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I got it in my head that I really needed a motocycle so I bought new a 1976 T-140 Triumph Bonneville off the showroom floor. It somehow didn't occur to me that I had never started or ridden a motorbike before Hauled it home, read through the manual and that was that

jh

I was 16 when i got my first bike, a 50cc Puch Grand Prix Special. Rode it every where for a year then traded it for a Honda CB250RS.

Happy memories on both

My first was a Yamaha 80cc like this ...



I was 15 and she screamed! Forced to sell her when I drove my mum's car over a cliff.

...next was a 1956 Triumph Tiger. She was nothing like the sweet pic here. She had cool custom paint (or so I thought then) and apehangers and was a bit of a dog. I had no idea mechanically and she was abused.

My first "real" bike was a new gold colored 1971 Honda CL350. It was my wives and my only transportation that summer.

Rode pillion since the age of 5 with my dad finally took my cbt in 2007 my first bike was a yamaha ybr 125 which i used for 12 months. I Passed my test in 2008 and purchased a yamaha fazer 599cc which i adored, i part ex that in 2010 for my 2005 Bonneville... my dream bike! Curently looking for a 2nd bike i can use during the winter for work.

In 1965 I bought my first bike a well used 1952 BSA 500cc single for $125.00. I believe it was the B34 model. It had the standard hard tail rear end. It was not very dependable and parts were hard to find...It was a son-of-a-gun to kick-start...but the riding was fun when it ran!

In 1972 I bought a new Yamaha XS 650 and rode the hell out of that bike for thousands of problem-free miles until the family came along.

In 2001 I bought a new Yamaha Midnight Road Star which I enjoyed until health problems in 2010.

This year I found an absolutely pristine 2004 Triumph Speedmaster with only 6400 miles and at least 250 pounds lighter than my Road Star and I am enjoying riding again!

Good luck and ride safe!

Bluto

Suzuki X6 Hustler. Bought it used from a friend who needed the $$ to head west. Hated to be kick started so often I could be seen running down the road pushing the bike jumping on side saddle and popping the clutch.

1971 Kawasaki H1. Man, I rode that bike all over Oahu and on every surface I could. Ah, those were the days...

Got a H2 when I got back to the mainland, followed by an early Magna V45, a Yamaha Venture side hack mashup, a 99 Shadow, then came the revelation of real handling with the America and I haven't looked back.

i had a 1971 honda CB 100, blue and white. It was a year old when I bought it from my aunt for $50 just before she went to vietnam (army nurse). I beat the heck out of that bike. Got plenty of learning experience working on bikes out of it. It broke the kick starter shaft, which is the very last thing to come out of the case. Wore out the cam shaft seat, the head broke off the intake valve a was stuck face up in the piston (that was a fun tear down). Bored it out to 125 - big bore!
I had that bike about 10 years, and a bunch of other bikes (mostly hondas) along the way, I left it at my folks house when I moved out and shortly after found that my younger brother sold it and a dirt bike of mine to get money to buy another bike!

Dirt. I was 6 years old and my dad put me on a Honda Trail 50. Got a XL 250 when I was 14. Borrowed bikes after that until I turned 43 and got my 2010 Speedy.

1974 Honda CB550 four...

1973, right after I got my drivers license I bought a 1973 Yamaha RD350, I loved it, my parents hated it! Then in the following order.
1975 Honda XL250
1976 Yamaha XT500 thumper ( great bike)
1976 Yamaha Xs650
1978 Yamaha XS750 triple
Wife, kids, 20 year break.
Restored a 1977 BMW R100
Restored a 1976 Triumph Bonneville T140-D
Got my present day Triumph BA in 2008
Nothing puts an idiot grin on my face easier than going riding.

1975 honda elsinore 50cc 2 stroke dirt bike @ the tender age of 5.

FIRST RIDE EVER: We were at my cusins in Wisconsin Rapids and he and all his buddies had enduros. My aunt talked him into being "the cool cusin" He took me on the fire roads and trails that always ran parralel to the main roads (Man I miss them days!) on a Kawisaki enduro. I dont remember the cc, but I loved the all green and black!

FIRST TIME I DROVE ONE: I was around 8 or so. It was probably my frineds classic red HONDA 50 mini bike. I think his dad had cashed in, they moved to the country, I spent the night and talked him into letting me take a ride.

Different friend, (about 12) Yamaha 100 dirt bike in the back woods of WV(So sweet!) also had a friend with a Honda Mini Trail 70. We ran around 2 neighborhoods on it.

MY FIRST BIKE: YAMAHA MAXIM 700. 4 yrs, till it met a town car. 2nd bike cant remember the year, KZ100P X- Sherrif's bike. (very cool and wouldnt mind it again)

And then my 05 TBA!! 28,000 and still kicking! (still have not even cracked the engin open to do any checks, I know, baaad on me)

Its gonna have to go soon however. needs new cam gasket seal.

1957 NSU Scooter - almost to the life.
I can remember my dad towing me home through montreal traffic after schooling me on how to operate the brakes and keep the tow-line taut.

When I was 13 I bought a BSA bantam 125cc bored to 150cc and stripped bare for dirt riding

1977 Suzuki GS750

In 1969 I got a used Honda z50 for Christmas I was 5. I think it was 67 or 68.

2006 Triumph America

74 Gt750 wicked cool in a straight line....still have it!

The first and only brand new vehicle I've ever bought was my first bike, a 1971 Honda 350. I would ride it to college and lust after the Yellow 850 Norton Commando that was in the parking lot each day.

Busted my chin at age 5 on that first minibike (no idea what kind it was), on to a couple different dirtbikes as a kid; when I was 15 my step uncle was stationed at Fort Benning, gave me an early 80's Honda CB 500 (abandoned by some private on base) that I never got titled (rode the crap out of it anyway--u could do that round here back then, not many cops AT ALL haha); for years one of my brothers tried to get me on his Harleys but waited till I got my 2004 Thunderbird 900 before I became a legal rider...never forgot hours spent on my uncles old Bonneville that just sat on his porch, my FAVORITE TOY

Mine was a 94 Ninja zx6. Probbaly not the best bike to start with... But i've never been faster by land since then!
S.

so it seems that a great number of us started out in the dirt running the trails around our hoods (or making trails that didnt exist before hahahaha) and it got me to thinkin. do you think it has helped you in your ability to ride by starting in the trails and dirt?? do you feel as if you possibly have a better understanding of the use of the machine and its capibilities?? then say those that didnt start in the dirt?? the question i guess i am asking here is, do you think the best place to start is in the dirt or on the road or does it matter if you are never gonna ride dirt?? man i would love a dualsport hahahahaha

It absolutely helped me. I said my first bike ( as in one I paid for myself) was an RD 350 street bike. But I started riding at age 12 on a string of Japanese dirt bikes. So when I got my license and started riding on the street I was already very confident on my ability to ride motorcycles. A lot of reflexes were hard wired by then. I just had to learn not to be a squid on the street!

One of these...





I'll get my coat

Let's see. Honda 50, then a Honda 75, a suzuki DR100, a Suzuki PE175. Honda CR250, Yamaha IT490.'83 Honda V45 Magna 750, 82 Honda Nighthawk 650, 2010 Triumph America.

I think learning in the dirt is absolutely a big advantage. You learn how to power slide and control a skid just because it's fun. Then on the road you can use that to avoid an accident.

First and current bike 2008 America

the mighty , little, Benelli Banshee !!!!!, I was maybe 12, somtimes I think earlier but getting confused with the one run by the 5hp Briggs , which probably doesn't count... the Banshee had lights and a place for a license tag to boot !!!a REAL motorcycle.....intil I turned 14 and got a 125 Suzuki...oh my...could I ever ride anything bigger... , oh the thrill of youth !

1971 Yamaha RD350 like this one. http://motorbike-search-engine.co.uk/classic_bikes/YAMAHA_R5_350.jpg