What was your truly first bike?

[gobs]

Yes, an investigation for the fun among GT-Riders members:
what was the truly first bike you ride in your life?

Please, enjoy and give some details:
brand new or second hand?, price of purchase?, good or bad choice?, how long you keep it?, some good or bad memory about it?..

Who will be the starter?

Cheers, Gobs

Note: I hope this topic has never been posted

 

[solent01]

I started off with a childrens trial bike made by Mazaguti (spelling), it was 50cc if I remember correctly, my dad brought it for my brother and me to mess around on, I was 6 at the time. Then when I was about 8 or 9, my dad brought me a 80cc Honda crosser, they were fun days.

The first big road bike I played with was my brothers Qwaka Z900, I was 13 or 14 then, the beast scared the life out of me, I needed a turning radius akin to a ocean liner as I couldn't handle the weight and was worried of dropping it, but in a straight line OH BOY :shock: :twisted: . I never rode it on the road though.

My very first bike on the road was a Honda MTX 50, great fun but very restricted, I used to get burnt up by step throughs coming off the lights My current mount is a humble Steed 400, I'm still getting burnt up by step throughs :roll: :lol:

 

[Pikey]

Col,

I have to admit to cutting my teeth on a Puch Maxi too - a vomit purple one. I used to ride it through the woods near my folks house when I was 12. That got wrecked and was succeeded by an equally gaudy orange Mobylette step thru. My first "real" bike was a Suzuki TS185 in 1979 which I bought second hand for 400 quid and I used to ride around in an old Belstaff, oxblood DMs and a very fetching silver metalflake Stadium lid - aaarrrggghhhh!!!!

29 years and over 50 bikes later, I still get the same buzz everytime I snick it into gear and pull away

Cheers,

Pikey.

 

[HDMAN]

Hi
My first real bike was a Kawasaki 2 stroke 3cyl. 350CC, and then the killer bike 500cc 2 stroke 3cyl Kawa, what a beast, could only drive in a straight line

 

[Meridian007]

First bike I owned was a 1983 Yamaha XS650 (Heritage Special), and I still kind of own it. I signed it over to a buddy of mine back in Canada to hold on to in case I ever go back.

Man I miss that bike, many awesome memories! The bike was pretty much bulletproof and put up with a lot of abuse. I'd gladly trade my Shadow for a working one here!

 

[bikerbob]

My first bike was a 50cc Kreidler . I paid about 2500 danish crowns which is about 15000 baht. Had it for 3 years and then sold it for 1500 crowns.

 

[johngooding]

First bike, BSA C11G, 250cc bought in 1965, when I was ??. I was working weekends on a farm and it was in a barn, covered in dust and straw, belonged to the chief milkhand. He agreed I could pay 1ukpound a week for 10 weeks. Got quite good at taking it to bits to try and solve the oil leaks. Progressed to a C12 and eventually a C15, all BSA 250's.
Happy days, don't suppose they travelled above 60mph, but cannot honestly remember. i do remember taking the C15 up to my boarding school 160 miles away and hiding it with a friendly neighbour and using it for trips at weekends, afraid no licence at that stage, but it certainly set the scene for many bikes to follow, (and a licence of course eventually) I must have been part Thai even back then.

 

[Dougal]

First bike was a BSA Bantam 175cc. Great bike. Wanted to progress to the BSA Gold Star 250 but was seduced by the new in-coming Jap bikes and got a Honda CB 175.
I remember being totally amazed re the electric start. Technological magic.
I was a good boy though, not like John. Tsk! Tsk!
I got my license and progressed up to the big bikes.

 

[Kiwi Cruiser]

Age 15, BSA Bantam 150cc - it did sterling serivce on hunting and fishing trips for quite a while. My first real bike was purchased in 1971, a BSA C11 250c single. Bought it off an old guy where I worked... it was a shit-heap bike that required constant lavishment of mechanical attention to tighten things up, join things together, and almost daily replenishment of oil due to the myriad places it was able to escape from.

My buddy and I did a lot of deer hunting, and it was not suited to the old logging roads we frequented. One evening, whilst trying to urge it across the crown of the road to avoid a big, deep puddle, the front wheel skidded and dumped us. The fuel cap came off and somehow my buddy had ended up under the bike with petrol gurgling and gushing onto his crotch! He was not particularly happy about the way that felt, and was terrified a spark would ignite him - his response was to frantically wiggle clear and leap into the puddle I'd been trying to avoid!

Soon thereafter, traded it in on a TS185cc Suzuki Sierra - what an amazingly reliable bike they were, especially compared to the Brit bikes in normal use back then- Triumph Tiger Cubs, Triumph Speed Twins, BSA Bonnevilles, Norton Commandos, Norton Atlas etc. Kept the TS185 for a long time, and it went into some awfully rugged terrain, carrying heavy loads of venison back out.

It was possible to drape a 150lb (70kg) deer carcase across the tank, neck over the headlight, legs tied to the footrests... and ride the bike to the game buyer's freezer - this was a big money earner for us lads back then!

 

[KZ]

My first bike I got when I was 15 - a friend wanted to buy a new Puch 50cc because the old one was too slow. I got it very cheap, it was an old Goericke, looked absolutely hideous but had a SACHS engine. The nice thing about that engine was that it had a two-gear automatic, which neither a Puch, KTM nor Peugeot or Ciao 50cc had. So I took the cylinder to a mechanic friend who bored the restricted outlet to the header, changed the plug to a hotter one and reassmbled everything. Next day I blasted by the guy with his brand-new Puch Maxi S who didn't know what happened to his old bike.
The first real bike was a CB360, old and used I bought for $200 when I was in California. I never rode it without a nailfile since the ignition points had to be cleaned every 50 miles or so. Once, when I was stranded again, a friend with stopped and asked me: "Why don't you do what the previous owner did?" I didn't see it coming and asked: "Like what?" and he said: "Sell it to some idiot!"
Next was a decent CB450 Nighthawk for $700; sooth three-valve engine, decent power, I did my first trips with it, San Francisco, San Louis Obispo, Highway 101. Great memories!
Then a XS 650, loved the vibrations, 50 horses, cool looks. Had two more much later. Discovered a black one at a repair shop in Honolulu, sitting in a corner, dusty, flat tires. I remembered it and checked it out - it had only 500 original miles on the clock! Asked the owner of the shop about it, he told me the owner brought it in years ago, it had been sitting, didn't start. He cleaned the carb, put a new batterie in, but the owner never came back. I got it for $400, no papers. It cleaned up very well, a '81 model. Lots of chrome polish and elbow grease, new tires and vinyl and it looked like new. Bought an old '81 for $350, parted it out, got my money back, registered the frame and put the stickers on the good bike. Had it for years, put about 5000 miles on it, never a problem. Bit heavy, though.

 

[Azoulay]

Hi Friends,

Some 40 years ago, my first bike was a Honda P50 ( http://www.motocollection.com/Galerie/156.htm ) a 49,9 cc with the engine in the rear wheel. I should say that one of the motivation for this buying, was the associated gift which was at this time a transitor radio !

I bought it at VESINET SPORT Michel LAPRI in le Vesinet in France.

I had all the troubles of the world with this bike that I left few month ago, not convince at all of the Japanese quality...

 

[chiangmairich]

First bike..I actually aquired a honda 125 twin engine and had suzuki 120 from the neighbours farm that had been completely burnt in a shed fire,so slotted it in to the sooki frame,no carby so went to a dump and found a carb of a Puch.
On the maiden voyage,I come off,the carb spewed fuel out and it resurrected it's previous life as a bonfire!
Then went and bought a new MX125 Yam,closely followed by the first honda CR250,what a beast.If I remember 59Hp and about 100kg.
Still have very fond memories of my last MX,a Honda CR500.

Good to back riding after an enforced break,when I was taken out by a car on my gsxr1100r and spent nearly 9 months in a wheelchair!
Once hooked there is no going back !!

 

[gobs]

Hi all!

Fine: many stories and memories...
In most cases we all begun on some "mopeds".

For my part I begun on a Terrot 125, taking it off the barn of a old man in the contryside of the east of France... It was for some months of holidays: puf-puf-puf and a lot of smoke... I was about 14 y.o. and knew nothing about that things in this time. But it was the first beginning.
Truly, the first bike I owned and rode was a Yamaha DTF 125. A 2 stroke japanese scrambler I bought brand new for about 4000 french Francs (in the early '70s, when I earned about 1200 FF a month), and with which I commuted to my work during the week and I play in some trails on the week-ends...
I enjoyed, but wanted more.
So, later, I exam for the "big" driving licence on a CB 250, and buy a second hand Kawasaki 750 twin. Not expensive at all, but not good at all too! A lot of problems, hidden by the seller... Better those, here, who got a Yam XS 650. It was a good japanese twin IMHO...
Lately, I went through British, Italian, Spanish (Bultaco and Montesa for some racing in trial, you know this tipycally british bike sport :roll: , but never won anything apart some good scarry fall down!), American, German and others Japaneses bikes...
Like many here, I was hungry to "try" many things (as now maybe)...
But well, that is an other story...

Thanks to all for your answers. But go on, guys!

Cheers
Gobs

 

[monsterman]

My first bike was a Matchless 350cc thumper that i recovered from a golf course and rode about on from the age of 14 ,often having to avoid the fuzz, but i wore an old greatcoat and 50s style helmet so they were often fooled in thinking i was a grandad.

To pass my test at 17 i restored an abandoned Suzuki B120 stroker , which came in useful as a bike to go buy spares when my BSA A10, Commandos and Triumphs broke down.the faithful Suzuki died when my younger brother who did not have a clue how to ride it ''borrowed '' it and wrapped it round a tree. 32 years later he still owes me !!!!

 

[jollyroger]

The year was 1954 . I was 13 and the bike was a 1950 Harley Davidson 125cc Hummer. 2 stroke so I had to mix my gas and oil. Every Saturday morning I would pull the jug and clean the carbon from the exhaust port; riding on a dirt road in the summer Florida heat the piston would seize and I'd push her into the shade of a tree and sit next to her while she cooled down. I didn't mind.......she was my ticket to freedom and I never looked back...not to this day.

 

[PICO-PICO]

what a devious way to rub it in= my age.
My very first bike was a Vespa scooter 50cc.
Almost half a century ago, seems like yesterday.
Memories are only positive ( Time tends to blank out negative things) It never let me down even in the hardest winters on my long trips through steep mountains to bring me to and safely back from my first love. I caused an accident and made money with it. No insurance fraud, very tempting at that age though, but instead I wrote an article about the accident for the local paper and got paid for it. of course the real events were blown a bit out of proportion.
But I was talk of the town for some 48h or less.
My first master piece in Public Relations

 

[mikerust]

My first BIKE was a Cagiva Alazzura 650. "Honey I'm having a midlife crisis and I don't know if I should get a motorbike or a mistress".

As a spotty faced youth back when I first joined the pipe-of-the-month-club, my first two wheeled motorized conveyance was a Lambretta Li 150 which morphed into a 200 with relevant accesories.

 

[artunltd]

My first bike was a 1972 Honda trail 90. This had a 8 speed automatic transmission. Red color. Me and my buddies would ride the pasture land in central Kansas every Sat and Sun. The transmission had a High/low range. In the low range it would climb hills so steep till you couldn't hang onto the handlebars!!!!! Still have the bike some 36 years later. Today it has 8,500 miles on her and still running as strong as the day I got her. I will never forget one weekend me and my buddy rode our bikes to the lake (60mi) and we met up with some Harley bikers. We rode up to them and started chatting. they looked at my Trail 90 and laughed, they looked at my buddies "big bike" a Honda cb350 and tried to ride it but one guy fell over in about 5 seconds. All they could do was laugh at my bike.

Just got back from a 2,200Km Laos bike trip, check out the photos in the Laos section and tell me what ya think. Thanks
Cheers

 

[ray23]

A new 250 CC Suzuki X-6 used on the street and the dirt. Tough little bike

 

[BignTall]

Love all the stories of shit bikes.

My first possession was bought when I was 12 unbeknownst to my parents. I came home from a garage sale with a $25 Maverick 50cc minibike. My first stab at financing since my total allowances saved doing yard work was only $18 and had to pay off the remaining 7 dollars over the next few months.

See if this pic works

Stowed it in my garage and leant how to drain the carb and clean it out, and muck around until it started. I used to push the bike out the garage and out the back of the yard into the alley. I had to walk about 100 yards up the alley to fire it up so my parents would not find out about it. Sadly my parents first found out about the bike when being shuttled home by the local police. Not the best way to introduce your parents to your latest passion.

The joys of your first bike.

 

[dirthonk]

my first bike was a suzuki gsxr400 1992 model purchased for 50,000baht in april 2006. turned out it wasnt a particulary good investment as i spent another 30,000baht just to get it running properly-ish.
its first ride ended after about 3kms when the battery died on nakorn ping bridge and i was fortunate enough that the boys at G3 were still outside the shop drinking beer and i could push it to them for help.
turns out it was a shite buy but then again i knew nothing about bikes then and even less now. bike was sold to some idiot about 6 months ago for 40,000baht.

 

[nickpedleynz]

xr200re at 15 use to wag school classes i didn't like and go riding along the railway tracks then return to school with mud on uniform great.
brought for 1600 nzd and sold a year later with mushroomed valves and upsized to yz490

 

[jon]

The first bike I ever owned myself was a NSU Quickly moped. 50cc and a big pair of pedals. I only ever got it to fire a few times and found out later that the cotter pin on the flywheel was sheared. Then my older brother got a paint brush and painted things like "Ton up machine" and "My other bike is a tricycle" That was the end of it for me.

 

[Franz]

AS I come from a mechanics family, bikes were plenty so here's some first timers:
PUCH 175 MCH bought from the austrian army and completely restored & built into a roadbike. 175 cc, twin pistons, the one in the second row always got stuck in the cylinder as cylinders were made of cast iron and could not handle the heat that much, especially the flange between both pistons always cracked, piston rings then failed, you could hear a ringing sound and when you did not engage the clutch immediately, pistons got stuck. I can't remember how many cylinders my father and I used to change on that one. Bike should now be in Puch's showroom in Vienna.

My truly first legal streetbike when I was 16 was this nice and quick KTM 50cc, did a good 110 without any oncoming wind (me laying flat on the bike). About the engine, well tried to soop her up a little and what happened then you can read above about piston-rings......

My first "legal" streetbike when I got 18 was this indestructible HONDA-CB400 Twin, whose engine was actually built like a single thumper, but with twin pistons. Did a lot of kilometers that time, wasn't so much interested in cars than bikes, got quicker away from the police who by then only had VW-Beetles........

There were more to follow, pictures above are not a good quality as I had to scan them from old fotos. Cheers, Franz

 

[Moto-Rex]

This is my first bike, YZ80C, it was $445.00 brand new, doesn’t sound much but back then (1976) a paper round paid $6.60 a week, and pumping petrol after school you got about a $1.50 per hour.

And this was my first road registered bike, a brand new 1994 Kawasaki Tengi, photo taken only 2 days after Id picked it up,…......

.....and again only 2 weeks later, and 2800km on what was left of the clock. I was on an outback trip to birdville, came over the crest of a dirt track to find the track had been washed away……I didn’t quite make it to the other side…..“missed it by that much“.