ADDICTED! Anyone else?

[inditx]

How did it begin? This fascination with 2 wheeled motorized vehicles? 
The worn out briggs for the first mini-bike? The “souped up” Yamaha 80 Trails bike?
I dunno, it just gets in your blood doesn’t it?
And now, passed 60, I still look at, buy and sell bikes for fun and sport! Some say I’m fickle...thank you very much, guilty as charged.
The bottom line; bikes are fun and I have met some of the greatest people through this foolishness of motorcycles.
Have all encounters been stellar? Hardly!
But through it all, I dare say my sanity has been kept by this “addiction”.
Now I don’t smoke, drink, chase women or bowl  so, what’s a fella to do? BIKE! I’m not condemning anyone here just talkin’ out loud. 
Anyway, RideOn brothers and sisters. I hope we meet but in the meantime, I’ll pray for y’all and myself as we criss cross on highways, byways, dirt roads and even an occasional gravel one.

inditx

[Sykestone8886]

I used to hang out at an Indy shop when I was just a little guy. My mother used to say now don't you be down there bothering them at the motorcycle shop. I guess she knew what would happen. One day I was sitting on a milk crate in the shop in total amazement of all the cool machines and people. A grey haired long bearded fellow said , son be careful once you get this in your blood it never goes away. Boy was he right. Started on a rupp mini bike with money from delivering the GRIT newspaper. Many bikes later lots of great memories It's still in my blood. Wouldn't change a thing.

[Adk.IBO]

  mirror image my friend 

[JJ]

Yes...after 34 bikes in 51 years, I would say it is more than an obsession...

This was my first motorcycle at age 14...a gently used 1965 Yamaha YG1-K 80cc Rotary Jet...

[Gliderjohn]

It first started with a Trail 90 that my older cousin owned and taught me to ride it at 10 years old. He passed a few years back and his wife forward to me.

GliderJohn

[Bulldog9]

I was 8 years old it was one of those Honda Trail 50s with the folding handlebars that you could throw into the trunk. My Uncle brought one to a family gathering my mother and grandmother refused to allow me to ride the cycle and everyone else my age and older had a chance. so I snuck away after desert wield the bike out to the field started it and had my first ride all by myself... I can still remember the feeling the exhilaration and the addiction I'm now 54 and I still feel the same way every time I ride. I proudly say it is my Shameless addiction and I have no intention of ever trying to stop.

[inditx]

NICE!
Keep em coming guys and gals!

[Guzzistajohn]

Started out on a JC PENNEY with a briggs powerplant. Blew the shit out of her flying down Portland street in Springfield, Mo. @ 2:00 AM. A few years later, bought my 1st BULTACO Sherpa T 1976

[zebraranger]

During the summer school break in 1975, I rode my bicycle up to the local motorcycle shop to apply for a summer job (Lovengreen Motorcycle Sales in Tampa), I was 14 years old at the time. I walked up to the parts counter and I asked the man for a job. To my surprise he said, you have to talk to the owner Big John over there in that office. The whole front of his office was all glass and it overlooked the sales floor and the parts counter. Big John Lovengreen was a big round man, kind of an intimidating type. So I went over and knocked and he waved me in.

I told him that I was looking for a job for the summer and he asked me, what do you know about motorcycles? I said that I had a 1972 3.5 HP Montgomery Wards mini bike and that I could fix anything on it that needed fixing. He said to me, I'll tell you what kid, if you can make it through the summer without missing a day, and without being late, I wont pay you any money, but I'll let you pick out any motorcycle up to 250cc. So all summer I cleaned the bathrooms, swept the floors, cleaned the parking lot, emptied garbage cans, cleaned and organized the parts room and did any other grunt work type of chore that they saw fit. On my last day there, Big John let me pick out a Kawasaki 250 Enduro street/trail, I had never been so happy. I was the coolest kid in the neighborhood because I was the only one who had a real motorcycle. I've been hooked on riding ever since.

[SmithSwede]

Zebraranger:

That is a terrific story. Thanks for posting that

[SmithSwede]

My Dad was a doctor and my mom a social worker.  Both were adamantly opposed to skateboards and motorcycles.

When I was 13 or 14, my crazy Coon-A** older cousin rode up from Lafayette, La on a then-new Kawasaki KZ-900.  The baddest bad bike ever.  The most super Super Bike of them all.   

Somehow, my parents permitted me to ride around Atlanta on the back of that bike.   

I was terrified.  Mesmerized.  Fascinated.  From then on, I was permanently hooked.   

[Sheepdog]

I fooled around with mini-bikes starting when I was twelve, but my obsession didn’t take hold until I had a ride on a Motobecane Mobylette at fourteen. Though it was just a 50cc moped, the riding experience was worlds different with full-sized (sort of) wheels and suspension. I lied about my age and got in the laborers union and worked shutdowns at a local refinery all through Christmas break (not something that could happen in the present). At the end of the winter break I had enough cash to purchase a slightly used ‘68 Honda CL-70 (pictured below with my Dutch friend, Bert aboard). Game, set, and match...I was hooked. Forty-eight years later, I still look forward to every ride.

[inditx]

All good replies and special mention to zebraranger, good stuff mates!

[NHMike]

My dad rolled one of these out of a VW Bus in our driveway in 1974, have been a 2 wheeled throttle junkie since!

[wymple]

During the summer school break in 1975, I rode my bicycle up to the local motorcycle shop to apply for a summer job (Lovengreen Motorcycle Sales in Tampa), I was 14 years old at the time. I walked up to the parts counter and I asked the man for a job. To my surprise he said, you have to talk to the owner Big John over there in that office. The whole front of his office was all glass and it overlooked the sales floor and the parts counter. Big John Lovengreen was a big round man, kind of an intimidating type. So I went over and knocked and he waved me in.

I told him that I was looking for a job for the summer and he asked me, what do you know about motorcycles? I said that I had a 1972 3.5 HP Montgomery Wards mini bike and that I could fix anything on it that needed fixing. He said to me, I'll tell you what kid, if you can make it through the summer without missing a day, and without being late, I wont pay you any money, but I'll let you pick out any motorcycle up to 250cc. So all summer I cleaned the bathrooms, swept the floors, cleaned the parking lot, emptied garbage cans, cleaned and organized the parts room and did any other grunt work type of chore that they saw fit. On my last day there, Big John let me pick out a Kawasaki 250 Enduro street/trail, I had never been so happy. I was the coolest kid in the neighborhood because I was the only one who had a real motorcycle. I've been hooked on riding ever since.

Great story. Now think how happy you'd have been if it was a Yamaha!   

[Muzz]

Agreed, a really great story Zebra.

In my own case, I was born and bred in an Isolated community 56kms from the next town separated from the rest of the world by a 25km hill. As I had to leave the bay to do my senior schooling my father (who had owned a bike in his miss-spent youth) thought that if I had a bike I could shoot back home (100kms away) for the odd weekend. A guy in the Bay was selling a '48 G3L 350 Matchy, I jumped on it having never ridden a bike before and rode off down the road no problems at all. I was hooked (still am )

Owned that bike for 20 years and did some 200,000 miles on it. It did change it's form quite markedly over the years but when it finally got sold it still sported the same flywheels and gearbox. Sometimes it was a love/hate relationship but there were only three times it never got me home.

[wirespokes]

A neighbor when I was 15 owned two Yamaha step through trail bikes - he and his wife both rode them. One day he decided to show me how to ride and took me out to a nearby dirt road.  Then one day we were going somewhere and I saw a Black Honda 150 Dream for sale at a gas station. I think it was $150. Rode it a year then got a 305 Scrambler, and then a succession of other small Hondas. There were times I didn't have a motorcycle for a few years, but more often than not I did. In 1985 I rebuilt a crashed Yamaha 750 Virago and rode it a few years and then sold it. I'd decided it wasn't practical owning a bike in Portland Oregon. And then a friend wanted to swap an R90 for my Volvo 122 Wagon and took him up on it. After that, I began taking longer and longer rides to other states, into Canada and all over.

My marriage had been rotten for a long time and so I sought solace working on the bike. It was something to create on and enjoy and remove my thoughts from the ugliness in my life. When a 76 R90S showed up magically in the garage (it had to be magic since I didn't have any spare cash in those days) my wife threw a fit because I'd made a financial decision without her input. Truth is, I didn't have to put out much cash for the bike, a lot of the exchange was in trade.  When the marriage ended not long after, I credited the bike with causing my good fortune.   

Still, the  years following the marriage ending weren't the best, and I used the bikes as a means to keep my sanity. I lived in Los Angeles for three years and used the bike as my sole transportation. I practically lived on that bike. Somewhere in there I realized I was a motorcyclist and am truly addicted. Now I need to learn how to let some of them go.  I don't know, maybe there's no hope for me.

I ride year round  now and rarely use the PU - mostly for dump runs or things I can't haul on the bike.  There was one time I hadn't driven in so long I forgot where reverse was in the toyota.

[chuck peterson]

Apparently when presented with a brand new shiny red tricycle.......

I walked over to my sisters two wheeler and rode away.....that was a good 50 plus years ago. Been doing it ever since.

Refused to listen to my parents no, no, no, no...and picked up a 1970 R5 with newspaper money at 16. Lucky I didn't die on that with no experience at all....geez

[twodogs]

My dad bought a 63 Sears allstate scooter when I was 5, I was already playing with a neighbor kid's mini bike with the rear scrub brake, I was finally able to ride the scooter by myself when I was 8 and started harping on him that I wanted a bike, he finally got mad at me and said if you want one I had to pay for it myself, so for the next 2 years I mowed and raked yards and anything else I could do on top of my paper route to make money and in 69 we went to the Honda dealership and I paid $480 out the door plus they threw in a helmet, that candy apple red SL100 bike was my freedom at 11 years old, less than 300 miles later I knocked the mirrors and taillight off and entered my first motocross race. I have been hooked ever since 
Bruce

[flat out]

In 1968 got a new Fastback 100 bicycle for doing well in school, road the wheel off it, never looked back.
Built 1st mini bike in 1972 and been riding since. Many bikes and years later still love riding, cleaning, working on motorcycles.
Last night, 8:00 pm, perfect weather, riding through the hills in my area(felt like an 18year old again). Awesome.
3 bikes in the stable, I'm a happy man.(addicted) yes! Still
keep riding.
still have the Fastback.
t.

[hauto]

When I was 5ish the old italian neighbor took me for a ride on his Vespa scooter.We went around the block and he stop at the neighborhood bar.The rest is history,now I'm addicted to two things lol.Don't worry I'm sure I had a soda.

[Toecutter]

Dad was a despatch rider in the Engineers for the Canadian Army. Rode a Triumph TRW500.

Bought a '72 CB350 that a kid rode from California to Whitehorse, in '73. Which meant I grew up with it (born in '72), and on the back of it. Got my first "my own bike" in 1981... a 1980 Honda XL80S, that I rode non stop until my late-teens. Went through a bike-free period when I went to University, due to "no money", but bought a '83 Honda VT750 in my early-mid 20s and never looked back again. Kept that thing for about a year, wrenching non-stop, bought a CB750 SOHC that needed work, and that started a full on love affair with the Fat-Four that continues to this day, I've owned many, still have 4... one's a solid runner, and will never leave my side... the other are in various project states, one is slated for my wife, another being built in a custom frame that I had made, the 4th is bored and stroked with a Yoshimura 812 kit, and is just sitting until I figure out what I want to do with it.


I'm a latecomer to Guzzi, and only 3 years into my ownership, but I'm loving every minute of it. I'll be riding until I can't stay up on 2 wheels anymore... at which point a sidehack will appear in the garage.

[BrotherJim]

My Dad was an amateur flat track and motocross racer in the late sixties and early seventies.  He presented my older brother and I with a well beaten '69 Honda Z50 Mini Trail when I was four.  After a few different minibikes through my childhood and adolescence, I bought my first street bike when I was 19.  It was a mess of an '84 Kawasaki GPz900R... the first Ninja.  It was scary fast, but I didn't realize it was only running on three cylinders.  Whoa!  Young and dumb, for sure.  Somehow, I survived learning to ride that thing on the road in Southeast Florida.  Over 25 years have passed since then and I've had twenty or so motorcycles.  Most of my friends these days are motorcyclists and I'm lucky enough to be married to a woman who supports/tolerates my obsession for motorcycles.  I've turned back to the dirt a few years ago to get my son involved in motorcycling, and we look forward to every chance we get to go riding together.  Here's a pic of my wife and I the day we got hitched on my Grandad's '67 Sporty. 
 


 

[Paul Brooking]

Got a shiny new car license at 16 ... woo hoo

Two weeks later I bought this and have never looked back (even managed to get it registered ... try that these days)





Borrowed one of these to sit for my bike License

[JohninVT]

When I was 4, I climbed on(and knocked over) my father's brand new, 1973 Honda CB350 in the driveway.  My mother always told that story whenever anyone asked about my motorcycle obsession.  It started there, I guess.  One of my earliest memories is of a neighbor who owned a BSA Rocket 3 who would warm it up by revving the living crap out of it before every ride.  I used to cut ads for minibikes from the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs and leave them everywhere I thought my father would see them in hopes one would appear under the Christmas tree.  I even tucked them between the pages of magazines in the bathroom.       

[Roebling3]

I started on motorcycles later than many but perhaps earlier in time than most. I was 15 in '49 and an avid bicyclist in the Schwinn balloon tire era. Growing up with a great friend we put outrageous miles to places verboten by family.
My friend contracted polio from the waist down. We shifted to cars.

I added a mc w/in ~2 years. I've had many 2 strokes. 2 separate RD's took me to the Daytona races every other spring; one time in snow & slush on the NJ Turnpike. There was a Bridgestone a few Suzuki'svs's a Bultaco Metralla, a string of bmw airheads, a K75S and a K12RS. Seeing the writing on the wall (story another time), I dumped the remaining propeller driven, Kool Aide sippin' for my 1st MG in 2000. A '93 Daytona I wanted and couldn't afford, when I bought the K75S was finally mine. -- After 4.5 years of sending greeting cards for b'days, holidays and anniversaries. 

Best of all: In 2000 I began meeting Guzzi people! many in Europe, a few in Canada and of course the US.
At times there have been 5 Guzzi's + other brands. Currently a V65 Lario, V50 III, V7 III Racer and the Daytona. 
As we all know: Guzzi folks are terrific worldwide, under any and all circumstances. 

Thank you all.  Good Fortune,  R3~

[inditx]

Love these stories, good to get to know folks.
Keep 'em coming!

[Muzz]

My friend contracted polio from the waist down. We shifted to cars.

Tough for your friend.  I caught it when I was six, now some 63 years ago.  I still remember it vividly.  Don't let anyone talk you out of getting vaccinated.  I escaped any paralysis but at times I wonder if it left some lasting residues.

It has not affected by passion for  . 

[Devildog]

Our 8 yr old grandson with his new birthday present, lucky little bugger.

[twowheeladdict]

I can give it up anytime I want.  I just choose not to.