1965 Honda S-65 ;D
My Father actually bought this one for me. After being told many times I would never own a motorcycle while under his roof. Stories of his friend in high school with pins in his knees. I didn't care at the time as I thought motorcycles were for dentists, etc that needed something to do on the weekends. THEN, I rode one. O-M-G! 8) So Dad picked this up from a former neighbor. It was the wife's bike, the husband had a 250 dream. The engine was run low on oil and needed a rebuild. The work was done by a Honda shop in west end. I vaguely remember the shop. So after she had been brought to Bham from Hsv and rebuilt, Dad presented the bike to one happy kid. :)
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee13/SS1618/Bikes/005.jpg)
1985 Kawasaki KD-80M
(Photo borrowed from the Interwebs, not actual bike)
(https://www.bikepics.com/pics/2007%5C08%5C02%5Cbikepics-982065-full.jpg)
I rode the hell out of this bike! I even got broad sided by a pickup truck on it. After I got out of the hospital, I rebuilt the bike and rode it for 2 more years afterwards, LMBO!
(http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd131/shrinkinman/Bike%20Pics/TimKZ5_zps5d647441.jpg) (http://s223.photobucket.com/user/shrinkinman/media/Bike%20Pics/TimKZ5_zps5d647441.jpg.html)
79 KZ750 twin.
2000 Honda Shadow 600 VLX ... I was a late bloomer
(http://i1136.photobucket.com/albums/n496/gharshman/shadow600vlx.jpg)
My first bike, purchased new in 1998, was a leftover, still in the crate, 1995 Yamaha Virago 250.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/26/68c022c2f989fc68ac78e70087278730.jpg)
My first bike was a 1973 Honda SL70. My dad bought it for me in the summer of 1976 from Smith Bros. at Eastwood Mall.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/26/a8157b16e960fb9839f1fe6165700cb3.jpg)
My parents said I could only get a motorcycle, if I was responsible enough to save the money, and pay for it myself.
So, at the ripe old age of 13, I went to the guy down the street who owned a landscaping business, and asked for a job. Saved a lot of money that summer. As soon as I turned 14, I went and got my license, and spent my savings on a pristine 1982 Suzuki GS450, just like this one.
(http://www.picautos.com/images/suzuki-gs-450-t-01.jpg)
Rode the wheels off of it. The only middle schooler, driving myself to school 8)
Eventually crashed it. Lots of good memories.
A hand-me-down 1973 Honda XR75.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y186/settintrendz/articles/IMG_8458.jpg)
Boy, I WISH it had looked anywhere near that good when I got it.
1976 Honda XL125
(http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTc2WDcyMA==/z/VwAAAOxy7f5SMenj/$(KGrHqR,!ogFI(eBrPndBSMenjp!6g~~60_57.JPG)
1972 Ducati 350 Scrambler
(http://jjmedinamotor.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/8-en-la-cochera-copia.jpg)
Keep looking for another, but don't want to spend 5 times what I paid for my first one in 1974 :-X
My Dad bought me a used '82 Kawasaki KZ750 Spectre in 1987 when I turned 16.
(http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/Gallery/Kawasaki%20Z%20750N%20Spectre.jpg)
Some weird Italian thing. A bucket list item for a Birthday Present to me.
In 1992 I was given a 1988 Kawasaki Enduro. This little 100 was a ton of fun for me, I took in the trails out by Hurricane Creek in Cottondale. Rode it daily all year when weather permitted. Then I got a car and the 16 year old me was more worried about girls than bikes.
Mime was a 1974 Triumph 750 Tiger.
I had the idea my first street bike didn't need to be small because I'm a big/tall guy.
So, my idea of a first bike in my late 20's:
(https://sagebrush.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Riding-Pics/i-SNm55Lx/0/L/10-14-06%20004-L.jpg)
Stupid I know, should have picked up a cheap DS.
Took it down mostly dirt roads for a while, had never been on pavement with a bike before. It was too much bike even though I was 300 pounds and tall, took me a couple months to get halfway comfy. Ended up getting a DR650 a few months later and finally started to learn faster. Kept both bikes for years, the 950A was my very first real bike, and it was expensive with all the farkles. I had a good job at the time. Then I would ride the DR650 mainly when I moved to Charlotte and save my KTM tires for trips. I learned to ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway mostly after my night shift in Morganton, NC. I would ride up 181 which I lived off of, and watch the sunrise around Little Switzerland / Spruce Pine.
I had a great time once I got a month of daily riding under my belt. Took me about 3 months to reach the 55 mph speed limit on 181, after 4 months of riding daily I went cross country and road home to GA/AL a few times. Got addicted to bikes at that point. Rode probably 15,000 miles my first year, bought 3 bikes in the first two years...
My first bike was a hippie-mobile. I was going to save gas as a natural resource by buying a Yamaha 125cc scooter with 114mpg. I was too scared to ride it the 4 miles to work on hwy 31. So I took the MSF course. It's been all down hill from there. I had to have "a real bike" after that. I sold the scooter with 63 miles on it. And in 7 years I have owned over twelve bikes in all categories. Yes. I'm addicted.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/30/2e9c4b3d99e8342199330a210accdd0e.jpg)
Welcome Chitza, glad you're here... ::)
My first bike was a 1976 KZ400 that I bought used in 1980.
(http://i645.photobucket.com/albums/uu171/wknudsen/OLD%20PICS%20AND%20SCANS/kz400_zpsd404e1fc.jpg)
My first bike that I learned to ride on was a KX 420 & The first street bike I owned was a 80 Kawasaki ltd 750 like the ones below.
1976 Suzuki TS125 "Duster"
(http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae34/XRDanL/TS125%20001_zpsorbsugxe.jpg) (http://s955.photobucket.com/user/XRDanL/media/TS125%20001_zpsorbsugxe.jpg.html)
I drove my dad crazy about a bike until he finally gave. I was always fascinated with motorcycles so when he surprised me with it I was the happiest 9 yr old kid ever.
He didn't ride so I learned to ride the hard way. Many crashes but somehow I survived.
First bike was a 1982 KX80 just like the one in this pic.
(http://www.vintagefactory.com/1982%20Kawasaki%20KX80%20039.jpg)
(http://www.bike-urious.com/wp-content/uploads/Yamaha-Big-Wheel-BW80-Right-Side.jpg)
My first bike was a Yamaha BW80. I rode it so much I wore out the top end. Had to have it rebuilt and rode it until I outgrew it.
Had a Sears mini-bike in the 3rd grade then moved up to a Honda 50cc Mini-Trail. But my first real motorcycle was this little Kawi 100.
(http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l551/hawkvtx/odds%20and%20ends/kawa100.jpg)
My first bike was a late 80s pw50 that two of my cousins learned to ride on and then my older brother and then me so by the time I was done with it, it was toast. Still have the old girl but it would only be good for parts. My first real bike was a 2000 xr 80 that I got for my 8th Christmas still have it too and it just received a well deserved disassembly cleaning and reassembly. I rode the wheels off of the 80. Here is a pic of it after the cleaning should have taken a before but I didn't (http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/10/3f88465d6d54c4239f5ea111e0d576fc.jpg)
In 1973, I learned to ride a bicycle. In 1974, I got a Yamaha GT60....too soon for me but my dad thought it was "cool". I crashed it repeatedly.
I can't find a good picture of it except for the Canadian version....which I doubt was anywhere to be found in or near Decatur, AL.
I'm pretty sure he got it from Steve at Allsport.
It looked a lot like the GT80...which there's a gozillion pictures of online.
I still have a phillips-head shaped scar on my left leg from the exhaust guard where it once fell on me and I couldn't get it off quick enough.
I was riding in the field where the Beltline Mall is in Decatur. The National Guard used to land helicopters there back when it was just an empty field.
One was on approach when I crashed because I was watching it instead of what was in front of me.
Three years later, my dad bought me another bike that was too big for me....a Yamaha DT100. I crashed it repeatedly.
Wash, rinse, repeat, for most of the rest of my life!!! ;D In reality, I stopped crashing on a regular basis in my late teens/early twenties.
But, I think the DT100 era was when I learned to get away from the stupid machine when you know you're going to crash.
https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/VA8Axo38cqhn9UxSFIjvUQ--/YXBwaWQ9c3JjaGRkO2g9MzkxO3E9OTU7dz01NTk-/http://my50.co.za/wp-content/gallery/honda-monkey-bike/honda-mini-trail-z-50_4.jpg
This is the one, that started it all for me!
I rode a lot of different bikes belonging to my friends and Honda 50 Cubs from rental shops at the beach for several years before buying my first bike. After looking for months at Tom and Sarge, Honda East, Honda West Honda Central, Smith Brothers in an old house in Tarrant, that sleepy little Harley shop downtown and reading all of the reviews, my seventeen year old brain couldn't resist the allure of what was the fastest street bike available (for about five minutes) the 1971 Kawasaki Mach III. 500 cc of two strike bliss guaranteed to leave your friends in a massive cloud of blue smoke. I bought it brand new in September of 1971, wow, 44 years ago.
My parents always said that I could never have a motorcycle as long as I lived under their roof, just as was the case with many of you. I don't know why they relented because they never allowed my two older brothers to buy one. I guess they didn't love me as much but my Dad went with me down to Four Seasons Cycle on 1st Ave So in Woodlawn and I laid my money down that I had saved from working summers and after school.
The Mach III was a beast, best at going straight and fast, middling on handling and worst at stopping. I learned two important riding lessons from this bike. The most important was the need to learn and understand the finer points of counter steering as it relates to staying out of people's yards on the outside of curves taken to fast. The second was that it gets colder in Birmingham than I had previously thought when you are riding home from work late at night in ordinary street clothes.
I'm lucky to have survived that bike. The first of many great bikes. I would love to have one of the Mach III jacket patches that depicted the rear view of the bike's asymmetrical styling, with two mufflers on one side and one on the other of the rear tire.
This is going to be my boys first bike in a month
2002 XR50 that is very well broken in
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/26/94cb8a2a0a2be63195b585118a54ede4.jpg)
It must have been a supermoto before I got it. Ha
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/27/b4d3f787abce009e0c1395b92a3c8d55.jpg)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/27/da8198bea64fea32d4e27babc99b1778.jpg)
1995 Vulcan 750. Great little bike. Learned alot about bikes In a bit over 6 months with it. Had to pull the motor, clean the carbs, replace a stator and some pickup coils. And a few other random things. Put about 4k on it in that time. Then I stepped up to a real bike with the zrx.
Quote from: Ryanbroome on November 26, 2015, 11:15:15 PM
This is going to be my boys first bike in a month
2002 XR50 that is very well broken in
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/26/94cb8a2a0a2be63195b585118a54ede4.jpg)
It must have been a supermoto before I got it. Ha
you can't kill'm. got my son a 79 z50 when he turned 5. it smoked a little, i figured i'd let him ride it until it quit and then freshen the topend. he's almost 12 and it still smokes just a little when you first start it up. runs like a singer sewing machine still
It was in '74, a '72 Kaw 500 triple with Denco chambers and some mild porting. At the time, i was told it was a bad choice for a first bike but, it worked out fine. Road it to Florida a couple of times. Saw 125 mph on it a couple times. Had to change underwear after high speed wobble a couple of times. They were known for that. Never wrecked it.
My first bike was a 1973 Honda TL125. (Like the one pictured) We had a horse farm and I rode and wrecked that bike all over that place. My brother had a two stroke Suzuki 185. He always dusted me.
Well, I started on a Honda Trail 50. If you don't count the mini Bike.
It all started at an auction up in Odenville. [add du du du sound effect]
My Dad and I were siting there in an old church Pew. At an age of some number less than ten. Auctioneer ratting off numbers I didn't understand. It was exciting hanging out with Dad, and I understood every time I heard SOLD.
That night We had seen the Honda outside in the back of a truck. It finally came up for auction. It was Bid and Bid I thought. Turns out it kept going down. I didn't know what was going on. Then I saw my dad raise his hand. I was excited. Obviously so too. As he slapped my leg and told me to sit still. Then after a little while I heard "Take it away".
Not Sold? What did that mean.
My dad sent me to the concession stand. I got 2 drinks. I guess he was checking how much money he had. When I got back he looked at me and ask how much money I had at home. I don't remember the details.
After the seller was done we went outside. My dad started talking to the guy. I didn't know it, but this was about to be my first and only experience with a payday loan.
I got the bike. We took it home and hid it from my mom. Then came the excruciating time of paying my dad back. Months and Years at 5 dollars a weeks till I could pay him back. Ok Ok I might be exaggerating just a little, but I was like 7. My Dad charged me interest of 5 dollars too.
Once I had it payed off. The next week I bought 5 dollars in parts. Now I am all most sure that the 5 dollars in parts I bought was worth way more than 5 dollars. I suspect that All the money I had payed and a little more went to parts. I remember a box of parts. It included a handle bar and hand control. Some other motor stuff I didn't know what was. I remember helping with the Carb.
Then came the ride, and I am not sure my Mom knew before I went zinging past the window. Man that was freedom. Wind in my hair. Me an my homies on the open road. Not a care in the world. WAIT WAIT WAIT. HOLD IT.
I was wearing a helmet. I was all alone. and I was in the front yard. Not a road even close. Then there was that Mom person I mentioned above, and She Was Not A Happy Mom Person. So pretty much all that above was the five feet before I left the drive way, Or it was all a lie. Don't matter. That was a glorious five feet in my mind.
(http://all-moto-brands.com/wp-content/uploads/parser/1970-honda-mini-trail-50-2.jpg)
Pic Stolen From the interwebs