What got you started?

[PRD]

What got you into bikes in the first place? As a kid I always admired bikes and my dad told me stories of riding bikes pre-war and during the war. My brothers first job was 20 miles away and dad bought him a BSA Bantam for the journey. The bike was a disaster and was soon replaced by a Honda 90. I just missed out on being able to ride at 16 so dad bought me a Puch VS 50 and later on a Honda CB 175 super sports and I have been at it ever since.

[O.C.]

Riding pillion around our local fields on an old Velocette that my mates managed to get started back in the late 50s early 60s  the bike had air front forks and no rear suspension so riding pillion across a field meant seriously painful and bruised ribs, the front toe cap of my rubber wellington boots also melted with the heat/ flames belching out of the cut off exhaust ....yeah really ...that took some inventive explaining to my mum 

I then started trials riding in the early 70s with a Villiers engined Sprite, which I wish I still had, progressing through Montessa, Bultaco 325cc, and finally a M.A.R Ossa 250 which was a lovely bike...the rest as they say is history.

As for how many bikes I've had since the 70s ....well its a lot.....I may just count up one day     

[viper]

haha, great question.

When I was at school in Ely in 1981 my best friend got a  brand new Kawasaki AR50 a month before his  16th birthday ( still at school)



  a few of us used to meet at his house after school and push the bike to the petrol station and then push it to the old Airfield and ride the wheels off it until it ran out of fuel , riding it every night for a month got me hooked and then came the clincher. My girlfriend at the time , suzy , dumped me for another boy , I looked on in sadness and also in awe as the leather clad 18yr old new fella collected her from the school gates with a brand new Kawasaki z1000 mk11 std, that was it , I had to have one .


started with a RD50 when I was 16 , then a Honda 250 superdream and then a Kawasaki z250 scorpion , steadily working my way up through large kawasakis over the years

[virginiajim]

We traveled extensively on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Skyline Drive for years and years and it looked like so much fun that I bit the bullet in 1995 or so.  Up to that point I really wasn't enamored with the experience.  Since then we've made many friends and been places that we ordinarily haven't gone to before.  My first bike was a GL500 Honda SilverWing.

[snowy]

Necessity!
Being 16 in rural Gloucestershire meant a motorised form of transport was the logical upgrade after the "bitsa" pushbike that had served so well if any form of socail life was to be had! 
So, Garelli Euerka - pedal and go moped (left Puch Maxis' behind and kept with with a FS1E in a straight line! ) lasted till I was 17, then a CG125, Honda CB250 "Dream" (pre Super Dream), then the rest is History! 
Tried to give it up after attempting to be a "responsible" parent and after one accident on an outfit (3 wheels.....seed of the Devil     ) but it's in the blood!   
If frailty comes with this "age" thing (still 20 something in me head!) reckon Maxi scooter till coffin hopefully!   

[Charlie747]

Like snowO living in Lincolnshire with minimal public transport ment that a Maxi in 1976 was freedom. Followed by BSA C15 TS100 CX500

Eventually got involved in a franchised dealership.

Came back after a health wake up call and got the GTR and have added the K16 and am looking forward to growing the fleet 

[Winston Smith]

Was into custom cars when I was a teenager.  Wanted to go to the Doncaster Custom Car Show and parents couldn't take me.
Decided I needed transport and a car was too expensive/needed test to drive one!
Bought a CB100N which I crashed the day I got it!
Learnt to ride took test and the rest is history!

[Boomer]

Rode and nearly crashed a friends Suzi RV50 and was hooked. Started with an SS50 in a box. Reassembled it and 3 days later replaced the motor after the piston came out. Sold that and got an FS1E and so it went on and on. :-)

[bacaruda]

Had a plan even before puberty. Worked during summer holliday since I was 13-14 and saved all the money, got a Yamaha DT125 1980 when i turned 16. drove it home from the dealer without license. Went for a ride to show it to my friends, did a wheelie and flipped over   . All in the first day of ownership. Been hooked ever since (flipper over half a dozen times with that DT before I got the hang of it.)

[ChrisB]

My big brother had a C15, then a Tiger 100, then a Speed Twin. It was natural to get a bike at 17 for me. A CB160, CD175, Triton, CB500-4, CB 750-4, CB400N, ZZR600, Bandit 1200 and now the GTR.