First bikes

[Dads_FJ]

I didn't want to high-jack the intro thread which had this:

"...If you count the street licensed 3.5hp Fox minibike capable of 40mph (we clocked with the car) I have been on two wheels for half a century...."

or this

"...I started in '66 on a Taco 22 mini bike. 40mph with no helmet, T shirt, sneakers and Levi's were the customary apparel. Road rash was common...."

But I love this stuff!  Mine: 1972 Suzuki MT50 (Trailhopper) man-o-man the memories and stories!  Parents said I couldn't get a minibike until I was ten, so when they sent me out to the garage when I was nine to "look at the car" I certainly wasn't expecting to see this .  I got my first ticket and had to go to Juvi-court when I was 12 because of this thing! 



You're up...   

[~JM~]

OK, I'll play. I started riding when I was around 9-10 yrs old on a 3.5HP Briggs & Stratton Minibike. It was a real nice minibike & I wish I still had it, but it couldn't handle the rough terrain of the Arizona desert. At 12 yrs old I had saved enough money by watering peoples plants while they were on vacation & mowing lawns to go halves with my parents on a lightly used XR75. I still have one solitary picture of that bike. I rode & raced that little XR for about 4 years & then I bought a 1976 RM125. I rode that until I finally bought a car. Once I bought a car, I was away from bikes for almost 10 years before I bought my first street bike, a 1984 Honda VT500FT Ascot. I have since bought & sold many bikes. I hope there is never a time in my life that I am without a bike again.

~JM~

[Dan Filetti]

8 years old, Honda QA50 -it was a hand-me-down from my older brother that had spurned it, for the love of an XR75 (my second bike...)

Dan

[aviationfred]

My first motorcycle was a Honda Trail 70 when I was 16.



My first street bike was a 1986 Honda Interceptor 500. I ended up putting 96k miles on it over a 10 year span. This photo was shortly after I bought it, in Tustin CA. I rode this bike to Ohio then to North Carolina when I was 19 years old.



Fred

[giantkiller]

My first was a minibike with 3horse bs. I figured out how to rig the governor. And blew it up. Put a but bigger engine in it. Then moved up to my brothers 250. Then my dads cb750.....then bought the first bike that I owned 86 fj1200. Put 12000 miles on it in 2 1/2 months and totalled it. When a guy on a cb1100f crashed in front of me @ somewhere around 135mph.

[movenon]

About 1961 a well worn Cushman Eagle 
George

[ribbert]

That bike's so clean it would be at home in Ken's collection. (Don't even think about it Ken!)

[ribbert]

At about age 12 in the early mid 60's, a BSA 350 Scrambler. That meant it had everything it didn't absolutely need to run missing and a knobby tyre on the back.
My father would trailer me out to the bush and leave me there for the day. Packed lunch, ample supply of fuel and oil, a matchbox full of woodruff keys, cut and filed at home from a length of bar, because if it backfired while trying to start it, the worn taper fit on the clutch hub would spin and shear the key. Spare clutch plates I had re corked myself, making the inserts at home from a sheet. An oily wooden fruit box full of tools and a few spares, the contents of which I don't remember, and two 'magic' spare spark plugs. If it wouldn't start with one, I'd replace it with the other, which is good in theory except I just kept alternating the same two plugs, as if they would come back to life if given a day's rest.
I remember some great days roaring around the bush. I also remember days when I would give up on the 3000th plunge of the kickstarter, without even a backfire (despite having swapped the same two plugs over many times) and spend the rest of the day kicking stones around and climbing trees waiting for my father to return at the appointed time.

You blokes with the Japanese mini bikes had it easy!

I had a heap of old Pommy bikes after that, Matchless, Norton, Triumph and lots of BSA's,  (oh to have most of them now!) culminating in my first legal road bike being a 1956 BSA Golden Flash 650 twin. It only lasted a few weeks an blew up with not a single salvageable part of the motor left (ripped the barrels out of the crankcase when a rod let go)

I then bought my first Japanese bike. I've had about 30 bikes, all bar a few were Japanese. The bike I did the most miles on before the FJ was a new twin disc water bottle (Suzuki GT750) back in early 70's and the one bike I wished I still had was CBX1000, even though many of the others are now highly collectable and valuable, that's the one I would love to have in the garage now.

Noel

[The General]

That bike's so clean it would be at home in Ken's collection. (Don't even think about it Ken!)

I disagree Noel!....That seat would solve a problem or two! 

[Dads_FJ]

I 'graduated' to a 1967 Suzuki B102P (120cc enduro).  Center stand only and it was too big for me to lift it so I just leaned it against stuff trees etc... when I needed a rest, and I burnt my leg countless times on that high pipe.  I hated it then but shit it was fast!  One of those 'wish I still had it' bikes, which is the same with my first street bike - 1977 Yamaha RD400 done up with Coffman expansion champers. 

[TexasDave]

I am glad to see we have members here who have owned and appreciate great bikes like RD's and GT750's along with the great FJ of course. I too have more miles on those than any other bikes.  Dave

[red]

First bike was a 1966 Ducati 160cc Monza Junior, bought cheap when it was only one year old.  No car (too poor), so this was my everyday driver.  Gear-driven overhead cam, after-market megaphone exhaust, kickstarter only, and drum brakes.  Endless electrical problems, until I did a complete rewiring job on it, then it was golden for me.  Next was a 1967 250cc H-D (Aermachi) Sprint, with the handlebars mounted in rubber (no kidding), so they could pivot forward and back a bit.  Otherwise, the engine vibration from that horizontal single cylinder would have killed your arms and shoulders.

Cheers,
Red

[gumby302ho]

 My first bike was a mini bike of coarse, it was called a fox. It had a little chrome gas tank that was real shiny. I was 11 at the time, this thing had disk brakes front and back and full lighting but nothing worked. It had a 4 hp tec motor with a header pipe. No brakes no nothing but throttle, that was the most important. Keyways rounding out and bent drive sprockets and that ka ching ching ching from the centrifugal clutch which burnt a hole in my leg one day trying to smoke the tire by leaning forward and my legs near front of bike. kids eh. Upgraded to a yamaha gt 80 i think it was. Night and day. When I got a little older while still at home In high school I used to steal my ass hole of a brother's big 185 honda twinstar with a big wind jammer mounted If he would of ever found out it would be me bleeding somewhere. He traded my dad for his old 70's honda 750 supersport. That bike was my first speed shift and had a wind jammer as well. Wide open it would jump from say 98 to 104 mph depending on wind. it was fun. From there it was all XR's and dirt riding. I have a modded XR 650L that matches the same colors of my 86 ITX. We were a poor family with my mom raising two boys on her own so I was happy with whatever piece of shit I could call mine and have some fun. The most dangerous bikes to ride are the old side shaft mini's.