Your bike before your rocket.

[CADFather]

Brief rundown, I started on the Briggs and Stratton mini-bike my dad built me when I was about 5 y.o. then graduated to a Honda Trail 70 at around 7 or so, when I hit 10 it was a Yamaha Enduro 100 and at 12 the Honda cb750 four. I've been road riding since I was 12 years old and I rode that 750 Honda well over 180,000 miles, finally got rid of it when I got out of the Army at 24 years and went quite a while without a bike. Then I got a Yamaha Virago 750 and rode it for a couple of years, then I got my Yamaha Road Star Warrior, which I've owned now for 6 years and totaled in '06 which led me to the Rocket III. Of all the bikes I've owned I would give all of them to have that 3-1/2 HP Briggs and Stratton back that my Dad built for me. I never had a bicycle until I was old enough to get a job and buy one.

Here's a picture of the Warrior, I did all of the paint and polishing myself, not bad for my first paint-job on anything larger than 1/24 scale.



And what it looked like when I bought it.

 

[rjharris]

1977 Kawasaki enduro

1978 Yamaha 175 enduro

1978 Yamaha DT400 enduro

1979 Yamaha GT 80 (still own)

1999 Honda XLR Dual Sport

2002 Yamaha FZ1

2005 Rocket III

Was probably going to kill myself on the FZ1. Way too fast and I liked it.

 

[cmoore]

Last Ride

My ride before the rocket was an orange and white 2006 T100. Like many of you I have to go back a few years for the next one, a BSA Gold Star, 500 cc single cylinder, loads of torque but had to tighten up all the fasteners ever 50 miles
Chester

 

[Joker]

Yamaha FS-1E
Kwak Z250
Big gap
Yamaha 125 trials (to pass my test on)
Africa Twin
Kwak ZRX1100 (Eddie Lawson rep)
HD FXDX Dynaglide Sport (Stage One + Hot Cam)
Honda Varadero (competent but dull)
04 Cardinal Red Rocket with cat delete, EBC discs and pads, Goodridge lines, Prog 440s, Corbin seat, Garmin Zumo 550 & ToRs
05 Motoplan Carbon Fibre Rocket with TTS Supercharger & rear sets, Nev's lock up clutch, ToRs and some of the above. Predators are next, then maybe some cams from Nev.

 

[snuffcityrider]

R1 Yamaha 350 (ported&polished, milled heads, exspansion chambers) it was a Honda 750 slayer back in the day. Got it at age 14. Don't remember what year model it was, but the next year they came out with the RD.
69 yamaha 350
Kawasaki 750 triple, two stroke
Kawasake 900
Bonneville America
R3
One day when I grow up I want to be like Bkbill and have a garage full

 

[chiburbsguy2006]

197? 3-1/2 HP mini-bike
1981? Honda CB750 four
2000 Honda Magna
2007 R3 Classic Tourer

I just realized - all bikes with 1, 3 or 4 cylinders. Nothing with two.

 

[TxRIIIRider]

I worked at a motorcycle shop from about age 13 to 18 and got to ride and work on many, many different bikes. This is where Triumph got in my blood. I got my license on a Triumph 500 bobber from the shop before I got my CL350.

For my own,

'71 Kawasaki 175
'72 Honda CL350 Scrambler
'79 Honda CX500
'66 Triumph Bonneville Chopper
'00 Triumph Thunderbird Sport (I still miss this bike!)
'78 Honda CB750 (wife's bike)
'92 Honda NightHawk 750 (wife's bike)
'01 Harley Road Glide
'05 Triumph Rocket III - current
'01 Triumph Trophy 1200 - current wife's bike

 

[tdragger]

Dad was a fireman and worked many smash-ups so the thought of a street bike around our house was not welcome.

So what did I do? Waited until my parents were on a month-long trip to Yellowstone and went out a bought an '80 Yamaha 400 Special. Parents came home and, without saying a word, Dad took off on it. I thought that I'd never see it again. Luckily, he came back and said that it was OK.

After a year in college, I moved up to an '81 Yamaha 750 Maxim.

Another year later, moved on up to an '83 Yamaha Venture. Terrific bike. Finished college commuting on it. Sold it when kids started coming and needed a home down payment. I wish I still had it.

No ride for 25 yrs.

Joy was restored last year with the '06 Roc Std in black (the faster color).

 

[nightrocket]

my first road bike was a 97 shadow 1100 ended up painting it then selling it 3 months later to get the rocket

 

[Gunshots]

64 Honda S90 (everyone should ride one of these)
64 Triumph 500 Trophy (when my dad didn't know I was on it)
72 125 Suzuki
74 GT750 Suzuki (WaterBuffalo)
80 Honda 1100 Gold Wing
84 Honda 1200 Aspencade
96 Honda 1500 GoldWing SE
01 Suzuki 1500 Intruder
03 BMW K1200 LTE
06 Triumph Rocket Classic
I guess it's no wonder I'm poor