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

People have asked me why I like motorcycles so much and how I got into them. Two reasons. My avatar photo shows two little goobers about to get into the sidecar of a 53 Indian Chief, one of them is me about age 4. My father had a friend who had a garage full of Indians, having been a dealer once, and I liked nothing more than visiting him and gawking at the bikes. Fast forward about 8 years or so, and my mind is not so much on bikes any more. My father worked in flight test for Boeing Helicopters and he dealt with a lot of Army Navy and Marine pilots. One 4th of July a coworker had a big party/outdoor BBQ at his house and he happened to have a daughter just my age. As we sat on the curb out front I tried my best to impress her (Her name was Charlene Wyatt...still remember it) when two Army pilots pulled up on nice shiny new Triumph Bonneville's. They got off and headed towards the party and one said over his shoulder "don't touch it kid you'll burn the shit out of your self". As you might guess my line did nothing for my standing with Charlene but I could see what did impress her. The rest is history, picked up a Honda 50 the next year and never looked back. And FWIW despite having Triumphs, Nortons, Enfields a Harley, and BMWs over the years, my line with most women has never seemed to work much better than it did that day with Charlene.

My older brothers had motorcycles, they looked cool, sounded cool, did burnouts and wheelies. What's not to like?

A neighbor friend got a 3hp mini bike and after a week of pestering, he let me ride it (age 9).

We lived on a private ranch (300+ acres) with a paved road that started on top of a slope where the city road ended at our Cattle Guard

(not ours, but similar)-


Anyway, the road ran down the slope about 200', then ran flat and straight for about 2-1/2 blocks, then swept right gently downhill, then slightly left, then slightly right where it flattened out again to a large area with dirt and pebbles from the adjacent pond overflow, and a dirt rode that hooked left up onto the dam for the pond.

I hopped on the mini-bike at the cattle guard, yank-started it, and TOOK OFF! My eyes were water at that breakneck 20 MPH as I came to the first curve, and I just started to THINK about turning when the most awesome feeling overcame me - the Physics of counter-steering and leaning into a turn.

The subsequent left and right turns cemented that feeling deep into my brain, from whence it has never left it's place of prominence among ALL my memories. THAT would be when I first knew I wanted to ride (well, technically, I guess it would actually be when I first saw my oldest brother ride, but I really don't remember that at all)

It would be 4 years before I would own my first bike - a '57 Steyr-Daimler-Puch Mo-Ped.

Early 60’s , my Grnd Dad bought a used Honda 50 and took it to his camp on Bay of Fundy , I spent every visit riding that thing hard on the dike lanes , 9/10 can’t quite narrow done further , all my elders gone now , guess I’m the elder now… none of children in extended family are allowed to sit on my bikes , by rule of their Mothers

Having the name Michael I was always called Michael, Michael motorcycle in grade school.
There was another Michael who went by Mike, he was Mike Mike motor bike.
I figured I was always faster than him.
Not sure if that any bearing or maybe planted the seed but..

Way, way back when I was a young Lad.
Movies had two features, Mom took us to the movies.
She wanted to see Shenandoah, not having a clue what the second feature was.
We walked in on the second feature about the middle of it. There was this crazy guy riding a Motorcycle across a field and then Boom, he jumps a fence.
COOLEST THING I HAD EVER SEEN......
I had to know what this movie was. It ended and I patiently sat throught the Civil War movie, Shenandoah, bored to death waiting for the next one.
And Here it comes....THE GREAT ESCAPE......
That was it, I was done.......

Birth!

Craig said:

Early 60’s , my Grnd Dad bought a used Honda 50 and took it to his camp on Bay of Fundy , I spent every visit riding that thing hard on the dike lanes , 9/10 can’t quite narrow done further , all my elders gone now , guess I’m the elder now… none of children in extended family are allowed to sit on my bikes , by rule of their Mothers

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Me and my 8 remaining siblings are now the elders of our family, apart from an Aunt on my Dad's side, and an Uncle on my Mom's side. I don't "feel" old, apart from my body sending "signals" that is can't do things as easily or pain-free as just 5 years ago.

...but I can still RIDE! (like the wind).

As for MOST of my extended family's kids, they're all pretty much allowed to ride or ride on bikes all they want, except my oldest son & daughter's kids if they are in the presence of their grandmother (my ex)

My Father, older Brother, two older Sisters, all got motorbikes. I wanted to ride as well. Go cart at 4yo, Yamaha 60 at 9yo.
Haven't been without a bike since.

Back in the sixties when I was a kid my dad built a campervan from a ford Thames trader
We often went away for weekends and holidays
One weekend there were some rockers camping next to us
They were just having fun the whole time
Then one of them crashed just up the road from the campsite
His mates got him back to his tent and asked us if we had any plasters bandage or even cello tape they could have to patch him up
My mum cleaned out the gravel rash and patched him up
Whilst the others straightened his bike out I was around 7 or 8 years old
It left a big impression on me

I had my 1st ride on a Honda step thru aged 10 I loved it. In the end my dad bought me an old c100 step thru aged 12 that needed the ngine rebuilt. He built whilst I watched. That was it for me loved the bike and had to fix it myself once it was going
i have. Had a love for bikes n engines ever since

In 1967 Canada celebrated its 100th birthday and it was a big deal. Students were encouraged to create a mode of transportation for the upcoming July 1st parade. Us farm boys had access to a scrap heaps and Lincoln buzz boxes. Using typical engineering-on-the-go, and stick-in-the-sand drawings, motorized jalopies were fabricated. Some had 2 wheels, some had 4, and some had 4 but finished the parade with 3. Some were quite fast at the start, but much slower out of gas. I know this event sparked interest in motorbikes for many of us, and a few are still riding today.

My older brother ( by 8 years) brought a motorcycle home and put it in our basement . It was a BSA 500 single and he told my parents it belonged to his buddy and he was going to paint it for him .
Turns out he lied - it was his . Our father designed , built and raced powerboats and at the time his hydroplane did 102.7 mph at trials when the National record was 103 so motorcycles probably seemed tame to he and our mother - he got in far more trouble for lying than he did for buying a bike . That opened the door - my older sister then had a succession of Honda 50 cc step throughs and then a Yamaha 125 enduro ( AT 1 ? ) while brother went on to a BSA A65 . My sister’s Honda Cub was my first ride along with a buddies mini bike , then a string of dirt bikes - can’t remember the succession but the last one was a Husky 360 Sportsman eight speed . Wish I still had it but it went in a swap /cash deal for Norton Commando - the rest , as they say, is history.
Edit / P.S. - my brother’s buddy that sold him the BSA single moved up a bit and bought something strange at the time - a Vincent Black Shadow . He , along with my brother and another friend were all drafted into the Army as things escalated in Vietnam. My brother got lucky and was stationed at West Point as a carpenter while his friends went to Vietnam . The Vincent was broken down into large lumps and put in the owner’s mother’s kitchen . Both buddies fortunately survived their tour of duty and the Vincent’s owner decided to stay in Hawaii on his return and told his mother to sell it - probably for a song . If only we had a crystal ball…

I always liked motorcycles. When I was about 6 years old I have a memory of driving with my dad on the newly built I30 through Dallas, Texas. I saw six motor cops, riding two abreast on ivory colored pan heads. (I didn't know they were Pans but know that they had to be because of the time frame.) They rode as one, fast and smooth just like they were joined together. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

Years later, I was in 7th grade and a buddy passed a Triumph brochure to me under the table. It had color pictures of every Triumph in the model range. There was only one picture per two page, 11"x17", spread. I still remember the brochure. The cover was white linen stock with the Triumph logo embossed across it. It had to be around 1973 because the Hurricane graced the first page. It also featured the Bonneville, the Tiger, The Daytona and last but not least the 500 Trophy. Something reached out from those pages and grabbed me. It was like falling in love. I had never thrown a leg over a bike but the motorcycles in those pages looked like pure adventure. I wanted to be a part of that.

I had been helping my grandfather in his lawn mower shop and so I had developed an understanding of motors in general. I started helping my friends fix their dirt bikes and that gave me the chance to learn to ride because my parents were dead nuts against motorcycles for any of their offspring. I purchased my first bike from my buddy Carl. I wiped out my college savings fund of $90 and bought a non-running (seems to have set a pattern for all my life's motorcycle purchases) Honda XL125. Carl had ridden it until it wouldn't run anymore. I fixed it with lots of anguish and many lessons from the school of hard knocks. My dad made my mom let me keep it since I bought it with my own money and it was set up for dirt. (I dad didn't often cross my mom but I am so glad he did.) That 125 was my magic carpet. We lived a few blocks from a power line easement. If I pushed the bike for a few blocks I could ride from miles across town. It took me close to shopping centers with gas stations so I could fill up. It was my first taste of real freedom.

Isnt it a natural progression? Tricycle / scooter to bicycle, to longer distances on better / faster bicycles to motorcycles?

daveforty said:

Isnt it a natural progression? Tricycle / scooter to bicycle, to longer distances on better / faster bicycles to motorcycles?

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Indeed.

Every kid wanted a motorbike when I were a lad.

Its just that most of the others grew up…!

Fast Eddie said:

Indeed.

Every kid wanted a motorbike when I were a lad.

Its just that most of the others grew up…!

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Yep most of my mates at the time wanted bikes when we were around 16-17 we all had sports mopeds then 250s on L plates
Then one of the group passed his car test and they all started moving towards cars
All I wanted was bigger and better bikes

We were allowed to ride mopeds when 15, and have licence for cars and motorcycles at 18.
Got my brothers DKW moped when 15.
When 17 I bought my first motorbike as I could not afford a car. An early 45c.i. flathead Harley for $45.
Spent a lot of time restoring it until I got the drivers licence.
Two years riding the Harley was enough. Replaced it with a Dommie 99.

I enjoy reading all these.
I'm sure there is a common thread not discussed about the lure of the ICE from a young age.
The sounds, the smells, the pulses...
I really feel that is what is missing in this tech age amoung the youths. It's just not the same.
Looking forward to more. Carry on...

baz said:

Yep most of my mates at the time wanted bikes when we were around 16-17 we all had sports mopeds then 250s on L plates
Then one of the group passed his car test and they all started moving towards cars
All I wanted was bigger and better bikes

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I got my first Bonnie at 18. I bumped into and old school / moped mate who’d moved on to cars. He looked at my gleaming steed and said “I didn’t know you were a proper biker”!

At first I was a bit confused as I thought that’s what we all wanted ! Then it sunk in “proper biker”… I felt well ‘ard !!

Fast Eddie said:

I got my first Bonnie at 18. I bumped into and old school / moped mate who’d moved on to cars. He looked at my gleaming steed and said “I don’t know you were a proper biker”!

At first I was a bit confused as I thought that’s what we all wanted ! Then it sunk in “proper biker”… I felt well ‘ard !!

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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.