Lets go back to where it all began..

[sandman]

I also started on a homemade gocart and then moved up to a race cart. We would race on a circuit of several different tracks. But my first real encounter of a motorcycle was a fonzie type of cool guy in town that had a new bsa thunderbolt 650 and we went 100. I was hooked for life.

[GolfVenture]

I started with a family owned Tote-Goat. We were rock hounds and the Tote Goat was used to haul rocks out. I too had a paper route which allowed me to buy my own 1st bike that was a brand new 1969 Kawasaki 90 G3TR. I still have it and only missng 2 parts, but not necessary to operate. It ran to where it was stored. Only need to clean the carb and a new battery. My plans is to restore it.

[BlueVenture87]

First was a minibike and then a mid 60's Honda 125 street bike pressed into dirt bike service. Crashed it at low speed at the Aztalan Cycle Club grounds. Bike survived fine but I still remember the hit and how hard it was to get back on my feet and back in the saddle!

[FuzzyRSTD]

This is was my first bike. A 1973 Honda CB350 in a gold color. I loved it. A very tough bike. I was 14 years old. I worked it out in the hay and tobacco fields for several farmers around home. I helped set, hoe , top , spray , cut , and house tobacco all summer. Then help strip it in the fall and winter. Put up hay in between times. $2.00 hour most of the time, sometimes less, according to who you worked for. I remember the guy we bought it from, he had a very very nice Honda Goldwing. I have never forgotten that big beautiful Goldwing sitting on his car port.

 

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Edited September 4, 2013 by FuzzyRSTD

[tz89]

My brother came back from the service around 1972-73 when I was 16 and bought a new Honda CB750. He didn't ride it very much, so I did. Way too much bike for a newbie but boy did I have fun. I had it up to what I remember was 120 - no windshield just my geek glasses. I think I did just about everything dangerous on that thing - too fast, too drunk, passengers, gravel roads, even all at the same time. Pic not actual bike.

 

Since it was the first I ever rode I didn't know the difference, but now I marvel at how stable and easy to ride it must have been, or I wouldn't be writing this today. To tell the truth, I think about going to buy one of the new CB1100 bikes.

Edited September 4, 2013 by tz89

[syscrusher]

Since Bird Engineering was located in Omaha and (one of?) their fab facilities was in the small town I grew up in, everyone had a minibike. I didn't, but I rode ones other kids had. They are collectible now of course. A few kids' yards were basically minibike trails.

 

I then bought a very beat up green Honda Sport 90 that looked like Freebirds, but I remember it with a high straight pipe like a Trail 90 but I couldn't find a photo like that so it may have been a mod or a made-up memory? I started it using a On/Off toggle switch because I had one and tired of twisting the wires up. I rode it all over, snuck into places and rode the back roads. Kept it at a friends house or generally hid it.

 

When I was 16 I asked my parents to let me buy a motorcycle. I had heard my brother fighting it out with my parents while growing up and they wouldn't give in. "It is too dangerous, we care about you too much, yada, yada". I asked, I persisted a little, then wham! "O.K. we will let you get a motorcycle". I couldn't believe it and I always sort of wondered if they cared less about me than my brother. Anyway I bought a 1968 Honda 350 Scrambler with a bad muffler that made it sound like it was a bigger bike than it was. That then was my first plated motorcycle. Photos are only representations, not actual.

 

update: Found a Honda 90 photo that looks more like what I had, of course mine had no muffler.

Edited September 4, 2013 by syscrusher
update

[cowpuc]

Hey Crusher,,, just wondered if this is what you had?? Man this is fun!!

[cowpuc]

Sorry Crusher,,, missed your update (man your fast),, my bad

[syscrusher]

If I hadn't found that picture it would've been driving me nuts.

I'm just glad you tried to help.

[az1103]

Started with a little Honda 90 at 17 which I rode to college, followed closely by a

Norton 500 which promptly cracked a cylinder and forced me to buy a brand new Honda CB450 which I kept for many years as a second bike while buying and selling many others.

[GeorgeS]

This brought back memories. I started on a mini bike, but the first "bike was a 1967 Honda P50 Moped I actually had 2. A red one and a blue one. It was a rear engine, peddle to start, peddle for extra "umph". Pulled a great wheelie since the gas tank and the engine was in the rear. Used it as a "dirt" bike. Finally collapsed the center after taking a jump. Wish I still had one of those it would be a cool little conversation piece.

 

My first street legal bike was a Honda CB360T, red. Just saw one totally restored riding around town.

 

 

Question?? Is that a Sears Roebuck, purchaced, " Puch " 250cc in the background ???

 

Looks familiar, I used to have one in 1960. Bought it new, at the Sears store on Van Nuys Blvd. in Van Nuys, Calif.

[GeorgeS]

Well as long as we a makeing a list, my first bike was a " Harley Hummer" 125.

 

Upgraded to a 1947 45 C.I. flat head, in late 1958. ( should have kept it , Darn !! )

[Caveman]

1st bike was a honda trail 50, then got a honda cl 125. Oh the memories.

[Evan]

Started on a 50cc scooter sold by Sears back in 1963. Was horse crazy at the time and got the scooter which I quickly upgraded to a Honda 90 to get to the riding stable where I hung out and worked. It was a 12 mile run which I got to by bicycle each day till I turned 16 and bought the scooter and then the Honda 90. Went on to a Honda 305 Dream and also owned a 650 Triumph during my school years. Have never been without at least one bike since then.

 

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[hell yea]

yep cb 450 for me at 15 no licence and no idear

but i survived and went on to a suckseshen of honda 4

even had a turbocharged one that ate pistons on a regular basics........dont know how i managed to get the pick of the hardley in there

sorry if i managed to offend any one

[hell yea]

so it looks like at 50 im a junyer member lol

[etcswjoe]

so it looks like at 50 im a junyer member lol

 

 

We actually have a member that is not old enough to buy beer yet.

[Brake Pad]

1979 XL 185 Honda. I put 78K on it, Top speed of 63 wide open

[Mike G in SC]

My brother had a Honda 50, he bought about 1964 when we lived in Decatur GA.

Wasn't but a few days before the cops caught him on the road and Dad got the call from juvenile (I-20 @ Memorial Dr). Think they expected a license.

You meet the nicest people on a Honda?

We moved to SC, I rode it a few times. No one cared there.

 

My first bike was a Kaw 175.

 

http://www.motorstown.com/images/honda-50-07.jpg

http://articles.superhunky.com/images/articles/133/F71_530.jpg

[bobder41]

MY first bike was a 1970 Honda 125 had it 3 months and traded it in on a cl175. Should of kept the 175 it was a fun bike.

Bob

[The Tooch]

Here was my first one. My brother and I actually shared this first one. Not for long though. I bought my own shortly thereafter. This was a Honda S90. We shared it for a couple of months and then I bought a Harley 250 Sprint and the 90 became fully his. I think I was 14 at the time.

 

Oh! The Bosses 1st ride he bought was a Harley!!

 

And now he has come full circle, he is a true, "American" motorcycle guy and has been hiding in the closet all these years........... :rotf:

[Sylvester]

I started with a bicycle frame and a plate of steel welded to it and a lawn mower engine attached. No pix. In 1959 bought a Cushman turtle back, 2 speed from a buddy for 15 dollars and it ran. Next spring I traded and got a Cushman Eagle and loved this bike. On to a Honda 250 scrambler that I rode from Omaha to Denver and back. I became a graduate "biker" at this point. Too many more after this point too add to this post.

 

God, I love two wheels!

 

[IronMike]

This will make you cringe.

 

Back in the day once a year people tossed out their junk and the county did a curb side pick up.

 

But I beat them to it. I found an old lawnmower axle and wheels and a 7hp side shaft motor that ran. Also scored an old bike steering head with wheel.

 

I bolted all that to a sheet of plywood. Had to be direct drive as I did not find a clutch. I put it up on a brick, started it and shoved it off the brick and when the wheels hit Hang on!

 

I used whoever's bushes to stop it. A while summer of fun. The next year I scored a mini bike frame and did a transfer of things and bought what I thought was a very very expensive clutch.

 

At 9 years old that thing got me thirty miles from home riding along side the railroad tracks.

 

LOL. That's just so crazy now. To think back I thought all bthat was OK. LOL.

[Evan]

My brother had a Honda 50, he bought about 1964 when we lived in Decatur GA.

Wasn't but a few days before the cops caught him on the road and Dad got the call from juvenile (I-20 @ Memorial Dr). Think they expected a license.

You meet the nicest people on a Honda?

We moved to SC, I rode it a few times. No one cared there

 

I already posted about my first bike but Mike's post reminds me of something I might add. I started riding it before I turned 16 and was able to get my licence. On one run, I saw a police cruiser coming my way. Made a quick decision to pull into a driveway, got off the bike and walked into the house (back then, doors were mostly left unlocked) . Fortunately, the cruiser passed by and I was able to back out of the house before I was noticed by anyone inside, which was lucky for me as I didn't know anyone who lived there. I did get my licence the day I turned 16.

[tz89]

What a bunch of rowdy "hells angles" this group is, or once was. btw, the misspelling is deliberate but back in the day some bad kids just like you painted it prominently on a wall on main street.