First Bikes

[thrang]

Last night in't pub, we got cracking on about first bikes and I was kind of curious as to what everyone had?

I started out with an Yamaha FS1E at 16. It was 50cc' of pure power with rear sets and clip-on's and a go faster stripe.
My first real bike rather than a moped, was t5he MZ TS 125 Alpine I sat my bike test on. (It was surpsisngly quick and was great for upsetting people on bigger bikes on the twisty roads crossing Southport moss).

Once I had my licence I got a GSX 250.

[not-so-fast-ed]

After learning to ride on a friend's R69 (S?), and with limited financial resources, at nineteen I purchased a R25.  At the time I had no idea that other bikes were as much trouble as I later found out.  The one-lunger gave me absolutely no problems.  An oil change occasionally, a single sparkplug, check the tires, & I was good to go.  On the coldest (freezing) morning, I'd tickle the Bing, close the choke, kick it once, turn on the key, and it would start on the next kick!  Then it would carry me effortlessly wherever I wanted with amazing forgiveness of my inexperience and skill-less handling.
After quite a few years of ever more powerful replacements I still miss it.  
Getting back on bikes again now has me sitting on my R65 and feeling like I've returned to that bike's virtues with just a bit of updated power and handling.

[Justin B.]

My first street bike was a '73 Honda CB450.  Bought it with around 1000 miles on the clock and put about 20k more on it before "graduating" to a 72 R60 a couple years later.  I don't know if graduating is the correct term as the 450 would walk all over the R60, maybe "upgrade" would be a better term.  

[SCJJR65]

I got my first bike in May of 1971 at the tender age of 16.  I had just received my driver's license (back then, the state of SC didn't have a separate motorcycle license) and had been reading Cycle World and every piece of literature on the Suzuki 90 Hustler I could find.  The bike had a little lever you nudged with your left heel that could give you 4 gears for street and 4 lower gears for the trail.  I was convinced THIS was the bike for me!

I managed to talk my dad into buying the bike for me, with the agreement that I would repay him out of my part-time job as a bagboy at the local Bi-Lo grocery store where I was working.  He shelled out the princely sum of $435 for it, and it was delivered to our house by the dealer manager, a Polish WWI Nazi prision camp survivor (complete with serial number tattooed on his forearm) who gave me a crash course in riding the bike before he left.  I was in hog heaven!

I had the bike for a little over a month before a car pulled out in front of me on July 1, while I was on my way home on my new bike from work for lunch.  I never had a chance to swerve out of the way and hit the car's passenger door at about 40 mph, with me winding up in the hospital with a broken left leg, broken left arm (in 2 places), 6 broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a concussion.  I woke up 2 days later in my hospital room, and according to my parents, the second thing I asked (after "What happened?"") was, "How's my bike?"

Needless to say, the bike was totaled.  It had a total of 499 miles on it at the time of the accident.

I had to wait until I graduated high school before I could talk my parents into letting me get another bike.

[trolle]

A friend of mine had a 150 MZ Trophy from 1968 and needed money and as I needed some transportation and had some money left over from my time in the military, I bought it off him in 1972. It was a nice bike doing very well in town and it gave me the opportunity to get out of town.

It did 60 mph with the sun and the wind in the back which at that time was enough for me. The longest rides I went for were 200 miles and on one of these rides the crankshaft bearings grew too hot and seized 130 miles from home - a real bummer! Luckily my father arranged a pickup of the bike and payed the expences - as a student I had next to nothing.

In 1977 my wife and I bought our first house and I did not have time for the MZ so I exchanged it for a new bicycle at our local bicycle shop.

greetings from a windy and grey north

trolle

[Bob_Roller]

My first bike was a 1979 Yamaha XS 400, bought it new in July 1979 for $1500 not includung the usual taxes registration, etc...., I was 22 at the time, a bit of a late starter on motorcycles.

My second bike was my '81 R65, bought it in January, 1981, for the then outrageous price of $3299, minus again said charges.

[Ed Miller]

Mine was a Yamaha 125 cc scooter.  It worked fine, would do 60, but it spun out the main bearing shell after only about 8,000 miles.  Ever since then I've had a thing against Yamahas.  I still couldn't afford to insure a car, as I wasn't 25 yet, so a guy I carpooled to college with sold me his old motorcycle.  I'd never heard of one, and thought he was weird when he said it would make friends for me.  Actually he was weird, but right about that.  It was my '70 Bonneville, I paid $650 for it and rode it home in 1987 over 50,000 miles ago.

[scotty_b]

83 Seca 750. Still like the lines of that bike

[Justin B.]

Scotty, the tank lines are very similar to the Yamaha Virago I had...

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Summer of 1976 - A leftover '75 CL360.

[donbmw]

My first bike was a 1971 Kaw 500 H1 bought in 1977. Then a Honda 79 CX500 custom. 1982  65 that I still have along with a 75 R90/6  and a 80 R65.

Don

[nhmaf]

Don, you sure started off with some fast bikes !

For me it was a virtually new 1980 Yamaha XS400 twin, though I had ridden some friends' 125cc dirt bikes prior to that, they
don't count as "mine".

[donbmw]

Just lucky I did not get hurt when starting my riding.

Don

[MrRiden]

Yamaha YR1 1967 with clubman bars, black paint, and a hearty cloud of 2 stroke!

[suecanada]

I got a used 1967 Honda CD or B 175 in 1970. It had low pipes and was a basic sport model and ideal for learning and taking a test on. Could not ride on the road until ya passed the test so had to practise on grass and driveway. So I think if you actually lived through your first ride onroad which was getting to the test site....35 miles away into the deepest dark big city..Toronto...they passed you. I was way out in the country and was I ever scared riding into the city. If ya failed you couldn't ride home either.