How did you start riding?

I started young with a cheap, used old-school Yamaha PW80 trail bike. Two stroke, ringdingdingdingdingding. Ended up with a '70s Yamaha 125 enduro, both were perfect as my early years were spent living on a dirt road that dead-ended into a network of trails.

Got my motorcycle learner's permit at 16 and bought my first road motorcycle, a 1979 Honda CM400T. Passed my license test and upgraded to a '01 Buell Blast. Excellent roadholding machine, thrifty and a lot of fun. BUT, poorly built and turned out to be extremely unreliable - a shame. Since then, I've owned a variety of machines ranging from a $100 Craigslist moped and a Yamaha 125 scooter up to a Supermoto/Motard, a 1975 Kawasaki H1500 Triple and currently my gradeschool dream bike, a '03 Triumph Speed Triple. I've put some 45,000+ miles on motorcycles in the past seven years of riding on the roads. It would be even more, sometimes I wish that I lived somewhere where I could ride year-round!
 
I got into riding because of one man, really:

He was huge in the 70's and me and my best friend Jeff idolized him, so it was a given that I would eventually have a motorcycle. My adopted mother was against it initially, but my dad - who rode an Indian Scout in high school back in the early 50's - was fine with it. Money was a problem, however; I didn't have any. I started working, though, and when I turned 14 I had enough saved up to buy my first bike: a 1974 Kawasaki F11 250.

It was a pretty good bike, and I loved the fact that it had oil injection (Mixing oil and gas is a PITA.). I rode that bike all over my parent's apple orchard.

The only drawback to that bike was, when we'd get home from camp, my father would have me go unload the truck and he would take off on my bike to "inspect the orchard." Yeah, right. I eventually got him back, though. After a couple of years, the engine on my bike needed work. I took it to school with the intention of rebuilding the engine. After I tore it down, I discovered that the previous owner thought it would be a good idea to drill a couple of holes through the two halves of the engine block and bolt the halves together. So I would have needed a completely new block in addition to the other things the bike needed, and I didn't have the money for that. Well, dad to the rescue. Around the same time, he traded one of his Moto-Skis for a 1972 Honda CB450.


I ended up riding his bike a lot more than he did. In the summer, when school was out in the private academy across the street, I used to take the Honda on the roads on the school property. I used to take the curves on those roads at 40-45mph, leaning it down to the point where the exhaust would start to scrape. Good times.

Unfortunately, I haven't ridden since then. A lack of money and/or storage space always worked against me. If I get the job that I'm in the hiring process for, getting a motorcycle will be a priority - right after I get myself a winter beater, preferably some older pickup or SUV.
 
I've got a long time friend who always gets me to do different things with him. Such as a phone call "Hey, should we run the marathon?" "Sure."

Then one day five years ago he asked whether we should get motorcycle licenses and without hesitation I agreed. He got his a year before me since he is a year older, but I got mine as soon as I could after the following winter. Getting the license was basically more just doing it for shits and giggles as I couldn't immediately afford my own bike. However, my friend worked 24/7 back then so he bought a brand new GSX-R 600 which was indeed a nice bike to continue learning the sport :)

My parents have always been against two wheeled vehicles as "they are dangerous" but to quote my father after I got my license: "Well, you're an adult, what can we do?" Because of this I skipped the entire moped phase and raced bicycles instead as a kid. My first bike with a real engine was a Kawasaki ZR-7 which I sold after two (or was it three?) summers because it was underpowered and boring. Maybe I'll get something new next summer, who knows.
 
These are all awesome stories - keep 'em coming! :)
 
Kiki said:
Oh yeah, sorry, I should have mentioned - my friend has gel seats (made from Triumph) on hers and she had no problems with it. I forget what he was running - but I think it's aftermarket as well.
Click to expand...

Hmm, might look into that one then. Iirc it's not that much more expensive than an Airhawk but a lot cheaper than a custom seat. It also doesn't increase the seat height, the Airhawk does.
 
Well, I guess it is my turn.

I've wanted to ride ever since I was a kid, I would see motorcyclists outside the car windows and tell my parents that I wanted to ride a motorbike - they, predictably, did not like this at all. When I would ride around on my first bicycle, I would pretend it was a motorcycle. When I turned 16 I told my parents I wanted my M-1 endorsement, and they refused to sign the papers, since I was a minor they could do that. When I was 18 I again said I wanted my permit, and since I was now an adult I didn't need their permission; instead they said that they would no longer help me pay for college. When I was 21 I just went and did it and renewed my license on my own. I was out of college and working, but still living at home while I applied to grad school and was itching to ride. A co-worker had an old '86 Honda Shadow 500 that I picked up for $800 and kept stored at the parking structure at my former college (bikes didn't need parking permits). When I got accepted to grad school in California I had no way of covertly moving the bike, so I sold it for $800.

In California I started looking for another bike, but I was on a very limited budget. I took my $800 and ate ramen for a while so I could afford to buy a beat-to-shit '82 Honda Magna. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew that I was in love with the 1994+ Magna, and the '82 was sort of close... right? The '82 had parts missing and shitty rattle-can paint job in bright teal. I slowly worked on collecting the right parts to complete the bike, had the tank and side panels painted metallic silver with a maroon pin stripe (the painter did the stripe for free because he said it "looked weird" without some accent). Once the bike was running well and looking much, much better, I flipped it for a tidy profit and bought an absolute cherry 1994 Honda Magna, then a 2000 Magna and finally my VFR.
 
I must say I remember the Magna days. :mrgreen:
 
No spectacular story in my background. I like driving in all forms*, always have. When it came to getting a driver's licence at 17, I did only the car licence and not the motorcycle one too because of not enough money - there was simply no way I could get a bike and the gear, so I figured I didn't need the licence only to de-learn everything until I could actually start riding.
Fast-forward 12 years, I had acquired my university degree and a job, so my bank account suddenly agreed with getting gear, licence, and most importantly, a bike. So I went to find a driving school and got my licence. My first ride on my own (well, after test riding the bike and going home from the dealer after purchase) was a week-end tour to Hamburg, about 900 km in total.

Considering how I drove cars at 18, it's probably for the best that I started riding when I was 30. :D

* In German, we use the same verb for riding a bike and driving a car...
 
I started liking motorcycles when I was about ten or so and wanted one badly but, weirdly, I got my first bike with no real intention of riding it. I was just starting summer break from college and my uncle was selling his 1980 Yamaha XJ650 that had sat unused in his garage for three years and needed some work to get going again. I saw getting the bike up an running as a good way to keep myself occupied over the summer so I picked it up for $500. The intent was to use the bike to teach myself about how an engine really worked (especially carburetors) then sell it in the fall for books/booze money. There were days where I would spend 8+ hours just tinkering to see how everything worked and it was great fun (I'm going to see to it that my son/daughter has the same opportunity someday). Eventually I got it going and decided a test ride was warranted so I took the simple written test and got my permit. About 30 seconds after I set off I realized there was no way I was selling the bike after all. I rode the shit out of that thing. Good, good memories!

I'm also fortunate that I have a family that's been very supportive of my riding. Heck, every time I call home my mom asks where I've taken the bike this time. :)
 
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I got into motorcycles through bikes. Raced BMX from the time I was 6 or7 all the way through high school. My brother and I racked up a bunch of trophies that I'm sure my mom still has stuffed in a closet somewhere :rolleyes:. Anyway, by the time I was a teenager I was obsessed with motocross. Had posters of McGrath, Carmicheal and Stewart on my walls. Used to tear spec sheets for bikes out of my Motocross and Dirt Rider magazines and stick them up on the wall too. A few of my friends got dirtbikes, YZ125's and KX80's. I was practically foaming at the mouth for one and I'd ride my friends bikes every chance I got. But my parents (mostly my mom) hated the idea. Figured I hurt myself enough on a bicycle; I'd kill myself on something with a motor.

By the time I was 17 I had a license and I'd bought myself a pickup. One weekend I decided I was sick of waiting around. I looked through the paper and found the cheapest dirtbike I could, a '74 Yamaha DT250. Figured if my parents freaked out I'd "only" be out a few hundred bucks. My dad thought it was hilarious. My mom surprisingly calmed down after she saw me ride it and realized how comfortable I was on it. Though she did try and bar my little brother from riding it. Yeah, right :lol:.

From there I went to a Honda XL250 enduro, then a VFR750 and finally a KZ550. The KZ is the only one I didn't particularly care for; same weight as the VFR with half the horsepower and a flimsy suspension. I'll buy another bike this winter, though I'm not sure what. Another little enduro or maybe a 600 supersport. A couple friends let me borrow their bikes occasionally, but frankly I'm going a little nuts without having my own bike.
 
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