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I have fond and also painful memories of learning to ride from my dad as a 13 year old kid. Here is a pic of the bike he taught me on. This is not the actual bike but it is darn close to what I rode.
This bike taught me to keep my butt off the seat when riding and use my legs. The seam between the seat and tank would pinch your ass and legs so bad! Great times!
The yamaha riva xc125. Been riding the old bird 8 years before i finally got my cb350 and get her runnin. nothing like 55mph on 10" wheels. Proudly still own it
1990 Suzuki GS500E. Until I blew a piston ring. I decided I wanted a bike.. and I went and bought one with no training or experience.. took it across the street to a school parking lot.. rode it for 2 hours in circles... then rode home... Never looked back.
Friend basically threw me the keys to his 03 GSXR-750 and said "You break-it, you buy-it", and continued drinking his beer in the driveway. This was the weekend before I took my MSF course. It was seriously the first motorcycle I'd ever thrown my leg over. Luckily, I kept my money that day.
1971 honda xl70. Mom said if you save the money and buy a bike, you can have one. Rescued it from a barn, for free ninety nine. Seems like I put a million miles on it.
Got a free 1980 GS1000 out of a friends shed when I was 14.
A yellow Kawasaki KE100, couldn't tell you the year. One of they guys who worked for my dad's landscaping company when I was about 12 had a big farm just outside of town. Went up and down the driveway a few times until I got the hang of shifting gears and then they set me loose. All good until I laid it down when I came around a corner and was surprised by a bunch of cattle chilling in the shade. Relatively soft landing, though, and I managed to avoid t-boning the future t-bones and didn't damage the ol' Kawi so nobody got too wound up.
My first bike was a Yamaha YB100, 1973 model. I got it in 1975, having never ridden a bike before. I learned on the street as I went. Took me several days to master the clutch, until I did every pull away was either a stall or a little wheelie.
Went everywhere on that little bike.....only ever one throttle position....wide open !
A Sears & Roebuck mini-bike my parents bought for me when we moved from town out to the "country". They listened to me beg and plead for what seemed forever until Mom finally caved in.
I've scoured the internet for years and this is the closest I have found to what I had back in the mid 70's
First bike that was mine was a Honda trail 70 ! Had it for a week and blow it up so made a deal with my dad and got a new 1984 Honda XR100 ! Thought I was king of the dirt LOL
laverda 750 sfc, orange, in 1977, bought for 6000 austrian schillings, approx 450 dollars nowadays. foolishly sold it a year later for the same amount of money. regret it ever since
1983 KTM 250MXC - no lights, occasional brakes, random suspension and angry 3rd gear... Friend of mine swapped it for some shoes with some new-age travelers and we thrashed it around a local quarry for the summer... the luxury of reliable brakes is nice but I do miss the excitement of sitting on an engine that threatened to explode in 3rd gear unless you constantly kicked the gear box - felt like a proper race horse..
1936 Harley Davidson Knucklehead with rigid frame, foot clutch and tank mounted shifter, stock length springer fork, and factory drum brakes. That would have been summer 1987, took all summer to redo the bike from the wheels up. Apprenticed myself to an "ancient" club mechanic.
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