Where did it all begin?

[HONDARIDER]

It has been established in other threads that BMWs are rarely the first bikes that a young rider throws his/her leg over. However, we all started somewhere...

So what was your first motorcycle and how old were you when you got it?



Bonus points awarded for complete and utter lack of coolness.



(Forgive me if this is a thread that has been exhausted in the past. I did numerous searches for this topic and came up with nothing remotely recent.)

 

[beemokat]

It has been established in other threads that BMWs are rarely the first bikes that a young rider throws his/her leg over. However, we all started somewhere...

So what was your first motorcycle and how old were you when you got it?



Bonus points awarded for complete and utter lack of coolness.



(Forgive me if this is a thread that has been exhausted in the past. I did numerous searches for this topic and came up with nothing remotely recent.)

My first bike is one I still have, a 1979 R-80. I bought it in May 2001, I was 47 years old. Uncool enough for ya?

 

[crazydrummerdude]

1982 Yamaha XT125. I was probably about 12 or 13. Still have it. This is the bike everyone I know learned to ride on. It was once street legal, but we've broken all the mirrors and blinkers off by now.

For some unknown reason, this beast can not go above 35mph any more.. and that was after we fixed it.

 

[HONDARIDER]

No way Beemokat! You get points deducted for your first bike being a BMW, having a displacement over 250ccs, and lacking any sort of metal-flake paint finish

 

[oldhway]

196? Rupp Scrambler. The WAY cool one with front and rear suspension, chrome fuel tank and a working headlight. Also had the super cool blue metalflake open face helmet to match. Bought both with paper route money. It's all been down hill from there.

 

[MOTOR31]

First bike I ever rode was an old Honda trail 90. It wasn't mine though.

The first bike I owned was an old used Honda 350 street bike. It was painted some awful purple color by a previous owner. I didn't care since I figured it would end up getting munched up a bit by me trying to learn how to ride a "big" motorcycle. Never did drop the sucker. It always ran too.

 

[HONDARIDER]

196? Rupp Scrambler. The WAY cool one with front and rear suspension, chrome fuel tank and a working headlight. Also had the super cool blue metalflake open face helmet to match. Bought both with paper route money. It's all been down hill from there.

I wish I could find one of those cool blue metalflake 3/4 helmets now...it would be a perfect match for my CL200

 

[osbornk]

Can anybody find anything less cool than my 1960 Allstate (as in Sears) motor scooter? No front brake, no battery (magneto lights and ignition), no transmission (automatic clutch only), and a cast iron 4 stroke engine that would look right at home on a tiller or saw. It was a downgraded Cushman. My friend had a Cushman and it was the same except it had a 2 speed transmission (hand shift on the side below where you sat).

I paid $70 for it in 63 and the requirements at the time was no motorcycle license, no inspection, no helmets, $2.00 for a tag and a $20 uninsured motorist fee.

 

[hortok]

mmmmmmm 1962 in Guam when my dad moved to Anderson AFB from Pease AFB in Portsmouth, NH. I had to give up my paper route of five years. I found a base newsletter at Anderson and I got a 50CC two-stroke step-through thingie called a MiyaPet. It had a crack in the frame I ignored until it fell in half on me at 25mph. My first bike, first road rash, first ticket...I was a not-very-humble 16 yrs old then. Graduated to a Norton Atlas not long after the Miyapet tumble.

 

[screwtop]

The first streetbike I owned was an 1982 Yamaha 650 Maxim. Some crazy chick driving a 76 Monte Carlo plowed through the garage I had the Yammy stored in, and sent it to meet its maker in 86. Didn't get another bike till 1994 (an R1100RS).

 

[PineGreen]

1st bike

I got my first at 16 in 1966. My Dad talked my Mom into letting me buy a brand new HD. Unfortunately it was only 50cc . I paid $275.00 for it. Spilled three time within the first month. Had it 2 years until it was so trashed it wouldn't run anymore. Even though I looked like a large frog sitting on it I thought it was way cooler than my buddies on their Vespas. They coould kick my butt on their 80cc scooters,but, at least mine looked like a motorcycle. Sold it to a guy for $150.00 ,still can't figure out why he never spoke to me again.

 

[brooksie]

I was sixteen and had a mid fifties Triumph TRW 500
Flathead was pretty 'lumpy' and the front wheel would hop when I stopped at lights
Sure was a blast! Had to buy Loctite by the pint to keep everything from shaking off
My old man used to take it for rides while I was at school and I usually had to head to the local 'watering hole' to get it (and him) back home
Lots of fun times with that old one!

 

[Kbrick]

a ring-ding machine

Back in the day....
My first ride was a YDS-3 Yamaha 250cc street bike vintage '66. Back in the day circa 1973 the new to me Yammie was a screamer! I could hide a convoy of ships when I held open the trottle in third or fourth gear! Oil injecton was a wonderful thing.
Try this link, http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=8064

 

[darrylri]

My first bike was also my first new bike: a 1981 BMW R65. I was 23, single and had a full time job programming, so I had some change in my pocket. I got a loan from the credit union for it.

A friend I worked with had bought one a couple years earlier and he seemed very pleased with it, so... Other than his bikes, I'd never ridden before, and hadden ridden his much. (He had a Yamaha 175 enduro and a Suzuki GS650.)

 

[GeneT]

My first motorized two wheeled apparatus was in 1946, if memory serves me right it was a Wizard from Western Auto, this consisted of a motorized bicycle and a gasoline engine bolted on the frame, throttle was like a lawn mower lever with small handle bolted to the handle bars.

Next came a 350 Matchless and a lecture from my mother.

 

[donbmw]

First bike I rode to learn a friends 175 Honda. That was in 1977 at age 21. Bought a 71 Kawasaki 500 H1 that my boss was selling. In !979 Bought a new Honda CX500 Custom. Then in 1982 bought my R65 new and still have this one along with a 1975 R90/6 and a coulpe years ago bough another 1980 R65. I also bought all the BMW tools from my dealer when he sold out and the new owners drop the BMW line in 1988. I have always want and BMW more that any other brand. When I work at a Honda Motorcycle Dealership that a friend had I found that for me Jap bikes are for the most part good bikes overall but after they are 5 or more years in age it would be time to get a new.

Don

 

[ppaintguy]

mine was a 1969 Mobilette 50cc moped step through...pedal to start on the stand. There are electric shavers more powerful nowadays I am sure, but to a 7 year old it was fun.

 

[WEZUL]

Other kids mini-bikes (centrifugal clutch) also a Honda 50 when I was a punk, ya know what a punk is, don't you hondarider?
My first real bike was a '73 Yamaha 125 enduro. My buddy had a Hodaka (was it a wombat?), I was jealous.

 

[srb]

I was 14 and my dad bought me a 75cc Honda Passport. Some may say it's not a motorcycle, but a moped. I say I could smoke the Spree and Razz that were popular at the time. When I was pulled over by Johnny Law he said the state of Michigan classifies it as a motorcycle, and thusly handed me 4 citations. Later I had a Yamaha FZR600, then a Harley Sportster, the finally some Beemers.

 

[voni]

My first bike was actually Paul's - a minibike that he'd built from a lawnmower engine with a frame built from tubing bent to shape. He showed my how to work the throttle. When I asked how to stop it, he told me to just drag my feet.

Tennis shoes aren't such great brakes I found. They grabbed the ground like suction cups which launched the bike out from under me and caused the handlebar to sock me in the lip. It felt like my face was half blown away but in actuality all I had was a tiny cut.

Not cool.

End of my first motorcycle ride. Age 22.

Voni
sMiling