Bikes have changed my life....

[Kwaka-Kid]

[QUOTE=Motoracer]Nice one Chris!




I sold my 1st ZXR to a dude who saw the add in T&E. This gentelman's name was Logan. Yep, you guessed it. I had sold my bike to the one and only KK! (actually Chris, the fiber glass tail fairing that you have on your race bike right now that KK gave you is the same one that is on the pic above). I met Logan at the track again, he then told me about this cool site called Kiwibiker.


And thats about where the new found biker scene came and smacked me in the head. Remember it so clearly, finally having this F3 type machine *thinking* i was the shit and not even realising how much faster you actually had to be!

From there i learnt slow and hard, When i met sudeep at the track again i believe it was when i crashed the stupid thing trying in my best efforts to keep up with him - sudeep mate now when i look back we must have only beeing doing like 1:30's! Well speak for myself as after 2 laps you already had the front straight on me and i was determined not to brake into jennian, but no the whole mind over matter when the rear became unstuck thing didnt work and i was standing her up and zooming along the grass.

Anyway that was a nice memory refresher, basically after that i ran into a VFR400 and the ZXR had to go, and this is where i said its time to stop pretending and give it a good go! $$$ later and umpteen VFR's/bits that have come/one gone and thats me.

Well i didnt have time for a long one so ill leave it at that, have a nice day all.

[MOTOXXX]

I must say that i have loved bikes since i was young and have my parents to thank for that. Ive always had a bike around me growing up. started off on dirt and when i got to 15 i finally got a fzr250. Rode it to school every day etc etc. Then got my tl and love that even more.
I dont realy have a long rant on how they have changed my life but sometimes i do wonder what i would be doing if i wasnt into motor cycles.
Id probably be driving an evo four like the rest of the sheep around nz.
One thing id have agree on is that all the people i have met off kb have all been top people, all of them!
well except for maybe martin (sparkybills)
im just kidding martin.

[Two Smoker]

Great to see you guys enjoying biking so much and sounds like you are having a lot of fun but please dont complain if/when you get tickets for breaching your restricted licence....

Nup BC and SPman, if i get the ticket, i wont complain, i would accept the resposibility of the $400 for breaching the conditions of my Licence and the 50 (correct?) demerit points as well, actually im just waiting for my old man to give me a ticket lol... Ive found riding the GSX-R i have ridden the best ever in my life, extremely cautious (its like someone elses Ducati 998R) constantly looking and riding very defensively, so far it has been a good thing, the other thing i find is that i can be doing 50-100kmh (in respective speed limit zones) and still have a ball, because im riding my dream bike.... Also have started my application for the CBTA course, and still have the trusty RG150 to keep me legal

Awesome stories from everyone please keep them coming in

[Sparky Bills]

My parents gave birth to a bike, And I was aftermarket extra!
road or dirt (mostly road) I love it all!!

[guzzi_nz]

SPARKY BILLS
that the right talk

i have live from 0-5 then got my first bike and apart from a spell of 1 year at 20 alway had a bike now 39 had a lot of shitter in that time but allways a bike

MOTORCYCLING IS THE ONLY LIFE

[Sparky Bills]

Im 20 now, and wouldnt even think of changing!!
I love them through and through!!
The fact I work in a bike shop doesnt help!

[manuboy]

I get the feeling there's some fulla's and fulla-esses here who've ridden lots more than me, but 'ere goes... First bike was one of them little plastic three wheelers with the peddles on the front wheel i had when i was 2 in Putararu(?). Plastic wheels are Awesome for drifting. Dad had an ol farm bike and i used to scream intil he chucked me on the back to get the cows.

Later on my mate got a pw50. We used to race it round the streets at Whangamata. Awesome little beast. We gave that thing all the shit we could. Then later he got an IT175 which was pretty scary to ride. Dabbled with some motocross (YZ80, YZ125)

At 15 i got an XL250 for travel to school in hamilton from Mystery Creek. Good choice of bike i thought. My first real on-road bin came when i missed a hidden cue in fielddays traffic in the rain. Slid into the opposite lane and under an on-coming vehicle. Phew.

Bought a FZR400 next. Awesome bike in it's day (1989). But i was too irresponsible. Always pushing beyond myself. Went off the road in them hills between Whangamata and Waihi being chased by some pissed fullas in a holden, trampolined off a deer fence just outside hammy, and finally had a learner pull out in front on the main road (te rapa straight?). That was it - took up cycling - awesome sport. Time to REALLY take in the scenery and become ultra fit. Awesome roads for riding round the back of Huntly.

This year, after too long slaving over an old bungalow, convinced the good women to let me have the SV. Farking lovin it. Still a little worried about how hard i push it. Can't seem to stop tho. Love trying to get corners right - don't mind the shitstains when i think i'm gonna get it all wrong.

Just biding my time really until i pay my $50 bucks and get onto ruapuna to find out how slow i really am (eh Kickaha....). Will get a bucket next year. i just wanna ride as fast as i can on the track and get faster...

[Coyote]

My stories simple. Dad became a born again rider, brought me and my brother a new CRF (still have it), started riding it for fun at the masterton MX track, wanted something more advanced, so we get an old KX (old ones have no powervalve), I have a stupid idea and decide to put road tyres on the KX, and start racing with the wellington buckets in the Junior Motard class, got my CBR only recently and just got my licence and are now planning to take the CBR to manfeild next year. All this to the dismay of my Mum and my family on her side cause my Uncle had a couple of accidents on his bike, which lead to his death (when he was 18, he had the handlebars of his road bike go straight through his leg, and had to replace his bone with a steel one. He also died 3 times and was revived each time, and this is what really scared mum)

I also inspired Madcat to get into motorcycles, and he showed me to this site

[Yokai]

Hmmm - How do I approach this one.

I've always wanted a motorbike. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and loved the sight of a nice classic looking bike. I read Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and thought how cool it would be to wander around a country on a bike thinking about stuff and doing that voyage of self discovery. That was 17-18 years ago.

My life hasn't been what I wanted and probably won't be. I started in counselling about a year ago and some things that came out were that I like to have goals achieved. One of them was learning to ride and owning a nice bike... Soooo.... I saved up and 3 months back bought myself a lovely little SRV 250.

When she's working she's what I ride to work. She makes my job slightly bearable, and reminds me that there are things that are achievable... The ride home at night is cool too.

I've met some great people here and use this as a way of getting more info about riding and tips etc... There are some awesome people out there - and my shouts go out to:

Devil, CK, Hitcher, JRandom, TwoSmoker, Paparazzi (thanks for waiting for me ;-) ) Kwakka-kid (Yeah - I know I haven't forgotten - the site's being built) XJFrosty (just for doing weird stuff with a bike!) and Aff-man...

There ya go - I'm still a learner, but I have a lot of years of longing to get through .... I'm gonna be a slow one, but hey!as soon as the clutch is fixed - we are off on a ride!

[Hitcher]

A motorcycle is the ultimate mid-life enhancement!

This time two years ago, after having longingly panted after bikes for all of my life to that point, I decided enough was enough and to do something about it.

Problem 1: Despite having hooned around on farm and trail bikes and on mates' road bikes in my "yoof", I didn't have a license...

Problem 2: I am a "fuller-headed" gent. Purchasing a helmet proved problematic, largely due to Wellington bike shops not giving a flying fuck, and impressing me greatly with their commitment to customer service. However Craig Sullivan at Sawyers was marvellous and eventually got me my first Shoei -- the world's best motorcycle helmet!

After making enquiries about learn-to-ride courses, I actually got one of these "thrown in" as part of a bike purchase deal with the now (thankfully) defunct Motorcycle City in Lower Hutt, from whom I purchased my Zeal.

I then told Mrs H that I had booked her in as well... [shortened version of our "evolution" as bikers follows...]

So after a couple of Saturday stints with Stephens Driving School in the Hutt River carpark in Lower Hutt, on the crappy bikes provided, we were able to get our L plates and go riding.

Plan A of sharing the Zeal was short-lived, as Mrs H's relative dimensions make such a cycle an inappropriate fit. It also had a flukey throttle and very potent brakes that made slow riding a bit of a trick for a new rider.

Plan B involved buying a mint nick 1967 Honda CB100 with 6,500 genuine miles on for Mrs H. What a bloody brilliant bike these are! But after two weeks Mrs H had "outgrown" this and we traded it in on a Kawawaki EL250 Eliminator.

We did about 16,500km on our 250s in the nine months we had them, in every imaginable riding condition except snow and pissed!

After nine months we did the CBTA course through Roadsafe here in Wellington (well, the course was actually in Upper Hutt) and within two weeks, Mrs H had bought her Marauder and I had the Zrex.

A life-changing experience? Absolutely. We should have done it years earlier.

We've made fantastic new friends and gone places we would never have gone in a c.a.r.

We are now passionate advocates for the two-wheeled lifestyle we have discovered and embraced wholeheartedly.

The best fun you can have with all your clothes on!!

[guzzi_nz]

STARTS A START

[MSTRS:Me]

And she was right!

Those thoughts crossed my mind as well - just take it carefully, Chris.

Got my licence back in '73 on a TRiumph Tigress 250, been on & off bikes ever since (only 2 offs - nothing but wounded dignity really & bent forks). Each bike since then has generally been a bit bigger than the last, but no matter what size, they are all unforgiving when the sticky stuff happens. Further to that it was about 6 months ago that my dear wife (bless her cotton socks) talked me into *sic* buying the GSXR1100 now that the youngest is house trained. It had been about 12yrs since I'd been on a bike & yes it's true, you never really forget how to ride, just how it feels. AWESOME.To all those aging bikeless people out there who miss the thrill, just do it & if your dear one is supportive well you got it made

[Motu]

It was my mother what got me into bikes.When I left school at 16 and got a job she said ''you'll need a motorbike to go to work and nightschool'' She'd look in the paper and say ''hey,what about this one,a Puch scooter,let's go an have a look'' so we'd go in her Mini to check out a bike I couldn't even ride.But one day she found out my cousin was going to sell the Bantam he had used when he started his sailmaking apprenticship.He dropped it around and away I went - I've been into bikes ever since.My mother never gave me grief about all my bikes and parts,took me to bike shops to pick up parts,didn't bleat on about my new found friends who rode bikes - once after a bad accident they all came around home to see how I was...they asked her for newspapers to put down so they could walk on the carpet and sit on the couch...she thought they were good mates to be that concerned about me....and they were.Even at the end of her days she might ask...''whatever happened to the ***** you had,I've always wondered if whoever got it had as much fun from it as you did''

Thanks Mum,you put me on the right road.

[Hitcher]

Thanks Mum,you put me on the right road.

A big "ups" to Motu's mum. Sounds like a pretty special lady.

[vifferman]

A big "ups" to Motu's mum. Sounds like a pretty special lady.

Yes indeed.

Bikes have changed my life too. I didn't used to ride them, and now I do.
Same with my wife - she didn't ride them once, and now she's the vifferbabe.