I know weall like to think of ourselves as hardcore riders, who came screaming out of our mother's wombs laying rubber, but I figure everyone was was a real 'newbie' at one point. I started riding when I was 20. I actually owned a bike before I ever owned a car. I'd ridden some friend's minibikes when I was a kid, but had never ridden a 'real' motorcycle, with gears, and all that. (Mostly little Honda CB50 automatics, mopeds, and stuff like that when I was kid...) However when I was a little gaffer in the late 60's/early 70's, my brothers and I had a babysitter, who had a boyfriend, who had a bike. His name was Wayne. Every evening Wayne would show up at our place to pick Judy up (our sitter), and he'd throw me on back, and take me for a clip around the neighbourhood. In my books, he was the sh*t!!! (Although at the age of5 or 6 I doubt I thought of him in exactly that way...LOL) I've still got an old B&W of me sitting on his bike in our driveway, with his helmet on. (Which I have in a frame right beside a picture of me taken about 20 years ago on a ride my wife and I were doing near Horseshoe Canyon, in the badlands of Alberta...) Anyway, I always told myself when I "grew up" I'd get a motorcycle, just like Wayne. I woke up one morning shortly after my 20th birthday, and thought to myself, "I always said I'd buy a bike when I grew up. I'm grown up now, I'm going to buy a bike." I wandered down the hall (I'm in the Cdn Forces...was living the barracks back then...still a single "shack rat"...) and pounded on my buddy's door. When he opened it, I said, "Let's go shopping for motorcycles." He said, "Cool, I didn't know you rode!" I responded, "I don't...that's why I need you to come along. I need someone to drive it home." (He also had a car, and I didn't at the time...haha...) We spent the day shopping around, and I finally came across what was to become my first bike...a 1984 Honda Shadow 500. (previous year's model...cost me $2699.99 Cdn...no sales tax in Alberta, and before the days of our dreaded Goods & Sales tax, or GST...) Mybuddy rode the bike home, with me on the back. (He'd also lent me $500 for a downpayment...he's a GOOD friend...and I DID pay him back...) He taught me to ride over the next couple of weeks. I only kept that bike for a year, and traded it in on a V45 Magna (which I still have...), but it got me started. I've never regretted it. 22 years later, I love it more than ever. Just wondering if anyone else was interested in sharing their story of "why"...

 

Sorry that is so long winded folks...it has been a LONG winter!! [:@]

 

riding sure beats walking!!

 

I must have been 12 and had honda 50, i lived down on bayou, near Port Arthur texas, allmost louisiana, so other word's ,out in boony's ,no license, must had rode that bike 100,000 mile's, i just could not ride ehough, later a girl down bayou way had boyfriend and he rode 450 hondaI thought that was the biggest bike ever, than later on he was flying down straight road must had got on shoulder of road he hit barbed wire fence he ripped his right arm off ,he lived but lost arm and never rode again.



[IMG]local://upfiles/24725/0F2F140F057247D1AAC0F5BD353E5467.jpg[/IMG]

 

When I was maybe 3 or 4 years old, I was spending a few days at my grandmothers house. I was out in the front yard when 2 Harleys and an Indian stopped across the road for gas. When they started up and rode away, I knew right then that I had to get one of those someday.

 

OK, my story is as a 12year old a friend had a Honda of some sort thatI was afraid of riding...if I crashed and broke it I would be in trouble.... So as a kid I mowed lawns and saved every nickle I was ever given or earned and a few weeks later found a bike of my own at a lawn sale... I worked my way up to a KZ-650 in high school and various other Jap/Sport bikes... I have always wanted a Harley and during a deployment to Iraq in 05 my wife gave me the thumbs up and I pulled the trigger on the 06FXSTS...In January of 06I got her a 03 883... She learned to ride it well and for her Birthday we got her an 06 Deluxe. Finally after 10 years of marraige and no kids we have found something we both enjoy doing.

 

started on a scooter when i was maybe 12 or 13. and even though it was a slow one it felt fast to me and i liked the feeling. i wanted to go faster but i clowned around with it for 3 or 4 years until i got a better faster scooter, i liked the speed and feeling again. bought a old Kawi 500 whipped it around town illegally until igot my MC license when i was 19. kept the Kawi for a few years, until 2000, i bought a Suzuki 1000 and may family really hated me lol i was the only one to bring home and ride a sportbike.

everyone had or has a Harley in my family. but i took to track racing instead of being that guy who does double the speed limit and passing cages leaving them just hearing a zoooom or seeinga blurr. i was never able to ride with my sisters, brother in laws, father uncles or cousins. but that wasnt until last year when i bought a softail. now they constantly call me. well not now because of the winter. but the answer to the question is because everyone in my family rode. but im the one who did it all with bikes lol

 

A simple matter of necessity.
I needed transportation to run a newspaper motor route.

I couldn't legally drive solo in a car until age 16, but a small Harley was OK at age 14.
Been up on 2 wheels ever since.


[IMG]local://upfiles/16850/A079CD1EF235491E81BB01220556CA1B.jpg[/IMG]

 

I started out in the dirtbike world at the age of 12 when my dad bought me a Honda XR-75. Rode and raced various dirtbikes from that point on. At 16 i was the proud owner of a Suzuki GS-550 which i kept until I was 19 . Marriage and family came along about that time and the bike was sold. Now the wife is an ex, the kids are out of the house, and a Fatboy is in the garage....Life is good

 

Dad won a Bronco mini-bike at the state fair when I was 6...we rode it when he'd let us (supervised) but my bike addition really started with the pedal-bicycles...had my own little wrench-shop set up in one of the sheds out back of the house (Schwinns were the best!)...then one summer one of my childhood friends got an old yammy dirtbike. I knew right away that pedaling was for suckers and I'd be getting my own motorized bike SOON...which I did (had a few different dirtys growing up). It was a natural progression to the street for me as the trails I was riding were limited and the streets went from coast to coast...more terrain.First streetbike I bought and actually taggedwasa wrecked yammy virago (it was in running/riding condition)...had a big dent in the tank,scratched and dented otherwise, but still looked good...had to cross the solenoid to start it (bad switch)...went through 4-5 different metrics until I bought my first HD ('82 FLT shovel)...when I bought my house, it was the first thing that went into the garage. I'mpositive that I'll own a HD of some sort for the rest of my life. I'm the only member of my family that I know of who has/does ride.