Author Topic: Your first bike ?  (Read 1913 times)

Offline kballowe

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Your first bike ?
« on: July 01, 2022, 09:08:01 AM »
I  don't have any pictures of my first bike, but here's a brochure.

At the ripe old  age of 13, I pooled all of my lawn mowing, hay money, etc.  to purchase this brand new 1971 Honda SL100.  $485, I think.

  :bike-037:





This was a time when there was an "explosion" of small bikes.  Those Honda 70's were everywhere.  A few Honda 90's.  Various others.  The Honda 90 guys had racks on the back of their bikes, so we made them carry all the sack lunches for the day.
 :boozing:

My uncle gave me a derelict Honda CB160 that became my first road bike.  It needed a lot of work, but it proved to be solid transportation.  I put knobbies on it and a larger rear sprocket.  The speed limit went to 55 in March of 1974... and I don't think that 160 would do 70 mph anyway.

  :bike-037:

« Last Edit: July 01, 2022, 09:10:39 AM by kballowe »

Online s1120

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2022, 09:10:34 AM »
Well my first dirt 2 wheeler was this..  [after a few years with a early Honda ATC] 




My first street bike was a 77 Suzuki GS400. Great starter bike.
Paul B

Offline Ncdan

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2022, 09:13:45 AM »
1965 Honda S65




Offline Johncolleary

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2022, 09:14:24 AM »
1966 Honda Super 90 with a 103 kit.  Bought it from my brother when he up graded to a Yamaha big bear.


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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2022, 09:14:24 AM »

Offline JJ

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2022, 09:18:36 AM »
At age 14...1965 Yamaha YG1-K, 80cc Rotary Jet, two-stroke, 4-speed, just like this one!! :thumb: :boozing: :cool:





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Offline n3303j

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2022, 09:19:19 AM »



One of these (but not this one) in 1970.
But it was preceeded by a fun Vespa that I blew up by repeatedly raising the compression ratio to increase top end.
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Offline 9fingers

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2022, 09:49:15 AM »
Honda CT70H, the 4 speed with the clutch. I got the first one the dealer received, in Burnt Orange, and bought the Honda helmet to match. I was 12 and paid for it with lawn cutting and newspaper delivery money. It was a GREAT bike and I had fantastic time travelling the trails and dirt roads. I have a picture of me riding it someplace.
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Offline blu guzz

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2022, 09:57:57 AM »




I hope this picture posts.  If not, the bike was a 1981 Kawi 250 CSR bought new in spring of 1982.  Harley wannabe bikes were all the rage in the early 80s.  My wife and I zoomed all around on that little guy, most of it at 7,000 rpm.  Great starter bike and for a guy only making about $250 per week, I could afford it.  At the time, I bought 2 Nava full face helmets for $100 each.  A whole weeks net salary.  Although my home state was a helmet optional state, I knew that for me, that was a non starter.  Sadly, next spring, upgrade-itis got ahold of me and it was off to Japanese 4 cylinder land.
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Offline Hasaf

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2022, 10:01:55 AM »
Honda CL90. Before me, it had been owned by the University of California, Riverside. The odd thing was that each of the spoked had been tied together, where they cross, using a wire wrap tool. I never was sure why.

Offline n3303j

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2022, 10:04:53 AM »
Honda CL90. Before me, it had been owned by the University of California, Riverside. The odd thing was that each of the spoked had been tied together, where they cross, using a wire wrap tool. I never was sure why.
Tying spokes at the cross was a way to make bicycle wheels more rigid in "the good old" days. Wire wrap and solder when spokes were still steel.
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Offline Navydad

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2022, 10:18:52 AM »
One of these. Not this one, but identical. 106cc Sears. Gilera I believe.



« Last Edit: July 01, 2022, 10:20:04 AM by Navydad »

Offline Gliderjohn

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2022, 10:22:02 AM »
The first one I actually owned at age 22. 77 GS 400.



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Online Dukedesmo

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2022, 10:28:04 AM »
This was my first back in 1978;





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Offline inditx

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2022, 10:35:27 AM »
1969 Yamaha “Trailmaster 100” with 3 speeds low and 3 speeds highway gears. Only mine was red.
Man I thought it was fast.
Bought with money from selling a mini bike.
I was 13.
My brother “fashioned” an expansion pipe for it.....
inditx


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Offline dguzzi

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2022, 10:41:08 AM »
 1970 CB175 375$  I was 16, it was my only transportation for 3 yrs. I lived on it!
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Offline Mayor_of_BBQ

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #15 on: July 01, 2022, 10:55:35 AM »


Something about like this...  not as nice, a home-built job my uncle put together with scrap and trash and a blown up 5hp Briggs & Stratton engine he pulled out of a shed. I can't remember the particulars, but he did bore out the cylinder and put in a bigger piston.. and a carb off I dont know what.  It would run over 50mph, so my grandma made him put a 'governor' on it...  but that was just a spring connecting the throttle cable to the throttle linkage. He showed me how to take off the spring and replace it with a paperclip to get full power after I got used to the ride.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2022, 12:09:14 PM by Mayor_of_BBQ »
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Offline slowmover

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #16 on: July 01, 2022, 11:00:22 AM »
Honda 350cc 4 cylinder 1974 I think


« Last Edit: July 01, 2022, 11:01:08 AM by slowmover »

Offline usedtobefast

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #17 on: July 01, 2022, 11:28:22 AM »
Honda QA50.  Around $200 I think.  My dad thought it would be better than the rope pull mini bikes with the rear brake that mashed against the rear tire! 



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Offline TOMB

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #18 on: July 01, 2022, 12:05:20 PM »
Honda CL 77,   305 Scrambler .

$85.00 basket case. Litterly in a basket, put it together took my motorcycle test with it..

Well that was 50 years ago.

I'll try to find a pic a d add it here.

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Offline Shorty

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #19 on: July 01, 2022, 12:24:54 PM »
Mine was a DT175.  I used to haul it in my old pickup (complete with "Yamahauler" sticker  :wink: ) down to the sand dunes and palmetto flats near St Pete and Sarasota. I love those things. I always try to keep a dirt bike around. file photo:  
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Offline SmithSwede

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #20 on: July 01, 2022, 12:30:25 PM »
First bike I owned was a Yamaha RD400 two stroke. Ring a ding, ding, ding.  Looked like this.   Many interesting crashes on that thing.  I carried an alligator bag full of spark plugs because it would usually foul one or more plugs every 200 miles or so. 





The first bike I ever rode on was on the back of a mid 1970s Kawasaki Z900 when my older cousin came to visit from out of state.  That wild ride with him around Atlanta is what hooked me on motorcycles.





Oddly enough, more than 40 years after that formative Zed 900 experience, I’m now riding the new incarnation of the same bike, a Z900 RS Cafe.  I’ve come full circle I suppose. 




« Last Edit: July 01, 2022, 12:32:04 PM by SmithSwede »
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Offline AJ Huff

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #21 on: July 01, 2022, 12:39:21 PM »
My first bike was my 1971 Ambassador. Not as shiny and clean now, little rough around the edges. Bought it 20 years ago. Still have it, though in the shop right now.





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Offline berniebee

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #22 on: July 01, 2022, 12:39:38 PM »
My first street bike was a 1973 Yamaha RD200 with a very powerful and easy to lock up drum(!) front brake. These were equipped with an alternator that doubled as an electric starter- I was so impressed. It fouled plugs regularly (I, like most RD owners, never figured out that you could lean out the 2 stroke oil pump considerably once the engine was broken in.) but it was a hoot to ride for a skinny 17 year old, especially once the peaky engine hit the power band. Wing! Wing! Wing!




(Pic is not my bike but exactly the same model and colour scheme.)

Offline moto

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #23 on: July 01, 2022, 12:57:23 PM »
A 1959 BSA C15 Star 250, purchiased disassembled in two boxes, for $100, in 1965. After assembly I sold it to a greater fool for the same $100. He couldn't believe his luck. Neither could I.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2022, 02:32:43 PM by moto »
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Offline jcctx

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #24 on: July 01, 2022, 02:10:36 PM »
Used '52 Allstate (Cushman) when we moved off the farm and I had to sell my little mare. The scoot was cool but I missed the horse. I was 13 and cannot figure out what my parents were thinking?? After I got out of the AF, bought a 250 Zundapp which was a good all round scoot!!

Offline centauro

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #25 on: July 01, 2022, 02:24:29 PM »




Just like this one at 15 years of age, in Italy. 4-stroke, 50 cc moped.
Val Barone
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Offline nc43bsa

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #26 on: July 01, 2022, 02:30:23 PM »
My first bike was a 1968 BSA 650 Lighting.  I bought it 45 years ago from a friend who had bought it from an aircraft mechanic at RDU (I went with him when he bought it.)

It was mostly as BSA had assembled it (complete with oil leaks) with the exception that it had no mufflers and the lovely humped seat had been cut off in the rear.  I had to rebuild the engine before I could ride it.
1990 MilleGT

Offline actwin

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #27 on: July 01, 2022, 03:08:28 PM »
Had a Cat mini bike w/Briggs 3 hp at about 10 yo. Got a Aermacchi/HD SX175 at 15 yo.

Online Huzo

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #28 on: July 01, 2022, 03:24:52 PM »
This.
Could not believe how I could be so fortunate….(still can’t).


Offline rschrum

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Re: Your first bike ?
« Reply #29 on: July 01, 2022, 10:25:01 PM »
69 CB350. $735.00. Bailed a lot of hay.



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