I don't know if I'm doing this right, but I'll give it a shot...
It was years ago, when I was a kid, but my first motorcycle was a 1948 Harley with the tank shift and a foot operated clutch. Spark advance was controlled just like the throttle, except it was done with the left grip.
There were no motorcycle licenses or endorsements back then; if you had a regular driver's license and you got a motorcycle, you simply took it out onto the street and taught yourself how to drive it. Those were the days.
I bought that bike for $80; and after driving it for awhile, I sold it to one of my friends for $125. That was certainly stupid, but it's not the only stupid thing I've done.
I owned one of those 1954 Corvettes for a while too. I ended up selling that gem for $300--but that's a story for another time on a different forum.
Ed Carpenter AKA carpened