How did you get into motorbikes ?

[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.

[wheelnut]

I must have been about 8, dad was in to bikes and near Redcar beach someone had set up a little circular track and was renting out little Z50s (or similar) for a 10 minute ride around the track.

One twist of the throttle and that was it ....

[Claude]

@Wotsitt got me into bikes at age 13 or so, taught me to ride up at his parents farm.

[Scootabout]

It was Willesden Junction station that did it for me. One day, after yet another cancellation of the connection to Clapham Junction on my commute home from Wembley, I decided that was it. I booked a CBT for that weekend, bought a scoot the next day - a Sunday, I was worried they might not be open - and commuted on that thereafter.

The rest is history

[Taipan]

Always been on 2 wheels. I rode my bicycle everywhere and especially over the woods and fields near where I lived. We used to watch the "scrambles" there. I remember seeing a bloke on a odd bike trounce everybody else. He turned out to be Vic Eastwood on a CCM, which was probably why I always wanted a CCM!

First bike was either a Mobylette or a c90. Both were painted and adorned with belray and castrol stickers for that edge on the downhill sections of our local "track". Made a lot of friends with bikes over the woods.The rich kids from the private houses had real bikes like Suzuki RMs and Honda Elsinores and you'd occasionally get a go on one. Hearing those engines scream and the smell of 2 stroke was addictive as was acceleration! Looking back I realise how there is something about bikes that creates friendships with people and crosses all divides.

I bought a FS1e off my mate and went out on it at midnight as my 16th birthday broke. Came home when the petrol run out, frozen stiff, shivering and absolutely thrilled to bits. Back out as soon as the garage opened! For my 17th birthday I did the same on a RD250e. Loved that bike and put some Allspeed spannies on it. They actually had worse ground clearance than the oem pipes, but that noise! Due to my early influences, I've always liked the sound of bikes with loud pipes on.

Great thread with some fantastic photos!

[neilf]

Went out on my 16th Birthday on my mums Honda PC50 stepthru, Quickly gought a Garelli Tiger Cross, then a FSIE to get a reliable method of transport to work. That was 40 years ago and have always owned at least one bike since then, had short gaps of not riding but always have them in the garage.

[Whysub]

No history of bikes in my family (not the case now thankfully), but when I was around 11 a mate had a Mobecane moped he rode up and down the disused railway track that ran behind my parents house. I rode it and was hooked.
Asked around and found a Rayleigh Runabout for £1 (had to borrow ten bob from my younger brother). For the next 4 years we were never without at least one bike between us. They were cheap back then as many people living on the council estate we hung around had progressed to cars and their old bikes chucked in the shed. We owned loads of Bantams and Francis Barnets.

Always had a bike on the road from 16 years old. Only time I didnt ride was for six months when the missus was seriously ill and underwent chemo and radiotherapy and recovery. Even managed to ride a bike in my job for 18 years.

Still ride nearly everyday, but only for leisure reasons now.

[Asian Boss]

My mum tells me I learned the alphabet using bike names and I remember being fascinated by them as a kid. Mater and pater wouldn't buy me one though so I had to wait until I was 14 and bought a C70 for the fields for £50.

Shit loads of biking later including several two wheel related jobs and I've kind of had enough of them. I'd still quite like a Diavel or a DT125R YPVS, XL185 or the right Harley. I had a brief hankering for a new shape CB1000R but saw one and they're dead wee and nesh.

[Yorick]

Wow. Reading this again, I'd say 75% had bikes since kids.

[weeksy]

Yeah I think I'm the exception. Never say on a bike until 29, never had bike posters on wall, never actually had an interest in bikes at all.

I was very much a football and golf enthusiast

[dayglo jim]

My dad only had a bike as a cheap commute when he first bought his house but my grandad scrambled before the war and had some amazing times despatch riding in India and Burma, this sparked my interest. We had various shared off roaders; cub, puch maxi and TS100 and had affair amount of practise on trials bikes round one of my mates (dad was a wealthy builder and set up a gymkhana course in his garden (Kickstart was on tv).
Never thought i would be into bikes long term and planned to do car test as soon as possible but my sisters boyfriend gave me a pillion to a scooter rally and it all reignited my interest so I ended up having a DT125 alongside a Vespa PX125 and Lambretta SX150 and smashed out my bike test. Stuck with being a scooterist and biker for another four years before moving away from scooters to being a biker (still attend the Oddballs rally as it is full of old guys I know).

[636mick]

Mum and Dad hated bikes. Dangerous, noisy, smelly things. My Dad had helped at an accident where a kid was stuck under a lorry, so they also hated pushbikes!!
So, I started riding over the fields on mates bikes from age about 8, and I was hooked.
Age 15, I know, Dad bought me an FS1E, licence didn’t seem important so I lied and convinced him it was legal, and I’ve never not had a bike since. My sisters still consider me to be the black sheep of the family, I go away a couple of times a year on my own, I’ve had some fantastic experiences, seen some amazing places and intend to continue until I can’t do it anymore. I commute, ride for fun, and just enjoy using the bike for whatever I feel like.
As an aside neither of my kids are bikers so I have no idea why I’m the only biker in my extended family going back generations!! I guess it’s not something that will carry on either. Sad really, they will never know what they are missing.
Mick

[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

There is AFAIK only one person who has achieved that.

Yep, and I have the misfortune of knowing him

[darthpunk]

My Dad and my uncle were both very much into motorbikes.

My dad had (from my memories) a CZ, a Jawa, a Honda Superdream (same bike twice) and 2 different Goldwings before giving it all up in the last 5 years due to his knees and health. His knees from an accident in the seventies where he went over the bonnet of a Cortina and used his knees for brakes.

My uncle has probably had around 40 bikes in total, he was a courier so a few CX500's and, as legend has it, a Yamaha DT125 that he split in half trying to jump a humpback bridge.

My fascination came from drooling over them at teh local bike shop, going to the motorbike show with my dad and the odd bike racing day out. Add to that quite a few pillion rides, one time on my uncles CX at speeds I can only describe as "Kessel Run" and another on the back of a Goldwing doing a ton-up a friendly owner and club member who we'd met not 5 minutes before extoling the virtues of Honda's massive tourer at possibly the smallest bike show ever.

I, on the other hand, have had no such luck. An overbearing mother putting the kybosh on my dreams for many years then interest waning to the point of forgetting what a fireblade looked like. Now at 45, and spending the last 5 years buying the odd magazine, the pull is overwhelmingly strong. The other realisation that I'm not getting any younger and a recent death in the family has made me realise there are some things in life you should just get on with. So......hopefully booking a CBT in the new year once this whole Covid nonsense eases off a bit, then who knows, probably oodles of debt and my sexiness might go up a bit after I finally swing a leg over (so to speak)

Cheers

[Horse]

So......hopefully booking a CBT in the new year

If you have training related questions, toddle into Staying Alive.

Or ask in here if you want a funnier answer from Yorick.

[Yorick]

So......hopefully booking a CBT in the new year

Or ask in here if you want a funnier answer from Yorick.

[Druid]

Yeah I think I'm the exception. Never say on a bike until 29, never had bike posters on wall, never actually had an interest in bikes at all.

I was very much a football and golf enthusiast

I was never interested in bikes, even though a couple of my school friends had mopeds which I cadged rides on. When I went away to college one of my mates had a bike and I spent some time on the pillion and enjoyed it. That year's summer job enabled me to save enough to buy a bike and the rest is history.

I didn't like football or golf

[chutzpah]

My brother-in-law rode a motorbike but died in 2008, other than that I wasn't really exposed to motorbikes.

I started cycling for leisure/fitness in about 2010, then worked my way up to cycling to work (quite far and hilly) a couple days a week. We were moving offices to a city centre location with no parking so figured I needed to cycle full time so did. Realised that two wheels trumps four majority of the time. To me, two wheels is a journey no matter what you're doing and where you're going, four wheels is for utility.

Then in my early thirties fancied trying something new, decided maybe learn to ride a motorbike. Also figured that it was an alternative two wheels to cycling. Mentioned it to my wife who said "you can do it as long as I can" - turns out she'd wanted to take her CBT when she was younger and her mum refused to allow her.

Not a bad agreement but it did entail double the cost. But it does mean we can go out together and now the kids will ride pillion we can go out as a family.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

So......hopefully booking a CBT in the new year once this whole Covid nonsense eases off a bit, then who knows, probably oodles of debt and my sexiness might go up a bit after I finally swing a leg over (so to speak)

Cheers

Good luck with it, there's a lot of us on here who's test was a ride round the block with the examiner stood on a corner watching, I don't know if I could pass the current test.