What was your first bike?

[Lee Davis]

What was your first motorcycle? What made you buy it, and which bike do you now wish you had bought? As for me, the first was a 1970 BSA 441 that I bought new. It appealed to me because I would see one parked at a business all the time, and I began to lust after it. My roommate in school was a Kawasaki man (a 650), and he did flat track racing on a small two stroke Kawasaki… the kind of racing where you wear a steel boot on one foot. He kept urging me to buy the new Kawasaki 500 triple, but the BSA won out over everything else. The bike went 7800 miles before it blew up. Had it repaired and it blew up again. Traded it on a new VW.  If I had to do it all over again in 1970, I would have gone with a BMW, or a Moto Guzzi Ambassador.  But I was never good in my choice of women either…

[fatbob]

Honda CT 70, I was 10 years old.

[TOMB]

My first bike was actually two bikes and the proverbial basket cases one bike was a Honda 250 dream the other bike was a Honda I believe cl77 305 street scrambler what both of them for $85 and yes I brought them home in a basket neither one was running but I had enough parts so I chose to complete the street scrambler so I took the 250 engine put the 305 top plate on it put it in the frame started it up went for a ride for my own safety I painted the bike orange because I figured I needed all the help and visibility I could get that was approximately 42 years ago now it's a Guzzi convert
TOMB

[Guzzistajohn]

J.C. Penney's with a rockin' 3 horse Briggs. I blew her up one night running WFO down the 900 block of W. Portland about 3:00 AM.       Hell, I must have been running............ .oh 35? It was a long push home

[Gusable]

2010 Kawasaki klr 650. Sold it in a week cause I almost dropped it lol

[Gliderjohn]

Mine was a 77 Suzuki GS400 that I bought in 79 for $800 with 5K miles. Before that I had some informal dirt bike experience on cousins' bikes. I was 23 at the time. I rode it until around 46K in 89 when I bought the T-3. Did several Ozark trips with it and as far as Houston and return. Learned most of my street dos and don't on that bike. Very forgiving and under most condition would run all day at 75mph. Easy to work on. Picture was not mine, just a stock photo.


GliderJohn

[calfruit]

1963 Honda CA110(Sport 50) are 13, purchased new with lawn mowing money.

[ohiorider]

First bike I owned was a 1963 BSA Spitfire Scrambler 650cc. Engine was an A10 pushrod twin.  Not unit construction, tranny was a separate component, driven by a primary chain.  No battery, ignition was via Lucas magneto, lights were powered by a 6v generator (as long as rpms were kept up.)  Lovely bike, solo saddle with just enough room to squeeze a coed on board, as long as she weighed less than I did (125 pounds soaking wet.)  High scrambler pipes that ran down the left side of the bike.

Not knowing any better, I rode this machine from Charleston WV to McAllen Texas and back to Charleston WV in 1966.  Memories of this ride stay with me to this day, over 50 years later.  I guess I was pretty tough for a 125 pound kid from West Virginia.  Helmet? .... nada.  Rain suit? ..... a what?  Saddlebags? ..... is there such a thing?

[Johncolleary]

Honda Super 90 with a 103 kit on it.
Got it from my brother when he bought a Yamaha 305 big bear.

[alanp]

Mine was a used '72 Honda CB360.  The tank was that ugly '70's Honda burnt orange color.  I remember riding it up to St. Mary's Glacier near Idaho Springs, CO shortly after I go it.   Almost dropped it trying to climb the road up the steep grade, as the bike gradually slowed to a stop.  I suppose I panicked and forgot to downshift to first! 

After that I upgraded to a few Suzuki 750's and then on to even larger bikes.  This spring, when I bought my V7, it immediately reminded me of that first CB360. I hadn't ridden anything in years that small, and the V7 really recalls that small bike feeling, which is a good thing. 

[gsp0702]

Took my test on a training schools CG125, and then once I passed after a weeks intensive training bought myself a 1994 Kawasaki ZZR600, was a pretty good bike, heavy but stable and probably faster than I should have started on.

[Psychopasta]

MZ TS125!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X7hIxE_Yo8

Would buy another in a heartbeat. Would survive a nuclear blast.

[drw916]

Honda CM91 step through.  Still have it

[circlip]

1967 Kawasaki 100 D1 - rotary shift and a sort-of front down tube.
I kind of learned to ride on it. I also fell off a lot.

[twowheeladdict]

My first street bike was the 1977 Yamaha XS750 triple in silver and blue.  It was 4 years old when I bought it.  It only had a couple thousand miles on it and had every touring option available.  It fell into my lap.  As I was saving money I was test riding bikes in my budget.  This guy came along and let me give him 60% down and $100 a month while he held the title.  As a 19 year old I had the best bike among all my riding friends.  That bike was my primary mode of transportation and since I lived in Daytona Beach, FL I could ride year round.  I used to love fish tailing that beast on the beach sand.

I didn't realize how advanced that bike was at the time.  I knew I didn't have to do chain maintenance like my friends and was glad for that.  It was only when I found this 6 page brochure on the internet a few years ago that I realized what a gem of a bike I had.  Wish I could have kept it.

[fotoguzzi]

'72 CT90, still have it.

[RinkRat II]

      After a few years of a Bird Minibike I graduated to a  KX125A from Don Weeks Kawasaki in Phoenix. They threw in gloves,goggles and a Kaw jersey.   What a deal!


fast picture upload


           Paul B

[Rhodan]

Mine was a used '72 Honda CB360.  The tank was that ugly '70's Honda burnt orange color. 

Hey, I liked that color!

Used '75 Honda CB550.  I probably should have started with something smaller and newer but I loved that bike.  First time I dropped a bike, it was that one.  Went to stop on an incline with gravel and.....it was a slow but inevitable descent.  Only thing really hurt was my pride. 

[arveno]

First " real" motorcycle was a Cagiva W8 125 cc
I was 16 .

http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/cagiva/cagiva_w8%20125.htm

[kirkemon]

Honda S90.
I put a straight pipe on it and drilled a hole in the valve cover to vent it.
60-65mph depending on wind and grade of the road.

[Dharma Bum]

My first motorcycle was a 200ccTriumph Cub that was converted back to street legal from a dirt track racer. Of course I didn't realize it at the time. Definitely the most unreliable motorcycle I ever owned .  Got rid of it after a year or so and got a "real " bike, a Honda Super 90. I bored it, installed a Powroll stroker, a pumper carb off a chain saw, a straight pipe with a Snuffernot and stuffed it in a Van Tech frame. I commuted to class on it, rode it in the woods,  on the rivers with studded tires, and even a little scrambles racing.,  when  my draft notice arrived, I put it back in the stock frame and sold it to a friend.  I did tell him of the bike's history.

[Green1]

Mine was a 1976 Honda xl125.....I just bought a 1976 xl350 do rebuild this winter....Im 3 times bigger than I was when I bought the 125 so I figured if I want to relive some of my past it better be 3 times bigger too

[ITSec]

I bought a 1968 Suzuki X6 Hustler 250 in 1974 as my first bike. I didn't know it at the time (and my mother DEFINITELY didn't know it) but that model had won the 250 class at Daytona four years in a row. The local RCMP detachment once told me I held the unofficial Manitoba gravel road speed record, with a pure pavement bike and the brakes and tires common in those days. They never ticketed me, though - don'cha love small towns?

[Triple Jim]

1972 Kawasaki H2, which I bought in 1978 when I was 20.  I bought it because a friend had one and it seemed to be the fastest and meanest thing on the road.  I took my motorcycle license test on it.  I still have it and enjoy riding it very much.  At about 400 lbs, it's a light motorcycle, and does about about 90 rwhp.  Reeds have improved the torque curve greatly, and a few small suspension mods have made it handle very nicely as well.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

The first motorcycle that was all mine (not shared with my brother like several Z50 Hondas) was a Benelli Fireball 50. It was given to me by the lady that drove the school bus. Didn't run, so was at a local shop (Hally's in Brunswick, MD) to be fixed, but never was. All I had to do was go and pick it up.

Hally's was a Guzzi dealer and that was my first exposure (in real life) to the brand. In the "showroom" (a corner of the building with glass block windows) sat a brand new, light blue metallic '76 Convert. Even at 13 years old I was quite small, so my father had to help me up onto it. It was huge! Funny how 6 years later when I bought a well-used one, it was still big, but no longer huge and intimidating. 

Back to the Benelli. It was in good condition overall, had good compression, but no spark. Despite my brother's and my best efforts, we just couldn't get it to spark. One day I was sitting on it, just absent mindedly kicking it over with my thumb on the horn button. The horn was making an "eep" noise every time the piston came up to TDC. Hmm. We swapped one horn wire to the coil and the coil wire to the horn and bingo, it had spark! After cleaning the carburetor, it fired right up and ran great.

The only thing that really sucked was that every day when I'd get home from school, I'd ride the Benelli for a few minutes, until my bundle of newspapers was dropped off, then I had to ride my bicycle on the paper route!   

[oldbike54]

Mine was a 1976 Honda xl125.....I just bought a 1976 xl350 do rebuild this winter....Im 3 times bigger than I was when I bought the 125 so I figured if I want to relive some of my past it better be 3 times bigger too

 Are you really over 14 feet tall ?

 Dusty

[MotoBug]

1980 Honda CB250T. A slug of a bike but probably a good place to start. Six months later I bought a 1982 RZ350 with 250cc stickers. Only one cop who pulled me over was dubious about it's capacity. Beginners were restricted to 250cc. The RZ totally popped my cork as to the thrill of motorcycling. I was hooked.

Same as these from the net...

[fossil]

My first (and my second) bike was the Honda Dax ST 70 (end of the 60s). You Americans call the model "Trail 70". I am in the moment restoring the second one, using some parts of the first.

[Socalrob]

Brother and I bought a Hodaka ACE 100 which the PO stripped down and modded for 100 class racing.  Best dirt bike in the neighborhood.  That Hodaka either its chrome gas tank is what made me buy the Anniversario V7iii 47 years later.

Have to say I am as thrilled with the little V7 as I was the Hodaka at age 12.

[kingoffleece]

1968 Honda Mini-Trail 70.
A zillion years later I passed it on to my nephnew and he rode it for quite a while until he killed it.  I'd say we got our $268.95 out of it!