First Ride

bigB_EOD

bigB_EOD

Well-Known Member
ridingstories.blogspot.com
Motorcyclist Magazine had a good series of articles in this month's issue. It's all about what got the writers into riding called "Roots". There was one article by famous or semi-famous motorcyclists including Lyle Lovett, about their first motorcycle. That got me thinking about my first bike. The year after I graduated high school I bought a 1984 Honda XL 185. It was a dual purpose bike. It was probably way under powered but for my first bike it couldn't have been better. I always thought it looked like an Elsinore. I used to ride it to the local off road recreation area. I'd spend all day hill climbing and trail riding then ride back home. I think the fastest I ever had it was 85 mph (down hill) but that's back when the speed limit was 55 so I used to take long rides around Ohio on it too. I had an old no name brand dirt bike helmet and Scott googles. I eventually sold it when I went into the Air Force. There were a lot of great days spent riding along the Muskingum River and the hills of southeastern Ohio.

What was your first bike?
 
My first ride was an '88 FZR1000. Probably not the best bike to buy as your first bike, but it taught me to respect liter bikes :D Did a lot of riding on that bike. When you're young sport bikes don't seem all that uncomfortable...lol

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Mine was Yamaha Pee Wee 50. It was white with a Red stripe and I had a "Champion" Spark plugs sticker on the front that I loved... 30 years later I'm riding a Yamaha FZ1-N which is white with a red stripe! :)
 
My first bike was an '80 Yamaha XS650 Special II. I bought it for $600 in the early 90's from a guy who was keeping it at his work cuz he didn't want to tell his wife he had it. Great starter bike with an engine guard (for the inevitable first drop). The only problem I had with it was the vibration; any ride longer than twenty minutes or so would put my right foot to sleep.
 
My and my step brother shared a Honda trail 70 in 3rd grade; it was unbreakable. Our favorite thing to do was pull a 2nd person behind it with a rope, on a big wheel, fast as we could and try to throw them off. :)
 
I also has a Honda CT70 Trail as my first motorized two-wheels. Tough little machine that gave me three years of good times! I got it when I was 11... 33 yrs ago. Never stopped loving two wheels since.
 
My first was a 1989 Kawasaki EX-500. I had that bike for almost 8 years and was my sole source of transportation. I will never forget the day I got it. I had it delivered to my home where I learned to ride. The first time I went out on the streets was almost a spiritual experience. I felt like I was flying and in tune with the entire world around me. I will never forget that day...

Here is the only photo I have of it in one of the many paint jobs I had during those years.
 

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First owned

The first bike that I rode was a Honda 50 that my cousins had, would have been early seventies sometime. The first bike that I bought was a 1978 Yamaha XS-400. Very comfortable but under powered. It was responsible for getting me hooked for life. Even rode it in the snow and off road, poor thing.
 
This wasn't the first bike I rode, but it was the first bike I bought for myself. A Honda Rebel 250. I outgrew this bike in a matter of a couple of months. I quickly moved up to a Suzuki GS550E.

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Although it didn't look like this when I first bought it, my first ride is a 1981 550 Maxim. I didn't know it at the time that I bought it, but apparently these were quite popular and plentiful in their time. I am always running into people that claim they had one when they were younger. Even my former neighbor across the street from me had one that was his daily driver back in '83.

In this picture, I had repainted the tank from the tired factory gloss black and it had a fresh battery and new tires. A friend of mine had re-covered the seat because the original was split in several places. Speaking of that guy, he is the reason I was trying to refurbish it at the time. I had moved and sold it to him and he let it sit neglected under the porch in the cold winter of Chicago for a couple of years after learning to ride on it the first year I sold it to him. I wish I had taken before and after pictures, but I never did.
 
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