Topic: How did you get your best or first or cheapest Bike?

[Don R]

 I was thinking there are some good stories out there, am I right?

[seanbarney41]

hhmmm, maybe not...I got my first bike for free.  It was he worst bike I have had...almost bad enough to make me never want to ride motorcycles again.  The best bikes I ever had were sold to me by co-workers..."Hey Sean, you wanna buy his bike I got?"  Lots of craigslist finds in between...pretty boring, huh.

[dave500]

mid 80s I got a mint but dusty suzy gt250 with left hand kick from a really old guy at work,un registered,think I paid about 150 bucks?i Mr sheened the thing got rego on it and sold it straight away for I think 700,good money in the 80s!i rode it up the street and it was a gutless dog,i think blocked exhaust the old bloke wouldn't have had it screaming as it should and probably ran it too slow?

[Terry in Australia]

I taught myself to ride on my big sister's Honda C50 when I was 9, and realised then why I was put on this earth, to have a life long passion with motorcycles. I'd been given a shiny new bicycle for my 9th birthday, complete with with banana seat and apes. To make some bux, I did a paper round 3 nights per week after school, for the princely sum of $2 per week.

One evening I was riding past a Housing Commission house, and some Aboriginal kids were pushing each other around on a Honda QA50. I asked them why they weren't riding it under it's own power? They said "It doesn't go!" I asked if they'd like to swap it for my bicycle and they said "Yep", and we did the trade.

I had no mechanical skills (so nothing much has changed over the last 48 years) but as I was pushing it the 2 miles home, I noticed a wire hanging from the coil, so I reconnected it, gave it a kick, and it immediately started, and I rode it home. I don't remember if my folks were pissed that I'd done the trade without their permission, but I did enjoy doing my paper round on the little Honda, keeping any eye out for the cops, of course............

[Bailgang]

Cars used to be my passion but I never had the finances to build one the way I wanted so I happened to be at a fellows house that had a bunch of beat up bikes strewn around his yard and spotted a 75 cb550 in a shed. It was severely neglected and already missing half its parts but for whatever reason I just had to have it. the man sold me both the cb550 and a cb500 for $250, the 500 was actually rather complete but didn't have a title yet the 550 did have a title so the 500 became a parts bike. I literally brought that 550 back from the dead spending more money on it than it was worth but loved every minute of it and have been hooked since. I wish I still had it because now that my wife is riding on her own that 550 would've made a perfect first bike for her.

[dave500]

you realise you got a stolen qa50 terry?

[demon78]

Ah my bike was a 500cc Matchles single that I bought for a 100 bucks, it taught me many things about engines, about bikes, about pain that SOB is probably why I limp today,(god that thing could kick back) wish I still had it.
Bill the demon.

[Stev-o]

My first motorcycle, other than a moped, was a Suzuki X6 Hustler.  It was a hand-me-down from my older brother, he lost interest after getting his first car.   I was prolly 14, obviously no license, but my parents let me ride it on the trails and roads around the cottage that they had.   

[vfourfreak]

Honda CD90Z that someone unloaded cheap because there was an ominous thunk noise from the lower end. Got it for £50 in 1973. The clutch was loose on the crank end. Fixed it for the price of a clutch case gasket.

Only free bike I had was a crate containing 95% of a 1963 CB72. My brother gave it to me as he did not have the time to rebuild it. I got it going and ran it for a year till it was replaced by a new CB400F.

Kev

[Yamahawk]

Ah my bike was a 500cc Matchles single that I bought for a 100 bucks, it taught me many things about engines, about bikes, about pain that SOB is probably why I limp today,(god that thing could kick back) wish I still had it.
Bill the demon.

Bill,
     my first bike was a 1967 Norton Atlas 750... and yeah, it could kick back lol. But then, Real Bikes have kick starters!
That bike taught me a lot about making sure fasteners were tight, go over the bike at least every day to make sure nothing had vibrated off, or was about to... but man, what a torque monster it was! That was an amazing road bike of it's day. I do miss it too. Had the magneto ignition... my middle name is Edward, so I copied the font on the Korbel Brandy bottle, and painted a gold 'Ed' onto the top of my black tank, and I believe I had the only... 'Ed' Norton in existence... 
Charlie

[MikeSimon]

Simple question with a potentially complex answer:

The first bike I rode at the age of 12 was my Dad's ex 125cc Adler. First bike I owned at 16, was a 50cc Hercules K50SS I bought new for around 1,500 German Marks. My first "real bike" was a used 350cc Kawasaki S2 Triple that I got when I was 18 for 1,800 German Marks

[Don R]

 My first is almost a non story. CB500 K2 bought new at a dealer, it was an awesome bike but I had to have a 750. Later had kids and a company truck so I sold them.

 In my second round of bike ownership, the city was hassling my brother about the cb750 junkpile in his backyard and while helping him clean them up I drug 3 home to build a bike. During the building of the 75 F0 I realized it was wrecked and while searching for a titled frame I also searched for Lester mags. Who would believe I found a K0 with Lesters for $650. I'm still improving that one.  I gave him the money and as that guy turned away he had the look on his face like he really took me for a ride. It was beat on and had a plugged exhaust so it didn't run when parked but I knew he was lying about that.

[BomberMann650]

Handmedown from a biker brother!
Bike was named after his ex-wife too 😂😂

[jlh3rd]

Honda cL 100, used....took me six weeks of saving working at griffs burgers for the $200, at $1.10/hr

[Gene]

First legit street bike I owned - a guy gave it to me. A  +/- 1976 360 twin in 1982. Someone gave it to him, he was leaving town, he said "here you go". I never registered it, never even wrenched on it - gas and oil only. Sadly, it was stolen before I could make it legitimately mine.

First dirt bike? I was 11, maybe 12. Saved up $100 to buy a Harley 100 - AMF series, Baja 1000 style. From a guy named Harry Hill. Bike lasted a year, maybe, before it started going to #$%* and I was too young and stupid to know how to bring it back. Ended up in a salvage ditch.

Prior to that I was riding my friends bikes

[754]

 I so wanted a Baja, cuz then I would have real Harley, lol..
In 72 I scored a job making anchor bolts on a threading machine,  3 cents each 1/2  inchthread, if I give er I could do 50 an hour, 1.50.. min wage.
 So 500 bolts 15.00
 I bought a CL 175  on layaway at the Honda shop behind where I made bolts.. I THINK IT was maybe 200 or 220 bux, cant remember.. but 5000 anchor bolts that was only 150 bux.. geez.. that sounds bad.

People when I went into machining, folks often did not believe  I was threading for 3 cents a piece, or that I had cut thousands of threads,  I still like threading on a lathe.,
 About 12 years back I was threading rods on a turret lathe,  thousands more, bought me a set of Crower rods from Jay..

[OldSchool_IsCool]

...Later had kids and a company truck so I sold them.
 

So Don, who was more pissed, your boss for selling the truck or your wife for selling the kids??  Maybe that’s a topic for another thread.

My first bike was/is a ‘77 550k4 that I still own.  Buddy of mine was moving put of state and had no room for it on the truck.  He gave it to me in exchange for helping him Pack up.  It had the classic fuse meltdown problem.  Searching for the solution to that is what brought me to this forum, now that I think about it.

[Yamahawk]

Handmedown from a biker brother!
Bike was named after his ex-wife too 😂😂

At least he didn't hand down his ex-wife with it... or Did he?
Charlie

[mrbreeze]

The one I liked the best was my 4th bike...a 74 Kawi 900 z1. Got it from a friend that got it from another friend for $800 late 70's early 80's. If I could have any of them back that's the one I'd take.

[Desert-SOHC]

My best find was a 69 sandcast that I bought for $200.00...I went to look at a 450 DOHC and saw the mirror in the back of the garage and ask about it.  He said "That's an old 750-4, there's something wrong with it."  I wheeled and dealed a price for both, and that's what I thought I overpaid for the 450.  It had 2 badly worn rocker shafts and had really bad ticks.  Did a top end on it and replaced the shafts, it had some weird 4 into 1 into 2 pipe on it and it didn't have a centerstand because of it...but that pipe played music!!!  Some old guy backed over it, at that time the right parts weren't available to me so I fixed it with what I could make work and sold it to a guy at work.

[Stev-o]

The one I liked the best was my 4th bike...a 74 Kawi 900 z1.

Here ya go Fred, relive your youth!  [I wont ask how much you sold yours for]


https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/mcy/d/1974-kawasaki-zmiles-show/6539719043.html

[74cb750]

I was lucky as I started working for my Dad when I was 12 years old during summer vacations. The pay was 3 times minimum wage learning house recondition/cleanup/construction in the late
sixties. Although I never worked more than 20 hours/week I managed to save almost all of it.
By the time I was 15 I bought a brand new 1971 Honda SL175 for $650-800 cash. Have always had a motorcycle since.

[Don R]

...Later had kids and a company truck so I sold them.
 

So Don, who was more pissed, your boss for selling the truck or your wife for selling the kids??  Maybe that’s a topic for another thread.
 
 ;')

[BobbyR]

I was taking some graduate courses and made friends with a guy named Mario.  Nice fella and had a hot girlfriend. In the heat of the moment one night Mario lost control. Oh well, he needed cash to deal with the situation. He rode a 250 Ducati street scrambler to school every day. He was trying to customize it and he also had a couple of small wrecks. I did some unlicensed riding on and off. He said $100 I need the cash. I bought it.

Everyday something fell off that contraption. I had no Horn, turn signals, speedo, tach or ignition switch. I was putting it back together every week or two, the engine was strong and I rode the sucker everywhere. It was light for the highway, but you soldier up and ride.   

[Bankerdanny]

My dad bought me my first bike, a mid 1960's (1965 I think) Suzuki K10, a 80cc 2 stroke. The attached picture isn't my bike, but it was red, just like this one. I don't know how he heard about it, but it had belonged to my best friend (my parents and his weren't friends). But somehow he found out they would sell it and he bought it for me. It had oil injection and a 4 speed transmission, all down.

It was quite peppy and could haul my 150 or so pounds down the road at an indicated 55 flat out.

Dad sold it when he sold his house in the late 1990's without giving me advance warning or an opportunity to buy it myself.

A couple years later he bought me a 1970 or '71 SL175, my first SOHC Honda. It started out gold and white, but ended red and white.