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First Bike - First Ride

Think I was about 10-yrs-old & dad suprised us one summer with Rupp Sprint mini-bike. It had a 5hp engine & probably ran ~35-40mph...we were in "hog heaven" and fought all the time for it. Man, those were the days. We pretty much drove that thing into the scrap yard - probably had 50K miles when we were done & had every McGruber fix-it/bandaid trick holding it together.
 
first bike was a mini bike that was home made. it was fun because my brother and I would crash so much that the cluch guard would never stay on long so we would ride hoping out pants would not get caught in the open clutch weights.
 
LOL, I wanted to ride my brother's honda 50 one year, now my brother is 5 years older than me, so I was pretty young if he still had the 50. He probably had the 80, and they put me on the 50. It was a Saturday night and we always had aunts, uncles & cousins to visit on Saturdays. This night, instead of spaghetti for dinner, we had a campfire and roasted hot dogs that weekend. (The fire is important later).

So I wanted to ride the motorcycle, I could do it they just had to give me a few pointers....('They' would be the same uncle who taught me to ride a bicycle by pushing me down the driveway and letting go as I'm gaining speed down the hill with no feet on the pedals). So, I'm on the bike, it's running, & my uncle is saying 'Okay, squeeze here, and twist this. Now when you want to go, just let go here'. Oh yeah, did I mention that I was on one side of the fire, straight across from my mom? So I let I'm twisting the throttle, then I let go of the clutch & off I go, straight through the fire, hitting my mom & knocking her over across the drive way, around the house just as fast as I could go in 1st gear because 'They' never told me how to change gears. 'They' finally caught me and got me stopped and said I couldn't ride any more. :( What I put above IS all the information that I was given....knowing what I know now, I know I would have done much better had 'They' A) Lined me up oh, let's just say, not facing the fire, B) told me where the brake was, and C) maybe told me how to shift gears.....I am also thinking that 'They' had a lot of laughs at my expense when I was a kid. :p

I wouldn't change it for the world though, I lived through it and got a few laughs myself, but I never got to ride big brother's motorcycle again. I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 at the time; and yes, they still tease me about riding through the fire.
 
I was never allowed to get a mini bike or dirt bike. "You could get hurt on one of those things." So i would make Kool-Aid by the gallon and take to the field where the kids always rode their bikes. Sooner or later someone would get thirsty and trade their bike for the Kool-aid and I would ride for awhile. The best was a guy had a 3 wheeler and if I helped him unload and load the trike, I was able to ride while he sat in bed of truck and drank his beer. I used to ride for hours. It was great. I bought my first bike at 24 years old a KZ400 that needed work and I fixed it up myself. Can't believe 25 years and 8 bikes later, what memories........
 
My first bike was a 125 Honda, bought it before I bought my first car. Had trouble keeping my sister off of it after I taught her how to ride. Taught several other young ladies how to ride with that bike.:D
 
My first bike was a Yamaha 360 Enduro I bought from my brother in 1973. I used to ride it on dirt when it belonged to him then rode it to work and back. Both him and I have had a lot of bikes since then....
 
Joy, couple words..."Phoenix Rising" LOL! BullDogJim thank you for the thread...keep those stories coming :a
 
When I was 13, my 1st thru several rides was on a pre '55 clunker Cushman with centrifugal clutch and backwards throttle (up for go, down for stop). Then I buddied up with a kid that had a nice new Zundapp 125cc, with a real clutch and a modern throttle. All went well until I pulled into the carport and gave it full throttle instead of shutting off. The bike suffered only minor scratches from hitting the lawnmower, workbench, wall.:56:
My first bike was about a '57 Cushman Eagle that had been owned by just about every kid within miles. I traded a .22 rifle for my turn owning it. The centrifugal clutch was a dog, so someone had pounded popsicle sticks behind the fly weights to make it a "locker" clutch. Rolling stops, and push starts were just normal. Almost every nut/bolt was rounded off or stripped out and had something jammed on, or wire holding it together. It had a gutted muffler, and a top speed of about 25, but I was "in the wind". I later traded it and some $$ for a '51 Ford and the .22 rifle that I originally traded it for (different kid). I still have the .22 rifle. :p
 
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Borrowed my brothers 650 Triumph Bonniville after he had joined the U.S. navy. I was 14 and was lucky to survive the ride, I didn't know what I was doing! Here's a picture of my big brother in 1968 when he was 17 just before turning 18.
 

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My first bike was a '84 yahama 125. My mom bought it from some of her friends for me. The trick was it was in parts form. The bike had the tires and wheels mounted, and the carb was in one piece, but other then that she looked like a box of parts. At the time I thought she was mean for giving me a bike like that, don't get me wrong I was happy to get it; but as I got older I began to realize the life lesson I was being taught.

I had not bought a bike that I did not have to do major work on to get running till about 5 years ago.

By the way, I layed down that first 125 more times then I would like to remember(the whole young, dumb, and full of (EDIT) )

Sitting here now thinking about that brings back great memories, thanks for starting this post.

Please read this...

A Friendly Reminder - Harley Davidson Community

 
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