How did you get hooked on Riding and Motorcycles?

[rmrc51]

Here's a great thread from the GL1800 forum. Most of the stories on how people got started riding motorcycles are very entertaining and enjoyable. I posted it for your reading pleasure.


How did you get hooked on Riding and Motorcycles?

[msocko3]

I always wanted to get one, when I was younger I would borrow bikes from buddies. Problem was I didn't have much of a fear factor, 1st thing I'd do is see where it would top out. Once I became married and had kids I still was a loose nut so I stayed away from 2 wheels, I was bad enough with 4. I finally felt I had reached a more mature level so I bought my 1st bike, an 883 Sportster. Once I was good and bitten I didn't own the Sporty more than 2 months before I moved right into baggers, then it was a new bagger each year until the 07 MY stopped me cold or shall I say roasted my chestnuts convincing me I should keep my 06.

I still have the need for performance, I just don't need to see where they'll top out anymore.

[Geezzer Glide]

I did ride a few mini bikes and a moped as I was growing up but I got my first actual motorcycle in 1970 at age 17. I came home on leave from Boot Camp for the Navy. My best friend had bought a motorcycle while I was gone at Boot Camp. He let me take it for a ride. Although I did not have a lot of money the next day I went to the local Honda Dealer and looked at quite a few bikes and found a 1967 Honda S90 that I could afford. Rode it home that day. Well to make a long story short as of now 2013 43 years later I'm still riding and my 2011 Tri glide is the 21st motorcycle I've owned over those 43 years and I'm still enjoying as much or more than I did when I bought the first one. After owning 21 motorcycles I've owned a little bit of just about everything on the market but I have to admit I like my Harleys the best.
I've been hit by a car 3 times and been banged and scraped up my share of times over the years but it hasn't stopped me from riding. I just keep going.
My son who is now 36 grew up riding on my bikes with me over the years so as one would think when he got old enough to drive he also got a motorcycle. He is now riding his 3rd bike. He bought a new 2013 Harley Road Glide back in July. Needless to say the day he brought it home the old man had to take for a ride. Nice bike.
Him and I ride a lot together and it's a rare occurrence that one of us work on our bike with out the other one there. We do it together all the time.
I know some guys fish or hunt with their son's but we do motorcycles together. I'm now 60 years old. My son has a son that is 8 years old. He has to be with us when we work on the bikes and he loves riding with us when he can. I think we have another biker growing up with him.
Dan

[jackpoet]

My uncle was an "over the road" trucker. When He was in town, he stayed with us. He had an "Indian Chief" he kept in our driveway when he was on the road. I was 14, when I discovered where he kept the key to the motorcycle. Took it for my first ride while my Dad was at work. Then my friend bought a Harley, he let me use it when he wasn't driving it. At 16 I got a Cushman Eagle, a scooter designed just like a motorcycle and capable of 60 mph. At 18, bought my first Harley, now 73 Driving my 4th GW and it is triked out. In short, that is my story.

[Rod69]

That's easy. My Mom won a Bridgestone 175 on The TV Sportsman Club out of Terre Haute In. when I was 15 years old. Started riding it and have been riding every since.

[FRR]

The first time Harry Cannon took me down the hill on ST RT 132 in 1959 on the back of his Harley 165 I knew I wanted to ride. Couldn't afford one until after high school and college,but I've never been without one in 45 yrs.

[cooltech]

Dad bought two little dirt bikes that we used every wkend camping in south Jersey. Campground was called Big Oak. Any of you Jersey folks know of it? It's gone now; Going back to the 60's for that info.
Chickend out on a down hill on a real dirtbike when I was, I guess in my 30's, but loved the the basic hills and small jumps; low riding four wheelers through the woods and in snow storms. Finally bought a Honda MB50; Yeah, a 50cc motorcycle that needed the slipstream of other vehicles to get past 55mph.
Now with the Trike...guess I finally grew up!
cooltech

[2006gold]

My first was a Cushman Super Eagle (can you believe those things go for around $8000 now!). When I asked to buy one the parents said 'no'. Thinking this very unacceptable answer over for a few minutes I walked out the front door and all the way to the newspaper office downtown (quite a trek) and landed a paper route. Got back home and informed the parents. Since they didn't want to get up a 4 am to throw the morning issue, nor help with the afternoon issue, I had a scooter within the week.

Second was a 650 BSA belonging to one of my running buddies. He didn't ride it often enough and wanted me to keep it going. That lasted until another running buddy and I did our best to polish off a bottle of George Dickel sipping whiskey one night before I was riding the bike to a football game. Woke up unharmed the next morning and decided that if I was stupid enough to do such a thing, I didn't need to be riding and gave it back.

Didn't ride again until just a few years ago ( a 40+ year interval) when the wife and I bought a 1989 Harley Sportster that I have really enjoyed riding, along with the GW trike and a Can Am. Going to be selling the Can Am. Bought it for the wife, but she's decided she'd rather ride behind me on the GW.

[jmk865]

Started with a ride given by a neighbor on a 1947 Indian when I was 5 years old. Loved it from the start and "finally" got my own ride in 1957 when I was 14.....a Sears Moped....never been without a "ride" since. Progressed from there to a 1953 Zundapp 200cc, 1959 Ariel Leader 250cc, 1968 Harley Sprint, 1978 Honda 550cc, 1980 Kawasaki 750cc, 1981 Harley Sportster 1000cc, 1993 Harley Sportster 1200, 2002 Harley Lowrider......now riding a 1994 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500cc with a tow-pac since July 2013 at 70 years of age and lovin every minute of it

[Birdman-68]

A friend's dad bought an Army surplus "Indian 841" at a auction right after he left the Army, when I was 16 years old, and he let me learn to ride on it. Now 55 years, and many bikes later, I am triking my current bike so I can keep on riding at 71. Needless to say I've still got the bug.

[Ozarkryder]

My uncle had an old Meyers Manx at his place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which he taught me to drive when I was 9. Throttle was stuck, tranny only had 1st gear so it was slow as walking. Speed was controlled by slipping the clutch and riding the brake. After he saw I was competent to drive that thing, he asked me to help him to clean out one of his garages. Under a tarp I found a used Rupp mini-bike. He told me if I could get it running I could have it. The fix was in- he had it running perfectly, I just had to find the loose spark plug wire. Rode the wheels off of that thing over the next few years. I grew up in a housing development, got so I could fix the centrifugal clutch because I burned them out running up and down dirt hills and in and out of basement holes so much.<br />
Next ride was a used mid-60's Sears &amp; Roebuck Allstate moped. Went like stink (well, in a 12 year old eyes) on the flat, but the pedals definitely came into play on any rise worth being called a hill.

<br />
Had that until I got my license, then had a few UJM's, an old Trumpet (still got most of my Whitworth tools), a Norton, a Suzuki Water Buffalo for a short time, a blue smoke Kawasaki 750 triple and a few Harleys. Had my current 1990 FLHS for 22 years. <br />
Since 1993 we have had a Trike Shop V-Cycle Runabout for 10 years, a 1995 GW1500SE Motor Trike and 3 years ago we picked up our current 2004 Champion GL1800.

[DK Custom Products]

Neighbor had a mini-bike when I was 6-7. After riding it, there was nothing else I thought about besides getting one myself, which I did soon after...it had a 3 hp Tecumseh, and one of the first things I did was remove the stock muffler and make my own. lol<br />
<br />
4th - 6th grade we lived in Westminster, Ca. Big MC town back then. I spent every afternoon on the way home from school sitting on the curb of Westminster Blvd. waiting for the bikes to ride by...the sound was amazing.<br />
<br />
Also during that time had a friend with a Honda Trail 90 that we would ride.<br />
<br />
When I was 11 our family moved to the Amazon basin in Peru for 2 years. The only mode of transportation there was motorcycles. Riding around the jungle just cemented my passion further.<br />
<br />
I stayed with dirt and enduro bikes until age 17, then got my first street bike. Honda SL350. That was 38 years ago.

Been riding ever since.<br />
<br />
Kevin

[Softail Trike]

I started on a friends mini bike as well. We would take turns riding around his pasture and one time the throttle hung wide open on me!! The kill switch didn't work so I had to pull the spark plug wire to stop it!

When I was a teenager, my dad brought home a Yamaha 125 Enduro that someone gave him......needed a lot of work but I got it going & rode it for several years off road in pipeline right-of-ways & anywhere else I could find. I had only rode a street bike a couple of times in my teens & early 20's and didn't like it. One of them was a Yamaha 600 a friend had & my feet wouldn't hardly touch the ground so I dreaded stopping!! I never had any desire to ride in automobile traffic so I never pursued a street bike at all!

Fast forward 20 years........my wife wanted to get into riding so we went and took the required riders course. We were planning on just renting a bike while on vacation but decided we needed to stay in practice riding so started looking for something cheap to hone our skills on. I test rode several used Honda's, Yamaha's & Suzuki's but none of them did much for me....just didn't feel right. Then she found a used '02 Harley Heritage Softail which I hadn't even been looking at Harley's because I didn't want to spend that much! We went ahead and looked at it & boy that was a mistake!!

Black & chrome, looked almost showroom new!! I had never rode a Harley of any kind but always loved the way they sounded! I fired it up & was instantly in love but I still had not ever been on a bike that big. The owner insisted I take it down the road & I was trying to hide how nervous I was about it!! I finally took off on the farm road he lived on and it was an instant, satisfying feeling of freedom I had never experienced before!! It was like me and that Heritage were made for each other!! I felt like I had been riding it all my life....none of the smaller bikes I tried even came close to being that comfortable!!

Needless to say, I left that day with my first & possibly last street bike! I paid double what I was planning on paying for a bike but was sooo glad I did!! After getting it home, my wife took it for a spin and fell in love with it too.....so much so that she wanted one of her own!! So we found her an '03 Heritage silver/black anniversary model & we were set!!

I still don't like traffic, so we try to ride in remote areas as much as possible.

My wife started having trouble with her hips (bursitis), which was causing her to not want to ride as much so we finally decided to trike hers. It has worked out great & we both love the open road riding!! We have lots of places we want to go ride so they should keep us busy for many years to come!

[tomg]

I started on a old cushman scooter at 11 yrs old. It was easier to get away with driving the scooter at 11 than trying to drive a car !!! They only got bigger and better after that until I bought the Stallion early '09.

Tomg

[Rollin Thunder]

Well I went out to buy a new Corvette back in 81. They wouldn't give me the General Motors Employee discount on one of those. So I said &^%$ you. I was with a good friend at the time. We were on our way home. When he asked to stop by and see a friend at a Honda shop.. I said sure why not lets go. Well we pulld in and his friend was outside with a customer. So we walked around an looked at bikes. Now up to that very moment I still called them Murder cycles!

Well 2 1/2 hrs later I was the new onwer of a Brand New Gold wing. But not the touring version. This was bare bones bike. Then my buddy said how you getting that home? Oh oh! I said your driving it. Cause I only rode a few dirt bikes up till then. he drove it back to my place for me . I had NO Idea what I just did. Would change my life for ever.

My wife walked out & asked who's is that? I said mine. She just turned around and said DO you know how to ride it? Oh hell yeah. been there done that. But Jimmie is going to make sure I know everything. yeah right. Him & I went out a few days for weeks. Till I took the m/c test. Been on a Motorcycle ever since. There was a 10 hic up when I had the Hot Rod Bug.

But were back into it again! Wish I never would have stopped ridin. Going to make up for it this winter in Arizona

[Rollin Thunder]

I have to clear something up about m last post. Then in 85 I was riding with some friends back home from a swap meet in Detroit. When one of my friends rode up to me and was kiddin me about riding a Wing. Since they all rode Harley's. He gunned it once or twice at a stop light. Me being an old Hot Rodder and drag racer. LOVED the way his sounded. So I made him an offer to buy his 80 Low rider. Wife HATED that bike compared to the wing. But I rode it a lot with them. Then the next yr we went down to our 1st bike week in Daytona.

HOLY &*^% Batman. I never seen that many Harley's in all my life! I never knew they made that many . So later that week wife & I took a demo ride on a new Bagger 1988. Iwas hooked big time. I think we must have rode 40 yards when she leaned forward and said!!!! You should get one of these when we get back home. man O Man I was smiling after that. I was looking for a phone to call a dealer back in Mi ha ha ha. I told my Buddy Dennis what my wife said.

he said wow dude really ? I said where did you get your 1986 Liberty from. And we called him the next day from Daytona. He said he's expecting 4 in the following week. I asked if he had a red one coming in. He lokked and said yup. Got one full Dresser coming in next week. I asked him to hold it for me. That was my LIFE starting all over again. Best thing I ever did.

Besides Marring my Wife Now we've had 8 of them thru the years Mostly baggers. One Fat Boy and one Heritage softail her's... Now ridin a 2006 Electra Glide i bought about a month ago with only 4k on it. Lovin every min of it. pepper

[Doug D.]

I’d ridden some as a kid, mostly dirt bikes and such, and a few times on borrowed street bikes. I owned an ATV later in life that was used primarily for work and hunting. After selling that, it would be ten or twelve years before I rode anything again. In fact, the thought to do so would never cross my mind, until this...

I have this friend, a life long friend whom I’ve known since we were five or six years old. We’re more brothers than friends, actually, but that’s another conversation. I had moved away from home some twenty odd years ago, and of course, my friend and I stayed in touch over the years as best as life’s twists and turns would allow. He would on occasion, pass through here and we’d get together for lunch or coffee, or just to catch up.

One day, I get a phone call. He was on his way to visit his daughter who was attending college not far from where I live, and asked if I wanted to have lunch. This was on a Saturday, and I had to decline because of another obligation.

This happened on occasion, but this time he was insistent, and there was a tone in his voice that suggested something of some concern. Not saying so, but being a little worried, I suggested we grab some lunch the next day and he agreed.

As I neared our usual meeting spot, I had this feeling that something was different. Not necessarily wrong, but just different. I had this premonition, if you will, that I’d find him on a bike. I pulled into the parking lot, and I’ll be damned, but there he sat on this beautiful Heritage Soft Tail, black as night and splattered with chrome! And he looked like hell, all leathered up looking like he’d been on the road for a month! Keep in mind, he holds a ranking position in a government agency, so he’s normally pretty, well, normal looking. And the only thing I could say was, WTF!!

He went on to tell me the story of how he’d suffered a fit of depression after his kids left home, and his job had started to get the best of him. He’d been considering a bike for a while, and in the midst of his “crisis”, his wife, seeing the state he was in, asked him if he was still interested getting one.

He of course said yes.

And so began his journey…

We continued to talk over lunch, and before it even came into conversation, I knew in my mind he was planning a trip to Sturgis. I don’t know how, I just knew. He proceeded to lay out his plan, and ended with “And you’re going”. So I asked him, “How the hell am I supposed to get there, ride bitch on the Soft Tail? There’s no way I can buy a bike right now!” And that was true, my business had just tanked and I was working a job that hardly paid enough to make ends meet. He laughed of course, and said with stern conviction that I was not riding bitch on the Soft Tail. He said, “Borrow a bike, buy one, rent one, hell steal one, I don’t care. You are going. WE are going, together.”

Even before he said the words, I knew I was going.

It wasn’t even a question, even though I would spend the next hour and a half arguing more with myself than him about how I couldn’t afford it, how I couldn’t handle a big enough bike because of a bad knee, how the wife would certainly take a dump on the whole idea, and so on, and so on, and so on…

When all was said and done, my own journey had begun…

What happened in the months that followed is fodder for another tale, but it was at that point, I was hooked. I was hooked before I even climbed into the saddle, hooked by the realization, an epiphany if you will, that I needed to do this. Without going into a bunch more detail, I knew it was the only answer to a crisis of my own, and my friend lit the way.

[GrandpaDave]

I started riding a friends Honda CB160 as a teenager in the mid 60's. In the early 70's I worked for a Honda dealer and had a 305 dream to ride every day. I rode everything from mini 70's to a CB750 during that time. Then along came kids and bikes were a luxury I couldn't justify. When my boys were old enough to learn to ride I got a Yamaha 50 at a garage sale for them to learn on. By then then riding anything over 50cc's required a motorcycle test so my boys and I tested together. We has a Kawasaki 440 and a 78 Honda 400 Hawk (bought 10 years old with 500 miles on it)and I still have that bike today. Then my twin daughters started riding 50cc scooters for summer jobs so the fun continued. My wife bought me my first Goldwing (85 1200 Aspencade) for my 55th birthday. Then we upgraded to a 90 1500, a 2000 1500 w/motortrike kit and now a 2007 gl1800 with a Chanpion kit.

This one has factory navigation and the works. She has never been so relaxed riding as she is on the current trike. By the way we're hunting for a trailer to haul it 1700 miles for our winter getaway to AZ in February. No we're not going to ride it from ND to AZ at that time of the year.

[bongobobny]

Well, besides growing up in the 50's and 60's, a friend from Toronto showed up at my place back in '64 with a Lambretta and we went riding...

[Buckin']

Two wheels are addictive but now they are not enough and four are too many.