I still have my first "bike". I just rebuilt it for the third time and installed a Robin/Subaru 6.5hp engine. I was given the mini bike when I was 5yrs old and handed it down to my brother, then cousins and finally my little sister. It was returned to me each time they wore it down to the point it wouldn't run anymore. I would refurbish the engine and give it a fresh paint job before sending it on to the next lucky young relative. Unfortunatly my nephews (wife's side) are pussies and too scared to ride it, so I have no one to give it to. The Sears "chopper" has been red/white, pink/white and now black/blue (like me after being thrown off by the subaru engine). Finally the old Briggs 5hp could not be saved and I opted for a modern replacement. The engine choice was a mistake since it now has too much power and throws riders clean off the back while pulling the front wheel to the sky. Guess I'll have to fabricate some wheelie bars to keep it safe.
Besides the Rocket, my favorite bike was a Honda 700 Night HawkS. Man I loved that bike! Handled better than anything I've ever ridden ... wrecked it back in the 80's at 120mph. Flipped it over an 8 foot chain link fence into a golf course where it broke up and burned. Good times!
I guess I was about five or six and my first ride was a homemade mini bike fabricated by my Dad. He was a scrounger by nature. Most trips to the dump resulted in bringing more home than he took, but he could turn a wrench. There were numerous scooters, mini bikes and go karts that were brought back to life when he wasn't working on his old Indian Chief. My motorcycle obsession was passed down through the genes I am proud to say. The first real bike that I bought and paid for was a Honda 160 Scrambler. I rode the **** thing through a whole Virginia winter which persuaded me to save enough money to buy a car in the spring. I really wanted that 305 Scrambler sitting next to it in the showroom, but that was beyond my budget at 17. Finally got one, and it will never go up for sale.
My first bike was a 50cc Rico (a Swiss moped, powered - so to speak- by a French Lavalette engine). The first motorcycle I rode was a 500cc BMW 50 (I might have a pic of it). The first I owned was a 650cc BSA Spitfire MkIII.
When I was 14, I bought a Yamaha 350 with my lawn mowing and paper route money. I don't remember what year model it was, but it was the year before they came out with the RD 350. Before it was over I had put expansion chambers and had the heads milled, it was a Honda 750 slayer for a 1/4 mile. After that I was looking at it's tail lights.
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I just got done sectioning a set of RD expansion chambers. They were pretty dented up on the bottom side from the wheelie and slam down (RD's had weak front ends). I'd give my wife for a Kenny Roberts signature black and yellow. The chambers go on a friends RD street racer and yes, it gives just about any sportbike fits, light to light. If it can't beat 'em, it asphyxiates them. He runs Golden Spectro racing castor blend.
My first 'bike' that I rode was a Cushman with a Kohler air cooled single. I was about 14 or so. The kid down the block owned it. One ride and I was hooked. The first bike I bought was a '68 T120 Bonneville, in 68, followed by a 66 Norton. I still have the original bill of sale on the 68 Trumphet. $1325 out the door, tax title and 30 day plate. My, how times have changed.
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and considering the frequency of problems with some Rockets, his early bike was probably more reliable.
actually I can remember my dad having to fix it quite a few times, I sold it for $50, which helped pay for the next one, a Rupp 80, I don't even know who makes that thing, anybody had one of those?
Rupp made small displacement motorbikes, mini bikes and snowmobiles. Was a division of Gorman-Rupp, Mansfield, Ohio. Gorman-Rupp is in business today, making commercial pumps.
See, I'm a veritable encyclopedia of useless information.