Your very first ride? Tell us your story.

[AlexG]

Your very first ride? Tell us your story. And show the bike you did it on.

 

Mine was in 1976 on a parking lot behind Moscow’s car factory. Friend of mine briefly explained to me how the clutch works on his Jawa 350 and off I went only to stall it right away. It took me several tries but eventually I managed to get the bike rolling and even shift it to second gear. The sensation of riding a motorcycle was so powerful that after few circles around the parking lot I was forever hooked!

 

Here is the culprit - the most sophisticated motorcycle available in USSR at that time:

[beemerman2k]

Your story, alexg, is a mirror of my own!

 

Summer of 1976, in the parking lot where I worked in Rome, NY. My coworker rode his Honda Elsinore 175cc motorcycle to work everyday. One day, I asked him how those things worked. After learning, to my surprise, that they actually had a transmission (I always figured they were too small and simple for something that complex!), he offered to teach me how to ride it. We go out into the parking lot, and after a few stalls, I manage to successfully launch.

 

Like you, alex, I was hooked. Same experience you shared. I wonder if our first rides took place at the very same time?! Never know!

[Dave39]

My first two-wheeler (motorized, that is) in 1958. A Sears Allstate Cushman. One speed, centrifucal clutch. Top speed 45 mph.

 

[artig]

Not my first bike, but my 4th bike was one of those Jawa 350s. Back in 1965 and 1966. My first was a Jawa 50cc bike/scooter. I have a photo somewhere, but can't find it right now.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

 

As a young teenager I had puttered around a bit on my neighbor's kid-sized off-road bike, and also on my brother's off-road bike, and I had been a passenger on my dad's orange-and-white Yamaha RD350 (similar to pic above), but I had never actually piloted a bike on the road. Finally one day in the mid 1980's when I was 16 or 17, my dad sent me to the corner store on that RD350 to pick up some milk.

 

Holy crap, that was cool, even if I did almost dump it. It was late spring in Minnesota, and there was still quite a bit of winter sand left on the road. I had detoured down a cul de sac just to add a couple hundred yards to my one-mile errand, and as I powered out of the cul de sac back on to the straight, the back end stepped out in some of that sand. I recovered, thankfully - with a 3/4 helmet as my only piece of protective riding gear, I would not have fared well if I had crashed.

 

I got to the store, strapped a half-gallon of milk to the rack, and headed home. At a stoplight I prepared to turn right on red, than saw a cop car coming through with the cross traffic. Being a noob, I fumbled with the controls a bit before I got the bike completely stopped, and my bobbling drew the cop's attention. After he passed through the intersection he stopped by the side of the road, and after I made my turn, he stuck out his arm and flagged me to stop next to him. This was my first personal interaction ever with the police, and right from the start it was unfolding like some kind of sick nightmare.

 

"Where's your eye protection?" he asked me. I wasn't kidding when I said the helmet was my only piece of riding gear. My dad wears prescription glasses, so eye protection never occurred to him when he sent me out on my errand. I couldn't come up with an answer, and after an extended period of silence during which I nearly wet my pants, he told me to pull to the curb.

 

Soon after that he discovered I had no motorcycle endorsement on my license. I told him I had my father's permission to be on the bike, as I didn't want him to think I was an unruly kid who had simply swiped the bike to head out and raise some hell. Unmoved, the officer asked, "does he always give you permission to break the law?"

 

The cop placed me in the back of his squad car while he radioed the police station to call my dad and have him drive out and get the bike, because he wasn't going to let me ride it home. After a nauseating and interminable ten-minute wait, my dad arrived, and when he learned that I was in fact being cited for no endorsement and no eye protection (grand total, $99) he proceeded to give the cop a very hard time. He offered that if I had been out hooning it up, he would have helped the cop write the tickets, but as it was, he wondered what the cop hoped to accomplish by giving me these tickets. Cop was unmoved, and when my dad expressed disappointment in the cop's judgment, he even got a bit defensive.

 

In the end, Dad took the bike home (with the milk still strapped to the rack!) and I took his car home, with two tickets in my wallet. Dad felt really bad about sending me out without eye protection, in part because that was what had gotten me pulled over. He ended up paying my fines for me, and I didn't pilot a bike again until a year or so later when I got my learner's permit. By that time he had sold the RD350. I still miss the way that bike sounds. It was a two-stroke engine, with an odd ping-pong sound when it idled. He had owned it since I was just a few years old, and my first motorcycle rides ever were with me as a passenger sitting in front of him on that bike.

[dhanson]

My brother-in-law got one of these and let me take it to ride in Shreveport. I about ran it out of gas. Only rear brake with pedal on right, it would modulate when you hit bumps and stuff, so was hard to apply smooth braking.

 

Engine had instant response and centrifugal clutch was superb. Later mom bought me my own, and my dad about kicked us both out of the house as he had said no mc while I was under his roof.

 

I slid all the way now a rainslick hill into an intersection through a red-light, but no traffic so I made a right turn and kept going like nothing had happened. Ruined those pants tho.

 

I started in 1962 on this bugger.

 

Cushman Hilander

 

P.S. It was mangled in a high side when I was hot dogging in a parking lot and scraped a low side frame and slid into a high side. I was thrown a ways and did a shoulder roll, no injuries but embarrassed big time.

[frenchwv]

Not much of a story. First bike was a 1976 Kawasaki KZ400 purchased in 1985 before I had a driver's license. I think the picture is a 1977, but the '76 looked about the same. I used to ride the bike to driver's ed class and park it a few blocks from the school and walk the rest of the way. I didn't want my instructor to turn me in. Could I get in trouble for admitting that??

 

[Glenn Reed]

I had ridden a few trail bikes at camp and such, and a friend had taken me out to ride his CL160 in a parking lot, but that was the most I had done before actually purchasing a brand new 1979 Suzuki GS550E, pretty much like this one:

 

A buddy of mine had driven me to the dealership and was going to follow me home. I stopped counting the number of times I stalled the thing leaving from Stop signs, but I started to get the hang of it and eventually got much better.

 

I rode that bike 45,000 miles over the next three years, work, school and then a real job, before it got to the point where it was going to cost more than it was worth to fix an engine issue.

[Bob Palin]

My first ride was in 1971 on a schoolmate's Suzuki 250 Hustler, his was white I think. I'm not really sure why he let me ride it, I had never ridden a motorcycle before. I rode it a mile or so round the neighbourhood of our high school in Luton (UK) and I was hooked. He was just a few months older than me and the licensing law changed so that I could only get a moped which I rode about 3600 miles before getting a CB175

 

 

I had no contact with the schoolmate from the age of 18 to 50 but then he found my web page and we have exchanged email regularly since, he had no idea of his influence! He spent most of his adult life in Jakarta and now lives in Houston.

[hopz]

My first was a little earlier than the ones posted so far... it must have been 1957/8.

 

My need was transportation, not recreation. I had to get around with two working parents and the idea of a motorbike was better and legal since I could get a license for a bike at age 14.

 

We went looking and Dad bought a JBe-K. Interesting bike in that this enterprising fellow, Joe Berliner, from New Jersey negotiated a deal for the remnants (after the war in Europe) of DKW to make frames with Sachs 98cc motors. Thus was born the JBe-K.

 

 

k100 by hopz, on Flickr]Flickr[/url]

 

Joe Berliner was the man who also went on to import Zundapps, (which was my second bike) and Nortons among others.

 

A few years ago I ran across an advert for a man who sells original advertising pages from old motorcycle and car magazines.He sold me an ad showing both my JBe-K and the Zundapp SuperSabre. I will see if I can make an image of that ad and post it...

 

But I digress. The shop delivered the bike in a pick-up truck and they rolled it around to our back yard. They showed us how to start it and I got on. Put her in gear, with the rotating left-hand shifter grip and let out the clutch. Mom and Dad said I took off toward the back hedge and only at the very last inch figured out how to turn it... My legs both sticking out sideways.

 

That one lesson led to a lifetime-so far- of riding... still searching for history on Joe Berliner so if anyone has any thoughts or leads let me know- please.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ron_B]

My older brothers taught me to ride in 1967. I got a job at the local Dog 'n Suds drive-in restaurant, saved my nickels and dimes, and a year later I bought a Yamaha 125 twin from a high school friend. He had bought it in secret, but his parents found out and made him sell it. It was less than a year old and I paid him $200 dollars for it. I think he paid about $300. Yes, motorcycles — at least small ones — were that cheap back then.

 

This isn't the actual bike, but it was exactly like this, color and everything.

 

 

 

My brother Bob's Honda "Benly." This is the bike that caused my own life-long obsession with 2-wheeled machines. Picture taken in 1965 with my sister aboard

 

[hopz]

Reference to my earlier post...

 

Here is the full page ad for Joe Berliner Cycles... My first one was the JBe-K

 

My second one was the Zundapp Super Sabre...

 

133 by hopz, on Flickr

[Polo]

They say you never forget your first. 1972 Honda 350 Four. It's true:

 

 

(looked like this one) I used to look like a circus monkey. It was waaay too small for me.

[EffBee]

Got some old family pics somewhere (probably at my Mom's), but here's the story.

 

Dad was a racer in Argentina. Basically a Grand National type of rider in that he competed in road racing, short track, TT's and whatever else a promoter could cobble together as a "track." He was actually the AMA (Associacion de Motociclistas Argentinos) #1 plate holder in the Junior Class in 1946. He gave up riding to marry and have a family.

 

Arriving here in 1956 with Mom, me and my brother in tow, Dad worked 3 jobs and 19 hours a day for 3 years to save up the down payment for the only home he ever purchased, and in which my mother still lives. He paid $16,500 and got a 3% loan. P/I was something like $85/mo. He sweated that payment until he established a career.

 

Although he'd given up riding (long story for another day, but he gave up ALL riding), he didn't give up motorcycles. And he had two sons who grew up with the photos and stories of his antics from his racing/hooning days. We were irreversibly drawn.

 

It wasn't long before Dad found an old 20" Schwinn bicycle frame, attached a Powell lawnmower engine, a Honda fuel tank, a set of forks from some other small-displacement bike, and grafted a swingarm onto where the bicycle's crank would otherwise have spun.

 

That was our ride for a couple of years. We would go to 6AM Mass on Sunday morning and by 8AM we were in the empty parking lot of the local GEMCO store (an early membership discount chain), riding at a breakneck 12mph. Deputies used to show up to see what was going on.

 

Eventually he sold that off and came across a little 50cc Italian motorcycle with a 3-speed handshift called a Demm. We rode that at speeds up to 25mph (Dad wouldn't let us use 3rd gear) for another year before we got our Honda S90. That eventually led to a couple of Hodaka Ace 90's, Ace 100's, and Steen's SS Hodakas all of which introduced us to dirt riding. When we wanted to race and Mom said, No, we got approval our first trials bikes, Montesa Cota 247's. That is when we really learned to ride in the dirt. I was #1 Expert in CA in 1970 (sounds impressive until you realize that there was also a Master's Class above Expert), my brother the same in 1971, and he eventually went on to finish 5th in the AMA's National Trials Championship during that era. We were hooked for life.

[CVA-42]

Although I had been a passenger many times before, my first time to actually pilot a motorcycle was on a 1963 Norton Manxman 650SS in a school parking lot. Not exactly a "learner" bike and it didn't go well. But I was sixteen and thought I could just get on it and ride it. My first real learning experience was on a 125 Yamaha in a smooth pasture. Much better. The first motorcycle that I actually bought was a nearly new 1970 Bonneville. Wish I still had it but I turned it into a 1971 R60/5 after having ridden one belonging to an old friend. What a revelation that bike was and I remember that ride to this day. I still have that bike and have been riding BMW almost exclusively ever since.

[Chip]

My first bike was a red 1968 Suzuki 305 Scrambler. I bought it from a friend in late 1972 and rode it as often as I could. Sorry, I don't have any pictures.

 

A few months after I bought it, a couple of friends asked me if I wanted to go, "trail riding" with them; at a place designed for trail riding. Of course. They told me they were trailering their bikes and I would have to meet them there. I had no idea what was in store...

 

Anyway, I get there and they show up with a '73 Husqvarna CR400 and a Bultaco (I don't recall now what model). For the next four hours, I tried my hardest to keep up...but spent most of the time on the ground. They spent most of the time laughing at me and my "trail bike." Later in the day, they talked about a cool sport called moto-cross.

 

A few months later, I sold the Suzuki and bought the Husky 400 from my buddy. Was hooked on motocross for several years after.

 

Writing this brings back some good memories. Thanks for the opportunity to relive them for a moment.

[upflying]

I had a Bonanza Mini Bike circa 1966.

Got a ticket on it too from Oakland Police.

[aixgeek]

I started out on one of these in 1964 ... a 50cc Puch moped sold by Sears.

 

 

I bought it used for $20 from a friend who had graduated to a Vespa. It was a two-speed bike. The cable that went from the handlebars to the shift linkage was broken, and Sears was waiting for a slow boat from Germany to bring a replacement. I hooked a coat hanger up to the linkage and, when I wanted to shift gears, I would reach down and yank the coat hanger up; downshifts involved stalling out, getting off, and forcing the linkage back into first. I was really glad when a cable finally arrived.

[sardineone]

I started riding with small beginnings as many on the board. Maybe part of the reason I've survived as long as I have on two wheels. I started delivering news papers in 8th grade to initiate my motorcycle purchase savings account. I bought a new Suzuki M12 50cc like below for around $220. Riding didn't come too difficultly on the Suzuki, but I wasn't a natural either. On my first ride at just under 16 years old, I was riding very easy with a new tight motor. Going up a good grade I lugged it into stalling in the middle of the hill. Luck would have it there were people sitting on a porch where I stopped and they were having a good laugh at me. I continued to where I was heading (a deserted school parking lot on the weekend). I rode laps for at least an hour to get well familiar with the controls. I rode endless miles on this and subsequent bikes while in high school.

 

 

[sardineone]

Chip, my 3rd bike was a Suzuki T-305 Raider. First wheelie bike!

[Skywagon]

A neighbor who was a Sr in High School had this Sears Moped. He graduated to mustang. I was about 7 years old. I was already riding it all around the neighborhood. Mom wouldn't allow it so my dad bought it provided the neighbor kept it in his garage and mom was non the wiser. Rode that silly moped for hours a day. One of the favorit things was to put it on the stand, rev it up to nearly wide open with the rear wheel spinning, then rock back on the wheel and pull a wheelie...Oh the power of those 49cc's. On a good day we could actually hit 40mph

[aixgeek]

One of the favorit things was to put it on the stand, rev it up to nearly wide open with the rear wheel spinning, then rock back on the wheel and pull a wheelie...

 

I had forgotten about the wheelies off the centerstand ... I used to do the same thing. Those Puch mopeds were almost indestructible.

[Ponch]

[BIWOZ]

It was one of these.

 

 

Belonged to a friend. He showed me the one-down, four-up gearchange, clutch and throttle, and off I wobbled. Worked up into top gear and went about a mile before the road petered out. Pulled in the clutch and coasted to a stop. Foot-paddled my way round ... and realised I had no idea how to get back into first gear!

 

So I near redlined the sucker and slipped the clutch in fifth until we got rolling again.

 

Rolled back to my mate, sure he would catch the reek of burning clutch plate; but if he did, he never said anything.

 

I was hooked, although my initial interest was offroad bikes.

[Bayou Red]

Easter weekend in 1965 our extended family got together for a pancake breakfast in the desert north of Phoenix at what is now the Pioneer Arizona Living Museum. One of the uncles brought 3 small CT trail bikes (just like the picture) for us to ride, and as the saying goes - "The rest is history."

The only rule he set was that we were NOT to come looking for sympathy for any bumps or bruises we might sustain. When the sun set that day were were a bunch of tired but happy kids.

 

Now that I'm quickly approaching my second childhood I have another nice red toy to play with.

 

[Rinkydink]

I was seven or eight years old on my brother's Honda CB160. We were "collecting" on his paper route. For you young whipper-snappers, collecting was what you did on the first of every month so you could get paid. There were no debit/credit cards in those days and you had to go get the money (door to door) from each subscriber every month so you could pay your wholesale paper bills. Whatever you had left over was yours...

 

We were on a steep hill and he told me to coast to the next address which was 5-6 houses down the road. He had turned the key on, clicked the bike into 2nd gear and instructed me to let the clutch out when I wanted to stop. Well, of course it started and off I went! I knew nothing of shifting gears etc. but bottom line I didn't crash the bike!

 

From there I was raised on flat track. To this day I still think the mile dirt track is ballet. There's none better!!!!!

[Huzband]

I can hardly wait top see Paul's response. In the meantime, my first ride was the iconic CT70.

 

 

Interweb photo, but mine was the same. Learned how to wheelie, burn my leg, & crash into trees on that bike. Mom invited me to go with her to the Honda shop, & the next thing I know they're loading said CT into the back of the station wagon. Changed my life forever.

[Bernie]

I started riding when I was 15 in W-Germany with a French moped (Mofa). I think it was made by an outfit called Soloex or something. It was a heavy bicycle frame with a 50 cc motor mounted to the front handle bar. You had to lower the motor on to the front wheel and it would drive the front wheel. At stop signs you got it up to speed by pedaling. Also when you hit a water puddle, the motor started spinning, until the tire dried up a bit.

Then I graduated at 16 to DKW, also 50 cc (3 HP if I was lucky) with a 3 speed on the handle bar shifter, it was older then I.

Next was a 50 cc Kreidler with a real 5 speed transmission and almost 6 hp. If I made my self real small, it would almost get up to 90 KM. Man was thing scary on the Autobahn, only made that mistake once.

[biometrics]

My first ride was when I was 20 years old...a Honda C50 like this one, only mine was all white except for the black seat. Bought it from a 1st cousin who had graduated to a VW convertible beetle... paid him $80 for it in 1968. IT was great for almost 4 years and then it quit just about the time I shipped overseas to east Africa... I left it parked in my father's garage for almost 25 years, and he gave it to some neighbors kids about 2001 just to get it out of the garage... I don't know if they ever got it running. I used to ride 2-up with my wife all around the little town we lived in at the time.

 

[racer7]

1964 high school. 55cc Yamaha that was less than $300 new and which after a little while got an 80cc motor from a wreck for $10. Fitted lower gearing sprocket, top speed was right at 60 mph and it got about 110 mpg when gas was 26 cents per gallon. It was my sole ride all through undergrad years and I put 40,000 miles on it. (In fact I didn't own a car until around 30 yrs old). The little thing was tough at a machine gets and never left me stranded. At one point it lost a case gasket and simply leaked all its tranny lube onto the dirt- never seemed to hurt anything- I'd just pour a few oz in once in a while to keep stuff a little wet and keep riding it. It eventually got replaced by a Kawasaki enduro, later assoted Hondas and my current is an 08 RT.

 

[MT Wallet]

I remember riding my cousins scooter in about 1956-57. I was 9 or 10. It was one of those steel frame, no suspension deals with the baloon tires and about a 3 H.P horizontal shaft lawn mower engine which had a centrifugal clutch and a brake. I got on and he pointed me out into the front yard and away I went until I had a balance issue and tipped over to the left (still remember). The foot peg (a welded on bolt) cut about a 2 ft long gouge in my uncles lawn. Uncle had a fit. Ride over. I spent all summer coniving to get one for myself. Fast forward to the summer of 65. A friend had a Triumph 500 and the cousin who let me ride his scooter had a Truimph Trophy, 500 I believe, got a ride on this and the bug bit hard. I've been scratching that itch ever since with only a lay off to raise kids & change careers. It's still the most fun that's legal I can think of.

[mrzoom]

In 1963 I was the "wash boy" at the local Phillips 66 service station. Most of the guys who hung out there were older and working construction. They had $50 work cars and new Harley sportsters that I drooled over.

One Sat. one of the guys told me if I cleaned up his work car, 1953 chevy, he'd let me take his Sportster around the block

Said ride lasted 2 hours and I only killed it twice!! They were ready to send out a search party to find me .

Three years later I bought a basket case Sportster for $800.00

and my boss and I had it together and running in two days.Riding was pure sweet pleasure then as I had to get it started first and Morris magnitos were much better on farm equiptment than bikes!!

Rode that bike throught college and sold it 1971 to buy the new bride a washer and dryer. Wish I had the Sportster back not that bride

One year later a new Trident tripple was in the barn and I've ridden ever since.

[beemerboy]

In the spring of '71 after what seemed like years of begging and pleading with my parents, I finally was allowed to purchase a used '67 Kawasaki 120 street/trail bike.

 

Not the actual bike but exactly like what I got:

 

I bought it from a young serviceman who had just gotten out of basic training at Lackland AFB and returned home to the Springs to gather up his stuff and head to his first assignment. I paid $275 for it and kept it for about three years then my father gave it to extended family who were visiting from Raceland, Louisiana. My cousins ended up riding that poor bike until its wheels fell off. The last time I saw it was '78 leaning up against a tree and rotting away in their back yard.

[Caddis]

Like others here, I used my paper route money to help buy a Honda Z50 (my Dad put in half of the money) like this one:

 

 

Looking back, it was way too small for me at the time, but I didn't care. It was the beginning of a series of dirt bikes and dual sports over the next several years. After college, I sold the last one and stopped riding.

 

Fast forward a bunch of years, and our boys were old enough to ride minibikes. We picked up some little Hondas for them, and I got a Yamaha XT 350 like the one below. This was when I decided to take the safety class and get my license. So the XT was my first bike for the road.

 

[roadscholar]

My new stepdad (pretty sure he was trying to get on my good side) bought me a Vespa when I turned 14 (1962), and upon further reflection think the parents were really trying to get me out of the house. Well it worked, if I wasn't in school I was out riding and usually made it home just in time for dinner. We had a small gang (scooter trash?) of Cushmans, a Lambretta, and one older (and very cool) kid with a Mustang, and were familiar with about a five mile radius of roads in Lake County. I remember thinking Mt. Dora was a long way from Eustis (4 miles) and it took quite a few trips to learn where all the lakes were and therefore curvy roads. On one trip there an old geezer pulled out in front of me and I had to lay 'er down (sort of, a Vespa won't really fall all the way over because of the floorboards) but to both our surprise there was no actual contact.

 

The thing was fast and had to have significantly more than the 5 brake hp that was legal at the time. I'm thinking an easy 60 mph and it had a 4 speed on the left handgrip and would burn a stripe all the way thru 1st and chirp the other three. I killed the little Pirelli Cinturato in six or eight months and since there were no motorcycle shops in the area I had the brilliant idea of getting a wheelbarrow tire from the hardware store. They had one that fit perfect and although it threw the handling off a little, it lasted much longer than the original.

 

Just before we moved to Daytona in 1963 I traded it even to a riding buddy for his Honda 50 Sport because I had to have a motorcycle.

 

Which actually worked out nice because I immediately met two other kids with Honda 50 Sports and they showed me all over Volusia County and places like the Krystal. We were a pretty bad motorcycle gang. There was this guy down the street with a Honda 150 Dream and I remember thinking I'd never be able to ride a motorcycle that big.

 

http://www.patricktaylor.com/vespa-scooter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RTJohn]

Hey Alex. My first ride was the Honda Nighthawk in my MSF class in January 2010. I loved it. I bought a 2009 Triumph Bonneville SE the next day. It was great. My son rides it now.

[CoarsegoldKid]

No pics. The story goes something like this in 1965. A friend, Carlos, had a Suzuki 80 Sport and another friend, Ruben, a Honda 50 Sport both were likely 1963-4 models. I rode the 80 in Carlos's drive way accelerating for 30-40 feet, pulling wheelies and slamming on the brakes stopping before I hit something in the street. No helmet. Just t-shirt, levis and tennis shoes. Another buddy Danny had a Sportster I later tried and it scared me. I managed to get permission to get my own ride. I wanted a 80 or 90cc bike. Dad said he thought a bigger bike would have better brakes. He came with me to a private party sale when I bought my first motorcycle in the summer of '66. It was a Red and White 1965 Yamaha 250cc Big Bear Scrambler. Met Mike Velasco on a Bridgestone 175cc at the start of the 1967 school year and we drag raced every morning in the school parking lot while hundreds watched from the second floor building. How we never died is beyond me. Years later Mike became a tuner for HRC's Freddie Spencer among others and Pops Yoshimura's winning Suzuki's. In my senior year I speared a telephone pole with the Yami. Totaled it. Thankfully I was wearing my Bell helmet that day. Wore helmets all the time after that. Next bought a used Bridgestone 90. It seized whenever I rode(illegally) the freeway. Slapped on an aluminum top end that I ported and polished, opened the rotary valve and put on a expansion chamber. No more seizing and it was a screamer.

Needless to say I was hooked from the small two-stroke beginnings.

[dhanson]

I dreamed of getting a Mustang, but they went out of business. Never saw one but on the showroom floor.

 

For the couple other guys that posted about them. Here is a video I found so you guys/gals can see the Mustang.

 

[CoarsegoldKid]

Hey I would have loved a street like that.

[Quinn]

Sorry I never took a picture of it, but my first was a Harley 250 Sprint. Working full time during the day and going to school full time at night to avoid the draft, I finally got my car paid off and needed a stress reliever. I answered a For Sale ad in the paper and went to check it out on the far side of Atlanta. Next day my roommate took me back. I bought the bike and proceeded to ride it home through Atlanta traffic. I stalled it out in six lane traffic and jumped up and down on the kick starter for what seemed like hours before pushing it over to the sidewalk and waiting for it to cool off and unflood. That experience may be while I always carry a book to read when I go out. When I finally got it home, I was so proud that I hadn't crashed. I also thought I was a real bad ass biker, a regular rebel because I didn't know anybody else who had a motorcycle. The year was probably '67 or '68 and I was 19.

 

----

 

 

[Ron_B]

I dreamed of getting a Mustang, but they went out of business. Never saw one but on the showroom floor.

 

For the couple other guys that posted about them. Here is a video I found so you guys/gals can see the Mustang.

 

 

David, I'm pretty sure I remember Mustangs being raced on short tracks in the 50s & 60s, although I couldn't find anything on google. I think they had a special class of their own at some tracks. Sportsman of course. Funky, cool little bikes.

[sardineone]

For the guys that started on a Honda Mini Trail like my son, here's his photo. BTW not his first ride.

 

[g_frey]

It was a Maico 250 and myself and the other dumb kid who bought it never got it running. But we did ride it down many hills and pushed it up many other hills. It was green and in pretty good shape overall (except for that running thing). I remember it as being very heavy??? I sure wished it had run.

[Paul Mihalka]

I finally have my computer so I can post.

My very first motorcycle ride was much earlier on the calendar but not as early in age as some of you who started as a young kid. It was in 1950, I was 19. I already knew in theory how to ride a bike and was driving cars. A good older friend had a new DKW RT125. After drooling over it I managed to convince him to let me ride it. Rode it around a few blocks, no real problem. I was fully hooked. It was a bike just like this:

 

 

Shortly after that I got into motorcycle racing photography and rode a lot of small, mostly 125cc, loaner bikes. My first bike that I owned was like this:

 

 

I know I've written about these things before, but I'm sure we have some newbes who have not read everything.

 

[Fubar]

Well, does the question mean:

1: The first motorcycle you operated or,

2: rode upon with someone else doing the work.

 

My first ride of the 2nd type was on either my mom's early 60's Honda 250 or my dad's mid-60's Norton 400 when I was about 4.

 

However, I assume the OP meant the first choice.

I had lusted after bikes for some time and When I saw the Yamaha Maxim circa 1981, I was infected. In early 1985 I found myself with the funding to finally purchase one. I bought a brand-new 1982 750cc Maxim. I wanted shaft-drive so it was the 650cc or higher.

My friends called it "the spacebike" because they never heard me coming and it had a low whistle from the airbox under the seat. The extra low-beam headlight seemed uber-cool. I quickly learned to hate all that chrome, it was a pain to take care of. And the speedo pegged at 85! Really? It was very quiet and very smooth, the BMW K75 I test rode a year later is still the only bike I've experienced that was quieter and smoother.

 

 

 

When I went to pick up my new bike, I took my friend Phil (who had ridden previously). This was very important as I did not know how to ride at that point!

I wrote the check, grabbed the two Bell full-face helmets that I got included with the purchase price and gave Phil the keys and followed him in my green '76 Vega wagon. We went to the biggest parking lot we knew and Phil showed me how the controls worked and explained the basics.

I started it up, adjusted the mirrors, put it in 1st and was doing 50 mph in about 4 seconds. Tested lean angles, braking in a straight line and everything we could think of then hit the road for home - wearing the requisite leather jacket and blue jeans - with a stop at my friend Brian's. Brian had a 500cc Honda Silverwing and was fully pissed that my first bike ever was so much bigger than his(Brian was 5'11", I'm 6'5"). His wife giggled a lot.

I rode that 750 everywhere, putting about 80k miles on it over 19 years. It was a daily driver. It was the only vehicle I had for 10 years when I moved to FL in 1988. It started becoming unreliable and I bought my Dakota p/up (which I still have) in 1998.

I finally got rid of the Maxim in 2004 after one too many strandings and too much money being spent to overcome them.

Being bike-less sucked! So I bought my second bike, the RT, in late 2008. I think its getting time to replace the truck.