Once we get a taste, we all want a little bit moreI got "Legal"in 2008 on a Honda Rebel 250... eventually becoming a RiderCoach to help others do the same thing. My first "Real Bike" was a 2008 America. It was a great learner ride but too underpowered for what I needed (2-up riding) and thirsted for as once my skills evolved...
-MIG
Glad I'm old!
That’s a great story Sparky. N you’re not old. Just a year ahead of me. If 59 means your year of birth lol. Mine was 60. I we lived through the best times of ever.
I talked the Secretary of State driving tester into letting me take my drivers exam on my 16th birthday, 4 hours after taking my auto exam......
It was in the middle of winter in Chicago.....mid February,,,,,,I came back to the testing faculty with my moms car towing a 3=bike trailer w/my Yamaha.
I explained to him I really wanted my license to use in Georgia 2 weeks later.....He showed me the pile of cones to set up the course...handed me a placement diagram, and said "let me know when you are done"....It was a cold but clear day...35 or so...I rode the route thru the cones and I received my motorcycle endorsement. Then I had to put the cones away...LOL Then I walked back in the building and put the bike in my name and purchased plates for it....Todays regs. would never have allowed all of that.
N if 59 is actually your age. Then I’m 2 ahead of you lol.
Been thinking about your post reply pretty much all day. Reminds me of my license test. I think the figure eight cone test thang is pretty much universally, and continentally the same. Although it’s a given that test courses, and test instructors vary greatly
.....Anyways, here’s one of my little experiences preparing for my bike road test..... So first off, I’ve never been a” start small n work your way up” kind of guy. I prefer to start at the top and work my down into abject failure 
. M...So I ( completely inexperienced) go out n buy what was at that time one of the biggest displacement bikes available,( 1500cc). There were a mine field of rules n regulations here( as everywhere I’m sure), to ride, practice, and abide safely by the law. I of course chose to disregard most all of them. Mostly because the majority of them seemed to be thought up by a round table of worried mothers who had, nor ever would have anything to do with motorcycles.....So away I went... I would practice by riding my very big, very heavy bike down the road from my house about 1 1/2 miles to a church. Parking lot was big, open, and guaranteed traffic free. I had no idea what to expect from the bike road test, but I did know there was the “ EVER SCARY” figure eight test. Had no idea what the test course looked like, or measured in size. So began to prepare for the worst case scenario.....super small course...super big bike. So I’d take this bike to the church parking lot, and practice n practice doing figure eights. Don’t know if it was my inexperience, or just couldn’t wrap my head around it, but I just couldn’t keep the bike fully upright, and ride at a slow enough speed to pull off the tight eights the test required. So I adjusted my strategy. Instead of taking up a whole lot of space trying to pull off vertical figure eights, I increased my speed and began heavily leaning the bike within the confines of a single painted line parking stall. I began to get very good at it. Practiced, n practiced. Keep in mind, n try to imagine doing heavy leaning figure eights on your big bike in the space of a Walmart parking spot.....So I’m riding home on the last day before my bike test. As I’m riding down the last street towards my house, there’s a little side street that intersects it like 200 yards before my house. As I’m riding towards the side street, a police car runs the stop sign. He see’s me, I see him. We both slam on our brakes. Keep in mind. I have no bike license. Therefore no insurance, and I’m a day away from my bike drivers test.........
Holy crap. Is it ever getting late here. Wow, on n on I go. Some guys just don’t know when to pay the cheque n leave the bar eh 
.
