What was it that got you into bikes?

**idleidolidyll** · 2nd February 2011, 13:49

Originally Posted by R1madness

Heres how it happened for me. Picture this, I was 5 and it was 1973.......

Bloody bikes been getting me into trouble ever since.

Picture this, I was 15 and it was 1974, you do the math.

My big bro had crashed his RD350 into a pedestrian about 6 months before, it was a new bike apart from the grazes but he didn't want to ride it anymore (nasty accident).
I had left school, got a job and needed transport. I had a bike license thanks to a loan of his machine for it, but no car license and not enough dosh for a car anyway.
I offered him $300 for the bike he'd paid $1200 for new and he said yes.

**idleidolidyll** · 2nd February 2011, 14:02

adjunct:

In 1974 when I got my license, I used that RD350 as you could use anything back in the dark ages.

I remember turning up at the cop shop in Elliot St Papakura and doing my written and Verbal tests. that went OK so the cop said "OK, let's go have a look at how you ride".

We walked down the stairs an outside where my bro's bike was parked next to a cop bike. I said "are you gonna follow me on this"

He said "no son, just ride to the top of that hill, turn around and come back"

As I pulled away from the curb I looked in my mirror; the cop was walking back up the stairs. I rode up the hill and down again and went up to the cop office.
The cop asked me how I'd done, I said I'd done Ok and he wrote out my license.

The date was Oct 31st 1974. We were a day ahead of Zaire and Muhammed Ali was fighting George Foreman for the World title, the Rumble in the Jungle and the cops were watching or listening on the radio: they didn't give a damn about my riding skills; they just didn't want to miss the fight!

**idleidolidyll** · 2nd February 2011, 14:03

ThAt was about the last nice thing a traffic copper ever did for me.......

**slofox** · 2nd February 2011, 14:06

Mmmm...that was back a bit...

One of my mates had a Speed Twit..err TWIN. He pillioned me across town one Friday night. There was this certain smell (probably oil leaking onto the exhaust actually...) which got right inside my soul...

Then of course me Mum said I couldn't have one. So third year at university I just went and bought one without telling her. And that's how it all began. Here's a little ditty about it...been posted before so apologies to anyone who has already seen it.

LEARNING TO RIDE

It started many years ago
When I moved south down by the snow
And found I had to get around the town

The buses, they were way too slow
A motorbike was the way to go
So through the bike ads I went looking round

My first was made of British steel
You started it up with a kick of the heel
My flatmates thought I was a bloody fool

It weighed a ton, was really slow
But the wheels went round and it did just go
And I thought I was pretty bloody cool

I hadn’t had this thing for long
When several things, they just went wrong
I learned about the dark side of machines

The cables broke, the brakes were poked
The zorst pipe poured out clouds of smoke
I had to do some work behind the scenes

But I did try and by and by
I thought this thing was ready to fly
I took it out for a fang along the road

It first went well, but then, with a clang
It shuddered to a stop and just went BANG!!
I had to push it home to my abode

Most things you can fix with a few little tricks
And a bunch of parts from out in the sticks
And soon I’m cruising down the city street

But my sense of fun was soon undone
I found myself right in the gun
When the motorbike cop and I, we chanced to meet

He chased me up and made me stop
This rotten nasty traffic cop
He got stuck in, his face turned kinda blue

He said I failed to keep to the left
And since of a license I was bereft
I found myself up to the neck in poo

Eventually I went to court
The beak said “Yerr we know your sort!
If I’d my way I’d make you all do time!

But sadly, since your crimes are small
And you’ve turned up here to field the ball
I’ll hafta make do with a million dollar fine!” (the bastard)

I crawled off home back to my lair
And cursed the day that I did dare
To ride without a license for the bike

I got out the book and took a good look
And decided that by hook or by crook
I’d get that licesce soon as you could like.

But still my learning was not done
Despite the fact of having fun
Soon enough I met the dreaded cage

The man who was driving “didn’t see”
The motorcycle carrying me
And on the road I landed in a rage

Now even though it was his fault
(His head was thicker than a bolt)
I realised that it was up to me

To keep my eyes out good and sharp
And give the horn a real loud PARP
When the cager comes, well, you just gotta flee

From then on in the bike went good
I rode all round the neighbourhood
And even took some trips on down the line

I took it out onto the track
I even managed to ride it back
This biking thing was looking pretty fine

In time I bought a brand new bike
With shiny chrome and things ya like
A modern beast and really up to code

And so it’s gone on ever since
Me you don’t have to convince
I’ll see my days out, biking on the road

**ellipsis** · 2nd February 2011, 14:12

Originally Posted by idleidolidyll

As I pulled away from the curb I looked in my mirror; the cop was walking back up the stairs. I rode up the hill and down again and went up to the cop office.
The cop asked me how I'd done, I said I'd done Ok and he wrote out my license.

...must have been normal back then...local cop told me to go out on the street and do a figure of eight...he never came and watched...asked him if he needed to see me do it again and he replied...' been watching you riding this bike for the last year...slow down and dont let me see two girls on the back ever again'...gave me my licence...paid the princely sum of $1.50...

**junkmanjoe** · 2nd February 2011, 20:35

we were born on them.motorbikes..lived on a large farm.. reef hill station.
very first bike was a CT90

yea baby living the dream till the big black bull knocked me off.......

bastard...

JMJ

**Tink** · 2nd February 2011, 20:38

I miss the most interesting thread on KB> hmf

**idleidolidyll** · 2nd February 2011, 21:05

i learned riding up and down our long gravel drive and around the section on my dad's Suzuki 90 wolf.
Chris then bought his Suzuki 125 trail bike and i was hooked.

i rode that RD350B for years and customised it in silver paint with Kenny Roberts stripes and Bassani expansion chambers. I had a goat skin seat from a beast i'd personally slaughtered and sold it on its 3rd and last rebore.

it hadn't been raced but it had been thrashed and crashed

i fell off a lot, had the usual stuck throttle a lot and was busted by the law a lot (sometimes for good reason and sometimes because they are cunts)

i even managed to cart my surfboard on it from sth auckland to waihi.

then i gave up road bikes for 10 years and raced motocross; yeeehah!

**racefactory** · 2nd February 2011, 21:13

I'm a young gun so reasons will be different than people who were getting into it in the 80's etc.

Obviously the speed and leaning were the things that got me into bikes.
They go faster than the fastest of supercars and they always look incredibly graceful when the bike is turning hard and cranked right over on the pegs.

Other reasons include being cheaper on petrol and needing a lot of skill to ride hard.

**James Deuce** · 2nd February 2011, 21:16

Originally Posted by racefactory

I'm a young gun so reasons will be different than people who were getting into it in the 80's etc.

Obviously the speed and leaning were the things that got me into bikes.
They go faster than the fastest of supercars and they always look incredibly graceful when the bike is turning hard and cranked right over on the pegs.

Other reasons include being cheaper on petrol and needing a lot of skill to ride hard.

Bullshit. You just wanted to get laid like the rest of us.