When did you first know you wanted to ride...

daveforty said:
Isnt it a natural progression? Tricycle / scooter to bicycle, to longer distances on better / faster bicycles to motorcycles?
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Pretty sure I'm on the backside of that progression now. Lighter, doesn't have to be so fast, electric start......maybe three wheels some day :oops:
 
MikeG said:
Pretty sure I'm on the backside of that progression now. Lighter, doesn't have to be so fast, electric start......maybe three wheels some day :oops:
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.....not yet lad. 'Is why we practice fighter jet flying.... if you don't, you most certainly WILL wither.
When did you first know you wanted to ride...
When did you first know you wanted to ride...
 
When did I know I wanted to ride ?

Well from about 6 yrs of age various uncles ( proper one not moms latest friend …. Lol ) would pop me on the pillion to go to the shops for sweets and whilst the sweets were great there was little else of interest.

At 8 yrs of age some older lads were buzzing around a field on some old rat bike with a rope trailing behind and attached to an old bread delivery basket. In the basket some lad was being dragged and bounced around the field until the rider made him fall out, which he did ! awesome I thought and begged a go - eventually they gave in and I had my turn
Loved it !! From then I was hooked and wanted to be the boy riding the bike rather than the boy in the basket

Never looked back, got my own field bike within a couple of months and went on from there, never looked back and lost count of how many bikes / miles / countries visited etc
 
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Big_Jim59 said:
Around here "proper biker" conjures up images of long beards, cut vests and Harleys. I have never fit that image. I cut my motorcycle teeth by reading classic bike magazines out of the UK. I have no idea how that got started but I remember an article on a Norton International restoration. I remember reading about how the restorer pieced a badly corroded oil tank back together with delicate braze work. I was hooked. That Norton looked better than anything Harley ever built with the possible exception of the racing XR750. I am not a feet forward kind of rider.
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Don’t want to turn this into a ” what I like is better than what you like “ kind of thing but in the interest of science - if you think balance is important on a motorcycle try this …
if you have access to one of those big exorcise balls sit on it with your feet underneath you ( without touching floor ) and then try it with your feet forward . Hmmm 🤔
 
Big_Jim59 said:
Around here "proper biker" conjures up images of long beards, cut vests and Harleys. I have never fit that image. I cut my motorcycle teeth by reading classic bike magazines out of the UK. I have no idea how that got started but I remember an article on a Norton International restoration. I remember reading about how the restorer pieced a badly corroded oil tank back together with delicate braze work. I was hooked. That Norton looked better than anything Harley ever built with the possible exception of the racing XR750. I am not a feet forward kind of rider.
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A proper biker to me is someone that rides a bike
 
baz said:
A proper biker to me is someone that rides a bike
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I’d add one caveat:

‘Someone who rides a bike for the sake of riding a bike’.

I.E. I would not necessarily call all Delivaroo riders ‘bikers’ !

I call them either ‘a pain in the arse’ or ‘very convenient’ depending on whether I’m out driving, or at home ordering !!
 
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When I was quite a lot ( decades ) younger proper bikers went into a pub called the “ Knights Arms “ in Porthcawl, South Wales.

Loud Heavy metal music on the jukebox, as dark as you like inside, bodies on the floor, plenty of sweaty leather mixed with very dirty denim. Suffice to say the whole place simply throbbed !!!

Gotta say the beer there was top notch as was the loud music ( of its time ) and the atmosphere was electric …. not sure if the easily obtained drugs had any influence



Gotta say I wasn’t a “ natural resident “ but boy the beer music and atmosphere was amazing !! not forgetting there was always an amazing array of proper cool bikes parked up outside

These days it is beyond respectable and you’d never ever guess how it used to be !

I suppose this is replicated the world over and across every generation

If my grandchildren can get a similar level of wow / joy In whatever floats their boat I’ll rest easy

Gotta say the term proper biker makes me laugh at how ridiculous it sounds especially these days, hope we’ve moved on a bit from that standpoint
 
Grandad said:
When I was quite a lot ( decades ) younger proper bikers went into a pub called the “ Knights Arms “ in Porthcawl, South Wales.

Loud Heavy metal music on the jukebox, as dark as you like inside, bodies on the floor, plenty of sweaty leather mixed with very dirty denim. Suffice to say the whole place simply throbbed !!!

Gotta say the beer there was top notch as was the loud music ( of its time ) and the atmosphere was electric …. not sure if the easily obtained drugs had any influence



Gotta say I wasn’t a “ natural resident “ but boy the beer music and atmosphere was amazing !! not forgetting there was always an amazing array of proper cool bikes parked up outside

These days it is beyond respectable and you’d never ever guess how it used to be !

I suppose this is replicated the world over and across every generation

If my grandchildren can get a similar level of wow / joy In whatever floats their boat I’ll rest easy

Gotta say the term proper biker makes me laugh at how ridiculous it sounds especially these days, hope we’ve moved on a bit from that standpoint
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I used to frequent many pubs like that
The "wakes arms" near Epping in Essex comes to mind
Some nights you could barely get one more bike into the car park
And when we were down in Cornwall the visit wasn't complete without a visit to the" Vick bars " in Newquay
The" green gate "
up bethnal green road
The royal standard black horse road recently pulled down
The list is endless
 
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baz said:
I used to frequent many pubs like that
The "wakes arms" near Epping in Essex comes to mind
Some nights you could barely get one more bike into car park
And when we were down in Cornwall the visit wasn't complete without a visit to the" Vick bars " in Newquay
The" green gate "
up bethnal green road
The royal standard black horse road recently pulled down
The list is endless
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The Vick bars? Now you’re talking Baz. An institution. We probably rubbed shoulders there mate !
 
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Most places I frequented have been dismantled , paved over , only remembered by a few old men, similar to memories above , those were good times ,Ale by the quart and hardly rules to follow other than your own to protect your survival , eh …. mostly Brit bikes around then , our little town had a bike shop selling Nortons , travelled in packs ….
 
baz said:
I remember how big and loud the jukebox was !
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I don’t have too many precise memories Baz. We used to camp walking distance away and I used to get VERY drunk in there !
 
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As folks who rode motorcycles began to become more and more socially accepted and less reviled as the years and decades went by so did the bikes, they too had an image makeover and my impression is that everyone eventually became a “ motorcyclist “ and older descriptions went the way of the mods and rockers.
We’ve all been homogenised !
 
Grandad said:
As folks who rode motorcycles began to become more and more socially accepted and less reviled as the years and decades went by so did the bikes, they too had an image makeover and my impression is that everyone eventually became a “ motorcyclist “ and older descriptions went the way of the mods and rockers.
We’ve all been homogenised !
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Honda’s ad campaign in the 60’s had much to do with motorcycles ( and their riders ) becoming less threatening…
” You meet the nicest people on a Honda “
 
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