This site amazes me.. I have been a member here since 2008, my first new bike. I wonder how many years of combined experience is accessible to the masses from these forums with your finger tips. Everyone that comes in here brings something (some good / some bad). Guys just buying their first bike to guys that have been wrenching on them forever.

The internet: It's not just for **** anymore.

 

I know I've been riding motocross since I was 12....48 now.Been on the street for about 13 yrs with my Honda Shadow.Just bought my first Harley last Oct.Spent 7 yrs. working in a motorcycle shop-Jap bikes.Not bringing much to the HD table yet,but I've known/worked on bikes most of my life.

 

Started on mini bikes at 8 year old; have been ridding ever since. Looking at 52 plus years. I see another 10 to 15 and then I am thinking about talking up skydiving.

 

never owned a bicycle.... been on two wheeled gas since birth 31+

 

I got a Suzuki 50 when I was eight, I have owned a bike of some sort ever since. I have always done my own maintenance and mods. I am 44 now and been on Harleys since I turned 36.

 

Rode my first bike on the street when I was 10 and the parents didn't know. Enough to say, boy I got in trouble when they found out! All total I've got right at 40 years on these things, all but two have been Harley's.

 

Go carts and mini bikes as a kid, full blown dirt bike while teenager. Parents would not let me buy a street bike while living at home in high school. Bought a big Kawasaki street bike as soon as I got out, put her in a ditch the third day after buying it. Fixed her back up, fun bike it was, cut my teeth on street bikes with that bike. Went through a few Buell's doing the local weekend drag racing thing with the wife and kids on weekends, plus raising hell on the street. Put one down hard and me out back in 2004, took a ten year break. Back in the saddle after wasting money on boats the last ten years and it feels GOOD.

 

Just sold my '82 FXR Shovel I owned for 23 years to purchase 2K Heritage with 347 miles on her. Prior To the shovel I had a Sportster (first HD) and a Kawasaki 500 as my first bike. 57 now...ouch!

 

My wife and I combined have 67 years of street riding experience. 45 and 22 years respectively. Probably owned close to 20 motorcycles total. Most of them Harleys. Have always done my own service including cam swaps and top ends. But I am not a professional mechanic so there are some things I still leave to a pro. The thing about forums is that there are always some really smart people who know what they are talking about and some others who only "think" they know what they are talking about. That can be tough for new riders until they learn whose advice to listen to. I try to chime in and help people with those things that I have personal experience with or know for certain that I am right about. I have made a lot of mistakes over the years as far as mods but have considered it the cost of an education.

 

What!?!?! Say it's not so......

Not counting my mini-bike and two off-road dirt bikes, I rode my first Harley in 1976...

Haven't ridden anything else since.....