  A red Harley Davidson Topper with a side car.  It was slow, but boy, was it fun.  This is one, but mine didn't have a windshield on it.....and mine most definitely had more of a lived-in look.  



Second bike was a Harley Davidson M50.  At least it looked like a bike.  



Second bike at least had some power.  It was pretty quick.  Harley Davidson 1968 Rapido 125cc.  



Third bike was a 1967 Harley Davidson Sprint.   It was exactly like this one.  



Can you tell a theme.....I lived down the street from a small Harley shop.  

Fourth bike was a little blue Yamaha 1968 ycshc 180cc twin I bought from a friend.  It was faily sporty for a little two stroke, but I wanted something bigger and sold it.  Got married and joined the military and went without for a couple of years.  



Duruing the military, bought a used Honda cb750.  Rode that for a year and sold it.  Bought a 1975 Yamaha XS650 Special.  Next to my Valk, it's my favorite.  That was a fun bike. Loved how it sounded.....kinda like a triumph 650.  Sold it after getting out.  That was my last bike for a veeeeeeeeery long time.  Kids and life got in the way.  

At 54, I got the fever and found my '97 Valk.  Have been having a blast ever since.  I'm even thinkin' about a "project" bike.  

[SteveL]

My second bike

[BF]

That's like my sixth bike.  A '75 Yamaha XS650 Special.  Wish I still had it.   

[nortman]

Honda S65, just like the black one on the first page. I got it in 1966.  My second was a 69 CL175 scrambler. Third was a 72 CB500-4 (still have it,need to put it back together). Fourth, 75 Honda CJ360, kind of a factory cafe racer.  Fifth, 76 CB500 twin. Sixth, 73 CB750 with a Poweroll 836 kit Carlini paint and an RC engineering header, that I bought in pieces and re-assembled in 79.  Also in the mid seventies, I had lots of dirt bikes, TL125 Honda, WR125 Husky, SC500 Yahama.  Just dirt bikes of one flavor or another from the late eighties to the mid ninties while my daughter was young, and bikeless except for the tore down 500 for about 5 years after my son was born.  Bought a new 2001 Kawasaki W650, and started riding on the road again with my 6 year old son as my riding partner.  In 03 I ran across an 87 Kawasaki ZL1000 that was in storage for at least 15 years, with only 10,000 miles on it.  Then in 06 I found My Valk and fell hopelessly in love.  She's a 97 and only had 13,000 on the clock.  Now, not quite 3 years later, She's running better than ever at 54,000.  Here's the Z , and here's my Fat Lady with the trailer that I built for my boy and I for Camping,

[QOTFU]

Hey Willow.... I'm diggin' those shorts!

Hey, now!  Be honest.  It's not the shorts; it's the legs.  lol   

Ok... it is the legs.... and the way you could ball up your fists and make those arm muscles pop out...lol

[TwoDogs]

Amazing how many "first bikes" were in the early 70's!

Yeah - amazing how many fiftysomething geezers there are on this board 

[Misfit]

1969 Honda CT70 in 1970.

[TwoDogs]

Number Three, last week Just imagine a bone-stock black '99 Interstate here. I knew you could. 

I don't see it. It's been a real long time since I've seen an Interstate that was "bone stock".

Raymond

As far as I can tell, the only things that weren't on it when it left the showroom are the
tires and the miles on the odometer.  I'm fixin' to change that.

[solo1]

Here's a pic of a bike just like my first bike, my old pics are long gone.

It's a 1946 Matchless 500 cc thumper hard tail.  I got it in 1947.  My buddy and I took a 1600 mile trip on our Matchlesses in 1949.  When i saw a big bump coming, I just stood up on the footpegs. 

[Master Blaster]

Started out with a Trumpy, believe it was a well used 1948 Speedtwin 600 that had been made into a 650.  Kickstart, lovely Lucas electrics, would viberate every bolt loose in a hundred miles or less.  Had a set of old Harley leather bags. I fit a car radio in the top of one for some tunes, and was styling.  At the same time my Bud had an old Indian 4 that I rode a lot.  This was late 50s, and both bikes were old then.  After that, through the years it was a seldom thing, some dirt biking, a short ride every now and then on a borrowed bike.  Then around 98 I woke up to the fact that I was 60 years old, and if I was gonna ride I had better get with the program.  Found my new 98 Blue/Creme Std, and had to have it.  Put on a set of Champion bags and guards, and had a ball.  2K came and the Blue/Silver Interstate caught my eye. Was lusting after it but couldnt afford it when I found a new one a member had wrecked and wanted to sell cheap with a clean title, bought it and fixed it and rode it all over the country.  Wanted to try my hand at customizing, and bought a 97 Red/White Police Valk that had 4K miles and started building my custom.  Bought another 97 Black/Yellow that was supercharged for the blower to put on my custom, fixed it up with carbs, that gave me 4 Valks.  Sold the 98 to my Son, found a buyer for the Black Yellow 97, and now have the Interstate and custom.  Along the way I wanted to get into Sport touring, and found an 05 Kaw ZZR1200 with 178 miles on it at a bargan, bought it and rode it for 6 months untill the ZX14 came out.  Traded the ZZR, and my dealer gave me all my money back for it and cut a deal on the ZX.  Planned to make it into a Hyper Tourer with panniers and a tail bag, but was having so much fun with it that by the time I started to look at bags, the Concours 14 came out.  Sat on it, had to have it, so now I have the 97 Custom, the 2K Interstate, the ZX14, and the Concours 14.  All I need now is a dual sport to have all bases covered.

[DIGGER]

Me and my first bike. 23 years old. 1973.

I had a new 71 blue Kawasaki 500 2 stroke 3 cylinder in 1971.....my first new bike.....I was 21 and after droooooooling over "Then Came Bronson" I took my first long distancetrip on that bike from Houston, Tx to the Grand Canyon and back.......that's when I really fell in love with long distance riding.

[DIGGER]

This Sears 106 is similiar to mine.  Actually I wore out 2 of these before my first Honda.

When I was in high school in Houston, Tx (graduated in 68) my dad worked at Sears and they sold the Gilera 106 and my dad bought two of them and we transformed them into dirt bikes and rode the New Waverly's Sam Houston National Forest most weekends for several years.   there was about 25 miles of trails you could run and we had a blast.   That was probably when My Dad and I were the closeest.   Those old Gilera's were tough old machines for their time.    Only problem we had was they were Italian made and the shifter and the brake were on the opposite sides as our Honda 150 street bike we had.....that will get you in trouble quick in a jam.....ha....used to be you could go anywhere in the National Forest but now I think you have to have a special state sticker (for a small fee...typical govt ) and they confine you to a certain path.  I remember my dad going through the roof one time....never seen him so mad.....the forest rangers closed off a section of dirt road and when my dad called them to see why they replied that they didn't want us motorcycle people tearing up "THEIR" roads.....my dad went ballistic on the phone and told the guy "YOUR ROADS??????   WE THE TAXPAYERS OWN THOSE ROADS....NOT YOU!!!!"  They eventually had to reopen the roads due to so many dirt bikers raising cain.