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There was a guy around Wahkon when I was a kid that had a Royal Enfield. My 2 cousins, a year and 2 years older than me, all thought that was pretty cool. The cousin 2 yrs older had his father buy him a C110 Honda. I think that was the model; the 50CCer that had a tank you straddled; kind of like the Enfield and Trumpets the older cool guys had. The one a year older had to work like me and saved enough for a Yamaha 60. I one of those was the 1st I rode on. BTW My old man, a great believer in "genetic slavery" wouldn't sign for me. I was 15 & I had the coin, (I have never been afraid of work.) but I needed his name on the title. I waited 2 years and a used 500 Triumph scrambler was my ticket to freedom.
Eventually the old man bought his own, a little 125 Yammie enduro. He's gone and the bike is still there. Some beer and a little tequila on a night last summer and another cuz & I had the thing run after sitting for 18 years. Next summer it will be made road worthy.
A two year old 1980 Kawasaki KZ 750 with 1200 miles on it. I bought it after riding bitch through the Black Hills the day before with a service buddy. One ride and I was hooked.
After finding out that I had never ridden the salesman told me they would deliver it to the base for $ 25.00 and I said "I'm riding it home". He crossed himself and wished me luck. I laid it down three weeks later turning into a parking lot when I hit black ice. Then I took off the crash bar and factory exhaust and put on a Kerker header with no baffle and rode the chit out of it.
After the little 80cc Yahama and the 90cc Honda the first really "big" motorcycle that I ever rode was a monster "350" Yahama. I got that dude up to 90 mph (according to the speedometer ) by laying down on it and getting a strong tailwind behind me. I had never been on, or in anything soooooo d@mn fast in all of my 14 years of life!
My first ride (I was 10 years old) was on my cousin's Kawasaki 175 enduro. He was gone for a week and told me to look after it. I think I ran 2 or 3 tanks of gas through that thing. It was using Klotz oil so it always had that strange smell to it. After that I was hooked to dirt riding and racing. Never made it to road riding until I was about 22. I remember thinking that anybody riding on asphalt was crazy. Once I started riding on the road and talking to more people, they all thought riding in the dirt was insane. To each his own. I still see dirt roads and trails that I want to follow.
My first time was at around 14 or 15 on a buddies raggedy old honda some thing we rode the crap out of that bike he went into a girl friends house and left me alone with the bike and the keys I was found two hours later doin laps in the school parking lot
My first time was in a Best Western, man i tell ya i never... oh wait...
My first time on a BIKE was a mini-bike that my friend's cousin had and they dared me to ride down the road on it. Never having done the 2wheel thing before it was just a serious of wheelies and near crashes... the throttle was a little tricky.
That's cool that you have his bike running again, if I remember correctly the 125 Yamaha enduro was the only enduro with electric start??
Originally Posted by BJB
There was a guy around Wahkon when I was a kid that had a Royal Enfield. My 2 cousins, a year and 2 years older than me, all thought that was pretty cool. The cousin 2 yrs older had his father buy him a C110 Honda. I think that was the model; the 50CCer that had a tank you straddled; kind of like the Enfield and Trumpets the older cool guys had. The one a year older had to work like me and saved enough for a Yamaha 60. I one of those was the 1st I rode on. BTW My old man, a great believer in "genetic slavery" wouldn't sign for me. I was 15 & I had the coin, (I have never been afraid of work.) but I needed his name on the title. I waited 2 years and a used 500 Triumph scrambler was my ticket to freedom.
Eventually the old man bought his own, a little 125 Yammie enduro. He's gone and the bike is still there. Some beer and a little tequila on a night last summer and another cuz & I had the thing run after sitting for 18 years. Next summer it will be made road worthy.
11 years old on a moped in cape may,NJ. I kept thinking "the real thing must be great". And it is.
A year after that was a 100cc Yamaha and I was hooked.
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I guess it was a friends Honda SL-70 (if that counts) around '73. After that a Yamaha 100 enduro around '74.
Can't resist -- first thing with two wheels and an engine EVER was a Sears mini-bike that belonged to a friend of a friend. THAT was an amazing experience (they just about had to knock me down and pry me off the damn thing). THAT was the moment where I knew "this is definitely something for me"
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