How old were you the first time you rode a motorbike

[Bigyin]

I know we have some really mixed bike history here and some have been riding for as long as they can remember and we have some newer later in life riders

I was 11 years old when my dad put me on a twist and go Italjet kids scrambler at a straw baled off area at Ingleston Market near Edinburgh and i was hooked there and then. I spent the next 5 or 6 years circling the local small adds for schoolboy MX bikes around the time of my birthday and xmas but was never going to happen as my parents worked all hours just to keep us in a nice house in a decent area for decent schools.

I rode mates TS50 and TS125 field bikes from 14 ish so learned gears and clutch that way before progressing to illegal road riding and not being caught due to it being before the days of CCTV and ANPR everywhere

What about you ?

[tricol]

I was 17 when I tried a friends Aprilia 50cc derestricted scooter. A mighty 45mph indicated was achieved.

Didn't ride a geared bike until a few years later.

[Kneerly Down]

6...well, if a Puch Maxi counts?
If not, 7 on a Honda CD175.

I owned a 1/3 share of the Maxi, £3 of the £9 purchase price!

[Scotsrich]

Probably 13/14 when my cousin gave me a shot on his twist n go in a field and I promptly put it into a hedge.

[PitaNaanRoti]

7 on a mates YZ80 he was sponsored to ride.
Ended up racing with him for 5yrs then another 4 on RG125/250’s then the GSXR750 slabbie in Proddy Cup.

[Trinity765]

About 15 around the field on a friends - I did quite well considering it was my first time driving/riding anything as in I didn't fall off, drop it or stall. I have no idea what it was but I have a picture buried somewhere and if I ever find it I'll share. That was just the once and then not again until I was about 28.

[weeksy]

29 or so. zxr400

[KungFooBob]

16.

CBT lessons at GTA in Armthorpe on an MT50.

[Dodgy69]

I'm guessing 13/14. My mate had a honda monkey and we'd take turns going around the perimeter of a friendly farmers field. Great fun.

[Rockburner]

IIRC, 9 years old and Dad finally let me ride around the garden in first on his RD400. Did that several times and got good "enough" that there was a Puch Magnum X** "under the tree"* that Christmas. It's been downhill ever since!





* Not literally, obvs.

** Still got it too.

[Mr. Dazzle]

16th Birthday, when I did my Moped CBT.

I rode a clutch/gears bike when I was about 16 and a half. My dad taught me the basics on my mum's CB250 and we rode around car parts a bit on it, I then did my first 'official' proper bike riding on my 17th Birthday with a GS125.

[slowsider]

Around 14, learning the rudiments on a friends AP50

[Supermofo]

About 11/12, PW50 was the first.

[MrLongbeard]

26, Peugeot Speedfight

[The Spin Doctor]

Just turned 19 - needed transport for university in London. Couldn't afford a car, so bought a CB125S a few weeks before term started.

Dad rode it home from Paul Smart's, and I taught myself clutch and brakes up and down the drive, then gears round the estate, before venturing out round the local roads.

Made it to 496 miles before I fell off on the way back to Smartie's for the 500 mile service. A car stopped unexpectedly in front of me on the main road, and I fell off - oh, around fifty metres behind her - after locking up the back brake and having no idea what was happening!

Passed my test a few months later on a freezing cold January morning when it was snowing lightly in Maidstone.

Always had a bike, ever since.

[Yorick]

8 or 9 up on The Flappit in Bradford. Dad and brother were doing trials and me dad kept plonking me on his bike and I just rode around on it.

First Road bike at 16.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

About 11 on 125 BSA Bantam that barely ran, first bike I fell off was a 150 Lambretta with a broken frame on a dirt track when I was 15.
First bike I rode that ran as it should was my TS50ER when I was 16.

[Demannu]

6...well, if a Puch Maxi counts?
I owned a 1/3 share of the Maxi, £3 of the £9 purchase price!

You PAID for a Puch?
I was given one by my history teacher (cheers Mr Keirnan) when I was 14. Hadn't run for a year or so and non starter. 10 mins later I was ripping up and down our road.
1st geared bike AP50 at 15. Coincidentally that was my first wheelie too!

[Noggin]

I'm pretty sure I didn't actually ride a bike until the first day of my DAS. So I reckon 27. A few months later I broke my back for the second time (nothing to do with bikes!!) and didn't ride for a while!!

I think I got a 175 Honda of some sort the following year but the kick start was difficult as hadn't done a lot of physio on the back muscles (and was probably doing it wrong - didn't have anyone to show me or help me learn!!)

Got a ZZR600 when I was 32 (just) and then a Blackbird 6 months later (Fuck, just realised I've been riding for 20 years Given that I still think I'm 35, that made me feel very old!! LOL)


I do blooming wish I'd started riding bikes when I was much younger but my mother was (still is) seriously anti bikes - much preferred horses, although I've never worked out why she thinks they are safer!!

[dern]

I think that I was 17 and a mate suggested I had a go on his 125 on a local track. I thought I was flying along and then I noticed that he was jogging next to me. I did my CBT 10 years later as my mum wouldn't entertain the idea of me getting a bike and I couldn't afford to when I left home.