What's your first motorcycle story

[JerryHawk250]

What's your first motorcycle story. I got my first motorcycle in the summer of 1976. It was a Honda CB 200. It was actually given to me. It belonged to my next door neighbor. At the age of 18 this was his 3 motorcycle. He was a little rough on them and this one had lasted him about 6 months before he broke the shifting mechanism. He tore the engine completely apart and had in in boxes. It sat in his shed for another 4 months after he bought his 4th bike so one day I asked him what he was going to do with the old bike? He said nothing, you want you can have it. So I'm like how much? he says just get it out my shed. So I got it home and started looking at the two boxes of parts. I found the part that was broke and headed over to the Honda shop, slapped it on the counter and said I need one of these, gaskets and a service manual for a Honda CB 200. Walked out of there for under $20. I spent the Saturday putting it back together. I put gas and oil in it and it fired right up. I had to adjust the carburetor but got it running smooth. I rode that thing for 4 years and ended up selling it back to the guy that gave it to me for $500. He was on bike 7 by this time. lol

http://www.cycleworld.com/sites/cycleworld.com/files/styles/large_1x_/public/import/embedded/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/1290102174honda_cb200.jpg?itok=ftd5zplr

[katoranger]

The first bike I bought was a 1975 CB200T. Gold. Rear brake was broken. I think I paid $180 for it in about 1993. I was 16. Mom wasn't happy.

[Azhule]

Year was 1989... Christmas morning... I was 3 years old (about to turn 4 in 2 months)...

Woke up to a (brand new) Bright Pink and Purple PeeWee 50 sitting in the kitchen with my name on it... my older brother had his first motorcycle too, a (used) 80cc or 125cc dual sport motorcycle was waiting for him

Not our bikes (will have to ask mom about any old pics we might have of them), but you get the idea of what our bikes looked like from the one I found below

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cyclechaos.com%2Fimages%2F7%2F 72%2F1993-Yamaha-PW50-White-Purple-Pink-1083-0.jpg&f=1

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dsadventures.com%2Fdads_f6.jpg&f=1

Later in the day we find ourselves a mile or so from our house, in an empty parking lot for our first motorcycle ride, snow was falling, ice patches here and there around the parking lot... and we go for a ride!

I sit on the bike and instantly gun it taking off like a rocket :hehe: ... giving a 3 year old (that has NO fear) a motorcycle without first having the throttle stop set, almost gave my dad a heart attack not even 2 seconds into my first ride... that will basically set the tone for my moto riding style :lmao:

I ride around at 'full speed' for several hours with no problems, no falling, nothing...

I was getting cold and hungry so I finally stopped riding... mom wanted to see what all the fuss (fun) was about before we went home and hopped on the 80 or 125cc dual sport... she rode it around a few times before hitting a patch of ice and low sided the bike... she was fine, but the bike now needed a new mirror, handle grip, clutch lever, and turn signal...

A few months and several dozen rides later (Spring/Summer time) we go out for a family ride... this is the last time we will ever see or speak of the 80cc or 125cc dual sport with front and rear Drum Brakes (can't really remember the brand or cc's... I was only 3 at the time and we only had that bike for 4 months max :hehe: )...

Anyways... older brother was (of course) riding it, trying to show off to his friends that went out with us... we were riding some wonderful South Dakota Mountain Trails (at the time we were basically on a single track with a mountain cliff/drop off to our right)... we come up to yet another corner... he is going a wee bit too fast still "showing off"... next thing, all I see is tons of dust and my brothers bright blue helmet sliding to a stop on the ground in front of me... I almost run him over as I come to a stop... then I can see the bike, as it flies off the cliff and goes the fast way down the mountain :doh:

This was the last time we owned a bike with DRUM brakes... pops thinks my brother overheated them several times on the mountain ride trying to "go fast and show off"... and they finally caught fire or just no longer wanted to work after being overheated/abused so much... and of course they failed when he needed them most

Brother had a few road burns/rashes and some bruises from tumbling over the rocky road... nothing else was wrong with him... bike was totaled and in a million pieces probably still scattered over the mountain pass... it was replaced with another bike... this one had real brakes front and rear... being a "Dual Sport Motorcycle" pops had it titled/plated and it was luckily "replaced/covered by insurance" :clap:

[JerryHawk250]

Great story Azhule (http://chinariders.net/member.php?u=30059). :tup: Technically my 1st motorized bike was a mini bike with a 5hp Briggs that my brother and I built but the Honda was my 1st.

[2LZ]

Mine (ours) was an early 60's Honda 90 cub, or super cub, or whatever. Like this but in black and much more hammered. Of course, the first thing to hit the garbage can was the gull wind fairing. It was our first "shared" bike between my brother and I.

I was 9 years old when we got it so that had to be 1968. It was my uncles bike. He flipped it, broke his jaw and the bike, and left it behind his shed for a few years. My dad bought it for 25.00 (after much begging on our part) and said, "If you can get it running, you can ride it." He didn't think we'd ever get it going so he didn't think he had anything to worry about. He just wanted us to stop whining. Bad move on his part! ;-)

We've been riding and wrenching ever since.....

[Sport Rider]

1985. first bike was a 79 GS450T. $450. it had a bent valve and would not run. fixed it. bent it again. fixed it again. drained gas. prev owner had used too much starter fuel in the gas and that's what bent it to begin with. after that, I spent a lot of time on country roads learning to ride. :tup:

[JerryHawk250]

Mine (ours) was an early 60's Honda 90 cub, or super cub, or whatever. Like this but in black and much more hammered. Of course, the first thing to hit the garbage can was the gull wind fairing. It was our first "shared" bike between my brother and I.

I was 9 years old when we got it so that had to be 1968. It was my uncles bike. He flipped it, broke his jaw and the bike, and left it behind his shed for a few years. My dad bought it for 25.00 (after much begging on our part) and said, "If you can get it running, you can ride it." He didn't think we'd ever get it going so he didn't think he had anything to worry about. He just wanted us to stop whining. Bad move on his part! ;-)

We've been riding and wrenching ever since.....
OMG! that just reminded me. I have a old 60's model Honda Scooter in my old cabinet shop at my moms house. I forgot all about. it. One of my cousins gave it to me years ago because it wasn't running. I never got around to it to see what was even wrong with it. It's been sitting in that shop for at least 18 years. I'll have to go check and see if it is still in there over the weekend.

[Mudflap]

I grew up in a motorcycle household in the 60s. Dad always had bikes and owned a Vespa dealership where I helped out as a kid, so I always had scooters to ride. First motorcycle I ever bought myself was a used 1958 Honda Cub 50 for $75. Used to walk it down to the salt evaporation ponds in the bay near Redwood City CA and spend day after day exploring the levies. Don't think I ever even changed the oil in that little thing, just put a cup full of gas in once in awhile and ride. I remember it costing 17 cents to fill the 3 quart tank from empty.

[timcosby]

honda trail 70 in about 1972. bent the sheet metal frame from jumping it too much got a yamaha mx 125 in 74 and went to motocrossing fro two years ported the intake of a naguchi performace jug and head i installed about then girls became more important so i got a 77 kawasaki kz 650 new off the showroom floor workin at a burger joint had it till about 84 then a long hiatus called life took over then i got a hawk in 2016.

[Bruce's]

Blue and silver hardtail z50 ,'68 I think ,I traded a $3.50 Estes model rocket for it ,and it was in nice shape but didn't run when I got it .At least 250 dirt bikes later I wish I had that one back .

[JerryHawk250]

honda trail 70 in about 1972. bent the sheet metal frame from jumping it too much got a yamaha mx 125 in 74 and went to motocrossing fro two years ported the intake of a naguchi performace jug and head i installed about then girls became more important so i got a 77 kawasaki kz 650 new off the showroom floor workin at a burger joint had it till about 84 then a long hiatus called life took over then i got a hawk in 2016.
One of my cousins had a trail 70. We would piss him off when we would pass him on our old mini bike with the 5hp Briggs that my brother and I built. They were well off and always had to have the newest bike out there. I think we had less than $80 tied up in our project.

[cheesy]

Blue and silver 65 Ducati Falcon 50. It was part of a lot of three bikes my Dad got at an auction for something like ten bucks. The Ducati was the most complete of the bunch so I used parts off the other two, Sears/Puch mopeds, to make it work. I was about ten then, so it must have been around 65 to 67.

[2LZ]

Blue and silver hardtail z50 ,'68 I think ,I traded a $3.50 Estes model rocket for it ,and it was in nice shape but didn't run when I got it .At least 250 dirt bikes later I wish I had that one back .

250.... I thought I was eccentric with 108 behind me. Many baskets and parts bikes though.
Those hard tail Mini Trails are worth a mint now!

[Bruce's]

I don't get many hardtails anymore ,but the half dozen I have restored in the past few years usually fetch $5000.00 ish ,they sometimes go a few grand more but I haven't sold them for more myself .I get $3-6000.00 for a ct70 depending on the year of the bike .

[old kid]

1973 Hodaka 175SL, it was an awsome little bike, i shoveled alot of snow and mowed a ton of grass to save up the money for it, and against my mothers wishes i bought it and i rode it year round for three years until i was old enough to drive a car. i wish i had held onto that bike, i traded it for a 72 Mach-1 mustang with a blown motor, white with blue stripe kit, put a 351w in the mustang and drove it for a few years. thats another one i wish i still had today, but i traded that for a blazer because at that time if you didnt have 4WD the girls didnt want anything to do with you, or so i thought,,,anyhow this story is endless i will spare you the pain of having to read anymore of it.

[JerryHawk250]

All great stories. :tup: keep them coming. I hope that old Honda scooter is still in my old shop. Already thinking about a restore if it's not in to bad of shape. Thanks 2LZ for jogging my memory.

[jsumd]

My first bike was a china Baja 125cc dirt bike and I regret selling to this day. I loved that bike despite all it's issues. First bike story is different though. I had been interested in riding motorcycles for at least 2 to 3 years and my girlfriend at the time had a uncle who had a old yamaha at2. So, he let me come over one day and taught me how to ride on it. He lived out in the country so it he didn't mind at all if I took it out on the road after I learned the basics. I rode that bike for a good 2 hours that day. I've been hooked ever since.

[pistolclass]

1975 honda Z50. Rode that thing everywhere. I was 6 years old when my dad got it for me. Then I got a 1984 CR80. It was mental for a 14 y/o kid. I read it had 21 hp. That doesn't seem right so someone fact check me. I do remember sitting on the tank to keep the front end down. Still to date, that was my favorite bike EVER!

[pete]

A Benilli 60cc motor scooter that had been choped into a mini bike
for my 7th birthday... after a while the lawn got a bit boreing but I found
that mums flower beds made a dam fine MX track..... didn't see the little
beneili for weeks after that one.. got locked in the shed...
At 11 I got a old Suzuki TS90...
Then at 14 my father bought me a new Suzuki TM125 so I could race in
junior motocross..
I'm now 57 so have been riding for 50 years.... 36 bikes later and I'm still alive...



..

[Bill1]

I had a Honda CT-70 in the early-mid 80's. Grew up in an orange grove and spent every waking moment on it. Once, we talked my mom into trying to ride. She ended up gripping the throttle for dear life and then hitting the shifter instead of the rear brake. She ended up laying it down about 50ft before the lake at about 35mph. Needless to say, she turns down my offers to let her ride the Hawk.

[culcune]

The first time I recall sitting on a bike and riding one was in England on vacation in the mid-80s at around 16 years old. I was NOT one of those kids whose parents got a dirt bike at 5 or so years old (heck, 16 years old! LOL). I was into skateboarding, and hung out at this massive wooden half-pipe at a large park called Crystal Palace. Some of the skaters were motorcycle couriers who rode 125 (maybe larger) enduros with large courier boxes attached to the back of the bike. One of the guys let me ride his bike. I had ridden on the back of bikes with friends, so knew about how to shift, and sure enough, I was able to take off in first, and shift into second. I went up the road (a relatively wide road in the middle of the park with no painted lines--more of an access road which seemed to allow the public to drive around the park as the couriers had, and I remember some German guys pulling up in an older Volkswagen Jetta, so the public could drive the road) and couldn't understand why a security guard was driving towards me, right AT me!! :lmao: I went more right and he passed me shaking his head (again, we were doing about 15 mph since it wasn't a public road per se). Not only that, I did not have a helmet on, which must have seemed even MORE strange for the security guard. After a lap of the road and back to the half-pipe the security guard was there and laughing as the skaters had told them I was an American (probably told them other things--after all Reagan was in office and the Brits did not like him, either).

[KingPrimusIII]

In 1998 I bought a 1986 Kawasaki GPZ 550, for $550 from my sister's boyfriend. I was eighteen and had no clue how to ride.

The test drive (first time on a bike) went fine; he showed me where everything is and sent me on my way. The ride home was another story.

I slapped a friend's plate on, said "laws be damned!" and promptly crashed it lol! I allowed myself to get rushed by a honking car, wheelied it sideways when I slipped on the throttle (90deg turn from stop sign), dumped it and tumbled into a small pond. I was drenched, the bike was fine and I rode it the 20mi home, soaking wet with half a clutch lever.

Two years of relentless beatings, zero hours of preventative maintenance and zero breakdowns... I loved that bulletproof bastard.

[JerryHawk250]

Look what I dug out the corner of my old shop yesterday. 1977 Honda Hobbit. It's going to need lots of TLC and deep pockets. This should keep be busy for a long time should I decide to restore it. It was running when set up some 25+ years ago.