Your First Bike...

[DJ Downunder]

Mine was a real beaut...just like this one in the pic below...using an old lawn mower engine...(125 cc)

Centrifugal clutch....I had a well worn in track around the house (out side of coarse)...I used to go round and round...faster and faster.

I used to ride along the footpaths...all around the local park and footy ground.

I could wheelie from one side of the footy ground to the other...thinkin I was cool with my feet draggin along the ground all the way to stop me flippin.

Arrrr those were the days..........btw...thanks Dad for building it for me.

DJ

[FGanger]

I was 13 and got a new Cushman as a present from my parents. I wanted the mighty Cushman Eagle (it looked like a real motorcycle to me), but I got the Pace Maker (The one with the full body covering the engine - more scooter like). I turned 14 a couple of months later when I could legally ride it. I put about 37,000 miles on it in the next couple of years. It did take two engines to do the task. Not bad for what is basically a lawn mower engine.

I did have a couple of options on it: I had the optional front brake and wind shield. I finally told my dad years later that I sort of “helped” the first engine along to its demise. It had the five horsepower engine and I wanted the eight horsepower one. It was illegal for me to buy the Cushman with the “big engine” at my age. But not to replace the old engine with the new one I reasoned.

I do remember sleeping out in the garage with it the first couple of nights.

Frank

[DJ Downunder]

Hey Frank...was it like this?

DJ

[bakernks]

Thanks Dallara, great thread.

DJ- arg, matey, Danger Ranger! a true 1st Bike if ever there was one.

[Kevin Markwell]

rivi,

Unlike most here, I got a late start, so I'm making up for lost time. In retrospect, it was probably the favorable fickle finger of fate that acted on my behalf to keep me away so long, as opposed to the other finger. I'm impressed and encouraged that all the lifelong riders here have made it through all those rides relatively unscathed. I'm not so sure I would have arrived at this point had I been riding in my youth. That is, my younger youth.

Kevin

[BobFV1]

In high school I spent a lot of time on my buddy's Yamaha 360 Enduro, but the first bike I bought new n my own was in 1980, and it was an enduro too - Suzuki SP 400:

[FGanger]

DJ,
You sly fox, how did you find a picture of a Cushman Eagle? That was the one I only wished I had - sigh!

I used to ride my friend's Eagle and dreamed I was on a real bike - a Harley. Of course I finally bought a Harley when I was a bit older - that cured me of wanting another one. It is not often that one has an engine MELT into a fine alloy dust/powder. Perhaps part of it with the Harley was its age. It was a 1934 "big twin." developing 12 romping stomping horsepower.

Ah, the good ol' days,
Frank

[Simon D]

My first bike was a 250 BSA C15.A horrible contraption that was hard to start, leaked oil all over the place, had awfull electrics ( those "Joseph Lucas - Prince of darkness" gags were based on fact I can tell you!) If ever a machine was designed to put you off motorcycling for life that would be the one.My first brand new bike however was a T120 Bonneville,which cemented my love of motorcycling and of the Triumph brand.When I die they'll find the word Triumph running through my heart like a stick of Blackpool rock However I need to be practical and untill Mr Bloor's boys turn out something shaft driven here I am and here I'll stay.My very best wishes guys as always, Simon.

[dallara]

Wow, Rivi777...

Does your RD-350 bring back memories!

Though the Penton was the first motorcycle I ever owned, Yamaha RD's played an important role in my riding history, as the very first *street* bike I owned was a used 1973 Yamaha RD-350... Which looked like this:



Had only 1,600 mile son the clock when I got it, and even stock it was more fun to ride than sex in public! First bike I ever dropped on pavement, too, with a 30 mph slide out on a residential street going home from work... Didn't stay stock for long, ending up with expansion chambers, shocks, etc. Sold it to a good friend who rode the wheels off it for another few years...

Next RD was a 1977 I acquired while in college... Had a seized lower end from the idiot owner running it out of oil in the injection tank. Stock they looked like this:



During the rebuild it got TZ lower-end bearings, cages, and crank pins, I trued the crank for absolutely zero runout, used lighter RD350 pistons (350's and 400's had the same bore - the 400 just had a longer stroke), ported it and polished the exhausts to a mirror finish, decked the cylinders and heads, bored the carbs, ran TZ reed cages, mounted Specialist II chambers and bronze swingarm bushings along with their rearsets, put on some S&W shocks and Michelin production road race rubber, cut-down the seat, and went ridin'! The thing was a *BULLET*, and though I abused it unmercifully, it never whimpered. Sold it to another friend who rode it for years...

Later, when I had my Honda store, I ran across a truly pristine 1979 Yamaha RD-400-F "Daytona Special" that had actually been in a guy's entry hall in his house! Only had 968 miles on it (this was in 1985 or so...), and had to snap it up! Arguably these were the prettiest of all the RD family ever built... It looked like this:



I left it stock, save for some better rear shocks, and rode it quite a bit, but it was always on display with my other bikes at the shop and drew as much attention as any bike we ever had in there.

IMHO, Yamaha RD's offered possibly more bang for buck than just about any motorcycle ever made. They were vast overachievers, and taught many a rider the nuances and advantages of a great handling lightweight over a more powerful heavyweight.

Thanks, Rivi, for reminding me about how great they were!

Cheers!

Dallara

[bakernks]

I think the R1150R is the RD400's king kong brethern. I thought it the first time I rode the R1150R. I had in my past: RD250, RD350, '76 RD400,'77 RD400, another '76 RD400 that got the same treatment, pretty much, that Dallara's got with the TZ crank, knife edged transfer ports, raised the exhaust port 1mm, DG pipes, etc. Then, a K.R. Replica RZ350, another to replace the 1st after it was stolen, and finally I stepped away from decarboning pistons and changing spark plugs after that 2nd RZ had 25,000 miles on it.
The most memorable was actually the white '75 RD250 with chambers, Boyeson reeds and K-81's. I put a dingle's Cycle West quarter fairing on it, bumped up one tooth the c.s. sprocket, and cruised at 80 mph, effortlessly, on a 250! Man, that little motor would run comfortably at 6,000 rpm all day.

[mistercindy]

A 1978 Honda CB400T Hawk that I bought used in 1982. Great bike. Nothin' fancy... it just ran. I rode it while in college and for a few years after college.

Here's a pic of a 1978 CB400T Hawk that I found on an eBay ad. Its the same awful color scheme as mine!

[dallara]

Speaking of Yamaha RD's...

Here's a guy who is trying to solve the age old problem of attempting to make a Kawasaki H-1 500 Triple actually handle...

He has managed to stuff, in quite a sanitary fashion I must say, a Kwacker 500 Triple in an RD-400 chassis...



Imagine how friggin' amazing that thing runs!

Cheers!

Dallara

[DJ Downunder]

Speaking of Kwackers...when I was a kid and had my first mini bike my best friend had one of these..a 1972 KV 75.....I was so jealous.

DJ

[arkline]

I guess I was 12 or 14 and going to Junior High in Roswell, N.M. We'd just moved there from Goldsboro, N.C. My dad had gone through one of those life changing events that you never recover from.

At that time Roswell supported three junior highs. All the cool kids had Cushmans and rode them to school. I was not a cool kid, 'cause I walked or rode a bicycle.

My dad said I could get a scooter if I made the money myself. I became the odd-job-go-to-guy in my neighborhood and ended up with enough money to buy a severely used Allstate/Vespa from an airman at WalkerAFB. Rode it home and it promptly quit working. Never got that sucker to fire ever again.

I got a paper route and began scrimping and saving again. By this time, there was a new dealership in town and the guy sold these trailie things that had like tractor tires front and back. And he sold these bizarre Japanese motorcycles from some company called Honda? Between the paper route and the occassional trip out to some caves where bats deposited their guano (the local greenhouses would pay top dollar for bat feces for fertilizer), I managed to buy a Honda 50 Cub. It wasn't bad ass like the Cushmans, but it always started. I ran that thing until it would go no more. Rode it all over town, out on the highways north, west and east of town, and even took it off road 'cause I didn't know any better. I could jump it if I hit the right sort of incline and I'd run around the perimeter at Bottomless Lakes which hosted a sportscar race called Los Ochos Millas. But testosterone began to get the better of me as I got closer and closer to the time where I'd get a real driver's license. Couldn't get girls on two wheels. Sigh.

After moving to Seattle in '66 and going to work for Boeing, I stuck with public transportation for a while. Then I fell into this Honda 305. The guy I bought it from was absolutely crazed to get the new Black Bomber 450 and sold me the 305 he'd been messing with for a song. The 305 had a hot cam and was pretty rapid. But the cam made it an unreliable starter. There were only two people who would be stuck in the Plant Two bike lot after graveyard was over. Me and my 305 and a lady who looked to be a hundred and sixty on her H-D. She was pretty good when she was rolling, but had the misfortune of letting the thing tilt over too far on many occassions. I'd have to help her hoist it back to vertical and she'd start up and leave me in the parking lot kicking that Honda and swearing like a sailor. That 305 went the way of the 50, the call of the fairer sex forced me to sell it and buy a 1956 DeSoto station wagon. Right! Hemi-headed monster car.

After I got back from the Army, I craved a bike but being newly hitched and going to school couldn't afford any of the nice new things that were out. I bargained my way into a Honda 350, but had to re-lace the front wheel to make it roadworthy. That was a fun project. It was that absolutely pukey gold and black color scheme popular around the time. It had a sissy bar and ran very well as long as you kick started it. Oh, it had an electric start, but the drain on the battery was killer. I rode that bike until 1974. I got to the point where I could coast up to the back of the place where I was working, flip down the side stand while still moving, hit the brakes, come to a stop and lean to the left and be parked. Smooth. I sold it to a woman who thought she wanted to ride, but it was just the image she liked. The cash from the sale and 18 months worth of payments got me an 850 Norton, which I still have. I haven't ridden the Norton in many years and really need to get it back in shape and give it some exercise. First time I ever did the ton was on that Norton going over the ship canal bridge in the express lanes at a little after midnight. What a rush. And the last moving violation I got was on that Commando. Memorial Day. Way over the limit when I met my match in a perfectly laid out speed trap on Fairview Avenue. The only consolation was that I wasn't the only person the local gendarmes had pulled over. So as you can see, I haven't had a raft of bikes. I've kept them a long time, usually until they were pretty worn out. But I've loved each and every one of them, in my own way.

[queenpdog]

First bike I ever rode was my neighbor's Honda CT70. It was at their cabin and I spent most summer weeks trying to get another invite up north. I would ride that thing as many miles as possible, and I asked my folks for one every day of my young life. Last fall, I located one about 30 miles from MPLS. and snatched it up for $1000 (these babies hold their value!). It is Topaz Orange and looks almost new. Turns out, you CAN go back.
The first bike I owned was a yamaha 400 special. It rarely ran. Then a 1979 Kawasaki 400 LTD, 1978 BMW R100RS, 2001 BMW F650GS, and now my beautiful Ferro war pony. Thanks for the thread, I haven't thought about some of these bikes for years.

[DSKYZD]

1976 Honda CJ360T. My dad bought it for me for about $400 in '85 or '86 so I could start riding a street bike and get my licence once I turned 16. Over the next 6 or 7 years I rode that bike as much I could. Even went on a trip to "bike weekend" in Myrtle Beach. It had ape hanger bars and I added a sssy bar with pouch on the back and a smoke tinted shield from JC Whitney. The muffler rusted out so we had a cherry bomb put on, it was pretty noise. Dad also put on a drive gear with a couple of more teeth that helped it to not be so buzzy on the highway. That thing always started on the first kick. Three if it had been sitting for a while. It was cool in high school, but dorky as I got older. It was all I had though. It finally developed some mechanical problems so I sold it and bought my Grandfather's 1977 BMW R75/7 in '93. That held me over until the mini van was paid off in late 2002. Hello 2003 R1150R!!!

Mine was very much like this one (pics lifted from the 'Net):





DSKYZD

[saguaro777]

My first was a ruttman minibike, then a honda mini 50. My first real motorcycle was a 1974 suzuki ts 125. I bought it brand new from money earned working at a Mcdonalds. When I turned 16, I licensed it, quit working to ride more often and modified it so it made a better dirt bike. My friends and I would ride to the trails, toss the quick detach tail lights and mirrors in the bushes and ride until we were whipped. Then put the road required junk back on and ride home. Life was simple and good.

[geechie]

1968 Bultaco Matador (I think the photo is of a later model). Bassackwards shifting. Absolutely rotten brakes. But the damn thing would climb an oak tree (well, partway). Loved that bike!

Left it to seek fame and fortune as a rock star. Never found much of either.

But the spark of motorcycle lust kindled by that bike never left me. Thanks be for that!

George

[boxermania]

1961 Honda Sport 50, at a cost of $265, a gift from my Dad for my 15th birthday. I had been riding (borrowed) a PUCH 250, an a Gilera 125. Those were the days...........

[r1150rider]

My first bike was this 1964 Yamaha YDS3 "Catalina", it was my 18th birthday present to myself.