-
Welcome! You are currently logged out of the forum. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please LOG IN!If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the benefits of membership? If you click here, you have the opportunity to take us for a test ride at our expense. Enter the code 'FORUM25' in the activation code box to try the first year of the MOA on us!
M
Mongo
Guest
Mine was a mini bike with a Briggs and stratton snowblower engine, duct taped foam seat from a goalie's pad and no brakes. Built it myself at 13. I had a couple of cobbed together Frankenstein dirt bikes after that. I can't believe I survived them. My first street legal was an 81 Yamaha XJ550 Maxim I bought used for $500.00. Sold it 4 years later for $750.00 and bought my first HD. That was another Frankenstein bike that I picked up mostly in milk crates.
M
Mongo
Guest
It all began two years ago when I met the beautiful woman that is now my wife (Jessica, jwittner). She grew up road tripping tripping with her dad (Randy, polarbear) and his BMWs. She has been into riding ever since. Long story short: We got married in December, I took the MSF course in January, and I should see my '03 Dakar for the first time this weekend...
Total riding experience thus far: 10 minutes on Randy's '78 R100/7, the weekend of the MSF course, and a test ride of a V-STROM 650 (which I almost put down, another story...)
Wish me luck
Now that's a cool intro. Welcome!
in 1949 I bought my first bike . . . a 1934 H-D 80. I was 15, 5'2" tall. 110 lbs . . . every stop sign looked like a break dance . . . or should that read "brake" dance? 3rd day I owned it, I dumped it on wet grass, using the front brake . . . in front of my parents. It took my father and I about 5 minutes to get it uprighted. Two days after that I flew past an intersection at very high speed . . . and my father was sitting there. The next day I had traded for a 125cc Famous James. I rode the wheels off that thing till it was literally broken in half in a nearly headon collision with a Budweiser truck that turned directly into my path. The driver of the truck said he never saw me till I flew past his windshield on my way over the truck. The rest is a long and colorful history with severtal lengthy breaks.
J
James.A
Guest
First bike was a fifteen year old, 1967 BSA Thunderbolt. I was 22 years old. By the age of 23, I had acquired an impressive level of expertise in motorcycle electrics.
RichardCook
New member
1969
Hodaka Ace90... brand spankin' new. Thought I was the bee's knees on that bike.
Hodaka Ace90... brand spankin' new. Thought I was the bee's knees on that bike.
Honda Mopeds
In 1971 my wife and landed in England and intended to hitch hike throughout Europe. One of our uncles told us "No" since there had been a number of young foreign hitch hikers found dead in the English countryside. So having no licenses at the time, we took the train to Edinburgh, bought two identical Honda 49cc mopeds and travelled throughout Scotland, England, France, Spain and back to France before returning to England. Three months of leisurely travelling. In France, we came across the French gendarmes riding BMWs. Immediately stricken with them. Of course it was another 33 years before I got the next bike.
In 1971 my wife and landed in England and intended to hitch hike throughout Europe. One of our uncles told us "No" since there had been a number of young foreign hitch hikers found dead in the English countryside. So having no licenses at the time, we took the train to Edinburgh, bought two identical Honda 49cc mopeds and travelled throughout Scotland, England, France, Spain and back to France before returning to England. Three months of leisurely travelling. In France, we came across the French gendarmes riding BMWs. Immediately stricken with them. Of course it was another 33 years before I got the next bike.
WEZUL
Cage Rattler
Hodaka's are cool. My bud had a Wombat, while I had a Yamaha 125 enduro. This was like 1973, I was envious. If you were really serious you wanted the off-road only "Combat Wombat", iirc.
G
gened12
Guest
BMW was my first love.
My first bike was a R1200GS and I was 43 at the time... Now riding a R1200RT just purchased last August and now stuck in my garage until the ice age recedes
When I was a teen I owned this for a couple summer but I never considered it a bike (especially that it was n ugly yellow!)
cheers
Denis
My first bike was a R1200GS and I was 43 at the time... Now riding a R1200RT just purchased last August and now stuck in my garage until the ice age recedes
When I was a teen I owned this for a couple summer but I never considered it a bike (especially that it was n ugly yellow!)
cheers
Denis
Attachments
Last edited:
B
bob1100rtc
Guest
My older brother bought me a Honda SL125. We stripped it,added a powroll cam ,hooker header,drilled the fork caps and added air fittings and he gave me the shocks from his 73 CR250 Elsinore. I think it had about 7 1/2 hp. I miss that old turd.
Life was simple back then and gas was cheap.
26667
the Wizard of Oz
cx500
In 1980 I was having my long-delayed teen-age rebellion at age 30. First, I bought an Eclipse tankbag, then a Nova helmet with the cool "closes-by-itself-when-the-wind-blows" faceshield, took the MSF course at a National Guard Armory on the Southside...in January, no less. Dale McCormick and Marjorie Jennings were the instructors. I bought my CX500 that March. That June I took a month off and put on 5000 mi. from Chi. to GCNP, Yellowstone and back again.
Two years later I bought my R100.
Great memories.
In 1980 I was having my long-delayed teen-age rebellion at age 30. First, I bought an Eclipse tankbag, then a Nova helmet with the cool "closes-by-itself-when-the-wind-blows" faceshield, took the MSF course at a National Guard Armory on the Southside...in January, no less. Dale McCormick and Marjorie Jennings were the instructors. I bought my CX500 that March. That June I took a month off and put on 5000 mi. from Chi. to GCNP, Yellowstone and back again.
Two years later I bought my R100.
Great memories.
StLouRider
Member
1971 my Dad was getting transferred from Kansas City to Dallas, right before my Sr year in HS.. He helped me buy a Kawasaki 90 street & trail bike. (in an effort to get me to go along.)
I was 6'5" and weighed 150.. Looked as bad as it sounds.. Bought a Kaw 175 dirt bike ASAP. Have been hooked ever since.
Bought my 1st BMW just last summer. Still can't believe a bike as big and heavy as the LT will go thru the twisties so easy. (traded a Honda VTX 1800R for it.)
Jeff
I was 6'5" and weighed 150.. Looked as bad as it sounds.. Bought a Kaw 175 dirt bike ASAP. Have been hooked ever since.
Bought my 1st BMW just last summer. Still can't believe a bike as big and heavy as the LT will go thru the twisties so easy. (traded a Honda VTX 1800R for it.)
Jeff
Way back when......
My first bike was a 1960 Greeves 250 Scrambler which was not street legal. It was parked in the driveway of a friend when his mother backed the car out of the garage and over my bike....that was that. I got my my first "street bike" in 1967. It was a 1959 BMW R60 that I traded a set of drums for. The following day I quit school and left Ann Arbor, MI for sunny Florida to follow a girl I met at the beach during the summer.
My first bike was a 1960 Greeves 250 Scrambler which was not street legal. It was parked in the driveway of a friend when his mother backed the car out of the garage and over my bike....that was that. I got my my first "street bike" in 1967. It was a 1959 BMW R60 that I traded a set of drums for. The following day I quit school and left Ann Arbor, MI for sunny Florida to follow a girl I met at the beach during the summer.
J
JCABRANES
Guest
Schwinn with training wheels. I was around 6. I was way cool with the little bell that you actvated by flicking your thumb. Then the training wheels came off - not so cool. Fortunately, I was attgat and saved myself from permanent injury thus preserving my good looks.
J
JCABRANES
Guest
No really, 84 Honda CB750 bought it in the late 80's. It tried to kill me several times (there may have been driver error involved) but was attgat so escaped with only minor injuries until I got the hint and sold the bike. Never got rid of the bug and finally in 2003 bought a Harley. That bike did not try to kill me (that MSF course may have had something to do with it) and the rest as they say is history.
podsobinski
New member
Memory Lane
It is like a trip down memory lane reading about you old farts and the bike you started with. Here goes, I was in Junior High School and somebody slipped me a Cycle World with a 250 Ducati Diana on the cover. Man I thought that was the prettiest thing I had ever seen and from then on I was hooked. At 14 in Colorado you could ride a 5 hp or less scooter. I got a Honda C-110 Super Sport 50cc motorcycle like scooter that had a gas tank in the right place, an up swept muffler and a 4 speed transmission with a clutch. Those poor smucks that had the Honda cub didn't have a chance. Ducati's followed in high school and college.
gpodzo
It is like a trip down memory lane reading about you old farts and the bike you started with. Here goes, I was in Junior High School and somebody slipped me a Cycle World with a 250 Ducati Diana on the cover. Man I thought that was the prettiest thing I had ever seen and from then on I was hooked. At 14 in Colorado you could ride a 5 hp or less scooter. I got a Honda C-110 Super Sport 50cc motorcycle like scooter that had a gas tank in the right place, an up swept muffler and a 4 speed transmission with a clutch. Those poor smucks that had the Honda cub didn't have a chance. Ducati's followed in high school and college.
gpodzo
