Your first motorbike memory? [Archive]

Jantar

27th February 2007, 21:44

My earliest Motorcycle memory was at the age of 9 or 10. On the back of my brother's BSA 650 travelling from Dunedin to Mosgiel and we got stopped by a cop for speeding; 42 mph in 30 mph area. My first speeding ticket was in 1970 at the exact same spot for the exact same speed, only I was on a Suzuki T125. Might even have been the same cop, but I can't be sure about that.

Mr Merde

27th February 2007, 21:49

6 years old, dad bought a scooter. Put me on the back to take me to cricket.

one of the very few times I went anywhere with dad.

BTW No helmets in those days.

T.W.R

27th February 2007, 21:54

Very 1st memory would be as a pre-schooler being lifted up onto the bike by my dad when He came home from work then being taken up the drive to the garage.

1st memories of on the road are being on a PVMC club run on the back of a B31 dad had restored with my feet struggling to touch the foot pegs & hanging on to the old man for dear life grinning like a Cheshire Cat :scooter:

Meekey_Mouse

27th February 2007, 21:59

First memory of any bike at all... being on the front of my dad's bike with my brother behind him hooning round the farm :yes:

First memory of my own bike.... picking up a little 50cc 4wheeler in Cambridge, I was about 6 or so.

First memory of a two wheeler... not being able to touch the ground :mellow: :Punk:

Fub@r

27th February 2007, 22:05

My earliest motorbike memory is watching my grandfather clothesline a biker chasing down my brother on the footpath outside our house with a 4x2 :)

Scumbag family in the neighbourhood used to enjoy terrorising everyone........that was until the 4x2 was used :)

_Gina_

27th February 2007, 22:15

My first memory of a bike was pillioning on my Dads CB something-or-other (pretty sure it was a 600) to my soccer training and stuff.
I thought I was sooooo cool!

My first memory of having a go on a bike was a Triumph Bonneville Thruxton.
Rode it down the 2km loose metal driveway and nearly dropped it trying to turn..... lol Was only 15 years old at the time.
(the owner was running alongside me at the time and stopped the whole drop thingy...)

My first memory of riding a bike properly (that was my own) was on the ZXR400. I still laugh thinking about it !! Bloody thing, took me three or four attempts to take off without stalling and then couldn't figure out how to cancel the indicators so had to pull over.
Yup, you guessed it, stalling the farking thing again before taking off.
The whole ride I was coaching myself to remember that up = up a gear and down = down a gear.....:scooter:

Haven't looked back since !

Trudes

28th February 2007, 06:10

Riding a friends dad's farm bike around their orchard, but as for a REAL bike, when I was 15 my mum owned the butchery in Coromandel and one of the butchers there had a bike (no idea what) and due to having no mates there as I'd just moved, he offered to take me for a spin! So my first experience of road bikes was riding about around the Coromandel roads, was very cool and I subsequently fell in love with the bikes and the butcher!

elle-f

28th February 2007, 06:14

I was about 6 and a guy came to the Children's Home and took us all for a spin around the netball courts. I remember thinking I wanted a motorbike back then - twas about the best thing that had happened in my little life. I think it was a cruiser but then it could have been a little putty 100 for all I know cause I was little then!

MrsK - *blinks*.......is MrK a mad butcher?!

idleidolidyll

28th February 2007, 07:10

all dad and grandad eh

where are the mums and nanas?

slinky

28th February 2007, 07:13

Dads Kawazaki 750z - no idea how young i was. he had it many years before me,
19 years later..........its still in the garage.

unhingedlizard

28th February 2007, 07:17

Firing a PW50 into a pile of bricks cause dad forgot to tell me about neutral.
Explains a lot really...

Blackbird

28th February 2007, 07:19

Sounds like a lot of people had pretty much the same experiences at the same "impressionable" age! I know i'm setting myself up for much mickey-taking but I actually have a photo which recorded the event. Here's me (in the helmet and goggles) aged 5. Ahem..... 54 years ago :shutup: . Dad had a 250cc 2 stroke. I guess Mum thought he had a lot to answer for and I had a lot to thank him for:rockon:

KATWYN

28th February 2007, 07:20

First motorcycle memory? How does someone forget!

I was 12 Years old - at 15 I road a trail bike - at 16 I rode my boyfreinds
Katana 1100 a few times.

Then didn't ride again until I was 29.

I remember at 5 years old the exhilarating feeling of
freedom and independance when I first rode a bicycle (on the road too....)
that may have something to do with the whole motorcycle thing now

Pwalo

28th February 2007, 07:25

BSA 650 twin, Kaiwharwhara, 1964. My dad took me for a ride on his mate's bike when I was five.

I think that I remember the smell (you know, Brit bikes - oil) more than anything else.

idleidolidyll

28th February 2007, 07:36

Briggs and Stratton powered minibike owned by a met when I was maybe 11

that was my first ride anyway, i think the old man had a vespa for a while but i never really paid any attention

Bloody Mad Woman (BMW)

28th February 2007, 08:06

Dad had bought this little 80cc tiny bike - I must have nagged him so much that he eventually let me ride it - no advice nothing. (bout 14) My legs were up round me ears, I can't even remember changing gears but I just gripped that throttle and what I thought was a small turn of throttle, was actually full tit - so I wheelied up the road, don't remember turning around but I was returning to Dad ata great rate of knots (can ya tell my father was a seaman??!!) he was as white as a sheet and I'm yellin at him, how do I stop the bloody thing, he's doing a hand motion - which I later understood - take hand of throttle. I think as I got nearer to him I found the foot brake. That was the end of my so called lesson. We got home and Mum asked how did it go - "She damned near killed herself".

My next memory was my father had forced me to go to the wop wops with the family - except my 17 yr old brother was allowed to stay home - I knew he was havin a party an I wanted to be there - Dad thought I needed peace and quiet so I could swot for 5th form exams! I was in a foul mood - then I saw this 125 dirt bike.

In those days shorts were shorts!! bikini top and jandals, jumped on the bike - hadn't learnt much from previous episode, and went careering towards a brick wall. I do remember thinking oh shit I'm history now, Mum's screaming stop her - I still hadn't learnt where the brakes were - actually - I don't think it had any. Then this piece of rope on end of a piece of wood wrapped round my ankle and I fell off - exhaust pipe burnt the inside of my thigh - fark that hurt!

Finally got my licence at 15 and rode Dad's Honda 125CC - which was brand new at the time and did lots of motocross and trail riding! That bike still goes to this day - god it looks basic but at the time it was state of the art!! lol

Motu

28th February 2007, 08:17

My uncle used to keep his Ariel Red Hunter under our house - I used to go down and look at it.It was like looking at a chained up dog - you knew it just wanted to get out and run as fast as it could in wide open spaces.Dark red and shiny alloy,I could just sense the power radiating from it.....it was kinda scary....

vifferman

28th February 2007, 08:29

I'm not sure - it's a bit vague.
My father gave me some old 50s or 60s books with pictures of motorcycle racing in them when I was little.
There were some brothers who lived across the road that had a succession of old cars and bikes. The bikes were Ariels and Matchlesses and that sort of thing.
First "up close" experience was watching my best friend at a park near his home, practice riding a BSA 250 Star his dad bought for $50. I spent a lot of hours/miles pillioning on that bike.
The first bike I rode was a Kawasaki 175 dirtbike, when I was 15. I rode it no problems and remember thinking how much less effort it was than a bicycle, and the sensation of speed. I was hooked.
That was the 70s - bikes were everywhere then. My two older sisters both had boyfriends with bikes, and lots of my mates had bikes too, so I got one that year: a CB175. I remember how smooth and quiet it was compared to the dirt bikes and two-smoke roadbikes I'd ridden before that.

Joni

28th February 2007, 08:31

I was 5-6ish, my uncle had just got his new race bike, and was going to start prepping it for a run at Kyalami the next week. He asked my mother if he could take me for a spin around the neighbourhood! She said yup... and wheeeeeeeee off we went. :scooter:

I remember crying when it was time to get off... I just wanted to keep going.

Goblin

28th February 2007, 08:35

My first motorbike memory was watching the solo bikes and sidecars at the Speedway....I thought how much fun would that be?
First ride was on my cousin's little Honda50. I stole it because everyone told me I was too small and girls dont ride motorbikes. I eventually graduated to the Yamaha Grasshopper at Phillip's farm.
First road ride was on the back of another cousins XJ550 or something. He took me to Karapiro and the exhaust burnt the sole of my boot off :angry: but I didnt care as it was such a sense of freedom I had never felt before. Was truely hooked after that.

lb99

28th February 2007, 08:43

it must have been the early eighties, I remember going somewhere on the highway in dads vauhall viva, and asking if motorbikes had a different speed limit to cars, as a group of bikes dissapeared over the horison, my first ride would have been at about 9, the neighbour at our bach had a z50 monkey bike, add a gravel road and no helmets, a recipe for disaster
I remember passing granddad before I realised , and thinking "I'm in trouble now", and taking off.
when I finally got hungry enough to go home and accept my fate, all granddad said was something along the lines of "if youre going to ride like an idiot, then wear a helmet for your mothers sake"

after that it was mates dirtbikes, then one day when I was in the fifth form, my uncle pulled up in his van, and unloaded a mint c50 "I thought you might like this to play with":niceone:

the rest is history

Trudes

28th February 2007, 08:46

MrsK - *blinks*.......is MrK a mad butcher?!

Nope......

idleidolidyll

28th February 2007, 08:47

uncles, dads, grandads, male friends

it seems that gals aint much of an influence for us re bikes

maybe if the question is asked in 20 years........................."oh yeah, my auntie Bill was a raving dyke with a Harley, I just loved that bike"

-df-

28th February 2007, 08:49

Can't remember how old I was, but it was a rm50 (a mates one) and went for a ride up a dirt road...tried turning around, accidently wound the throttle back and went flying off a rather large cliff!!! luckily I hit into a tree just down from the edge which saved me.

Hooked ever since.:scooter:

hurricane_r

28th February 2007, 08:51

i was 17

1980 gsx400 soft tail, no wof no reg, missing lots of stuff,
didnt know how to ride a motorbike, bought off trademe and learned riding it
home from the waitakere ranges,

Goblin

28th February 2007, 08:52

all dad and grandad eh

where are the mums and nanas?
My kids have mum to thank for their first bike experience. Not many kids around here get to go on the back of "mum's" bike. :D

idleidolidyll

28th February 2007, 08:57

My kids have mum to thank for their first bike experience. Not many kids around here get to go on the back of "mum's" bike. :D

kids eh?!
ya don't quite fit the picture I painted..................and you don't seem to have a harley

Goblins future rap:

"Yeah man, I had my first ride on my mum's bike. She was a raving nutter and could barely keep the front wheel on the ground. Hell, I could hear HER screaming with excitement when we rode it"

:sick:

Goblin

28th February 2007, 09:09

kids eh?!
ya don't quite fit the picture I painted..................and you don't seem to have a harley

Goblins future rap:

"Yeah man, I had my first ride on my mum's bike. She was a raving nutter and could barely keep the front wheel on the ground. Hell, I could hear HER screaming with excitement when we rode it"

:sick:

Nah... Me and Harleys dont mix well, although some of my family and friends do own them.

My mum was the one who couldn't keep the front wheel on the ground...she had only one go on the Honda 50. She opened the throttle, front came up and she fixated on the crabapple tree and rode straight up the trunk and flipped it. :laugh:

idleidolidyll

28th February 2007, 09:15

Nah... Me and Harleys dont mix well, although some of my family and friends do own them.

My mum was the one who couldn't keep the front wheel on the ground...she had only one go on the Honda 50. She opened the throttle, front came up and she fixated on the crabapple tree and rode straight up the trunk and flipped it. :laugh:

ha! ha!
I was teaching my wife to ride many years ago on her Suzuki Mini Cro. Round and round the back yard she went getting ever closer to the Willow tree until the inevitable clothesline effect took her out, she hung herself on one of the lower branches.

luckily she was only winded and it didn't put her off bikes

Lissa

28th February 2007, 09:17

Hmm prob being 15, jumped on a friends scooter and proceeded to crash into the clothesline. :mellow: but for real bikes it would have to have been when I was about 16. My friends across the road used to have motorbikes for off road, and I used to jump on the back.... but I cringe when I remember it, because I didnt wear any safety gear at all except for a helmet.

Same as goblin, my kids would have me to thank for their first bike experience. :Punk:

skelstar

28th February 2007, 09:33

My Dad bought a Honda 50cc(ish) bike to commute to varsity when I was about 5. I have a photo of being towed around the backyard on my trolley by said bike. A short time after we went out and bought a helmet (french blue) and he took me to school on the back of his bike. I thought I was awesome (still do).

idleidolidyll

28th February 2007, 09:45

Nah... Me and Harleys dont mix well, although some of my family and friends do own them.

:laugh:

I finally figured out Harleys a few years back: I worked in a Hog shop.

It came to me suddenly while riding a customers Fat Boy: I was smoking a cigar, listening to the Radio while talking on the mobile and I caught my reflection in the mirror glass: fuck I looked cool!

Macktheknife

28th February 2007, 09:46

Farm bikes about 8 years old, and then my brothers 125 2 stroke at about 10, riding around the back garden at speed! (probably only 20km!)

KATWYN

28th February 2007, 09:51

.... but I cringe when I remember it, because I didnt wear any safety gear at all except for a helmet.

When I was 15, I had to hitchhike (cringe) home from a girlfreinds house
A guy pulled up on a Katana 1100...I jumped on the back no safety gear, no helmet (I can't remember wearing one), wearing 3/4 pants I burnt my right leg on one very hot exhaust in the process and off we went........:gob:

He dropped me off home. My goodness - scary when ya think about it.

N4CR

28th February 2007, 09:59

first ever was looking at a mv agusta f4 1000 in silver/blue. when i was about 10 at the secondary amsterdam airport terminal, it was parked right outside. almost lost my parents staring at it and going 'wow'. i always wondered what that bike was untill i got onto kiwibiker after getting my own and learnt more about them.

so yeah... wonder why they are my dream italian bike.. haha. all started from the beginning eh.

vifferman

28th February 2007, 10:00

Here's a happy motorcycling memory from WayBack(TM):
I used to fill my first bike up for 80 cents. That would last me 85 miles before it went on reserve.

Blackbird

28th February 2007, 10:02

A couple of years ago, I posted a light-hearted history of my biking career with some of the laughs and misfortunes along the way - reattached in case anyone is remotely interested. I originally wrote it for my wife's family history records.

I'd love to see other people's accounts - c'mon, have a go!

idleidolidyll

28th February 2007, 10:08

Here's a happy motorcycling memory from WayBack(TM):
I used to fill my first bike up for 80 cents. That would last me 85 miles before it went on reserve.

yeah, my first street legal bike was an RD350.
I remember petrol being 39c/gallon...........yes, GALLON!
I think the RD took 3 and a half of them: about $1.40 to fill and there was no confusion over 98/91, you got petrol or you got diesel

Jimmy B

28th February 2007, 10:10

5 or so years old and the kid next door started out with a briggs and stratton scooter, we used to run that thing at every opportunity. Mum of course hated it and I was hooked. First big bike experience came 4 years later and I was pillioned down the road by my mate's dad on his new CB900. I'll never forget how scared I was and how I hit the back of his lid with every gear change. Poor bloke couldnt get out of the house for years without me badgering him for a "double down the road"

idleidolidyll

28th February 2007, 10:11

Here's a happy motorcycling memory from WayBack(TM):
I used to fill my first bike up for 80 cents. That would last me 85 miles before it went on reserve.

be serious now vifferman, you were born in 1908 and might have started riding in 1923.
We didn't have dollars and cents back then! Altzheimers?

vixter

28th February 2007, 11:05

i was 19 and got a lift home from a nice copper and thought fuck this is good booked on for lessons the week after

calmone

28th February 2007, 11:06

I first rode down our driveway on the tank of my fathers Velocette when I was about three. I used to wait at the top of the drive for him to come home from work so I could hop on. ( I still have the velocette). As a kid in the 1950,s i went with my parents to all race meetings in the lower N I . Levin Ohakea Wanganui, Taita Speedway.
I got my first bike in 1964 a year old 175 bantam.

Swoop

28th February 2007, 11:20

First memory regarding bikes....?

Late 60's.
Involves 2 coppers standing in the front doorway of the family home...

The world changed for the family after that incident.

Pumba

28th February 2007, 11:21

First bike experience was the old mans farm bike, (yamaha if I remeber right) whaen I was about 4 I guess, few trips around the paddock and so forth.

First road bike was going in and out sports practices on the back of 1983 Honda CB400, man I was cool, about 10 years latter it was still sitting in the shed, derigistered, it became my first, and only, project bike getting it back on the road, after I sold my GN250. Man I wish I hadnt of sold that bike, but then if I had the choice I wouldnt sell any bikes, or cars I would just keep buying new ones.

Fryin Finn

28th February 2007, 11:53

It must have been around 1965 I was a St Johns Ambulance cadet and we used to go to all the sports fixtures to mend broken people. One time we went to QE2 park and helped at a MX. They were all riding CZ's, BSA's, Triumph's etc (maybe) I recall we didn't have to patch too many people up as I expected. I didn't get hooked then but 20 years later I rode my first ever MX race at QE2 park.

avgas

28th February 2007, 11:57

climbing up on the ol' mans xs850 while he worked on something on the bench. when i finally got on top and sat for 60 seconds.....only to have it all fall down and throw me off cos he had it on the side stand.
It felt like a juggernaught for those 60 seconds though.

avgas

28th February 2007, 11:59

Man I wish I hadnt of sold that bike, but then if I had the choice I wouldnt sell any bikes, or cars I would just keep buying new ones.
I hear that man - amen.
I miss every vehicle i have owned longer than 1 month.

Hitcher

28th February 2007, 15:02

When I was a six-year-old, my Dad employed a Massey Dip Ag student who owned a Matchless 500 single-cylinder that looked magnificent in black and chrome and sounded the goods. On a clear, still evening we could hear every gearchange Robert made between Mum & Dad's farm and Stratford -- about 16km away!

This bike was also a pig to start. I can remember Robert with all of his gear on, throwing all of his weight onto the kickstarter, eventually removing gear item by item as he worked up a sweat, and then having to put it all back on again once the British beast eventually acceded to his ministrations and burst, grudgingly, into life.

98tls

28th February 2007, 15:09

idleidolidyll

28th February 2007, 15:48

As a six-year-old my Dad employed a Massey Dip Ag student who owned a Matchless 500...........................

Wow! Hitcher, I'm thoroughly impressed. Your dad must have been a child prodigy to have been able to employ someone at the tender age of just 6:dodge:

Hitcher

28th February 2007, 15:50

Wow! Hitcher, I'm thoroughly impressed. Your dad must have been a child prodigy to have been able to employ someone at the tender age of just 6

Gahh! One hates it when one does that. Sloppy. (Spanks self)

Freakshow

28th February 2007, 16:00

As a teenager have a ride on a friends on the Titahi Bay hills and pulling a wheelie and falling off!

Grub

28th February 2007, 16:08

First memory regarding bikes....?
Late 60's.
Involves 2 coppers standing in the front doorway of the family home...
The world changed for the family after that incident.

His name wasn't Steven was it?

Mrs Busa Pete

28th February 2007, 16:19

BarBender

28th February 2007, 16:31

1978We'd just finish building a ramp to do jumps with our pushbikes down at Sandy Bay by the Tarawera River. My mate Antony turns up on his fathers Zook TS125.Id never ridden a bike before but told Antony I had done it heaps of times. I jump on the bike - confident like - and drop the clutch with the throttle wide open. All I see are a bunch of my mates diving for cover in front of me as I scream past and Antony waving at me to slow down. I hit the ramp and jump about 40 ft, land on the front wheel, lose control of the steering and with the bike still on the limiter in first ride straight into a tree. Have been in love with bikes ever since then.

Blackbird

28th February 2007, 16:46

wheel spinning my Suzuki x7 up the drive on the grass clippings then launching forward in to back of the olds starlet and pushing it 2 meters in to the garage .no helmet full on concussion and over night in hospital

What a guy:Punk: We had a family X7 for a few years and I bitterly regret selling it. I know where there are 3 in bits. The guy will never part with them and all they'll do is gradually become unusable. Tragedy:bye:

NighthawkNZ

28th February 2007, 16:55

I was about five or six.. and my dad had a suzuki 50cc (its about 4 years old and been sitting out in the shed for the last 15 years, last time i visited we got it out tinkered put petrol in it, gave it a kick and the bloody thing fired in to life... :gob: :Punk: )

Anyhoe he use to take us kids for rides around the section on the back of this thing and ever since then its been in the blood... so I blame my dad, Every road trip we went on I would be looking out for bikes dreaming I was the rider... :ride: yet they both said no bloody way when I was 16 and wanted my own bike... go figure that... :scratch: Soooo I joined the Navy insted... errr another story.... First pay packet went got a bike CB250n... kewl

Lil_Byte

28th February 2007, 16:59

First memory of riding a m/cycle on my own was the old farm bike a Yamaha CT??? 175 I think it was.

I was about 9 - 10 and couldn't touch the ground. Had to kick start it on the stand and then run along beside it until I could climb up onto the footpegs and away.

I got given a wee yamaha 50 to play with after mum saw me doing that.

Before that it was just of pillioning around the farm on an old jawa. I suppose it would have been new then

paturoa

28th February 2007, 17:34

I must have been about 6-ish and my cousin had a big, huge, monster, about the size of a truck! trumpy 650. Well it looked big to me at the time.

It was Christmas and the whole family was having it at our place (I don't remember Mum being stressed but I can appreciate it now!)

Anyway, for those who know Maungaturoto, not much happend back in the 60s there. There was the pub (1), the rugby, the dairy factory, the railway station and bugger all else.

I remember my grandmother and mum getting on the back of the trumpy going for rides. I'm guessing that the kids all begged, and I had a ride too.

I have a faint recollection of being scared shit-less and not being able to see what was going on as he blasted (prolly 20mph tops) for a short ride to the high school and back.

McJim

28th February 2007, 18:07

1st memory - must have been 9. Neighbour's kid had a mini bike. I rode it about 12 yards and then binned it (nothing changes eh?) luckily it was on the lawn.
1st Proper motorbike memory - sitting pillion on a Moto Guzzi in shorts and a T shirt (no lid) travelling through the Tuscan countryside when I was about 12.
1st time riding a bike on my own - I was 14 and we went for a holiday on the west coast of Scotland in a little rented croft - found an old Puch moped in the garage. Cleaned it up, dismantled the engine, re-assembled the engine and went out on the potato fields (they'd just been harvested) max speed was only 50mph - but on wet mud it was still a load of fun.

Swoop

28th February 2007, 18:31

His name wasn't Steven was it?
Not as far as I know.

Colapop

28th February 2007, 18:49

My first bike wasn't mine it was Dad's. We moved to the farm, and Dad needed or aquired a Honda 90 (the orange ones) I would have been 10. Near about killed every push bike I'd ever had (and got made to fix them) so as soon as I had my first off on the motorbike, Dad got me my own. I don't know what model it was but it was a Kawasaki 90 or 100. It was black and it was mine. I could fly on that thing - across the 'home' paddock down through the dried up farm drain and up the other side if I kept it wound open as far as it would go and kept my nerve I could clear the fence.

The thought that I could actually do it came after I panicked and held the throttle open while down in the drain. I only got the front wheel over that day (and a fucken big bruise!) I tried out my theory on another part of the drain with a bit of particle board and a stick to hold it up. Once I'd mastered clearing that a couple of times, I summoned Dad to show him I could clear the fence (didn't tell him that bit). I got down on the tank and wound it out for all I was worth, I swear I even got a little airborne on the downward side of the drain. I think the old man actually pooped a little! Man, I got a hiding - as much for making him crap himself as for clearing the fence and "Trying to wreck the Fucken thing you idiot!!" Spent two weeks wanting to do it again (watching my bike sit and wait for me....)
That first time, man, I was king of the world. Very little else has ever come close - except for watching my kids be born.

DEATH_INC.

28th February 2007, 19:05

First memory regarding bikes....?

Late 60's.
Involves 2 coppers standing in the front doorway of the family home...

The world changed for the family after that incident.
Similar, but not as unhappy of an ending, one of the first I have is my dad being unconcious in hospital for a fairly longish stretch (2-3 weeks???) after heading off to work one night.....

Oakie

28th February 2007, 19:16

My elder brother's blue Suzuki TS? 125 about 1973.
He convinced my mum to toodle slowly down our gravel driveway. Unfortunately she gave the throttle a big twist, wheelied down the drive and deposited my dear old mum on her matronly ass in the gravel. She hasn't been on a bike since.

skidMark

28th February 2007, 19:21

my uncles ...from memory a gixxer 600 probably about an 89 i think

remember seeing a picture of it parked in his driveway as a young fella and dreaming of motorbikes, but alot of my childhood was told i would never ever ride a motorbike they are too dangerous etc. but then at the age of about 16 got givinmg some broken scooters fixed them took them round the block a couple of times ,17 nearly 18 started work at a bike shop (this is april 05) got a little monkey bike (copy of the honda z50J) got peg down on that in my first two weeks of riding thanks to some carpark fun with n4cr....i remember great moments in the university carpark of watching tristan on his zxr250 in awe dreaming of owning a zxr...watching him for the first time get peg down. he was completely stoked, i remember we lent the bike over trying to figure out how far over he must have been...and we didn't go all the way in fear of dropping it.....

anyways got a pic somewhere of the old gixxer with my sister on it dunno if there was a pic with me on it though...will have to dig out some photo albums i think hehe