How did you get your first bike?

[cave weta]

was it a donated old shitter, did you do a paper round to pay for it, sell the jetski? did your parents buy it for you? was it new or second hand?


To start the ball rolling, I stole mine! - beat that:2thumbsup

[Headbanger]

First bike I purchased cost me $100 and I saved up money from my paper round.

100cc farm bike if I remember correctly.

[MSTRS]

I worked 3 jobs for tuppence a month, and finally sold my grandmother into slavery to get my first bike...and then some prick stole it.
I wonder...

[cave weta]

I worked 3 jobs for tuppence a month, and finally sold my grandmother into slavery to get my first bike...and then some prick stole it.
I wonder...


Was it a 100cc kawasaki farm bike? :eek5: Shit - two posts and I can see myself getting in the crap here!

[Squid69]

was it a donated old shitter, did you do a paper round to pay for it, sell the jetski? did your parents buy it for you? was it new or second hand?


To start the ball rolling, I stole mine! - beat that:2thumbsup

i was playing grand theft auto 4 and i hit in a cheat code.
Now i have a gsxr 1000

[vifferman]

I was waiting to cross the road at the traffic lights, and I thought, "Fuck this walking everywhere for a laugh!" Just then, this girl pulled up at the lights, so I pushed her off the bike, and pissed off while she was still groveling on the ground, wondering what was happening.

My third bike was more interesting. My bro-in-law was driving along, and picked up a hitchhiker carrying a helmet, who said, "You wanna bike? I've just dumped mine in the bushes there. I'm sick of the f'kn thing!"
So, he went back with a trailer, checked with the cops that it wasn't stolen, and took it home. He gave it to me in return for painting his roof and helping him fit some guttering. I think the previous owner was pissed off with the handling (it had a race take-off on the rear, that had either been crudely shaved on the sides to fit the swingarm, or had been rubbing on it, and the engine not running right. It needed the intake valves and seats ground and seated (cost me $0), and a larger idle jet (~$5). I spent another $600 on paint, oil, a new chain and tyres, and that was it. Sold it for $850.

[Blackbird]

Grandparents bought me a Suzuki 50 for passing the UK equivalent of my School C's. :argh: Bit embarassing really because it had leg guards and a screen with the frontal area of a house but bless 'em; it was what got me into bikes 45 years ago:whistle:

[MSTRS]

Was it a 100cc kawasaki farm bike? :eek5: Shit - two posts and I can see myself getting in the crap here!

Tell me the frame and engine numbers - then I can let you know :devil2:

[megageoff76]

My Mum bought my first 3 bikes, (and a few top end rebuilds as well)
- CB125T, X7 and RZ350K...after that i was on my own.

[TLDV8]

I worked 3 jobs for tuppence a month, and finally sold my grandmother into slavery to get my first bike....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo


First bike was a brand new RM 125 S (still have it in box's )
Saved the $300 deposit as a first year apprentice,got it from Coleman's mid 1976.
The salesman wished me luck when i told him i had never ridden a proper bike with a clutch and gearbox :laugh:
Only thing ridden prior was a Puch scooter (3 speed left handle bar shifter) which i rode off a big dirt pile and a Motobecane moped which had a pedal fall off and go in the back wheel at speed. :wacko:

The piston port 5 speed RM was whole new ball game after reading the owners manual on how to ride it,the learning curve was vertical. :laugh:

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c345/manurewa/a575_3.jpg>

[ajturbo]

i paid for mine

[Beemer]

Went into the bike shop to sell the guy who worked there some photos I'd taken from the weekend's racing at Manfeild and walked out with a new bike...

I had just learned to ride and didn't have anything to practice on so he said an RG150 would be perfect - it was, eventually! Paid for it myself, like everything else I like and want.

[vifferman]

Actually, I was lying about my first bike.
I sold everything I could to come up with some cash (my bicycle, my sister's, my train set, etc.) and borrowed the rest from my parents. I had a job after school and in the holidays, working in a furniture shop and doing deliveries. Took me nearly a year to pay it off ($600, but I only earned 80c/hour, and later $1/hr).
Wrote it off after 15 months or so, and bought another bike ($750) a couple of months later.
I bought my fourth bike with money left to me when my grandmother died. Caused a few maritals (bedroom suite, or newer bike?? hmmmmm.....) :whistle:

[TOTO]

i sold my car. next day I had the bike in the garage :yes:

[yod]

I sold my 1974 Capri and bought a 1987 NS250R - fookin minta it was too, til i biffed it down the side of the road at Little River five days later:doh:

[DunerzNick]

Picked up a very cheap vtr 250 at Honda Otago's liquidation sale last week (1st bike)

[FROSTY]

My very first bike I literally pulled out of a big thicket hedge out the back of the pub my mum and dad owned.
Legend has it that one of the local characters before we bought the pub used to turn up on it on payday. Then drink basicly all weekend. His way of deciding if he was er "lubed up" enough or too much was his ability or inability to kick the bike into life.
Clearly one night it all got too much for him and he launched the bike off the road and well deep into the hedge.
I hauled it out with it looking pretty sorry for itself. Then with some help from my dad stripped it down and got it going.
It was a green c50 honda -3 speed semi auto gearbox --I was 10 years old.

[Big Dave]

Grandfather was Senior Engineer at Port Kembla NSW Steelworks.
Had the apprentices fabricate me a 2 stroke rigid mini bike in 1962.
All I remember is burning myself on the exhaust.
Been riding pretty much since.

Bought my first road bike with my own money. Worked weekends as a Copy Boy at the Sydney Morning Harold all through High School. I still jump when someone yells "'BOY!"

But I had an EH Holden and a CB450 in Sixth Form, bought and paid for. OK, my Old man helped a bit on the car.

[glice]

Got a job and save up. Then bought a 74 cb200, 2 years ago.

[Blackshear]

First road bike?
Saved for like a year, after a DH MTB, stereo, computer, iPod and better headphones etc. 4k, first bike I test rode. Still got it and only lowsided on a big twig in the middle of a roundabout so far.

First ever bike when I was about 7, PW50 before I even learned to ride a pushie.
Then an XR80... KDX200... CR250...

THEN BOBBIE :hug:

[sil3nt]

Had the opportunity to head off to China with the Muay Thai club in February for a month so i also took the opportunity to get out of my crappy supermarket job and got paid out over 200 hours of annual leave which i spent 2/3 of it on my little ninja 250. Only problem now is i havent been able to find a job for the last 2 months :(

[cave weta]

Picked up a very cheap vtr 250 at Honda Otago's liquidation sale last week (1st bike)

Hey!- well done and welcome to KB;)

[cave weta]

Got a job and save up. Then bought a 74 cb200, 2 years ago.


OMG! I had one too! in the 70s when they gave cars glue on vinyl roofs- honda gay-ve the CB200 a vinyl strip down the petrol tank..... Styley eh!

[Edbear]

I sold my 1974 Capri and bought a 1987 NS250R - fookin minta it was too, til i biffed it down the side of the road at Little River five days later:doh:

I was reading your sig. How can you be so sure..?

[cave weta]

Grandfather was Senior Engineer at Port Kembla NSW Steelworks.
Had the apprentices fabricate me a 2 stroke rigid mini bike in 1962.
All I remember is burning myself on the exhaust.
Been riding pretty much since.

Bought my first road bike with my own money. Worked weekends as a Copy Boy at the Sydney Morning Harold all through High School. I still jump when someone yells "'BOY!"

But I had an EH Holden and a CB450 in Sixth Form, bought and paid for. OK, my Old man helped a bit on the car.

1962!....EH Holden.... CBfourfifty!!!! (shudder) man you are so old!!!:Pokey:
I rode a four fifty- they were DOHC eh? - it had less power than my stolen Kawasaki 100.

The Kwaka, just to clarify... was stolen regularly from my elder brother while he was at work. Then returned carefully after riding it round and round the house! I havent stolen one since about 1976.:Oops:

[SPman]

Left school, got a job at the Burroughs decimal conversion plant in Khyber Pass Rd and 5 months later walked down to Whites Yamaha in Newmarket and bought a new Yamaha L1 100cc twin. Got my licence a couple of months later.......
(things were easier way back then.....)

[MarkH]

X7

My first bike was a Suzuki GT250X7 - I worked during the school holidays to earn the money. I think it was advertised in the paper. It was a pretty good bike after some work was done (needed new rings & pistons). Very light and good 2 stroke power, the acceleration was pretty darned good.

[slofox]

Bought it. Out of the paper. for $100, in 1968. To get to and from lectures at U of Canterbunny. 'twas a 1953 Ariel 350cc "Red Hunter". Except that it was black (and rust actually now that I think about it...). The clutch cable broke 50 metres up the road after I picked it up. The primary case was filled with grease, not oil. If you even thought about using the back brake, the rear wheel locked up and slid all over the road.
But it all got fixed. Eventually. Travelled many miles on that great hefty heap of solid iron. It NEVER stopped running ever...and I learned all about what goes on inside one of them infernal combustyergution engine thingummies as well. Oh and what is inside a gearbox, too...the hard way in every case...eventually sold it for about what I paid for it.

[smoky]

Back about 1979/80 I bought a 73/4 CB250 that had T boned a car, and had a stuffed motor, it was sitting in a shed on a farm, Cost me $25 - paid for by a paper run and part time job I had after school

Used the pipe from an old push bike frame from the dump, and the gas set from a friends dads shed to repair the frame and change the steering head angle to turn it into a chopper sort of frame.
Got a set of forks from a XL250 dirt bike (if I remember correctly, could've been a CR) - cost me 3 days hey making on the guys farm.
Took a while but I saved up $150 for a CB400 motor and re-powered it

I bought an old Honda Scambler 250 - about a 1960 something, cost $30, it was stuffed, but used the front wheel, guard, front light and speedo, the handle bars were higher and longer - I twisted the handle bars a bit in the vice to give it a nice angle.
Shortened the seat to a single saddle, a bit rough but nothing a staple gun couldn't fix.

It sounded neat - painted all black with out badges, I thought it was cool at the time
I think I spent about $400 all up - rode it everywhere for a couple of years, I don't think I ever registered it or WOF.
Never got pulled over either
Went pretty quick, didn't handle well

[Brownstoo]

Had a bit of cash sitting saved up from summer. Couldn't really think of anything better to spend it on...

[Big Dave]

1
I rode a four fifty- they were DOHC eh? - it had less power than my stolen Kawasaki 100.


A complete more blue smoke than a 2-stroke shit box.
Waiting for the great leap forward.
As soon as I started full time work I traded it on a new SR500 with a Bikini fairing and drop bars which made way for a hopped up XS1100 and it was all over rover.
Estimate more than a million KM and over 200 vehicles tested since.

[Harvd]

Found it! someone dumped it so we collected it and took it to the cops and they had it for a wee while until one day they said take it away from us. (it was a horrible rusting peice of shit) never got it working and threw it in the dump lol.

About a year later i had saved up enugh from working at mitre 10 to go buy a running bike. Xt250 wrote it off it a month later...

[gatch]

Got my first bike (1989 rg50) from my brother for a bag of pascalls milkshakes, was a year behind in reg, he though it would be too expensive to get it up to date, cost me about 150 buck to get it current and I was laughing, he was whinging..

Got my spada from my bro too, had it for about 5 years, 50-60,000km on it, killed the motor and now I'm planning on a re-power with a xr650..

[Spyke]

dads boss had two old ts185's sitting in the farm shed in a sad state. dad got me them for free. I made a good bike out of the two and now tootle around on it.

[YellowDog]

Mine was a French Mobylette moped. It was at my grandad's house after he died and I recon it was from the mid to late 1950s. I found this photo on the web, which is exactly how I remember it (same colour too).

I spend many weekends replacing bits and pieces before eventiually getting it going (with a little help). It wasn't powerful enough to get up hill without peddling to assist, however it got there in the end :)

[glice]

OMG! I had one too! in the 70s when they gave cars glue on vinyl roofs- honda gay-ve the CB200 a vinyl strip down the petrol tank..... Styley eh!


haha, yea it was pretty cool. I miss that bike. only cost 300. although anytime I went somewhere on it, I got there with grease on me and smelling of petrol, with a big grin on my face and thinking, yea this is what bikings about.

[MarkH]

OMG! I had one too! in the 70s when they gave cars glue on vinyl roofs- honda gay-ve the CB200 a vinyl strip down the petrol tank..... Styley eh!

I wonder if that was when the Honda = gay thing started? Either due to looking gay or maybe the vinyl strip appealed to gay men and they started buying Hondas.

[Oakie]

It was April 1978 and was another Kawasaki 100 dirt bike. (A 'G5' to be precise). I got it because a guy I worked with offered it to me for $450. I thought "sweet, if I get a motorbike I won't have to pedal my pushbike anymore". A real chick-magnet too! Oddly, it was. I was trying to start the bastard outside the Oamaru Drill Hall one day when this little 15 year old girl noticed me and felt sorry for me. As I type this 31 years later she's a couple of metres away cooking my tea.

[Pedrostt500]

I worked my arse off weekends and holidays for the old man on the farm, brought a brand new Suzuki TS 185 ER in 1982, the previous bikes had been dads farm bikes, The mountain Goat and a Suzuki TC 185

[BM-GS]

Kinda inherited dad's Mobylette 50 at 16, then after a bit I looped a workmate's Yam DT100, arsing about after work. I bought it and he helped me fix it and rebuild the Moby. My interest in bikes are all his fault, really.

Then I got a Kawa KMX125 learner in UK with the remains of granny's legacy and was bunged the difference between savings and cost of a spanking new (but well marked-down) Yam RD350 YPVS F2 by dad - I'd never have trusted a 2nd-hand one.

Now have a wife to buy me new bikes... trouble is that she wants a turn too.

[sunhuntin]

my first bike was a family hand me down. the olds bought it for the brother, who had both sidecovers stolen off it. then dad had it, and finally me. i replaced the side covers, and a few weeks after that, it got hit by a car. lol.

[Mr Triple]

My first bike was a Suzuki TM125 which I brought off one of my brothers for $100 even sold it for $150 so I was happy.
Next bike was a road bike and my old man helped with buying it, but I did pay him back. It was one of those Hondas with the vinyl down the middle of the tank:weep:

[cs363]

I worked 3 jobs for tuppence a month, and finally sold my grandmother into slavery to get my first bike...and then some prick stole it.
I wonder...


Was it a 100cc kawasaki farm bike? :eek5: Shit - two posts and I can see myself getting in the crap here!



:Police: From the accurate description we've received from the victim, I'm confident we have our man! :Police:


:rofl: :bleh:

[cave weta]

It was April 1978 and was another Kawasaki 100 dirt bike. (A 'G5' to be precise). I got it because a guy I worked with offered it to me for $450. I thought "sweet, if I get a motorbike I won't have to pedal my pushbike anymore". A real chick-magnet too! Oddly, it was. I was trying to start the bastard outside the Oamaru Drill Hall one day when this little 15 year old girl noticed me and felt sorry for me. As I type this 31 years later she's a couple of metres away cooking my tea.

Awww man- that is just beautiful.....:hug:


actually - mine...well my brothers bike was a G5 too

[Kiwi Graham]

A paper round, worked every holiday on a farm and begged my parents to top up the rest to get a cool 'as' Yamaha FS1E in high speed purple of course at 16yrs old. Prior to that had had a go at school boy scrambling on a old RM Suzuki paid for by the old man.
But it was the awesome FS1E that got me started on the road.

[cs363]

Anyway, back to the thread...first bike was a Yamaha FS1E (I think) forerunner to the RD50, got given it in a sad state by a mate who's family was moving to Aussie, fixed it up and swapped it for a TY trials bike which from memory was an 80cc.
First proper road bike was a Kawasaki S1B 250 triple :woohoo:

[ukusa]

Around 1984 it was a 79 Honda XL125, paid about $500 I think, had to save save save

[Laxi]

bought an '84 rm125 in '89, rode that thing into the ground, ahh the memories:love:

[usa-vtwin]

bought a QR50 when 10 ( paper run and other jobs plus parents got it up and running ) ~ 3 speed mini bike ..we lived semi rural so plenty of room to ride...then an RM80 at 12, XR200 at 15 and so on...

[TLDV8]

First proper road bike was a Kawasaki S1B 250 triple :woohoo:

Same here,bought off Laurie Summers in early 1977 for $995,the first H2 ((X-Chris Natrass/Paul Pav-H2B) followed three years later,still got that too. :woohoo:

[LBD]

Yamaha JT1...58cc. Christmas Pressie from Mum and Dad....19.....gulp.....7.....oh shit....1 Was it that long ago? 38 years of biking...not counting 2 years on Dads Bike before that.

[sinfull]

73 stole me mums scooter off her (she wasn't using it) 74 stole me dads lightning (got caught when i dropped it) 75 got my licence and the old man unchained the scooter from the garage rafters and give it back to me !

[MSTRS]

:Police: From the accurate description we've received from the victim, I'm confident we have our man!

I suppose I should come clean...made a good story though, eh?
Early 1973 borrowed a forgotten amount off my old man to top up my savings, bought a Triumph Tigress. Got my licence. Few months later, Dad was paid back, scooter wasn't doing it for me anymore so traded it on a near-new TS125 ($600...new model was $950) from Frank Boyle when he was the Suzuki dealer cnr of Queens Dr/Kings Cr Lower Hutt. Start of many motorbikes, trail and road.

[Evo1132]

GN250-$500, not going, fixed it, sold it for $750
Trail bike-$800, loose valve, put valve through piston, killed it
Ninja 250-$1200, rode it too hard, killed it, lol
Sold the car and got my beautiful R1, cant ride it hard enuff to kill it, lol, lol

[been_there]

XL100 for a $100 thanks to the Govt for the $$, sold it not going for $60
TS185 ER for $350 sold it for $250
Another TS185 for $500 sold for $200 after use and abuse in rivers etc...
DR400 (dual shock) for $1000 sold it for $100 seized motor..:bash:
Then almost 20 years later...the Trumpy..love it ...
Did I mention I love it?

[xwhatsit]

the Burroughs decimal conversion plant in Khyber Pass Rd
Now I'm just a wee tacker, but what in the hell is a decimal conversion plant?!

Lordy, they really did used to do things the hard way before they had computers. Nowadays I just type `1.75 inches in centimetres' into Google, but you needed a factory?

[cave weta]

Back in the early seventies, This was a huge industry.
Many everyday items had to have small modifications to make them compliant.
Recipe books, tape measures, maps. They all had to be gathered up and recaliberated.
Sex toys, teevision sets themometers. it nearly bancrupted some small businesses with the cost of complience. imagane the lodgistics of machining an entire years production of beehive matches to remove .8mm of wood from the end of each one so that they would fit the new metric 50mm box inststead of the old 2" box!:shit:

[cs363]

Many everyday items had to have small modifications to make them compliant.
Recipe books, tape measures, maps. They all had to be gathered up and recaliberated.
Sex toys


Seriously....WTF????? :rofl:

[cave weta]

Seriously....WTF????? :rofl:

Yeah! - they had to start manufacturing Decimal Diameter Dildos instead of
Imperial Impailers. now get back to work, its still 3 minuites till lunch

[DIN PELENDA]

My first bike I stole it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cave weta]

My first bike I stole it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can join my Gang. I just have to come up with some kind of initiation...
... Hmmmm, perhaps Renagade Master can help, he's way gayer than Carver:buggerd::buggerd:

[Monamie]

20mths ago i saw a pretty black bike in a shop and thought...."That looks like good fun" and bought it:yes:. When they dropped it off I wondered how the hell do you start it:shit:...never mind ride it:Oops:.
No looking back now...onwards and upwards :scooter::wari:

[jim.cox]

Bought it from a mate, paid cash

[DIN PELENDA]

You join my Gang. I just have to come up with some kind of initiation...
... Hmmmm, perhaps Renagade Master can help, he's way gayer than Carver:buggerd::buggerd:

Yeah that's true I met RM on one of the KB rides and I ad him to my friend list because he always come with some kind initiation , and he is funny eg. we were on Summit on Turoa (MT Ruapehu) on bike's and someone ask how hi we are Renagade Master was quick to respond "I don't know I didn't take anything this morning" :laugh:. All I can say then was " in order to be old and wise you first had to be young and stupid RM"

[ajturbo]

I suppose I should come clean...made a good story though, eh?
Early 1973 borrowed a forgotten amount off my old man to top up my savings, bought a Triumph Tigress. Got my licence. Few months later, Dad was paid back, scooter wasn't doing it for me anymore so traded it on a near-new TS125 ($600...new model was $950) from Frank Boyle when he was the Suzuki dealer cnr of Queens Dr/Kings Cr Lower Hutt. Start of many motorbikes, trail and road.
i brought a near new TS125... took it from Nelson to Auckland... first of many long trips i did on it... think it even made CHCH... back in th early 80's

[BMWST?]

i bought my second hand CL 175 from HONDA CITY in Lower Hutt...$650
The CB and CL 175s were so much cooler then the 200,s

[cs363]

You can join my Gang. I just have to come up with some kind of initiation...
... Hmmmm, perhaps Renagade Master can help, he's way gayer than Carver:buggerd::buggerd:


Hmm....gayer than Carver? :laugh: That would have to be:

[cs363]

Same here,bought off Laurie Summers in early 1977 for $995,the first H2 ((X-Chris Natrass/Paul Pav-H2B) followed three years later,still got that too. :woohoo:


I have fond memories of that bike - probably a touch of the rose tinted glasses, but it never caused me any grief and I had a load of fun on it.

Like you it led to stronger things like H1's & H2's... :)

[Gremlin]

Not going back nearly as far as some of you...

Little over 4 years ago, well, actually, probably about 4 years ago (without checking, it must be damn near exact), I had saved money from a job labouring on construction sites when I wasn't at uni.

Saw a 1990 zzr250 on trademe being sold by an insurance assessor (John from KB had written it off). Bit of work needed doing to it, which was done, and while cosmetically challenged (as it was termed) motor never missed a bit until I sold it 7 months later... Probably did the most mechanical work on that one... changed brake pads and stuff... never done it again...

After that came a 1996 zx7r (13 months), 2004 zx10r (18 months) and now a 2008 ktm 990sm for 7 months...

[crazyhorse]

As a single mum, with two young children, I went to a bike rally on the back of a mates bike, on the way home I had already decided I was getting my own bike.

I went to the bank, put it on the mortgage, and bought a brand new bike - Never have I looked back, and I ride as much as I can.....

:scooter:

[madbikeboy]

age 11, old motoX bike bought from a neighbour. wasn't going - and the money came from paper round. I took it and stuck it under the house because I would have been kicked out for getting a bike.

Got it going, and rode it during the day (played hookie from school to ride it). Got away with it until I tried to wheelstand, and crashed. Ambo ride meant my secret was out...

[Goblin]

Sold my horse for $400 for the deposit on a TS125 ER from Vandy Motors. Got the little MTF instalment book and paid it off myself. :yes:

[MSTRS]

i brought a near new TS125... took it from Nelson to Auckland... first of many long trips i did on it... think it even made CHCH... back in th early 80's

TS's must be amongst the longest running models (like GN's and GPX's). Mine was the last of the low-mounted chromed metal mudguards...a bloody pain too.

[cs363]

Got the little MTF instalment book and paid it off myself. :yes:

:) That brings back memories....