How did you get into motorbikes ?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

You don't get into them... you sit on them, unless it's one of those Quasar things or a BMW C1.

I know someone who crashed a Quasar into a Renault 5 in France

[Horse]

You don't get into them... you sit on them, unless it's one of those Quasar things or a BMW C1.

I know someone who crashed a Quasar into a Renault 5 in France

There is AFAIK only one person who has achieved that.

I've had a 'pillon' ride in an Ecomobile (the blue one, I think)

eco.jpg (64.74 KiB) Viewed 1146 times

[MingtheMerciless]

Got a pillion ride on a CBR600, from Lewisham to Caterham one night with someone who “scared the willies” out of couriers (I only found this out later). I was hooked.

[The Spin Doctor]

I took my first trip on a bike at age -5 months to Switzerland. Obviously I don't remember it, but apparently my Mum's doctor was horrified when they got back. That was a Franny Barnet 198. My Granddad had a BSA with sidecar at much the same time and somewhere there's a pic of me in the chair on my Mum's knee with my Gran on the pillion. The bikes both got replaced by cars (my Dad abandoned the FB in the garage when we moved when I was 12) and frankly I had no real interest in either at the time, unlike my brothers who a few years later were both on Sixteener Specials the day they could legally ride one.

FF to 1975 and an impending university course. Courses were mostly at the Strand in central London but my plant sciences modules were miles away at the Plant Sciences department in Herne Hill. Before I even got there, I quickly figured out that I didn't want to be spending pots of cash (and lots of time) on public transport and a car was out of the question, so a motorbike it was. It was a purely uninterested, financial decision.

Some weeks after reading all about the pros and cons of four and two strokes, I settled on a Honda CB175. It was pretty, light, and reasonably cheap. Unfortunately, I discovered on my trip to buy it from Paul Smart motorcycles that he'd just sold the last one the previous day. The 200 was a bit too pricy, so I went down a size to the CB125S. My Dad rode it home for me. I remember Paul Smart wincing as he rode away and attempted to shift to third. First he locked up the rear wheel then when he remembered to swap feet, he forgot up was up, and shifted straight back to first!

The engine survived and over the next few weeks I learned how to ride it, mostly on my own (just a few tips from Dad). Up and down the drive, then round the estate, and finally out onto the road through the village.

I put 30,000 miles on that bike in just over two years. I racked up the miles commuting to the various college campuses, going home to visit parents and to play cricket for the local team, trips out to my girlfriend's parents in W London, rides out to explore the local countryside, to join field trips in Wales and Hampshire, and doing rides with other bikers from college - one that sticks in the mind was to see the sun set at Stonehenge on the shortest day - if you're ever minded to do the same, dress up warm.

I learned to service it myself when the local Honda dealer told me to do a walk when I asked about a service (I've still got most of the decent quality spanners and sockets I bought for the job). I passed my round-the-block test on it on a January morning when it was snowing. I learned to carry a passenger. I took it on two camping holidays to the west country - 1000 miles in six days, on one trip. Six gallons of petrol for a fiver - I think I drank more cider! I thrashed it mercilessly one morning to Rogate when I was late for a field day - it hit an indicated 74 with the rev counter way into the red and me flat on the tank. I crashed it, I learned to fix punctures, I modded it with lower bars from an SS50 and a Meadspeed fairing, and I polished it regularly too.

I loved that little bike and it absolutely hooked me to the riding experience, but eventually the need for speed got to me - I upgraded to a 250 Honda in the summer of 77, and handed it down to my brother!

[Supermofo]

For me it started with my Dad, he had an Ariel Arrow and a Leader back in the 60s. His brother and all his mates had bikes. But a few years in he gave up as girls preferred cars. Roll forward and he had a few mopeds for work but bikes weren't a thing really when I was a kid.

Then when I was 12 my Uncle bought this. Same as my Dad he'd stopped riding and this was his re introduction to it. My Dad had a go and neither of my brothers wanted to go on the back but I was bursting to go on it. And it was bloody brilliant
IMG-20200604-WA0018 by Graham Vincent, on Flickr

(For the survival skills lot these are AAA level 10 rated trackie bottoms)

Following this my Dad got hooked again and a load of cheap bikes followed, MZ, CZ, Suzuki 185 etc. Soon PB mag was a staple in the house and both my brothers started riding (one older, one younger) but I was happy pillion. The bikes got better KMX 200, KR1S etc.

Having said that I did ride off road on waste ground and car parks. This was the first bike I ever rode. My brothers MT50

IMG-20200428-WA0018 by Graham Vincent, on Flickr

I started riding properly when I went to Uni. I decided to stay at home and commute to Strawberry Hill from Wembley. A pig of a journey by car or train, so I did my CBT and rode my Dads current bike a Kawasaki KH100. From that moment on I was hooked. I did my full test but kept riding the KH until I saved a bit to buy this. My first ever bike a TZR 125, judging from my punk Floyd Therapy shirt this must be 96 something like that

IMG-20200604-WA0021 by Graham Vincent, on Flickr

And that was the start of the slippery slope. Although I did my car test at 17 and my bike test at 18 I didn't end up having a car till I was 28.

Bikes are still my number 1 hobby and I still consider not riding as 'not normal' for me even though I'm a FWB now. Each spring on the first few rides there's a bit of me inside that goes 'that's better you're a real person again'. I literally feel wrong when not riding.

[The Spin Doctor]

(For the survival skills lot these are AAA level 10 rated trackie bottoms)

They all were back then...

Don't make 'em like they used to... etc etc.

[lostboy]

Several coincidences in that post - one, we seem to share a surname, two - that MT5 was first bike, three - my Dad STILL bangs on about his Ariel Leader and how his current Pan is just the modern version of it!

What a very small world (which was the name of a trials/offroad dealership very close to where I grew up!)!

[Supermofo]

Several coincidences in that post - one, we seem to share a surname, two - that MT5 was first bike, three - my Dad STILL bangs on about his Ariel Leader and how his current Pan is just the modern version of it!

What a very small world (which was the name of a trials/offroad dealership very close to where I grew up!)!

Blimey! That is a few coincidences. Here's a pic for your Dad although this is the arrow (A golden arrow I think)

20190731_164110 by Graham Vincent, on Flickr

[G.P]

I used to read bike and car mags instead of comics when I was a little kid. My older brother got a Bantam for coming to and from college at the weekend when I was about 12 and the lad next door got himself a Triumph Tiger cub around the same time and i was "into" bikes from then on.

I got an SS50 on my 16th birthday and have had bikes pretty much ever since.

[Rockburner]

Each spring on the first few rides there's a bit of me inside that goes 'that's better you're a real person again'. I literally feel wrong when not riding.

Yup, agree with that.

The longest I've not ridden a bike since I was 9 was 2018-19 when I went travelling, even nearly losing a leg in a head-on didn't stop me for more than about 6 months.

[Supermofo]

The longest I've not ridden a bike since I was 9 was 2018-19 when I went travelling, even nearly losing a leg in a head-on didn't stop me for more than about 6 months.

Yup longest for me is 9 months after I lost the use of my left hand from nerve damage in my off in 2007. As soon as it was strong enough I told the Mrs I was meeting my brother for the afternoon and came home with a Firestorm

[Cousin Jack]

I left school and started work, which involved getting to places 10 miles or so away, by 7:30 or 8:00 am. Public transport was not available, and the bicycle involved was a bit of a pain at that time of the morning, especially when blowing a gale and pissing with rain. A car was beyond my means (and I didn't have a licence), so a motorbike seemed like a good idea at the time.

[harum-scarum]

There weren't many people that didn't ride motorcycles in my family, when my son was old enough to ask questions he asked where his Granny's motorbike was because everyone else had one

Lol. The only person in my family to have ridden a motorcycle before me was my Gran, and she packed it in in about 1930. And my dad, a doctor who had spent a lot of time working in A+E, told me and my brothers that we would be written out of his will if we ever a) got a tattoo and/or b) got a motorbike.

I started when I went to uni - there was a girl who I *really* fancied, who had a Z250. I bought a Z200 within a week (amazing what a student grant would run to), but hid the fact from my folks for three years! The lovely lassie didn't return my affections, and dumped the bike for a car after her first year, but I was utterly hooked and have been a year-round biker ever since - over 40 years now...

[asmethurst99]

Late seventies - just seemed normal - I had TS 90 that was never road legal but it was mine.
Fast forward to London mid nineties and at last I could afford another one - CSM at Romford and off I go .

[Scotsrich]

Various influences really.

One of my sisters bf’s had an old Velocette that he used to take me pillion.

I had friends who had bikes and I wanted one to keep in with the gang.

My dad had a bike before I was born but had a big crash that left him with a permanent limp so understandably my mother wasn’t keen at all.

My first bike was a KH250 back in the day when you could ride them on L plates.

[Doc]

I blame my brother.
He used to work at a newsagents and one day in about 1985/86 when I was 11/12ish, he brought me home a copy of PB that was filled with custom LCs, a turbo GSX1100 and a project Ratracer cobbled together from a Honda 400/4. That first piqued my interest in bikes.
Fast forward a couple of years and I joined the school kart club, pissing about nailing H100 and YB100 bike engines into kart chassis, then racing them around old airfields with other greasy-fingered oiks.
Then most of my mates got a 50 when they turned 16, so I followed suit!
Still riding 30 years later.
Fuck, has it really been that long?

[Couchy]

My dad was into bikes and My grandad lived on an old farm with plenty of land so we got a succession of field bikes and monkey bikes from about 6 years old

Untitled by Tony H, on Flickr

[Bigyin]

My dad was a Mod and used to rag around on a Lambretta till i came along when he was 20. After that he always had a hankering for a bike but never ever got round to it as money was tight and other things took priority. He would buy bike mags which i ended up reading loads as a kid. When i was about 11 he stuck me on an Italjet twist and go mini bike at Ingleston Market near Edinburgh and after that i was hooked.

From about 13 i rode mates bikes, no helmets, no protection at all in fields, housing estates and industrial estates which gave me my introduction to clutch and gears. TS50 and TS125 and whenever the Police turned up we all ran in different directions. Kept asking every birthday and xmas for a schoolboy MX bike but skint parents meant that was never happening

Started riding on the road aged 16 on a mates RD400 (law at the time was 17 ,12 bhp 125cc and L Plates )

At 17 finally got legal as i started working and could buy my own bike so with first pay packet got a Suzuki GS125 which i stacked into a car at 50 mph 2 weeks later writing it off Got another GS125 off the insurance and off we went again



Now 53 and ridden ever since and been a huge part of who i am and how i have lived my life from Bike courier, race marshal, F1 sidecar passenger, touring and finally bike instructor

[Buckaroo]

Sat on the back with my Dad from about 6. BSA Gold Star, he would put my hands under his Belstaff jacket belt and say hold on son. I have a 2 inch burn on my knee from the exhaust pipe. Been riding nearly 50 years. Hope to ride for many more years.

[Wossname]

No bikes in my family really, tho my granny, who was born in about 1880, was a bit of a petrol head, so the credit goes to her. She used to pack my mum and 3 sibs in the back of a Talbot and take them to watch the Ards TT. The man who taught her to drive was sick the day she was supposed to learn reversing, so she taught herself. Dad had an NSU Quickly when I was about 10, and I used to ride it when he wasn't at home; I was crazy about driving/cars/engines at that stage. Mate at school had a Lambretta which I didn't like but rode, another had an Ariel Leader- yes - another one! - red/blue - which he let me ride and I loved it. Hitched to Kings Lynn from Norn Iron when I was 17 for a summer canning factory job, and bought a Bantam 125 3-speed for £11 (he wouldn't take £10), and gave it away when I left 6 weeks later. Got home and bought my own Leader for £33 (knocked him down from £35). It had been hand painted dark green, so I scraped all the paint off it and revealed it was red/blue too. It had all the extras - panniers, clock, indicators. I have such brilliant memories of what I did on that bike - N Antrim coast road in the summer..... Took it to college, but broke a barrel and a new one was 6 guineas and I couldnt afford it, so swapped it for a C15 which the garage set on fire before I picked it up, and shrugged their shoulders. That was that till I was 46 and found a CB250 on a farm for £40 which hadn't run for 7 years. Bandit/VFR/VTEC/SprintX2/KTMSDGTX2.....

Haven't stopped since, and don't intend to.