Topic: Why Did You Buy Your 1st Honda?

[bill440cars]

       I thought THIS would be interesting. I don't THINK it's already been done (but knowing MY luck, it has).  Anyway, here's MY reason:

       I was in the U.S. Air Force and was headed to Japan for 2yrs and had told my Granddad (who had been in the motorcycle business since 1932, when he started selling and working on the Old Indians) that I figured when I got TO Japan, I would check out the Yamahas. 2 Stroke motorcycles were what my Granddad and my Dad were mainly dealing with, by that time. But, my Granddad told me not to get a Yamaha, but a Honda! Now, at that time, the Harley Dealer ) was also selling Hondas. So, After I got t Japan and the weather got better (Spring was coming), I started looking for a Honda CB&& 305 Super Hawk. Could NOT find one for sale, but I did find a '66 (this was in 1968) CB72 250cc Hawk and bought it for about $250 (at that time, the exchange was: 360 Yen = $1) So, THAT'S Why & When I bought my 1st Honda. Loved that bike and Been a Honda Fan ever since. 

                      SO< What's YOUR Story? 

 

[petercb750]

Back in 1971 I had my 1st car, a mini. I was chasing this girl and went to visit her at a house she was staying in, to show her my.....er......mini.
There was another bloke there also "visiting" and I don't think he was so....er.....mini.
He was however on a Honda Four - and I now know that it was a K0, but back then my eyes glazed over and my.....emotions.....swelled and I was in love - with the bike.
I begged him to take me for a ride...which he did, he rode it hard and fast.......something I think he was also doing to the girl I was chasing, but I was happy because I had found what I wanted - he could have her.

I went home and told my parents that one day I would have one of those beasts....and a Honda Four too. And I did, a few months later. I was hooked. That's the beast in question in my avatar.....wonder where it ended up?
Peter.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

F R E E D O M. I was 19 and living at home under the tyranny of my mother. She said "If you don't like my rules you can leave" one time too many. A buddy and I rented a trailer home and I took the $400 I had saved and bought one of the things I had wanted which was against her rules. 1968 CB350. My freedom was short lived as I got my draft notice soon afterwards.   

[Gordon]

I was 18 and had just totaled my car.  Didn't get enough from insurance to get another decent car, but it was plenty for a bike.  I was 18 and invincible back then, so the logic was sound.   Started looking in the paper and found a 1989 Hawk 650GT.  I had to have the guy ride it home for me because I'd never ridden a motorcycle before, only been a passenger.  I got comfortable with the controls in the apartment parking lot and spent the next several evenings in the empty mall parking lot nearby.  I was hooked.

[socalenduro]

because i am awesome

[74cb750]

By the age of 15 I had been working construction with my Dad
for 3 years. Saved every penny and bought a Brand New SL175
for somewhere around $800....?
Couldn't ride it legally for  months until my birthday, but
not everything we do has to be legal right? Besides it sometimes
actually moved under it's own power in the woods.
peace,
michel

[dhall57]

http://youtu.be/1qODJEH1JhE

This is why!!!!!  If anyone has not seen this I recommend you do. It's a CLASSIC. Just as good today as it was 40 years ago when I first saw it in 1971

[Tripps]

I reached the age of 53 without ever owning a motorcycle, didn't understand the allure, they seemed impractical. I saw my 78 CB750K sitting by the side of the road., it's hard to describe, but it looked really familiar, like I knew the bike, somehow. When I stopped to look at the bike, the guy that came out of the house was a guy that I had worked with a dozen years ago. He was asking $1000, let me have it for $850, I thought I had found gold, LOL, it was a one registered owner bike with only 11,000 miles on the odometer. I was hooked, rode 17,000 miles my first year riding, 8000 on my learners permit before I got my license. Only one driving out of class ticket, LOL.

[WhyNot2]

Hated seeing the 1974 CB350F sitting in my brother's shed, crap piled on top of it for years. Finally talked him into selling it to me, 'cause he wasn't going to do anything with it. $200.00 bucks later and its loaded in the van headed back to Georgia from Delaware, where it sits again, but running at least. Wanting to get an exhaust system before I actully start riding it daily.

BTW....this bike is all original, with only 2800 miles.

[MoMo]

First bike I ever owned was a small Harley Hummer that was purchased while I was stationed at Eglin AFB back in the late 60's.  It was a basket case and with the help of a fellow airman it was reassembled and made roadworthy(bike is worth a minor fortune these days) but it was too slow and I sold it and a left over Honda CB350 was purchased from the Fort Walton Beach Honda dealer for the princely sum of 550.  It was beautiful, with the candy apple red and white tank with the black knee pads. From there something got out of control -see bikes I own and have owned...Larry

[Really?]

I didn't buy my first Honda, my Dad bought it for me.  I think he was trying to reconnect becuase he had basically not been there for many years.  He handed me a '75 400-4 SS when I was 14.  He rode a full Vettered '79 Yamaha XS Eleven Special.  A year later, he felt I needed a bigger bike so he bought an '80 Yamaha XS 1100 Standard off the showroom floor.  That is why I still have a Yammy today.  I had had a couple Honda's along the way and always wanted another one but the wife got it, lol.  Still looking for a Honda for me.  Riding momma's 750 feels so right!

[JosepyK]

My truck broke down, I needed a vehicle. Father-in-law had a bike sitting on the patio for 3 years, paid $200 for it, $400 to fix it, and never looked back.

[Tews19]

Back in 1971 I had my 1st car, a mini. I was chasing this girl and went to visit her at a house she was staying in, to show her my.....er......mini.
There was another bloke there also "visiting" and I don't think he was so....er.....mini.
He was however on a Honda Four - and I now know that it was a K0, but back then my eyes glazed over and my.....emotions.....swelled and I was in love - with the bike.
I begged him to take me for a ride...which he did, he rode it hard and fast.......something I think he was also doing to the girl I was chasing, but I was happy because I had found what I wanted - he could have her.

I went home and told my parents that one day I would have one of those beasts....and a Honda Four too. And I did, a few months later. I was hooked. That's the beast in question in my avatar.....wonder where it ended up?
Peter.

Your verbage made me laugh. I am not judging you but hmmm. Kinda funny... Still funny how you Have in  the same paragraph, "I begged him to take me for a ride...which he did, he rode it hard and fast."

[Tews19]

F R E E D O M. I was 19 and living at home under the tyranny of my mother. She said "If you don't like my rules you can leave" one time too many. A buddy and I rented a trailer home and I took the $400 I had saved and bought one of the things I had wanted which was against her rules. 1968 CB350. My freedom was short lived as I got my draft notice soon afterwards.

Hey Jerry, what happened to the CB?

[mjstone]

My CB500 is my first bike.  I didn't set out looking for a Honda.  Like Jerry, I grew up with a Mother that didn't allow much of anything dangerous, like motorcycles, guns, even gas powered lawn mowers.   I've always wanted a motorcycle.  After some years past, I decided it had to be either an Indian or a Harley.  Nothing else would do.  Well, it didn't happen, always something else came up and motorcycles had to wait. 

A couple years ago I decided that I was going to get one even if it was an old Jap junker.  I was 50 and I wanted to get one before it was to late.  Two years later and no closer to ownership, I finally ask my father in law if he would sell me his bike.  It had been in storage for years and the last three years it sat behind the garage under a tarp.  He said that he would be happy to give it to me, but he had promised it to his son.  His son is very heavy and in bad health, has limphodema.  The inside of his lower left leg has a bulge that looks like he stuffed a basket ball in his pant leg.  I couldn't see him ever riding a motorcycle again.  He did ride it before though.  I remember him having to borrow it to commute thirty miles to work for a while.  Of course this was 25 years ago.

I called my brother in law up and told him that I ask his dad to sell me his bike and what he said to me.  He said that he would love to have his dads bike, but he knew he would never would be able to fix it up and be able to ride it and his two daughters had no interest in motorcycles either.  He said he would rather see it up and running rather that sitting in a garage or worse and just rusting away.  He called an told this to his dad and that is how I got my first Honda. 

While I would not mind getting another CB500 or a CB550, so I can take this one down and restore it properly, I don't see any reason to own anything else.  I love this bike and have come to dislike Harleys, mostly because of the noise and many of their riders attitudes.  I no longer have a desire to own one, even if I could afford one.

MJ

[Really?]

And that first bike turned out be a full blown tourer too!  After you have been riding it for a bit, when you get on a bike without all the touring stuff, you will feel like you are on a moped.  Getting onto momma's the first bunch of times, it would freak me out because there was nothing in front of me and the front end was gonna come off.   

Still getting used to it but it is much better now.

[kirkn]

Eh. 

Honda just happened to be the closest dealer at the time.

My first bike was a Benelli, bought from a friend of my older brother.  After a while, I had saved up enough for new, and the Honda dealer was closest and that older brother had bought a new CB360T from them. 

So, that's why I bought a new '75 Honda MR50 as my first Honda... 

Since then, I've owned 41 other Hondas, 11 Yamahas, 5 Suzukis, 11 Kawasakis, a Bultaco and a Hodaka.

Currently own that original CB360T, another Honda and a Suzuki.

[curemode2002]

I was riding an 80' Kawa 440 (not the ltd with the belt and disc the standard with twin leading shoes and a chain) and a buddy I worked with bought a new Harley Sportster. After a couple of months he comes up to me a says how would you feel about having a bigger bike (Im 6'6" and a little over 300lbs so I was in)? He said he had an old Honda sitting off the side of the garage and he just couldn't find the time to fix it up and sell it. He says to me I will Bring the bike over just give me what you sell your 440 for minus the parts to get the honda up and running. So I sold the 440 for 700.00 bought 150.00 in parts for the Honda and gave hime 550.00 cash. Never looked back I love my cb650 won't be going anywhere else but to my kids after I am taking a dirt nap.

[Duke McDukiedook]

'Cause it is effin' awesome. 

[Duanob]

I never bought my first Honda I traded for it. I was 16 and we moved into a house that had a comeplete chopper basketcase left in the basement. I spent the next year putting it together and did a pretty nice job if I say so myself. Had a hard tail frame, Harley wheels and tank and other crap. The motor was a Triumph 500 twin although i don't remember what year. I had it painted a nice royal blue and bought a rawhide leather single seat for it and semi-ape-hangers. I completed it and got it running and drove it around the block exactly once. Then a friend of my uncle's wanted to trade me a 1974 (this was 1979) Honda Cb360 in sunburst Orange for it because he wanted the Harley stuff. The thing was almost brand new to me. DEAL! I didn't even have a title for the chopper but he did for the Honda. I rode that thing every where for the next three years. Then i sold it to my cousin who had for the next 10 years. I don't know what ever happened to it but that was an awesome little bike. I learned to love Hondas ever since. The sound, the feel. Just like yesterday.

[Roach Carver]

Cause I couldn't afford a "real" bike.

[Really?]

Are you still trying to get a hold of this setup?

[scunny]

just before I turned 15 the time came to purchase a motorcycle. my older cousin lived down the road from us and I loved watching him ride past on his 69 bonnie. Dad took me to a local dealer and there it was, a beautifull gold CB100. had to borrow some money to pay for it, been hooked on Honda for 37 years now.

[flybox1]

right place right time.  I was 38 years old before i bought my first bike.  rode a bit in high school.  my good buddy had 2 beat up R75's in his family we tore around on.  had a thing for airheads and jugs ever since    and was searching CL over lunch for a fixer-upper.  A coworker asked what i was up to and mentioned he had a 350F in his garage he wanted to sell.  I knew nothing about SOHC$'s before that day. 
I look every day in hopes of finding another....

[faux fiddy]

I bought it because it was given to me.

Oh, you mean the second one I paid $50 for? It's for parts.