Your first bike.

[Yokomama]

Having been a car guy for about as long as I’ve been allowed to drive, I’ve only recently come over to the correct number of wheels. I’m more aiming at the older crowd here - I respect such experience.

Everyone remembers their first bike. Right?

My grandad had a triumph tiger cub - the one that seized for no real reason.
I have a Honda Spada. I learned on a gb500.

What was yours?

Reminisce, tell us all the good and bad.

[Berries]

I had a blue one.

[WALRUS]

Committing to the bit, Berries! Respect!

You can see mine in here (https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/186300-Share-Your-Bike-History-in-Photos)

Good ol' 2007 Kawasaki GPX250R (EX250F).. Possibly the perfect learners bike.. Easy, not enough power to kill you, and quick enough on a twisty rd to keep up with (then) modern 600's once you master the art of mid-corner speed.. I honestly miss it a little but still see it running around the city every now and then. Still nice and shiny!

https://scontent.fmel5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/603390_10151121488560896_2044793731_n.jpg?_nc_cat= 107&_nc_ht=scontent.fmel5-1.fna&oh=9de45a184a8f328c7d1205e13545d25a&oe=5CB86271

[Jeff Sichoe]

1990 RGV250 (~60hp, all black, killer powerband) when I was 19, picked it up from a dude in Palmy, hadn't ridden a road bike before, stalled it 4 times just getting down the street. The guy ran after me and asked if I 'knew how to ride a bike'

Ran out of gas two times on the trip back to Welly

crashed it the next day riding out to Makara, broke the front brake lever so just used the rear until...

a week after I got it it was stolen off the street in Roseneath

probably good, really, I would have killed myself on that thing, fucking good intro to throttle control tho.

[Blackbird]

Suzuki 50 in 1964. My grandparents bought it for me passing the UK equivalent of School C. Bless their hearts, it had leg shields and a windscreen with the frontal area of a house. With about 5bhp on tap, it could hardly be described as nippy. Can't be too ungrateful though as I had mobile independence and it opened decades of 2-wheeled enjoyment:headbang:

[F5 Dave]

1990 RGV250 (~60hp, all black, killer powerband) when I was 19, picked it up from a dude in Palmy, hadn't ridden a road bike before, stalled it 4 times just getting down the street. The guy ran after me and asked if I 'knew how to ride a bike'

Ran out of gas two times on the trip back to Welly

crashed it the next day riding out to Makara, broke the front brake lever so just used the rear until...

a week after I got it it was stolen off the street in Roseneath

probably good, really, I would have killed myself on that thing, fucking good intro to throttle control tho.

Maybe this LAMS thingy was aimed at you? ;)

My first bike was a 1/2 share in a PE175 that got stolen from wainuitomata other owners shed having ridden it once.

The XR250A with worn knobblies and no wof or hope of getting one was replaced by a RD350B with the obligatory 250 stickers.

[rastuscat]

CB250N.

Gutless thing, in hindsight, but it taught me lots.

My mates CB250RS was more awesomer.

[robajs]

Suzuki t 125 high pipe in gold with inbuilt fork flex! soon to be replaced with a rd 350b a true 100mph bike.:banana:

[fridayflash]

First bike i had was a suzuki AC50 which was stripped down to a trail weapon (:laugh:) kids in our neighborhood rode at the local river, that bike opened the door to the feeling of freedom and ive never really lost it... most keenly felt when i havent ridden in a while.
first road going bike was a honda cg125 at the age of 15, being on the road and able to go further afeild really cemented the motorcycle affliction

[F5 Dave]

Suzuki t 125 high pipe in gold with inbuilt fork flex! soon to be replaced with a rd 350b a true 100mph bike.:banana:
Awesome. Have a T125 I am restoring but got distracted near the finish line.

[russd7]

learnt to ride on a Kawasaki KM100 then TM125 then YZ250, YZ465, CR250 elsinore (that fucker pet me in hospital) all of which were mates bikes. after coming out of hospital and a 5mnth recovery period my dear old dad told me he would assist me in to my first vehicle, I found a DT250, he said no, not helping you to become a temporary citizen (he was a voluntary ambo driver/officer at the time) so I found a 3.3 cresta and he said no it was to big and powerful. last time I ever asked for financial help from him again and went and found me a XR250z, was quite handy really as I used it when I went working on a farm.

[Murray]

TC100 and we had bigarse firebreaks across the road. Kick it into low ratio and at about 5-10 km per hour it went up anything the bigger bikes couldnt get u. Brilliant bike!!!

[JimO]

ts 185 suzuki road legal trail bike, good times

[bungbung]

Great fun while it lasted, however my example was a molested pile of poo and suffered fall apart

[Banditbandit]

BSA bantam

1949 Competition model with a 1963 125cc engine - I had to strip it and rebuild it before I could ride it ..

[TheDemonLord]

BSA bantam

1949 Competition model with a 1963 125cc engine - I had to strip it and rebuild it before I could ride it ..

Was that each and every time you wanted to ride :P

Mine was a 1996 Honda Hornet - great fun.

[Reckless]

First vehicle and only brand new bike I've owned LOL
1974 Kawasaki 250 F11 road trail.

Thrashed it, road daily to work on it, rode dirt ( Newlands/ Horokiwi dump to start with), crashed it, lost my licence on it - Demerits.
Sold it for a Honda CB500 four, more bikes??? then a GPZ1100B
We thought we where bullet proof in those days LOL

[Banditbandit]

Was that each and every time you wanted to ride :P

Mine was a 1996 Honda Hornet - great fun.

Cheeky whippersnapper ..

[Cosmik de Bris]

My first bike was a Greeves Challenger motocross bike. I learnt a lot on that thing.

Cheers

[OddDuck]

CB250N, purchased for the princely sum of $500 circa 1998. Yeah it was fucked, no, I didn't know better. We're all young and dumb once right?

[nzspokes]

81 I think it was xl185s.

[F5 Dave]

81 I think it was xl185s.
I leant to ride on my sister's xl185s in Palmy.

[Daffyd]

1st time around: Victoria Vicky 3, (while still at school).

2nd time around: Suzuki A50. Traded on a Yamaha YB100.

3rd time around: Yanaha SRX400, then Yamaha Virago 550, then BMW F650CS.

[Old Steve]

2005 Hyosung GV250, I think the next year they named it the Aquila. It was a copy of the Suzuki Intruder. Hyosung manufactured Suzukis under license in Korea for 25 years. Pretty reliable, I did have to replace the sprockets and chain at 9000 km, soon after buying her, as I don't think the first owner knew anything about chain lubrication. Top speed was 135 km/hr, downhill with a following wind. Drilled the four holes in each exhaust to make her a little louder, the main problem with her was that Hyosung's muffler was a little too efficient.

I put about 20,000 km on her in a year and a half until I moved on to the first of my Suzuki Boulevard M50s, then a Honda ST1100 in Queensland, then my last Suzuki M50 back here.

I arrived home on her the first time and my wife said, "Are you going to give her a name? What about GLORIA?" She knew I liked old time rock 'n' roll. So all my bikes have been named after women's names in rock 'n'roll songs - GLORIA, Angie (number plate ended in letters which would have sounded like '-íque' so Angelique-Angelina-Angie), Norma Jean (white ex-police ST1100 made me think of that photo of Marylin Munroe standing over the subway vent) and Layla (my Blues Lady).

[rastuscat]

CB250N, purchased for the princely sum of $500 circa 1998. Yeah it was fucked, no, I didn't know better. We're all young and dumb once right?

Mine couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding.

[Reckless]

Mine couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding.

Talk about lack of power.
I remember a trip one xmas we did. A bunch of us - Me on the Kawasaki 250 F11 and one of my mates on a Honda SL125.
Well there was this bus and every hill the SL125 would pass the bus and every straight he'd catch and try or pass on the passing lanes, as the SL was too gutless to keep 60mph up.
That damn bus driver was fuming after an hour or so of it - LMAO

[WALRUS]

Reminds me of the last time I took the Scooter to a local track day. Pass everyone through the corners, get passed again by everyone on the back straight.. for best results, rinse and repeat

[peanut]

Yamaha DT175 of indeterminate age. Key features:

* Eleven owners before me.
* Frame broken in multiple places and welded back together with welds that looked like tumours.
* Muffler fell off after a week of ownership.
* Kick starter broke off after the second week. Got good at bump starting.
* Clutch cable snapped as I was coming up to a compulsary stop sign. Police officer driving behind me in a mufti-car was particularly unsympathetic.
* Engine used to periodically rev out of control. Couldn’t afford to fix it and would flick the kill switch to keep it under control.

I don’t understand how I’m still alive. I feel bad for the person who bought it from me.

[PrincessBandit]

GN250 which got “handed down” to my husband and then my son. It wasn’t without its quirks including issues with the rev counter and odo cable but it was a little sweetie. The first bike I actually rode though was my brothers Kawasaki (*) back in something like ‘80 or ‘81


(*) yes I do know the difference between Kawasaki and Katana for those who know his two wheeled obsession

[granstar]

First few were a Trutest Mini kitset bike I built with a 5HP motor, it could really fly, I was 12. Onto trail bikes a Honda Elsinore 125 was a bit gutless compared to mates Suz TC, then I hit the road on a Honda CD175 which I blew up, to follow almost the same a CB175 which was also pretty knackered after I finished flogging it and cutting my teeth. I then got a mint 1971 Triumph Daytona T100R (which did hit the road and was written off and near myself with it-not my fault as being pillion on my own bike), so that had me at 18 get a 650 ex cop Triumph Saint, and on, and on it goes ...….. :scooter:

[Navy Boy]

I was lucky enough to have my Dad buy me a new Yammie YZ80 for my first bike. I loved riding that thing and used to either race or practice on it just about every weekend through the year that was 1983.

Happy days. :wings:

[sugilite]

Suzuki TS185ER.
It was an immaculate red happy sweet innocent bike, pity it took me only 6 weeks to crush it's soul. :devil2:

Funniest crash - Getting suckered along a steep, soggy, slimy pine tree infested hill by my mates.
I was on trail tyres, fell over at low speed and crunch went the indicators on the right. Unbeknown to me the front brake lever had broken inside the rubber boot, I get bike up, it's arse facing down hill, went for said brake lever and no ones home - the bike rolls down hill hits tree with a brake light destroying crunch. In it's final act, the bike then falls over crunching the left hand indicators this time and burying it's foot peg into my poorly protected left foot completing a 30 second concerto of destruction!
After that, I took safety gear very seriously. Also about that time shares increased in value for accessory indicator and brake lever companies. :facepalm:

[HEsch]

My first and second bikes were the same - SV650s.

I saw the first one today, nearly a year after it got squashed... I had to drop into Coleman's with the current one and Suzi the First was parked outside. So good to see someone bought her from the insurance co and fixed her up again!

[cods4]

Parents got me a Suzuki LT50 (tiny quad) when I was about 3. I promptly rode straight into a tree and then didn't get back on the thing for a few months.
Unfortunately that was stolen when I was 5 and I didn't get onto my first 2 wheeler which was a 1997 Suzuki DS80 until I was 7. Then progressed to an RM80 and various other MX bikes.

First road bike was a 1989 ZXR250 which I just got a couple of years ago when I was 26.

[Temporary-Kiwi]

my first bike was a borrowed Yamaha trail65cc, it was half sized, simular to a xr80, had it for nearly 6mnths, till the owner wanted it back, my dad got it by offering to get it running for them.
it was the first bike I got pulled over on at age 7, while booming thru a fairly packed beach of people.
first bike I rode was a truetest mini bike some of my parents friends had when I was 5, after that I pestered the hell out of my dad to get a bike., then dad got a ag100 till I was 12, on my 13th birthday he got a dt125, which I eventually got my license on.
my first roadbike was a gs450, which I caned the living he'll out of, wore thru the mufflers from sliding it round corners !

[Voltaire]

First bike was a non running Honda Sl 125 which I spent far to much apprentice money at Kingsland Honda ( now a cafe) on.
Got my licence on it which was just a cop following you around the side streets for a bit ( I'd already had a car one for 5 years).
Engine died and fitted an XR200 motor which was much better, when that stopped 6 months later traded the bike at Mt Eden Motorcycle Wreckers ( now a suit hire shop) for a tidy Honda 500/4 and 6 months later a Z1000J, fairly busy 18 months all that was....didn't end too well however.:(

[240]

Mine was an xl175 with a”big bore” 210 kit complete with a nice noisey supertrap (remember those).It cracked its piston crown going up the ngauranga gorge on full throttle ,I fixed it and traded it on a nice reliable 1979 ts185 fuck life was simple as a teenager.

[rastuscat]

It cracked its piston crown going up the ngauranga gorge on full throttle

Nice, the bike cracked it's head. Like, it wasn't you wringing the guts out of it.

Classic blame-the-bike syndrome.

[slofox]

1953 Ariel 350cc single - model known as "red hunter". Got it for $100 in 1968. The back brake locked up every time you used it, the clutch cable broke when I was riding it home after buying it, it was all iron (from the feel of it), weighed about a hundred tons and produced about 2 hp. It jumped out of top gear a lot too. Into neutral.

The first thing it taught me was how to fix a motorbike. But eventually I got it going and go it did for many more miles. Eventually sold it for $100 - same as it cost. No depreciation there...:whistle: