My first real Motorcycle

[BigAl]

Was one just like this, but gold in color.

It was  a cool bike, my brother and I found it under our Christmas Tree on Dec, 25th, my parents scraped and made payments for it.

I was 11 then.

It was a shared bike between my younger brother and me.

We both learned to ride a motorcycle on a Honda like this.

Classic 1971 Honda CL100 with motor idling	powered by Aeva

My little brother later got one of these.

CT70HKO Kick and Go	powered by Aeva

I broke my right wrist and left collarbone on this CT70 all at one lick or wreck.

[mrider]

sweet

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Mine was a Sears 106 I got it when I was 12 . My Dad and I worked on it more than I rode it what a POS. Ol'man told me if I catch you on the road with it ,it's gone....He caught me ...It was gone...Did'nt get another one till I was 15 when my grand-father bought me a Honda 350 <---Now that was 10 times the bike the Sears was 

[BigAl]

This was the last bike my parents bought me.

A XL125 Honda.

While riding(RUNNING FLATOUT) to a friends pool party with only shorts tennis shoes and a helmet on.

I hit a station wagon broadside as she backed out from behind a big bush, onto a main road.

SHe was at fault, because I had slowed down to about 40 by then, my buddy had run out of gas and was turing the gas

tank petcock to reserve.

When I looked back forward she was shooting out of her driveway in reverse.

Never saw me built felt the impact.

The worse thing is I limp for the rest of my life and all she could say was I was going too fast.

Never apologized in the least.


What if I had been driving a CementTruck and she had pulled that stunt, her and the kids  in the car would have been dead.

Broken Leg, Pelvis road rash and cut up my right knee.

Body Cast for 3 weeks and leg cast for 6 more.

After that Dad said enough is enough.

Mine was identical to this one.

1974 Honda XL 125 by Randy's Cycle Service	powered by Aeva

[..]

Mine was a black Honda S90. It came with a full fibreglass fairing. Very useful for English weather.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Sport_90

[BigAl]

S90 that was a cool bike.

Campers used them and hunters and kids of course.

All around good bike.

My first real fast street bike I owned was a GT550 Suzuki Two Stroker.

It would eat 750's for lunch.

Fast is the word for this thing.

I was 19 and having fun.

Max's GT550 Starting Up and Riding Away	powered by Aeva

[Stanley Steamer]

My first "real" bike was a 1982 Yamaha Vision 550.....shaft drive and water cooled.....cutting edge for that time.....I got it from my BILaw......when it ran, it ran like a scalded dog.....but I put a lot of $$ into it and sold it for next to nothing......they only made it for maybe 2-3 yrs?.....here's a commercial for it.....Mine didn't have the Babe included!!.....

Yamaha Vision	powered by Aeva

It came with a square headlight, but the Original owner changed mine out to a round one

[..]

BSA C15
249 cc.
Single cylinder, chain drive. First motorcycle ridden at the age of 13. Belonged to a Sixth Former (Senior) at boarding school. How he persuaded the authorities to let him have the bike on premises I don’t know. An older fellow student, Charlie, once tried to attack me with a brick whilst I was riding on the driveway towards the paddock; I let go of the clutch by mistake, did a wheelie and nearly flattened him. He left me alone after that not realizing that I had reared up by mistake. Charlie much later took part in a bank raid near London’s Heathrow airport. Was cornered by the police, shot his female accomplice dead and then successfully shot himself.




Honda Benly CS90
90cc, single cylinder, chain drive. Mine had a full fairing on which was very handy for riding to my first job at age 16. Worked for a local newsagent, had to be at work at 5.30am rain, snow or shine. This machine was used and abused. I learnt a lot about engine maintenance!!!


Matchless 650cc twin
2 cylinder, chain drive. This bike belonged to a big burly biker guy who had a large double adult sidecar fitted. He parked it most days behind the local newsagents I worked at by the railway station. I eventually realized that all I had to do was turn the ignition knob to on (no key) and I could kick start the monster to get it going. Then I used to borrow it (steal to be truthful) at lunchtime and go tearing around the local country lanes. After a couple of weeks I realized that I must have had a death wish, the owner would have beaten me black and blue.




Lambretta TV175
Engine: 175cc
H.P. 8.6hp @ 6000rpm
Fuel Consumption: 123mpg
Top Speed: 56mph

Quit the newsagents and started work for a commercial grass cutting landscaping company working at the local R.A.F. base. This scooter had such tight steering that I could lay down on the seat at 60mph and it would track straight and true. Stripped the engine down once and after reassembly had about 6 pieces left over. The thing still ran!!!



Velocette LE MKII
200cc
Shaft drive, water-cooled, flat twin, hand pull start, hand gear change. Ridden by the Police in England, known affectionately as a Noddy Bike (after a storybook character – Noddy). Eventually the left hand spark plug thread stripped so I took the cylinder head off and rode the bike side saddle for a couple of weeks so as to not get petrol and oil on my left leg. Eventually sold to a mechanic who wanted an old project bike.



Honda CB 200
200cc, 2 cylinder. This bike heralded my return to 2 wheels some 5 years later. English law at the time dictated that a learner could only ride up to a 250cc bike. I wanted something bigger and borrowed this from a local dealer on the understanding that I would take my test and purchase a bike from him. At the time I was a driving instructor in Leicester so knew the test route like the back of my hand. I had a couple of adventures on the bike before taking my test. Approached a large junction on a horrendously rainy night only to have a stop light change to red in front of me, the back wheel locked up and I skidded nearly sideways through the junction. Seemed that the rear shocks were shot. Dealer was embarrassed and changed them. I rode to see some friends one night about 20 miles away on twisty country roads. Came around a bend to find about 15 large white cows in the roadway, how I swerved and weaved through them I don’t really know, I ended up as white as a milk shake.
Took my test and passed even though during the test a car drove at me the wrong way down a narrow one way street. The test examiner told me that the sight of me standing on the foot pegs yelling at the driver had made his day.




400cc, 2 cylinder, chain drive
Honda CB400T. The bike I bought and regretted after running it in. A bland, boring, gutless piece of Jap Crap. Sold it.



Laverda 1000cc, 3 cylinder, chain drive. Fast, wonderful handling brute. Pulled to 60mph in first gear. Terrible to ride around town but orgasmic on the open road. This is the bike that took me to over 150mph on the M40 early one fine summer morning – Wheeeee.
Sold so I could pursue a new job as a despatch rider in London, had to have a more suitable bike.


 Honda CX500
500cc, V twin, water cooled, shaft drive, 112mph (not). Not a patch on the Laverda but a great despatch bike. Comfortable saddle (riding 1,000 miles a  week), low maintenance. Had this for about 2 years. Very early one morning in the company of a friend on a Suzuki GS1000 I raced down the Edgware Road in North London. Keith got chased by a Flying Squad (police) car and was stopped doing 130mph in a 30mph zone. He didn’t get a ticket they just wanted to make sure the bike hadn’t been stolen.



Honda CB400F,
400cc, 4 cylinder, chain drive. A great mini version of the CB750. Rode quite a few of these belonging to friends. Very nimble but too small for prolonged riding. I’d see other despatch riders on the motorway riding these and they would look shaken about.


Yamaha RD400, two stroke twin, power band crazy, wheelie at 40mph.



Kawasaki GPZ550, four cylinder, chain drive, pocket rocket.
This replaced the CX500 and what a transformation. Like getting off a broken down horse and climbing into a F16.  This made despatch riding even more fun. The foot pegs had small balls welded on the underside of them and the foot pegs also folded up about 5 degrees. I wore the balls off the underside of the foot pegs With a new set of Dunlop TT100’s this bike would handle so well. I really enjoyed roundabouts; on a dry day I had a smile wider than a Cheshire Cat.








Yamaha XS750, three cylinder, shaft drive. Rode one of these about 10 yards down a dirt road, fell off and unfortunately the owner riding pillion ripped his brand new imported Levis 501’s. Didn’t get to ride the bike again


BMW 90S. Iloved this bike. It took me safely and securely for thousands of miles

BMW R100RS. Flat twin, shaft drive.
Rode a friends that had cylinder head crash bars fitted and managed to chamfer off a good portion of the right hand one.

Honda Benly 200cc, 2 cylinder, chain drive.
The Kawasaki died a sudden and painful death when its rear mono suspension collapsed. This Benly became my despatch bike. Luckily the friends I worked for gave me pickups and deliveries that entailed chugging from one side of London to the other. The Benly would cruise at about 65mph all day and return about 70mpg around town. Took me to the South of France 3 times in the company of larger bikes. Never missed a beat and was eventually retired after 35,000 miles of use when I quit despatch riding. Ended up giving it to a collector of motorcycles who wanted a small project bike to work on.



Now I live in Atlanta, Georgia, USA had a 1998 Valkyrie Honda which I bought in April of 2002. Ridden over 50,000 miles in 4 years. A very large 1500cc, 6 cylinder, six-carb behemoth that handles very well. Bit of a gas guzzler. Gets about 32mpg to the American gallon. The bike has taken me out to Colorado, Sturgis – South Dakota, western Canada and the whole length of the Blue Ridge Parkway (twice). Mostly ridden around north Georgia and the neighboring states of North and South Carolina with frequent forays into eastern Tennessee. Sold in 2006.

Picked up a lightly used (1,500 miles) 2005 Honda ST1300 on April 17th, 2006 in Fort Worth, TX. Rode it back to Atlanta, 850 miles in 14 hours of riding. 5,400 on April 12th, 2006. 27,000 miles March 12, 2007, 46,000 January 28, 2008. 77,000 miles September 22, 2010. 83,000 miles August 2011

2005 KLR purchased in September of 2009 (12,541 miles).

There are other bikes I’ve ridden or owned but nothing really stands out about them. Apart from the Yamaha 90cc moped, which would stand on its rear light when you quickly engaged the foot operated clutch/gear change. A great post pub trick to amuse the onlookers.

[BF]

My first "real" motorcycle was more moped than motorcycle, but it did have two wheels and it'd take me everywhere I wanted to go.....as long as it was under 45 mph.  It was brand new, I was 13 and it was a '66 Harley M50 Sport.  

1966 aermacch harley davidson M50S 50cc	powered by Aeva

My next bike was more real than the first one....at least it'd do 70 mph (with a good tail wind and if I laid down on the tank).  A '68 Harley 125 Repido.  

1968 Harley Davidson 125 Rapido ML made in Italy by Aermacchi	powered by Aeva

Third bike was a Harley 250 Sprint.  It looked just like this one.  

1968 Harley-Davidson Sprint SS 250cc	powered by Aeva

[bscrive]

Mine was a 1972 CB350.  I had it for two years.  I decided to put it on the road but I had to put horn on it.  When I was hooking up the horn I accidentally touched a couple of wires together and fried all the wiring, bike was running at the time.  They didn't believe in fuses back then I guess.  Never could get the darn thing started again.  I traded it in on a 1984 450 Nighthawk, gutless but reliable.

[highcountry]

My first bike was bought when I was in the Navy in '67 while stationed at Pearl Harbor - - a Yamaha 180 ring-a-ding.  Cool little bike.

The photos are representative, not my bikes.



The second bike was way cooler - '67 Triumph Bonneville TT converted to be street legal



The third was a '72 HD Sporty which I loved the looks of but hated to ride because it handled bad, was hard to start, and generally uncomfortable.  This was definitely NOT a lady's bike!

[Jess from VA]

The only bike I ever got from my folks was a Schwinn.

At 17 I bought a 6 mo old '70 BSA 650 Lightning with 1100 miles on it.  (Cost my whole savings from a summer in the mill as a field engineer clerk, and the folks were not amused, and I certainly never discussed it with them beforehand).

There was no separate bike endorsement (or training) all you needed was your dr. license.  I taught myself, and only fell down a few times.



They came in red or royal blue (mine was blue).


The folks later got a Honda70 to use on a boat for ground transportation (my brother got to ride and wheelie that, not me), and caught the bug.  My mom started off with a Harley D Rapido (the Italian 125 mentioned above)(it was two stroke with blue smoke and torquey as hell, and would absolutely shoot out from under you if you nailed the throttle in 1st). Then they got matching new Honda 360s and took a few trips; and would come to see me in the dorm at school... in jeans carrying helmets (and the guys did not believe they were my parents (40 somethings).   Alas my mom ended with a Vespa in her 50s and dad quit to get her to quit.

[solo1]

Great thread!  Some really great bikes mentioned here especially Britman's post.

I was like Jess.  The only bike ever bought for me was a Schwinn Henderson balloon tire bicycle as they were called. Our family was still recovering from the Depression and my Dad and recently passed sisiter, Eileen, bought it for me.

Four years later I put a Whizzer motor in it. That got me started.   The first motorcycle was a 1935 Harley 45 sidevalve with a 'suicide' foot clutch and hand shift.  It was junk, paid $50.00 for it.

When I met my to be wife, I took her for a ride on the dealer's new 1954 Matchless 500 twin.  That's the last time she rode.  That's why I'm

Solo1

[9Ball]

My first "real" motorcycle was more moped than motorcycle, but it did have two wheels and it'd take me everywhere I wanted to go.....as long as it was under 45 mph.  It was brand new, I was 13 and it was a '66 Harley M50 Sport.  

1966 aermacch harley davidson M50S 50cc

that was my first bike as well at age 12.   Same color, etc.  Rode that bike to death for the next 8 years through the fields on our farm.  Ended up painting it "Plum Crazy" to match the car....awesome memories.

[MacDragon]

I started a little later in life... Just shy of 20 years old and the first bike I ever sat on, I bought... A 1975 R90/6 BMW.  What a great bike that was with the Duel-Horizontally apposed twin engine. 


Drive shaft, 900cc and just a monster in my mind... Great, smooth rider.

[robin]

This is some one elses photo but my looked almost to a "T" like it, was a 67 Triumph 500 i bought it in 1976 i was working out of town in Virginia came home bought it put it my mothers garage and left.She was dead set against me having a motorcycle all my younger days.I had the bike for about 2 months was riding down the road one day a person makes a left turn in front of sees me half way into the turn and stops no where to go for me woke in the the hospital 3 days later.
  The next year bought a 650 Yamaha special and never looked back.

[3fan4life]

My first real bike was a 1974 Honda MT 125 Elsinore



It was fun and fast especially for a 13 yr old kid.

Since it was a street and trail I rode it everywhere after I got my license.



A buddy of mine had one of these:



It had a dual range transmission that made it great for the both street and trail.

My Elsinore would out handle it, but his bike was better at hill climbing and had more top end on the street.   


After High School and a 3 yr stint in the Army I returned home in 1985 and bought a 1982 Honda CB 750F that was still in the crate:



That thing ran like a "Scalded Dawg".


My cousin and riding buddy at the time had one of these:



Suzuki 550 Katana

It would beat my 750F off of the line everytime but in the 1/4 mile the 750 would always come back to beat it.

He also had one of these for a while:



It was unbelievably fast for a 350. 

It jumped out from underneath me once when I kicked it too hard on wet pavement, definately taught me to respect it.

[hubcapsc]

Man, did I ever want a motorcycle/minibike... when I was 12 my mother, who hated them,
figured out how to keep me from getting one: you can get one if you can pay for it...

It only took two years with a paper route  ...



I slid out and tore the seat within 100 yards of the house on the first ride, picked it
up and ran into Mark Petropolis' dog before I got out of first gear, crashed again...

-Mike "some eBay picture I saved a while back... "

[hubcapsc]

It had a dual range transmission that made it great for the both street and trail.

Not a TS 185... I had that exact one. It was the TC 185... My buddy Lance and his father each had Suzuki 100's of that
vintage, one of them had the dual range transmission...



-Mike

[3fan4life]

It had a dual range transmission that made it great for the both street and trail.

Not a TS 185... I had that exact one. It was the TC 185... My buddy Lance and his father each had Suzuki 100's of that
vintage, one of them had the dual range transmission...



-Mike

Come to think of it his might have been a TC instead of a TS, I do remember that it was yellow and definately had the dual range transmission.


My mom said the same thing to me, "You can have a motorcycle if you pay for it".

I saved my paper money all summer to buy the Elsinore.

It actually wasn't the first bike that I bought it was just the first real motorcycle.

I had two "bikes" prior to the Elsinore: 


My first was a Honda NC50:



I bought it new for around $300, I rode it all summer until the police informed me that it didn't qualify as a moped (no pedals).

So I traded it in to the dealer that I bought it from (he gave me most of what I paid for it since he'd mistakenly told me that I didn't need a license to ride it) for one of these:



Honda PA50

It finally died after my buddy and I discovered if we mixed laquer thinner into the gas it would run like a "scalded dawg". (Hey 60mph on a moped is haulin'  ).

[fon1961]

I started out on one like this.  Always had a street tire on the back of mine though.  That thing would go forever on a gallon of gas.  This is a cool thread.  I'm enjoying looking at these bikes, it's bringing back alot of fond memories.

[Grumpy]

No picture, but my first was a brand new 1957 Cushman Eagle, thing vibrated so bad, would blur your vision at 55 mph, but put many mile on it. Sold it in 1958 and bought a Harley sportster, it vibrated almost as bad. Went from that to a 1958 harley chopper, twisted springer front end hardtail, needed 2 blocks to make a u-turn. Listing of bikes would be a long list, I have owned over 60 since I started riding. Last one a 99 Valkyrie Interstate, figure this is my last, unless they start making them again. Telling my age, 56 years of riding.

[Dag]

1969 Honda CB350
325.6 cc (19.87 cu in) OHC parallel twin cylinder, four-stroke.

[Walküre]

Mine was a black Honda S90. It came with a full fibreglass fairing. Very useful for English weather.

Isn't that a cologne??

My first was a Suzuki 80cc (black, though), that dad got over in Japan, while on a WestPac tour. I was probably 12 or 13. Rode the snot out of it, in the canyons of South California. I could get just about anywhere, without ever touching pavement...well, HARDLY ever touching it!

[Dagwood]

Hey Dag,

That looks exactly like my first, a 72 CL350, always got beat by my buddies Yam 350 2 strokers on the launch but could top, out higher than them. Thing could climb trees even with it's weight.

[Dag]

Hey Dag,

That looks exactly like my first, a 72 CL350, always got beat by my buddies Yam 350 2 strokers on the launch but could top, out higher than them. Thing could climb trees even with it's weight.

It was the highest selling motorcycle in American history, with 300,000 units sold.