Topic: First Bikes

[bob204bc]

I wish I had a picture of my first bike. I didn't use cameras too much then.

I started with 50% interest in a Bultaco Pursang and then we traded up for a Yamahe DT360 when in High School. My first street bike owned 100% by me was a new '73 Kawasaki s2 3 cylinder 350. Probably one of the worst bikes ever made but I was proud of it for 6 months until my friend totaled it. In retrospect it was a good thing. I replaced it with a new '74 Yamaha RD350 which was an awesome bike!

Now I ride a 1978 CB750A and a 2000 BMW K1200LT.

[Bryan Boyle]

1963 CA95.  Bought it for 100. in 1974, still in HS, dad said I could not have my own
car (borrow mine, he said...).  Right.

Well, I needed wheels.  One of my buddies from the group of us that hung around on
CB (remember that?) had it sitting in his garage...basket case. 

Brought it home.  Dad asked "What's that?" (duh...).  "It's a motorcycle, dad..." says I.

"Well, why did you buy it?" he asked a bit omniously...

"Because you said I couldn't have a car...".  The logic was ironclad, I thought...it was...I think
at that point, dad figured out that at 17, I was able to start working out my own path and
make some decisions without his input...as long as I was the one paying...

Spent the next month putting it back together.  Spent a week trying to reconcile the
japanglish translation of the service manual (this was back in the day when you could
still get parts from the honda stealer...) and reconcile it to the photo diagram of how to
time the cam chain.  I'll never forget the sound of the engine starting for the first time when
I ignored the cryptic translated text and set it up like the photo in the book showed.

Got a ticket 10 minutes later when riding it on the street in front of the house (unregistered
vehicle) when the a**hole cop 3 houses up saw me riding it (I just wanted to make sure it
DID run...) back and forth in front of my house and called the local cruiser in.  He was good for
doing that to all the neighbors...real impressed with his authority.  IIRC, his wife had to get a
restraining order on him a few years later...seems he was abusive besides...

Rode the thing for 3 years--all over the state of NJ, to work in the summer, out on dates, in
snow up to my knees (I put dirt tires on it...); son of a gun never let me down, and started on
the first kick every time. 

Needed some bucks to stay in college...so I sold it for 200.

I've now got 3 of them stored in a hangar at the airport.  One apart and in a very slow restoration
process (Had to pend it when I sold my townhouse for a job move...but have all the parts bagged and
packed away...) in my dad's basement.

Some day...

[GoatBaSS]

Talk about foreshadowing. 73/74 CB500T For 75$. A billion dollars later and only about 1/2  a mile ridden,  I sold it to a kid who stiffed me on the payment. He  needed it to bond with a gruff father and stay out of what surely was a road to jail if he did not have a project. I wish I had it back with the knowledge I have now. Now let me tell you about a 73 Trumph Bonniville.........

[historicjake]

Back in 86, I bought a old Vespa scooter to putt around with my college roommate who had one.  It got stolen, but I ran across it two years later in my new girl friends garage.  She said her brother had gotten it a year or so before and was going to fix it.  I just about cried.  Who ever had swiped it didn't know it was a 2-cycle and didn't put oil in the gas, and had seized it hard up.  Needless to say we broke up soon after...

Second bike a 1974(?) Yamaha 360.  Started every day for two years on the first kick with absolutely no maintanence and left outside too boot.  Great city bike!

[Kixx007]

1981 C70, It now belongs to oldmanhonda.com.

[dusterdude]

cbchik,i hear ya

[skamania19]

First bike I ever rode was a 60's something Bridgestone 90 my neighbors had for putting around their farm checking on cows and horses. The first bike I ever owned was a '72 Kawasaki 175 I bought from my brother when he downsized to a Susuki 125. 

In middle and high school we used to get up early in the morning and go for rides before school and race to beat the school bus back to our house. Some morings I'd be so cold getting on the bus my jaw wouldn't work and all I could say was, "Aaauuu," no matter what I was trying to say.

Didn't go Honda until just a few years ago. With some people, it takes a while...

[turnenwheels]

 When I was 12 years old.  Honda xr75 1974. 

[6adan]

  My first bike was a 1970 CB750 Japanese model that I baught new in Japan while in the Navy.I was 22 then and I still have it and ride it today.Dannie 

[jurob]

95 suzuki rf600r

[sixshooter]

1968 home made mini bike 5 hp brigs my father built.second was a 150 honda dream dont remember the year model,this was restored by my father also.

[Killer Canary]

Danny, good job sticking with your bike all these years.

[jotor]

First bike I ever rode was a 60's something Bridgestone 90

This isn't my first bike--that was a Whizzer--but it's the first new bike I ever bought.  Yep, 1964 Bridgestone 90.  It had a rotary shift that would go from top gear directly to bottom gear if you weren't careful or tried for fifth.  No autolube so I carried little cans of chainsaw 2-stroke oil that were just the right size for a gallon of gas.  About every 100 miles or so I'd put gas & oil in the bike and shake the whole thing to mix up the fuel.  Took my future wife on our first date on the back of it.  The Bridgestone is long gone but she's still around.....

[techy5025]

My first bike was a Honda dream which I rode for two years until I was able
to buy a K0 from someone whose wife didn't think it was a good idea for
him to have one. I have a pic of me sitting on the dream somewhere, but
I must not have scanned it yet as I can't find it now.

I still have the check I gave him for it.....#1,2000 ...Oct 1970.  It is still the
bike I am riding 35 years later.  Retired now...so I have more time (and money  )
to shower it with.

Here is a pic of it stored in my kitchen in 1970 while I was on a trip.  I had to look
at it the other day to determine the color of the paint in the tank emblems. 

Jim

[74cb750]

My first was a brand new 1970? SL175 HOnda. Underpowered, overweight, but it was paid for. Bike was crashed by 3 people before I finally sold it and bought a MAN's machine, GT250...25 years later I bought 9 cb750's (all crash bikes), and only have 2 complete running ones left. Theres's a story here somewhere... but it excapes me.
michel

[rpyles]

1967 BSA 441 Victor -  I bought it in 1969, and used it to get my Maryland Motorcycle License. Sold it when I got my K0 in '71.

[Dave Wyatt]

My first was a 1979 KZ750 twin, a $1995 special, more with a few add ons.  Bought it brand new and took off riding.  We took our first long distance trip later that year on it.  Dana IN to Dallas Texas!  Two days down and after a couples days rest, two days back.  We had to stop every 50 miles to let our back sides recover.  I didn't know that slowing down 5 mph would make all the difference in the world.  We found that out the next year when we rode to Seneca SC at a slower pace.  We could ride between fill ups without a complaint.  Those were the days.

[Lumbee]

...hauled wood for 2 seasons for this one...

[grumburg]

1969 Suzuki 350 Rebel. Bought in 1972 for $500 when I was 16. Parents said I was too young to own a bike, so I bought it anyway. Was going to ride to a friend's house and hide it until I could break the news. Was only 1/2 mile from where I bought it, so I didn't mess with a helmet or eye protection. Stopped and ticketed before I went 500 feet. Had to push it the rest of the way and go home and tell my old man not only did I buy a bike, but  he had to go to Mayors Court with me next week. It was a long weekend.   

[78 k550]

no pics but first 2 wheel i learned on. It was a Heath kit 5 horse B&S 2 speed with a little tire up front and a massive tire in the rear. I dont think I have a pic of it. Wish I did. Then my dad upgrades to a 67 Yamaha 80    got my first ticket when 14 on it going down the side of a side street.  I have been given and dad has bought the Bultaco's bikes in the past. First street bike I got was a 72CB500 a couple years ago, no title so it just sat. I bought a 78 CB550 the begining of the summer and love it. I just bought a 72 CB500 yesterday and have it going already.

Paul

[Gordon]

OK, here they are!  My first bike (1988 Hawk 650GT), and my first live-in girlfriend.  I learned A LOT of hard lessons with both, but at least the bike was still worth something a couple of years later. 

[Bob Wessner]

but at least the bike was still worth something a couple of years later. 

And they never turn down a ride feigning a headache.   

[Brookesy]

You're a hard man Gordon...

[Lumbee]

 

[Raul CB750K1]

OK, here they are!  My first bike (1988 Hawk 650GT), and my first live-in girlfriend.  I learned A LOT of hard lessons with both, but at least the bike was still worth something a couple of years later. 

Seems like there is an story behind we are dying to read... Did you find her with your best friend? Did you find her with her best female friend? C'mon, tell us the story...

Raul