Credit where credit is due (Who/what got you in to bikes?)

[zeocen]

It would have to be my old man, watching him getting back into his old passion, buying a zephyr 750, then a zzr1100... the zzr1100 was the best thing I had ever seen back then (kind of still is hehe), a good few years on I thought fuck it.. only live once, I want to see if I can do this motorcycle thing to.

Next person who kept me into bikes would be FireFight, purely because he gave me a great learner bike at a great price, if it wasn't for him, I bet I would still be looking for a 250 with my budget!

Now because of my father I have an affinity for kawasaki motorcycles, particularly zephyrs and early ZZR's, because when he rode them they didn't just look like motorcycles, they looked like life itself. Pretty gay I know, but yeah.. I see other bikes and they're awesome, but the zephyr and ZZR have a soft spot and is what kept me going to keep practicing in hopes that one day I'll have one of them!

[CM2005]

the old man and his old bike stories... i've never owned a car!

[Goblin]

I stole my first ever ride on a motorbike. 'Twas a Honda 50 mini thing. They all told me I was too small and girls dont ride motorbikes...you should stick to horses bla bla so i nicked it and promptly crashed into the blackberry bush. Didnt put me off tho. Only made me more determined to do better next time.

[Mom]

girls dont ride motorbikes... Only made me more determined to do better next time.

Girls can do anything.......specially when they are told they can't

[Conquiztador]

Girls can do anything.......specially when they are told they can't

My best friend is a girl. :-)

[swbarnett]

Girls can do anything.......specially when they are told they can't

That goes equally for most people. Reverse psychology is a wonderful motivator (something the LTNZ needs to learn - I feel like screaming off at a great rate of knots every time I see an anti-speed ad.)

[swbarnett]

My best friend is a girl. :-)

Mine too. I married her

[sugilite:Me]

My mother suggested I get a little motorbike to commute on after I was winging about having to catch two buses to get to my first job. Does she regret that now

[Matt]

Gotta be Hang On, then Super Hang On just sealed my fate (still get the theme tune running through my head over the 'takas!)

Matt

[Arthur]

In the beginning, it was dad. The joy of growing up on a farm...
I was about 4 1/2, and me and dad were going around the sheep on the quad one day, when he got off and told me to ride it by myself. It grew on me, and I was happy with the quad for about ten years. My first experience with the two wheeled variety was ten years after my first with the quad, and dad asked me what sounded like 'Do you want a ride home', as we were bringing a mob of sheep home. What I didn't realise for a couple of seconds was that he had asked me if I wanted to ride the bike home - and there was no backing down cos I had already given my answer. Between the initial instruction I had that afternnon, and some tips from mates who rode motocross, I was hooked. Beginning of '05, I started saving for my first road bike, and when I went in to hand over my hard earned cash for a lovely bandit 250, once again, dad stepped in - he paid for the bike I had saved up for! Unfortunately, that bike was written off the beggining of this year due to the lack of attention of a cager, but I'm back on another bandit, counting down the days till my full... Thanks dad

[Insanity_rules]

I was 8 and my mother got me a gemini 50 mini dirtbike. Got too big for it! then in intermediate a fellow inmate/ Kber who shall remain nameless showed me you could have a whale of a time on knuckled old road bikes with knobblys, then as it progressed real dirtbikes, then onto slightly less knuckled roadbikes and here we are today.

Thanks MD, now the tick has fully burrowed in to the point I'll never be without a bike! And thanks to Wasp I'll never be without a riding buddy or 12.

[buellbabe]

My brother and I always modified our trikes/pushbikes/go-carts...everything was always 2nd-hand... so I guess it was lurking in me from a young age...

When I was 16/17 one of the printers at work (known as Dunny) gave me a lift home on the back his bike and I absolutely hated it.
Yet somehow I knew it would be different on the front.
6 months later I was at Crosbys with a mate who was picking up his TT250 and by the time I walked out of the shop I had signed an HP agreement on a Yamaha DT175... so thanks to Dunny for making me realise that the business end of a motorbike was where I wanted to be and also cheers to Dale for getting me into a bike shop!

[Kflasher]

My dad;

He patrolled the motorways years ago on an Arial square four, and then later on the Yamaha’s.
As a kid I would sit on the fence and wait for him to round the corner into our street, he would scrape the main stand just about each and every time.
To a kid like me it was so cool watching your old man ride like that, knowing now that is not hard to scrape the main stand but it still look so cool, I just wanted to ride like him.