Topic: So... What got you guys & girls riding in the first place?

[rhos1355]

something different, raw and crude but exhilarating.


Phwoa, that sounds like my missus.......................... when I first met her.

[72 yellow]

Summer of '66, a high school friend and his brother had a just painted 64 Honda Superhawk.  Let me take it for a short and scary ride.  He figured I needed a few lessons.  That's how it all started. Been riding ever since.

[void909]

Hey Void..

Why don't you set this thread up as a POLL?  Think there have been related topics posted here..but not quite as specific as yours.

Personally..I feel like I've been riding so long..I can't remember the original motivation.  Guess it was part wanting to have independent, powered transportation (bikes were much more affordable than cars then..for me)..and the fact that in California in late 50's..one could ride a bike @ 15-1/2 versus 16+ for regular driver's license.

But because I worked in local Whizzer dealership then..I was just naturally attracted to bikes..I guess.

Hope this doesn't seem too "old fogey" to you younger guys/gals.

Ichi

What would you poll exactly? Maybe I'm missing what your saying.

[Demon67]

Had a buddy that had one and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than a car, so in 58 I plunked down my $ 125 and wound up with a 1951 Matchless 500 cc that was tenth hand actually got it running decently sold it and bought a 59 Triumph Bonneville so on and so forth only time I haven't had a bike was after being a bike mechanic and for about 30 years had nothing till my son in law was showing off his old 125 Kawasaki dirt bike and I asked if I could drive it. "Bang" after 15 minutes all the old skills started showing up again and I was away.
Bill the demon.

[pale rider]

I'm originally from Illinois and when I was a boy, once or twice in a summer my father would go through the inconvenience of moving things around in the garage in order to get out his '72 Triumph Bonnie and start it up. So, I must have been excited the first time I saw and heard it because every time thereafter, I got REALLY excited. Sometimes the BEST excitement was when I didn't know he was getting it out and all-of-a-sudden I'd hear him start it. Boyyyyy would I come runnin! So, I have to say that was when I first fell in love with bikes.
When I was 8, my dad bought my 14-year-old brother a 1980 Honda XL185 enduro. 5 years later and after some abuse it was mine. I would ride that bike evvveryday after school and evvveryday in the summer in the forest preserves near my house. I really miss those times.
Anyway, I love classics and sportbikes, so at 21 I bought a Yamaha YZF600R brand new. Sold that 5 years later for my dream bike - a 2003 Triumph Daytona 955i - bought an '03 Kawi to race on the track with - and pre-inherited my first love, my father's 1972 Bonneville; in pristine condition. 

[brianzenk]

Three years ago I was sitting at a bus stop and it
did not stop because it was a full load. I had to wait another
hour for the next bus. A scooter passed before my eyes and at
that moment I decided to ride. I purchased a 1980 Honda NC50
Express and than a CB550 1976. I ride all the time now and do
not wait for the bus anymore.

[tom8Toe]

I used to watch my dad leave for work on his BSA A75 Rocket3 when we were living in VA and he was stationed in Chesapeake with the Coast Guard back in the early to mid '70s. My dad would take me for a ride on occasion. It didn't take much after that to know that some day I would ride a bike. Later when we moved back to Washington state and I was about 7, we would go to the family farm up on Mt. Rainier where my grandfather had 80 acres of property we could ride around on. So my father put me on the 80cc Gemini and taught me which was break, which was the clutch and off I went.

[sinister902]

when I was a kid all i can remember is my dad having a moto guzzi....

he used to take me around the block once in a while when my mom wasnt home when i was 5 and 6.

my parents got divorced and he moved out toward farm land where there was nothing to do, so one weekend he brought home a 78 honda50 minibike he got from a friend that sat next to his hunting cabin for years. Me and him got it going together and I was riding all over the yard at 8yrs old, i was a natural he always told me....that 3spd with auto-clutch was bliss.

when i was 13 i found an ATC in the garbage, got it running fixed it up, and had some fun on that for a year, and found a '73 suzuki TS100 two stroke in a friends barn and we agreed to trade, although his was a box of parts.

so i put it together and got it running and had a ton of fun on some trail rides with it.

when i was 16 i got a job and bought a motocross bike and was riding the heck out of that thing all through highschool. sold it when i was 18 to hop-up my car to where it is now....I was stuck to four wheels until this past spring when i found the non-running CB550 local and just HAD to get it. Mom still doesnt know, lol. She was never fond of me on two wheels (too much like my father i guess)

[SD750F]

In 1980 I was attending college in Phoenix Arizona when a couple friends introduced me to motorcycling as mode of transport in the city. Hadn't rode a bike for 10 years before when I had a small 125cc Suzuki as a kid around Texas. Stopped after the 5th time I had to lay down to bike to avoid hitting someone making a left turn in front of me...

Scott