First Bike?

[bikerskier]

'74 Kaw 750 H2 I bought in '79. Being that it was my first foray into motorcycling, I didn't really appreciate what I had. None the less though I enjoyed a few good trips on her. But starting it in the rain sure made me lust after those bikes with electric starters. My right shin would hurt for days sometimes.

My third or fourth bike was a '73 H2 that I bought new and over the next 2 years had the living **** scared out of me many times. Brutal bike on full throttle.

 

[bigjohnsd]

Honda C102 "50" either a 65 or a 66.

 

[VMaxChuck]

Honda CL90 here, I think it was a 1966 or 1967 model.

You meet the nicest people on a Honda.........even if most of them now ride Yamaha FJR's!!

 

[Heen]

'81 Honda CB900C bought new in '82. Front half was a punched out 750 and the back half was a gold wing. Since a 750 had a chain drive on the left side and a gold wing had a shaft drive on the right side, Honda installed a 2 speed transfer case. This made for a very long wheel base.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Kawasaki 90cc G3SS in the very early 70's. Beat it to death...desert racer, motocross, street bike, did an honest 65 w/o too much trouble. Started on the first kick, never seized nor left me stranded although second gear and footpegs were weak links. Split the cases a couple times and I remember dad rewelding the footpegs on a regular basis. When the footpegs were off for rehab used the passenger pegs which turned it into a mean wheelie machine!

--G

 

[Old Guy]

1965 Honda CB160 with scrambler pipes and a skid plate. I thought I had a real dirt bike.

 

[Cav47]

Literally the first time I put a leg over any type of motor driven cycle. Can't remember the year of Nighthawk, but I know I paid $1300 for it. I am pretty sure this was the summer of 1993.



I had no business being on this bike to start out with. But when you are young and dumb, you are often arrogant and think you are invincible. I borrowed a helmet from a friend, but rarely wore it unless I was headed out of town on the interstate. Boy was I lucky.

My book bag went either on me or under the sweet red cargo net. Lots of commuter miles back and forth to college. Good thing I was recently married, because many girls in class would ask about taking them for a ride on it. Never did once! I knew that was a No No, and could only lead to bad things.

 

[Ignacio]

1974 Honda MR50. Reunited with it at a flea market decades later.

 

[gapiob]

mine was an XV125 virago.

 

[Panman]

I bought a used 1964 Triumph Bonneville T120 650 in the summer of 1970 after I graduated from high school. Went thru it with a guy I had meet called Flats and it was good machine, just had to keep the valves adjusted every two or three thousand miles.

 

[El Toro Joe]

1974 Yamaha 175 Enduro

 

[lonerider]

Bridgestone 90, '66 or so.

 

[Laser Dude]

1987 Honda Hurricane 600, bought new.

 

[timk]

!966 Yamaha Twin Jet 100, installed the GYT kit upped the hp to almost 16. Tongue hanging out, 85 mph. Had a lot of 2 strokes,still would if they were legal and somewhat large displacement. I now have a 76 RD400 polished exhaust port. Still a wicked little motorcycle.

 

[SacramentoMike]

In spite of Zilla's scoffing, I'm enjoying this thread. Best way to take a trip down memory lane. On a motorcycle!

What I'm noticing is mostly we started with pretty little bikes (especially Iggy!). Seems like anymore, nobody wants to start with anything smaller than a 650 or so. Not that I've looked much, but I'm guessing it would be pretty hard to find much in the displacement range of most of the bikes we started on back in the '60's and '70's. I think that was a lot better way to learn, and a lot safer. Kind of too bad, IMO.

 

[rbentnail]

First real bike I had- "real" being defined as something with brakes and gears- was a Suzuki 50 in the mid-70s. Got it at Christmas, learned to ride it on a frozen lake in NJ.

 

[BigOgre]

^^ In orange? First 100' with it had me sliding across the trunk of the neighbor's car. Dad insisted I get back on it.

 

[C&C]

1974 Kawasaki (KE, I think) 175 Enduro, bought new. Ying, ying, ying...............two stroke. (back in my Navy days).

 

[hppants]

Josh - if the feaux velocity stacks on your 1st bike are original, then that would be an '85. The other year Honda offered that color on the 700s was '84, but those had the black plastic velocity stacks.

Unlike Mike's observation, my first motorcycle was a 1979 Yamaha XS750 Special. In line triple, shaft drive, disc brakes. Really nice.

A few years later, I bought my first dirt bike, a 1970 Yamaha YZ250. Sweet mother of pearl, that thing was possessed!!!! You couldn't "ride" that bike in the conventional sense of the term. You "aimed" it and hoped for the best.

 

[RacinRay]

My first bike was a 1975 Yamaha MX125 bought new in '75. My first street bike was 1971 Honda SL350. It was given to me by a friend of my father in the late '70s