The very moment you knew that you had to ride motorcycles

[Huzo]

Like everyone here I can recall the first time I fell aboard a minibike, for me it was 1972.
A rigid framed death trap with a lawnmower engine and thimble sizes brakes. There was an indelible feeling that was implanted when I felt the remote “power” unit under the jam tin sized fuel tank, respond to my whims regarding bending the fabric of spacetime, in my quest to accelerate to 20 mph...
The thing would go into a tank slapper if you looked at it the wrong way, and my attempts to pull wheelies resulted in long term damage to my rotator cuffs..
It had no tread and in the mud the tyres got as greasy as a butcher’s dick, resulting in more high sides than Casey Stoner and Kevin Schwartz combined...but it was fun.
Given that my Mum and Dad had already invested some money in getting me to the age of 14, he felt it prudent that if I was going to ride bikes (which he made sure was a fait accompli) then a “real bike” was just what the Doctor ordered.
One day he was over at the crash pit where we used to go and he spied a young bloke on a blue and gold weapon that seemed like just the thing.
“What’s that bike called Peter..”
“Oh, that’s an SL 70 Dad, but they’re really dear...”
“Hmmmmm...” Says Dad packing his pipe.
In a roundabout way, one duly appeared with a list of demands regarding cleaning and maintenance that made the Magna Carta look insignificant..
But I obeyed out of fear, until 3 days had passed and then the habit was formed.


48 years later, the bikes are bigger, trips are bigger, costs are bigger, but the feeling is no different.
The story has changed, but the song remains the same...

[Bulldog9]

July 1974(ish)..... Family get together, my great uncle comes that morning with his kids and a Honda trail 50 in his trunk. He pulls it out, folds the handlebars up, pull starts it and the fun commences, for ALL but me. My mother and grandmother forbid it.  Fast forward to dinner. Everyone is digging into dessert, I quietly leave the table, easy to do with a table full of NY Italians and Irish full of food, beer and vino.  I quietly wheel the bike out to the back field, pull start, hop on and ride.......... INSTANT addiction, and I can still remember the moment and feeling to this day..... Saved my $$ and bought a minibike (with lawnmower motor) then a Rupp Trail something and a string of bikes kept secretly at friends homes until I was in college and accidentally slipped to my mom that I had a motorcycle.  "YOU BOUGHT A MOTORCYCLE AT COLLEGE???"  No ma, I've had this one since 11th grade..... I brought it to college at the beginning of the semester.....

Life long unapologetic addiction..... Enhanced and completed with my discovery of Moto Guzzi.... Started on a Griso, then added a few others, now at the pinnacle with my recent acquisition of a Convert.....

[lucian]

1967, I was going on seven years old and my older brother and his friends were all getting their draft notices for the vietnam war. Long story short, my dad ended up with all of their motorcycles in his  spare garage.  coolest things I had ever seen.

[oldbike54]

 

 Keep the stories coming guys , thanks .

 Dusty

[oldbike54]

  Thanks guys , keep the stories coming .

 Dusty

[Ncdan]

When I was 14 years old I went to a drive-in picture show and watched BORN LOSERS, featuring a new actor who’s name was Tom Laughlin or better known as Billy Jack. I was hooked and got my first bike shortly after, a 1964 or65 Honda CL65. I had a local Electrican bend me a piece of Conduit that would come up behind me like the choppers did. I constructed a tall sissy bar from an old TV Antenna which I attached to the frame with hose clamps. I terrorized the neighborhood with that bike. Boy what would I give for a picture of that machine.

[Guzzistajohn]

My neighbor, Rick Khoneman got a brand new Honda 750 four In black with gold trim. I must have been pushing ohhhhhhhhh, 9 years old. I was hooked.


That and the time Jethro Bodine ran the Norton through the mansion.

[oldbike54]

My neighbor, Rick Khoneman got a brand new Honda 750 four In black with gold trim. I must have been pushing ohhhhhhhhh, 9 years old. I was hooked.


That and the time Jethro Bodine ran the Norton through the mansion.

 And Ellie Mae on the Triumph 

 Dusty

[Guzzistajohn]

And Ellie Mae on the Triumph 

 Dusty

Or when she slid down the bannister. Oh, that didn't make me think motorsickles 

[oldbike54]

Or when she slid down the bannister. Oh, that didn't make me think motorsickles 

 

 Dusty

[ohiorider]

1954 - 1955.  I was around 11 to 12 years old.  An older neighbor, Donny Mann, who seemed to me at the time like he was 14 going on 40, took me for a lengthy ride on his brand new Harley Davidson 125 Hummer.  First real bike I'd been on.  Got home waay late, and Mom let me know it!  From there it was having a slightly older best friend who first owned a Whizzer, then went thru a couple of Motobecanes (?) followed by an Allstate (Vespa) then a Mustang scooter with Berman 4 speed gear box, rear swingarm, and wire wheels. 

From that beginning, I was hooked.  Next stop, the 1963 BSA Spitfire Scrambler.

Bob

[Jim Rich]

My dad took me to the flat track races in Houston about 1971.  Nortons, Harleys & BSAs laid over in the corners.  I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.  I had to do it.

[Scout63]

1970. I was 7. Older neighbor rode by our house on a Briggs and Stratton powered mini bike.  I can still hear the ringing sound.  My world shifted on its access even though I never rode it.  Turned 14 and got a job washing dishes, then took my summer’s earnings to the Honda dealer and bought a brand new XL 125s.  It didn’t seem strange to me that they would sell a bike to a 14 year old with no parent around.  A few bikes later I went to college and bought a brand new ‘81 Honda CB750F with my first student loan check. My father died suddenly when I was 22 so I took a break from law school and rode cross country and back on a used BMW 1000. I told myself it was to clear my head, but honestly I did it because I had no choice and his fear for my safety was no longer a factor. I never chose to love motorcycles.  I just do.

[Lumpy Idle]

i honestly do not recall but i have 2 brief vignettes for y'all that sorta dial it in.

1) i was a little kid and for my birthday one year....around age 4... i got a bicycle with training wheels on it. well the training wheels were a humiliation and i wanted them off as soon as possible. the way the wheels worked was that they were each set up off the ground by about an inch or so. its enough so that if you are going in a straight line you get a sense of the balance you need and if you falter you are on the trainers again. it didn't take long to figure that out and it didn't take long to get an understanding of what balance really meant. i practiced and practiced and i got pretty good at going in a straight line and then making turns that pivoted with the aid of a trainer on one side or the other. that got boring and i knew i was ready to get the training wheels off. finally one sunny, summer, saturday, morning my dad unbolted the training wheels, gave me a push and off i went down the block in our 50's, suburban, long island, shangri-la. he told me not go far and i went out about a hundred feet and took a slow clumsy sorta u-turn and came back. big smile on my face. my dad smiled too. success. i then immediately took off and headed down the block. i didn't look back. i just kept peddling harder and harder. when i got to the corner i turned the bike and leaned a bit and i felt the most extraordinary sensation. it was what i imagined flying must be like. that was it. i was hooked.

2) i was living in amsterdam for a period of time in the mid-nineties and i went to one of the teo lamers guzzi open houses. on my way there i was riding my 850 t-3 california with the staintune exhaust (sweet sound) along a frontage road next to the freeway. a little kid showed up on the sidewalk, a boy of about 4 or so. as i got closer he started jumping up and down in pure glee. i passed by him and watched in the rear view mirror as he chased after the bike hooting and hollering.  that kid is definitely one of those who will remember when he wanted to ride a motorcycle.

[Blaufeld66]

Up until 2004, in Italy if you were over 18yrs old, you could ride a small displacement scooter (50cc) with no license (I had serious economic problems, so no license for me until then...).
Then, they announced from the next year you would be in need of a license...
For me it was natural: f#ck the car license, I wanna ride a real bike!

[berniebee]

For me there wasn't a particular moment but a few experiences were key.
One: About 1970, my older brother ring-dinged home on a brand new red and chromed Bridgestone 175  and took me, a twelve year old, for a ride -woohoo!!!. "Keep your shoulders lined up with mine", he said. What a thrill leaning into corners!

Two: A year later my brother helped me buy a used but pristine red and silver gray 1970 Honda Z50  for $200 which when I wasn't riding, he stored in his apartment's spare bedroom. I had to travel by bus to get to my bike, roll it down a half flight of stairs (Thankfully he lived on the first floor.) and then I could ride it across the parking lot into the woods behind his building. It was pure heaven putt-putting up and down hills,sliding the rear tire on sandy flats, and splashing full speed(!) through mud puddles. Sold it three years later - for $200.

Three: A few summers later, my bro advised that if I was going to buy that gold '73 RD200, I had to convince mom that safety and economy were priorities. I did and my blue haze, plug fouling, yellow tinted bubble visor, 5,000 RPM-and-up-power-band street riding adventures began!

Brothers, a bad influence...

[GeorgiaGuzzi]

Growing up my parents were certain that motorcycles were death on two wheels. So as long as I was under their roof no motorcycles. Which didn’t bother me too much bc I much preferred four wheel forms of transportation. However, around the time I was 20 (‘96) I decided to take a free MSC that the state offered in order to get my motorcycle endorsement. I was hooked. My 6’2” self looked like an ape on a tricycle on that poor Rebel 250. But that was it. I bought a Honda CL360 after that, then a Honda 400 Hawk.

Then I started drinking. I’ve always remembered the stat in that motorcycle class that half of all motorcycle fatalities had alcohol in their system. And half of those were under the legal limit. Knowing that fast reactions can be the difference between living and dying, I sold the bike when I moved back down south and didn’t buy another.

Fast forward to winter of 2012. After receiving a free night’s stay at the county lodgings, I thought long and hard about what I wanted the second half of my life to be like. I saw a future with alcohol where I was living at home again with my parents, having to ride a 49cc scooter or bicycle to work whatever menial job would employ me. Or stop drinking and try to salvage what I could. With encouragement from my baby sis I went to AA. A lot!

One of the side effects of stopping my alcohol habit was more disposable income! After a couple of years of sobriety I bought a ’97 Suzuki Marauder, reasoning that I should give cruisers a try bc they’re slower. That bike was fun. A friend started planning a bike road trip out to Sturgis, and then glacier national park. That overachieving 800 was stressed out on the interstates. I had rode it on a road trip to San Antonio, and my butt didn’t recover for weeks! So I sold it and bought a Vulcan 1500. We made the trip just fine, even tho the radiator started leaking on the way back. I’d just added water at gas stops on the way back. The clutch started slipping the last 1,000 miles too, I babied it and got the best fuel mileage of the trip. We had such a good time we did it again the next year. Sturgis, Chief Joseph, Beartooth, Yellowstone, Independence Pass.

When I was getting remarried I thought I’d have to sell the bike. However, my fiancée was/is great with money. She talked to me and could tell having a bike was important to me. So I didn’t sell it. I did however trade it for a 82 KZ1100. That was a terrible idea. Never not doing research before a decision like that again. I bought a 92 Yamaha Venture 1300 (the V-4) after that. After a driver took that out I bought the ‘03 Victory V92c that I have. I practically stole the bike. It’s really nice. However, I missed proper footpegs and while it handle great, the ground clearance is far exceeded by the bikes abilities. So I started looking for a standard naked bike as second bike. Which brings me to my Quota! I love this bike! It handles great, has plenty of power, and is simple enough to give me wrenching maintenance time. The Vic is stone solid. Kinda like owning a Toyota Camry as far as mechanical issues goes. I missed having something to tinker with. The Quota scratches that itch well! Lol

Anyway, sorry for the novel. To sum up all my ramblings it wasn’t so much a single moment as the sum of many that have made me love our two wheeled forms of transportation.

Robert

[larrys]

I started on two wheeled machines at an early age. I was building my own bicycles from town dump parts by age 8, with Dad's help. We had a substantial bicycle junkyard behind the garage. Dad passed when I was 11, and I stopped listening to grownups. I got a beat minibike rolling chassis at age 13 and found a 4hp Briggs for it. I put a thin head gasket on it, a Mercury outboard carburetor, a straight pipe, a light flywheel from a vertical shaft Briggs, and ran it on model airplane fuel. Went like hell til it put the rod through the block. Then at around age 14 I rode an older buds Honda 50. Three speed transmission, automatic clutch, a genuine motorcycle! That was it, I was really hooked! At age 15 I got a Honda 90. Mom said only one of us could live at home. The Honda went to the next door neighbor's garage. Got my first Bonneville in 1973 and have bought and sold many since then, I still have my first one. First Guzzi in 1981.
Larry

[Ncdan]

Growing up my parents were certain that motorcycles were death on two wheels. So as long as I was under their roof no motorcycles. Which didn’t bother me too much bc I much preferred four wheel forms of transportation. However, around the time I was 20 (‘96) I decided to take a free MSC that the state offered in order to get my motorcycle endorsement. I was hooked. My 6’2” self looked like an ape on a tricycle on that poor Rebel 250. But that was it. I bought a Honda CL360 after that, then a Honda 400 Hawk.

Then I started drinking. I’ve always remembered the stat in that motorcycle class that half of all motorcycle fatalities had alcohol in their system. And half of those were under the legal limit. Knowing that fast reactions can be the difference between living and dying, I sold the bike when I moved back down south and didn’t buy another.

Fast forward to winter of 2012. After receiving a free night’s stay at the county lodgings, I thought long and hard about what I wanted the second half of my life to be like. I saw a future with alcohol where I was living at home again with my parents, having to ride a 49cc scooter or bicycle to work whatever menial job would employ me. Or stop drinking and try to salvage what I could. With encouragement from my baby sis I went to AA. A lot!

One of the side effects of stopping my alcohol habit was more disposable income! After a couple of years of sobriety I bought a ’97 Suzuki Marauder, reasoning that I should give cruisers a try bc they’re slower. That bike was fun. A friend started planning a bike road trip out to Sturgis, and then glacier national park. That overachieving 800 was stressed out on the interstates. I had rode it on a road trip to San Antonio, and my butt didn’t recover for weeks! So I sold it and bought a Vulcan 1500. We made the trip just fine, even tho the radiator started leaking on the way back. I’d just added water at gas stops on the way back. The clutch started slipping the last 1,000 miles too, I babied it and got the best fuel mileage of the trip. We had such a good time we did it again the next year. Sturgis, Chief Joseph, Beartooth, Yellowstone, Independence Pass.

When I was getting remarried I thought I’d have to sell the bike. However, my fiancée was/is great with money. She talked to me and could tell having a bike was important to me. So I didn’t sell it. I did however trade it for a 82 KZ1100. That was a terrible idea. Never not doing research before a decision like that again. I bought a 92 Yamaha Venture 1300 (the V-4) after that. After a driver took that out I bought the ‘03 Victory V92c that I have. I practically stole the bike. It’s really nice. However, I missed proper footpegs and while it handle great, the ground clearance is far exceeded by the bikes abilities. So I started looking for a standard naked bike as second bike. Which brings me to my Quota! I love this bike! It handles great, has plenty of power, and is simple enough to give me wrenching maintenance time. The Vic is stone solid. Kinda like owning a Toyota Camry as far as mechanical issues goes. I missed having something to tinker with. The Quota scratches that itch well! Lol

Anyway, sorry for the novel. To sum up all my ramblings it wasn’t so much a single moment as the sum of many that have made me love our two wheeled forms of transportation.

Robert

Hats off to you Robert for the life changing decision to take back control of your life👍

[ozarquebus]

Next door neighbor had a Honda 50 step-through when I was in 1st grade. He was the truck mechanic for the Dr Pepper bottling plant.  His daughter Kathy-Lynn let me ride on the back, endlessly up and down the gravel alley behind the nuns' house.

  F84 Thinderjets with their colorful indian head dress insignia from OKC 120 miles away, made low passes on the knife edge to look at us while I squinted up sideways into the sun in some kind of idyll half dream state with her dirty tom-boy hair blowing in my face.
 I can still smell her and feel the phantom muffler burn on my calf.

 I was a big kid and when I was in 2nd grade, Norman let me ride the Hodaka 100 Super Rat. It was so powerful, I was afraid to get it out of first gear.

Before I could write cursive, I was hooked on bikes, and Tomboy girls...

[blu guzz]

great, colorful stories.  mine is kind of ho-hum.  mom said no.  as soon as i got out of college with a paying job, went to the kawisaki dealer.  low monthly payments and rode home on a new 81 250csr.  never been without one since.  i bet mom wished she had let me have that mini-bike i wanted.

[hauto]

Don't even remember my age,but very young.We lived next to this old Italian couple.The old man had a Vespa scooter.One day with my moms permission he took me for a ride on the Vespa.We maybe went about a mile to the local bar.He had a drink and we went back home. I guess he started me out on a few likes that day.

[ozarquebus]

[PJPR01]

Rode several friends bikes while at the University, an old 250 with all kinds of defects we'd take offroad and bounce around on and traded amongst friends,  and a Honda 1000 VFR Interceptor.  That bike and experience was exhilarating...1 year later after graduation, I bought my first bike, a Yamaha Vision 550 (shaft drive).  Not quite the same power as the Interceptor, but the same feeling of freedom!

[Scott of the Sahara]

I think I was finished with 9th or 10th grade. I went to my friend's orchard in Lake Chelan. One of the kids who lived at the orchard had a Honda SL70. He let me and my brother ride it on the dirt roads through the orchard. I bought my first moto in 1977, a '66 Suzuki 150 twin.

[TN Mark]

When, about his age:

[Dave Swanson]

My earliest retained memory is of a motorcycle.  When I was 4 years old (1958)  my parents and I went to a local parade downtown on the main drag. Like most of us in the 50s and 60s parades were a big deal and they always had huge turnouts.  I believe it was the 4th of July parade.  We were walking past the  local Harley dealer on the way to our car.  The HD dealer was in a small building on a side street.  I remember seeing a guy jumping up and down on a motorcycle.  He seemed smaller than the bike.  He kept jumping up and down.  I had no idea what he was doing.  All of a sudden one of his jumps started it up and I was so impressed!  I was absolutely amazed and was fascinated by motorcycles ever since. 

[Mr Pootle]

It was when dad came home on a Moto Guzzi Zigolo. The big old AJS that he'd had for years had never tempted me (it would now).

[Moparnut72]

My earliest retained memory is of a motorcycle.  When I was 4 years old (1958)  my parents and I went to a local parade downtown on the main drag. Like most of us in the 50s and 60s parades were a big deal and they always had huge turnouts.  I believe it was the 4th of July parade.  We were walking past the  local Harley dealer on the way to our car.  The HD dealer was in a small building on a side street.  I remember seeing a guy jumping up and down on a motorcycle.  He seemed smaller than the bike.  He kept jumping up and down.  I had no idea what he was doing.  All of a sudden one of his jumps started it up and I was so impressed!  I was absolutely amazed and was fascinated by motorcycles ever since. 

When I first got to ride a bigger bike my buddy and I would go to Loudon for the races. When they were finished for the day and everyone was leaving we metric rider would look back and see all the Harley guys jumping up and down. It was kind of funny to be truthful.
kk

[MotoG5]

When I was ten years old a young man who lived in our neighborhood brought home a new triumph. Dont remember the model, been too many years ago. But I do remember one warm summer evening he was giving all the kids on the block a ride on his new machine. We lined up to get our turn. When my time came I was totally enthralled with the whole experience. From that day forward I made it a goal to learn about bikes and someday have my own. By the time i was a senior in high school by bedroom walls were covered with bike related stuff.Bought my first bike when I turned nineteen. A Kawasaki 125 dirt bike. From that day forward though all the twists and turns life takes I have always had at least one bike.