What could you do on the first bike you had and can't do on your current one? [Archive]

Edbear

13th April 2013, 19:14

Well I could carry a full carton of Lion Red on the tank of my C15 back in 1962... but I wouldn't try it on the Honda today..maybe I'm just getting old...:cool:

I bet you wish you still had it! That is so cool! It would make a great commuter even today! :niceone:

Kickaha

13th April 2013, 19:33

Fix it when I broke it for fuck all money

AllanB

13th April 2013, 19:38

Unscrew a little tappet cover to inspect and adjust the valves without having to move or remove anything else!

Oh and fill up the tank from dry for about $5!

98tls

13th April 2013, 19:38

Fix it when I broke it for fuck all money

You obviously didnt have to deal with Hollands (spelling?) Honda way back then.

BMWST?

13th April 2013, 19:40

$5! less than that!

ellipsis

13th April 2013, 19:42

...ride effortlessly, at all of a T250's, 26hp capabilities, irrespective of the road conditions and very naively thinking that, 'this is the life man, fuck you lot', beating Bonnes off the lights, the three or four that Chch had and still get kicked out of pubs 'cos you were still a kid...

Laava

13th April 2013, 19:45

Yamaha RT360 and I couldn't get it to run. Never did, broke the kickstart trying and sold it for parts.
So the answer is; trying and failing to kickstart it.
My DL1000 doesn't even have a kickstart!

98tls

13th April 2013, 19:48

Yamaha RT360 and I couldn't get it to run. Never did, broke the kickstart trying and sold it for parts.
So the answer is; trying and failing to kickstart it.
My DL1000 doesn't even have a kickstart!

Dont miss em myself,had an early TT500 which on numerous occasions caused me pain.

Kickaha

13th April 2013, 19:57

You obviously didnt have to deal with Hollands (spelling?) Honda way back then.

I had better taste than to own a Honda although on the odd time I used them found them pretty good to deal with and not that expensive

I used Cresswell Suzuki mostly (GT550J) and they were excellent to deal with

98tls

13th April 2013, 20:04

I had better taste than to own a Honda although on the odd time I used them found them pretty good to deal with and not that expensive

I used Cresswell Suzuki mostly (GT550J) and they were excellent to deal with

Yea fair call,i was only a young fella when i had the SL (9) and went from that to an XL175 then when finally old enough to get a licence i had an XL350 (the old man put 250 stickers on it when i sat my test at the Cheviot CC) and i reckon the bastard was adding transport costs every time he had to pick up parts from Hollands.:rolleyes:

Kickaha

13th April 2013, 20:06

(the old man put 250 stickers on it when i sat my test at the Cheviot CC)
:lol: A mate did the same with his RZ350 at the same place, probably the same cop as well (Rex I think)

98tls

13th April 2013, 20:12

:lol: A mate did the same with his RZ350 at the same place, probably the same cop as well (Rex I think)

Cant remember his name,might have been Hoskings,he was the one that crashed his car chasing the old man on his first SS,the old fella turned his lights off just before the Hawkswood cutting and kept going,Hoskings didnt make the cutting.The day i sat my test the bloke stood up and said "no point in doing the practical part because i know you rode that thing all the way from your old mans place" and passed me:niceone:

BMWST?

13th April 2013, 20:16

Yamaha RT360 and I couldn't get it to run. Never did, broke the kickstart trying and sold it for parts.
So the answer is; trying and failing to kickstart it.
My DL1000 doesn't even have a kickstart!

i rode a rt3 when i had a dt3.I couldnt beleive how much difference 100 cc made...

98tls

13th April 2013, 20:19

i rode a rt3 when i had a dt3.I couldnt beleive how much difference 100 cc made...

:niceone:Great thread this,all these bikes being mentioned that you havent thought of for many moons.

AllanB

13th April 2013, 20:20

I could add air pressure to the forks of my 1983 Kawasaki. Flash stuff back then. I see that this is being re-introduced to the dirt bike scene.

Pogo2

13th April 2013, 21:22

Unscrew and fold down the handlebars - Honda Z50J - 1980 I think it was.

cruza

13th April 2013, 21:37

cb250rs , fark rode that thing everywhere , thought it was quick even with a pillion:rolleyes: . Geez you didn't even think about price of petrol back then......

pete-blen

13th April 2013, 21:39

Fill it up for 85 cents..
Mow the lawn for $1 sat morn... then down
to the servo with a petrol can...
Then I could ride that little Benelli cut down scooter
mini bike thing all week..

Smifffy

13th April 2013, 21:45

Adjust the chain on the CT125.

Shaft drive now.

Oh and the ex-farm bike hooned through the sand dunes a lot better than the boulevard does now too. :lol:

Mo NZ

14th April 2013, 06:54

Put petrol in it for 43c a gallon and buy a crate of beer for $3.99 to tie on the back.

Kickaha

14th April 2013, 06:57

Cant remember his name,might have been Hoskings,he was the one that crashed his car chasing the old man on his first SS,the old fella turned his lights off just before the Hawkswood cutting and kept going,Hoskings didnt make the cutting.The day i sat my test the bloke stood up and said "no point in doing the practical part because i know you rode that thing all the way from your old mans place" and passed me:niceone:

Yeah Roy not Rex, he wrote off 2-3 cars chasing bikes, chased you old man a few times from what I heard

Voltaire

14th April 2013, 08:11

Buy parts at Kingsland Honda, and get to Parnell without going thru any traffic lights from Mt Roskill ( yes it could be done).Teach my self motorcycle mechanics from a book, and get a licence by riding around the block with a cop following.

BMWST?

14th April 2013, 08:17

Put petrol in it for 43c a gallon and buy a crate of beer for $3.99 to tie on the back.

48c a gallon and 48 c for a jug!Your post stirred my memory

Road kill

14th April 2013, 08:18

I could pick it up an put it on the back of my Bradford ute/truck with no help.
Full the tank for less than $1.50,,,at 38 cents a gallon it didn't take much.
Change gear by moving a lever on the right hand side of the gear box.
Put oil in a tank instead of the engine it's self.
Remove the gearbox without the engine.
Change the points in less than half an hour.
Tune the ignition by sitting an off station transistor radio on the seat and listeing to the static crack as the points broke open.
Ride from Putaruru to Auckland and back with no break downs an feel I'd achieved something.
Get a drivers licence by riding to the top of the main street an back while the cop stood on the front steps of the library an watched.
Make a set of tyres last two years an not think anything of it.
Wear a "British is best fuck the rest" Tee shirt,,,,,,,,,,no sorry I can still do that:bleh:

Woodman

14th April 2013, 08:49

Kick start it............

Woodman

14th April 2013, 08:52

pritch

14th April 2013, 10:57

Could instantly recognise the other motor bike riders in a group, because we all had acid holes in the inside of the right leg of our jeans.

GrayWolf

14th April 2013, 12:14

UK Law is a little different.. at 16 you can only ride a 'moped' 50cc with pedals.. Had a Raleigh runabout (automatic) then a Suzuki AP50

First 'actual' Bike?? a Suzuki K10-- 80cc
Bout as fast as an FS1-E yammy (80kph)
What could I do??
Fill the tank with 'pre-mix' (no auto-lube)
Be amazed at the 'power' of a 6v lighting system that ALMOST rivalled the 'Prince of Darkness" Joe Lucas
not have to worry about 'cleaning the chain' it was fully enclosed, with a 'rubber bung' in the casing so you could oil it.
chuck it round bends at what are ridiculous speeds, if tried on my 'big bike'
travel a week to and from work on a tank of gas...
think 80kph was damned fast when lying over the tank at full throttle

\m/

14th April 2013, 13:53

I could hit the redline at legal speeds on my old bike.

DJSin

14th April 2013, 13:56

Tight turning circles

schrodingers cat

14th April 2013, 15:49

Less than 6 hrs into the ownership of my XJ550 back in 1983 I had scraped the footpegs, two-up wearing gym shoes and jeans.
I shudder to think on it now

HenryDorsetCase

14th April 2013, 17:56

ride it offroad.....

Katman

14th April 2013, 18:06

Well I could carry a full carton of Lion Red on the tank of my C15 back in 1962

Do you mean a crate?

pete-blen

14th April 2013, 20:16

Fill it up for 85 cents..
Mow the lawn for $1 sat morn... then down
to the servo with a petrol can...
Then I could ride that little Benelli cut down scooter
mini bike thing all week..

First bike I ever rode was a Benelli minibike....straight into the clothesline.

No clotheslines... but it did get locked in the shed once or twice for rideing though mums flower gardens..
growing flowers next to my MX track.... not cleaver...ever tryed to get flowers to stand up after they have been flatened:laugh:

Kickaha

14th April 2013, 20:20

Do you mean a crate?

You're old enough to remember it coming in cardboard boxes, used to be a bastard picking one up if the bottom had got wet

Katman

14th April 2013, 20:38

You're old enough to remember it coming in cardboard boxes, used to be a bastard picking one up if the bottom had got wet

I must have been a later starter than I thought.

:scratch:

PrincessBandit

14th April 2013, 21:15

Holding onto the handlebars fully leaning back in my seat with the throttle wide open. Somehow I don't fancy doing that on the bandit.

Chooky

14th April 2013, 22:39

Do you mean a crate?

Err nope... it was a cardboard "carton" with 1 dozen big bottles in it.
Sat on the tank on the 2 chrome strips that covered the joins in the tank, never marked the paint.:cool:

fireball

15th April 2013, 03:41

My first bike a Suzuki DS80 used to be able to muster sheep in the high country, I wouldn't dare do that now I would scratch up my chrome and you can't jump a cruiser over an irrigation race

Swoop

15th April 2013, 08:19

Fill the tank for f*ck all (back when there were only 3 rotating dials on the petrol pumps so the price of petrol was limited to 99.9 cents per litre!).

Start the bike, put into gear and ride off... with the side stand still down.:facepalm:
It made the first left hander interesting!

manxkiwi

15th April 2013, 08:53

Drag the leg sheilds everywhere! (Honda C70). What a hoot, some of the faces I saw ('cos of the racket it made), makes me laugh still when I think about it.

Banditbandit

15th April 2013, 11:00

Strip it completely in the front room and rebuild it ...

Banditbandit

15th April 2013, 11:07

Geez you didn't even think about price of petrol back then......

Fill it up for 85 cents..
Mow the lawn for $1 sat morn... then down
to the servo with a petrol can...
Then I could ride that little Benelli cut down scooter
mini bike thing all week..

I remember when I started work beer was 48 cents a jug and petrol was 49 cents a gallon - GALLON that is ... not litre ..

48c a gallon and 48 c for a jug!Your post stirred my memory

Must have been a price rise ... 1 cent per Gallon.

SMOKEU

15th April 2013, 11:59

I could lift my first bike (1977 CG125) fully off the ground by myself.

leathel

15th April 2013, 12:22

I could wheel stand my first road reg bike ... for a little bit (only a 125), Leave to bike with the key in for months at a time.... Just didn't bother removing it.

No show wheel standing on the shadow.... No worries on the XR 250 but its not road Reg'd

But in no way do I wish to be back on the first bike... Regret selling the XR600 though and will get another at some stage.

cheshirecat

15th April 2013, 15:23

Hm, First road bike was a CB160.
Stripping the thing down with just 10mm 12mm 14mm; having to de tune the twin leading shoe front brake in the wet, 12 volt electrics so the novelty of riding in the dark and actually seeing where you're going; setting the twin points by eye and a piece of card. Every ride an adventure - just getting back sometimes. Greasy Barbour jackets, watching BSA' and Norton owners having to kick start, Believing my CB160 wasn't that for removed from the IOM Hondas

240

16th April 2013, 19:39

Me and a mate rode to Tauranga from Welly on a gt185 Suzuki in the mid 80s.
Had a steel 20l fuel can on the pack rack and my mate had a crate of piss on his.
I remember being on the desert road and a big Newmans bus was right up my arse and I was flat out at about 90ks. I can still recall seeing VOLVO in both of the mirrors of my bike and fucken shiitting myself as this bastard was right behind me and was taking the piss!:yes:
Fucken great times!!!Would I do it again on a bike like this???????? Yeah probably to be honest but the chances are no one else I know would do it with me and my current bike would get there on 1 refill and with heated grips as well!!
This is why I am SERIOUSLY looking to buy a classic gt380-750 or Kawa triple (or anything of this area other than Honda really)!!:msn-wink: To add to my garage.
Then fuck it i'm off again but his time said fucken large volvo coach bus can smell my dirty,oily,smelly,larger capacity 2 stroke arse and kiss my oily chrome exhaust!
(now all i gotta do is get a larger steel fuel can) :msn-wink:

Matariki

16th April 2013, 19:45

I could actually ride my old bike without too much hassle (Suzuki GN250). With my current bike being a 2 stroke (Suzuki TS 185) and me being a newbie at mechanics, has meant that I haven't gone out to ride properly yet since getting it over a year ago...

Big Dog

16th April 2013, 20:01

Well I could carry a full carton of Lion Red on the tank of my C15 back in 1962... but I wouldn't try it on the Honda today..maybe I'm just getting old...:cool:

Dismantle, service or tune anything on the bike with only the supplied toolkit and a soldering iron.

90s

18th April 2013, 16:30

In '88 on various step-throughs I could always get a crate of beer on the platform.

Now my bike has enough storage for ... well nothing.

On the plus side its comfortable 0-100 is less than the 0-40 speed those little guys used to do ... I know what I'd rather be on. (my bike was actually made in the year I got my first licence, and at the time I lusted after it and the hurricane - if I could have had one then I would've, but to be frank would have probably been a real danger at the time ...)