Your origins of riding.

Helping on a farm while l was still at school I learnt on the dirt bike, later when I got an apprenticeship I got a bike as couldn't afford a car............ still remember the first day I started the apprenticeship I layed the bike down on ice going to work, got myself up and the look on the new boss's face as I rode in the yard with the handlebars all bent up and me hobbling, it never put me off riding thats for sure

TO rocket said:

If you ever head east about 5 or 6 leisurely hours you might get to pilot a 750 Norton just for the heck of it. Your avatar suggests that you may not make it all the way?

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It would seem I'm no longer welcome in Canada. The queen must have a loooooong memory

Because "it's so much fun riding a motorcycle." Quote from a young kid in a video clip someone posted here a while back.

In the mid late 60's sears had a couple mini bikes in their catalog and I pined after that 5 horse. My dad was a local cop so it was the strait and narrow for me but some friends had mini bikes and gas was cheap! I remember shelling out .35 for a day climbing the const' hills. I had yamaha ad's taped all over the bedroom the ones showing the whole family riding enduros around the campsite.

I figured "What the Hell" What could happen?

4 older brothers that all rode, did it for me...

I came to riding late in life, no one in my family ever rode, and the only guy I really knew well that rode, my friends older brother, got killed on a bike at 21. Even after I was grown and married with kids, my parents still said if I ever got a bike they'd come over and chop it up with an ax, LOL.

And to be honest, I never really desired one, I couldn't see the point, I mean, you ride from here to there, then what? I was a workoholic, 90 or 100 hours a week, throughout my 20s and 30s, even into my 40s, I never had time for toys, boats, snowmobiles, etc.

One day I was driving down the road, and saw a CB750 for sale at the road, something about it drew me, like I knew the bike. I stopped and the guy that came out turned out to be a guy I had worked with years ago. A couple buddies that are Harley guys that hadn't had their bikes on the road in a few years had recently said they were going to get their bikes going that year, so I bought it, I didn't even have a learner's permit at the time. First ride and I was hooked, I was off work at the time, it was early April, I'd wait every morning for the temps to get above 32 so the ice would be melted, and rode in my Carharts and ski gloves til my hands were numb.

Funny thing is that of my two friends, one never did get a bike going to this day, the other, well, last year he bragged he had 400 miles on his bike, I laughed at him, this year he's doing better, he has almost 500 miles so far, LOL. I did over 8000 miles that first summer with my learner's permit, alone, til I finally got a ticket for riding unaccompanied, so I went and took my test so I had a license when I went to court, they dismissed the ticket.

First time on a bike I was 10 or 11 years old , I think .. random stranger staying in same camping ground as our family was travelling around on a Triumph of some sort . Parents had a picture of us on it at one stage. I talked (begged) my unimpressed parents into taking up his offer of a "spin around the block" .. gone for all money ever since. Bikes have been the one constant in my rather un-constant life. Hope to ride until I die.

I started riding at a very young age. My Dad taught me how to shift gears and keep the bike moving and upright. I was in love. Stop lights were quite a challenge, though.

I had 2 things which led me to a reprobate life on 2 wheels.

First, when I was 11 or 12, my next door neighbor came home with a shiny Honda 305 Super Hawk. I just loved the look and sound of that bike. Then, after a few months with it, he sold it off and got the CL305 Scrambler. With it's flat grey tank and high pipes - I liked it even better. I never tired of looking at those bikes and talking to him about what it was like to ride them.



Second: The year was 1965. I was 16 years old and dating a MOST attractive girl named Gerri. She wanted to do something out of the ordinary. In those wondrous days of yore, things were a little different then they are today. You could rent small motorcycles at many neighborhood gas stations. So Gerri & I screwed up our collective courage and I plunked down the requisite $6.00 for a 1 hour ride on a Honda Super 90 (you remember - this was the one with the tank between the knees - no "step through" Honda 50 for us!) After that one hour ride - I was HOOKED. It was so simple to ride - even easy to shift and find neutral. G-d, that was one of the best dates we ever had!

Actually, now that I think about it, there was a third influence as well. Geoff - another guy in my HS, was an absolute motorcycle nut. He was always talking about wanting an XLCH, or a Matchless Atlas or any number of other two wheeled transports. He was so enthusiastic, that it led me to investigate some motorcycle magazines. Those also served to whet my appetite for what was to come.

I've NEVER looked back from these early influences.