Who introduced you to motorcycles?

[domekrome]

Don't want to start a poll, just want to reminisce.

My uncle Fred turned me on to motorcyles when I was younger. He passed away today, after a lengthy battle with cancer. Fred had ridden motorcycles since the late 60s, starting on a Triumph and owning several makes and models over the years. He incorporated riding into his life on a regular basis, even during these last couple of years while enduring cancer treatment that wasted his body. On his up days, he would head out with my aunt Charlotte for spins throughout the Avalon Peninsula, in Newfoundland. On his down days, he planned the rides he would take on his up days. Last year, we spent about 12 days riding through BC, Alberta & Washington State.

So there you have it, my uncle Fred introduced me to motorcycles, who can you thank?

[BigC]

The irony gets rather thick here.... The summer after my senior year in high school I visited one of my classmates and there was this bike sitting in his parents front yard. I inquired about it and he said he ended up buying it after he hit the guy that was riding it He said he's sell it to me for $50 because he didn't want it. It had some damage but I was pretty handy so I thought I could fix it. I'm still living at home under parents supervision at this point. Mom was out of town at some week long nursing conference so I didn't catch crap from her right away. Dad gave me that "I hope you know what the hell your doing" look when I brought it home. When Mom came home it was pretty much "wear a helmet...that's not negotiable". It was a '73 Honda CB500 twin with 63,000 miles, 1985 would have been the year I got it. It barely had enough compression to keep it running and it smoked like a banshee until it warmed up, lol.

I still wear a helmet and anything else I can find to separate myself from the pavement. Mom's good advice taken to heart there Sooo I guess my buddy Roger, who hit the guy on the bike is who got me into riding. Told you....ironic :\

[Spookymonster]

I listen to the Opie and Anthony show on XM satellite radio. A few of us fans play online poker together. Back in June, one of the players helped organize a fan run from NY to Boston. O&A took calls from the guys as they hit each rest stop, and photos were eventually posted on a fan site (WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK). I was surprised when I saw the pics; where were all the burly grey-beards and ex-cons? Why weren't they harrassing the 'normal' people? Hey.... some of these biker are normal people! I'd always figured I wasn't the motorcycle type, but this started me thinking about bikes. I was shocked to find that not every bike costs as much as a Harley, and that 'cruiser' and 'crotch-rocket' weren't my only choices of style. I got my permit the next week. I took the MSF course twice before I passed (with the help of a month of figure-eighting a 700cc bike in the space of 2 parking spots ).

When I found my R1100R, I asked my poker friend about it. As a Harley owner, I figured he'd have nothing good to say, but I still valued his opinion as an experienced rider. He had nothing but praise for BMWs!

Comes the next fan run in June, I'm gonna buy my friend a beer as thanks... in Boston!

[B52G]

Not who but what. In the mid 50's a Gypsy Tour came through Tyrone Pa. Alll were HD's We lived along a main road and when they came through my family ran to the roadside to watch. They camped at an old racetrack near Altoona and we drove down to where they camped to look at bikes. It is one of my most vivid memories of childhood. I think I was hooked on bikes when I was 5

[Marty2]

Janruary 1970, two days before having to report for military duty (drafted) totaled my 64 Chevelle. Eventually traded what was left of it to a freind for a 350 Yamaha (don't remember the year) with no 1st gear.

[CARTEEUSMC]

The greatest influence that I had on riding a motorcycle comes from my past. You see when I was a wee one I rode my bicycle everywhere. Mom needed something from the store, get on and ride to it with backpack on back. Father lived 7 miles away, lets go see him...get on my bicycle. I wore out tires on my bicycle, I could have been Lance Armstrong! When turning 16, a very small inheritance came in for my Dad, all he did with that money was buy a 1979 Sportster. My brother the same year came across a 1984 Honda Nighthawk, and the story began that way. I was "allowed" to ride the Nighthawk around the block and thats it! Needless to say, when everyone was gone somewhere, I toured the city. I fell in love with riding a motorcycle! I loved that Nighthawk, eventually my brother's brother in law decided to take her for a spin and the first thing he does, (really brave and cool like) is run it up to about 4000 RPM, drop the clutch and ran straight into his own car. If i only had a video camera, I would have had the 100,000 grand prize for Americas funniest home videos. Eventually my Dad and my step mother moved to South Carolina and I was to go with them. My Dad, a former Marine, loved camping; he would go for weekends with my step mother up to North Carolina for 4 and 5 days at a time. Knowing that I did not have permission in anyway just to sit on the Sportster, (that was my Dads baby) she became my mode of transportation. For a poor kid to show up on a Friday on a Harley rumbling at my High School was awesome! And the girls, oh my how they would stare (the non conceited type)!!!!!
The best part of the whole story, when my parents returned from the camping trips, one of my dads first items was to go and look and his baby! He would feel the engine, check her out left and right, up and down, and look at the odometer, he would come back into the house, look at me and just smile. We sold that Sportster because my Dad was dieing and needed the money, but I still have my key.

Merry Christmas Dad,
You are never forgotten.

[TonyT607]

My dad grew up in Argentina as the son of Italian immigrants and rode all his life. At one point he even herded cattle on a motorcycle. Most of his bikes were Nortons and BSA's and the odd Italian mount. In 1957 he came over to the USA to begin life as an American.

I remember when I was little how cool it was when I found out my Dad rode, although I never got to seem him on a bike. My parents got married in NJ in 1959 and when my mother got pregnant with me in 1960, she made him sell his bike and buy a car (1953 Buick). He always regretted selling it and even tried a scooter when I was a tot. It didn't do it for him....still, the bug was planted...


He always looked on wistfully whenever he saw a bike on the road, or when one of his riding buddies would come over. He would go on forver about old BSA's, Nortons, Indians, anything.

A while back when the "Motorcycle Diaries" movie came out, my mother went to see it with the ladies in her seniors club, she especially appreciated the fact that the entire film was in the Argentine dialect of Spanish, which she speaks fluently. I called her after I had seen the film and told her how much I loved it. She then told me that my Dad sold his old Norton 500 (similar to the one in the film) to buy his plane ticket to emigrate to the USA. Dad's been gone since 1998 but I hope he's tearing it up now with his old riding buddies.

So in a way I guess I owe everything to that old Norton 500.

[iowabeakster]

I grew up in a crappy industrial Mississippi river town, on the greasy illinois side. some neighborhood kids had dirt bikes. kinda strange for city kids, but we had some wooded ravines that were too steep to buldoze into a suburban landscape. these "woods" were where i spent most childhood free time. We rode BMX bicycles, built ramps, and flew down the hills, often crashing badly. When we got old enough, gas powered bikes were better cause you could climb up hills as fast as you went down.

one had honda 50, one had a Suzuki 100, one had a hodaka 125, and one kid had a YZ250, it was awfully fast. First time i rode it, i nearly took out the tranny. I was so scared i forgot to use the clutch.

I have loved bikes ever since. I bought my honda 750 magna at 18 when my parents couldn't do a damn thing about it.

[NachtRitter]

My cousin got me into it...

My dad was in the Air Force & was stationed in Germany ("West Germany" at the time). He married a German lady, my step-Mom. Her sister was well-to-do, & her sister's kids had "toys", popular ones being fast 'bikes. My cousin took me for rides on the narrow twisty back roads that are typical there; I think he did it mainly to see if he could scare the $h*t out of me . He definitely succeeded, and strangely I got hooked.

When I was working my way through college, I knew I couldn't afford a payment & insurance on a new or nice used car, but I wanted something that was absolutely reliable and no trouble to maintain. I ended up getting a brand new 1984 Honda VF700C Magna (V4, shaft drive), which was a thoroughly enjoyable machine. I put 40K miles on it until I sold it 4 years later when I got married.

Didn't have a 'bike until '03, but always craved one. Was smitten with the Kawasaki Concours when it first came out because it was (in my eyes) a perfect blend of sports and touring, but glad I waited until BMW re-designed their R-RTs. Purchased an '02 R1150RT in '03; the original owner had already put 16K miles on it and I've added another ~40K. I absolutely love the 'bike and now it's my turn to scare the $h*t out of some nephews & nieces in order to hook them on 'biking!

[Sunbeemer]

My brother in law would talk endlessly about his R69S and all the great riding he did out west. A few years later he talked endlessly about his R110RT and all the great riding he did in Canada, and a few years after that he talked endlessly about his GS and all the great roads he's done in Mexico. We went on a few rides together (with me on his wife's R1100 RT) and we took his Ossa 250 out for some dirt ridin'. Most amazing dirt rider I had ever seen, climbing vertical cliffs over 100' high (actually overhanging at the top! ). Meanwhile, I was in to good handling cars. but in college I got a BSA 650 Thunderbolt, then took a few years off (after a friend threw a rod out of my BSA) before I got my '82 Nighthawk, and just got the '02 RR a couple years ago. Now I understand what he was telling me about all those years ago. I'm thinking my next bike will be a GS Adventure, and then I'm going away for a while...