This bike started it all for me

Good lawd I lusted after this bike when it came out. Wanted one so bad. Had all the Kawasaki marketing materials and motorcycle mag articles stapled to my Air Force dorm room wall. I ended up getting a 1981 Honda CB750F as my first bike for some reason... not sure why I didn't get the Kawi. Would love to find one someday.

 

I had the 750 for about a year, until I finished my original fzr400/600. Then the gpz hit the road.

 

My dads H2 triple was the one that planted the seed……..then it was when I laid my eyes upon a fzr750. That’s the one that fed it fertilizer

 

Sorry, this is the only picture I have from that era, but here's me with my brand new 1981 CB750F. First real motorcycle I bought and yes I had a picture of it hanging on my bedroom wall before the purchase. And what you see was my typical riding gear in the day, Funny thing is that the morning dishwasher at the restaurant my wife worked at had the exact GPz550 as above and I thought it was cool as hell. But not as cool as my F bike

 

When I was prolly 7-8 years old, i visited my pops at work for lunch. A young kid who worked with him (my dad was prolly 28 at the time, and this kid was prolly 20) Had a early 90's ZX7R. I was obsessed with it. he let me sit on it all the time and he gave me a ride around the parking lot once. Ever since then I was hooked on sportbikes.

I had already started to really get into racing. It was mostly F1 and Rally Car stuff, but I was also starting to get into AMA/GP/and WSBK when I could find media of it. However, I like to think this bike/kid really got me into motorcycles and made me a huge fan of anything Kawasaki.

In 2007 when I was a senior in highschool, I woke up one morning and decided to go spend a bunch of my money I had made from my afterschool/weekend welding job.. So I went up to the dealership and purchased a brand new 2007 ZX6R in lime green.. lol Dudes at the dealership thought I was a lunatic, but they still let me ride off on it.

 

My late teen years... lusted and and bought a brand new 86 Yamaha FZ600
For some reason... those big "endurance style" headlights on the Yamaha just tickled me in a special way.

 

I couldn't get into bikes until later in life when sensibility has already set in. I bought a used V45 Sabre to dip my toe into the madness. What I had my eye on was a FJ1100 which I got a chance to test ride in 1985. My impression was it was like riding a milk stool at 120 mph! I bought it that day and the dealer was even having a dollar a cc sale! Still have the bike with 80,000 miles though it's been heavily modified to have 17 wheels, better brakes, no anti-dive, etc etc. Funny thing is that it is now my touring bike. Always remembered the magazine description of it as a "velvet sledgehammer".

 

mine was a suzuki rgv 250cc, still never got one or ridden one lol

 

I was about 10 or 11...there was a commercial on ABC wide world of sports. It was the Yamaha XS 1100 midnight special..or midnight maxim, I forget the exact model. It was shiny and badass and I wanted it. Years later I saw an RZ350 in a showroom in Oceanside CA. Kenny Roberts replica. I bought it. Not because it reminded me of the XS 1100, I bought it because it reminded me of Kenny Robert's pulling the most bad ass wheelie I ever seen coming out of a turn....
Nice..thanks for the retro thoughts

 

My older brother had this exact bike and I logged many miles on the back of it as a kid. I can still hear and smell the exhaust sitting at a light on Markbreit Ave. That's the exact moment I fell in love with motorcycles.

 

I was a big fan of the GPZ500 as well, many well-thumbed motorcycle magazines featuring it. I ended up getting a Honda 500 interceptor as my first "real streetbike" instead. V4 and small wheels were GP stuff!

 

That was my first street bike...81 GPz 550. Bought it from my uncle and rode it from MI to Ft Bragg. Sold it 6 mo later and bought my 92 FZR 600.

 

That was my first road bike. Had the blue on top of the tank. Bought if from a highschool friend shortly after graduation. Such a handsome bike and it was like new.

 

First new bike....steering head bearings were destroyed from wheelies in 6 months.

 

I had seen original Interceptors popping wheelies when I was a kid and immediately thought "that's the coolest thing on earth".
Then my uncle pulled in our driveway with the original CBR900RR in red/white/blue and man did I lust after this thing. Stood there gazing at it for an entire afternoon.

 

That bike is ‘Murrican. As. Fuck.

 

The one I lusted for in HS, it would be another 20 years before I rode on the skreet legally and a few more before I discovered you ride one on a track....

 

If you're ever on the east coast or up/down 95, stop by, bring a helmet, we got you. VJ21, VJ22SP and a VJ23, I'll even let you spin an Aprilia RS250 just to complete the lineup... You'd want the 23....

 

1st race scoot..

 

You have good taste, my friend

Bought mine new from a dealer in Shreveport for $2,195 IIRC. The 900 was only like $300 more, but I was an 18 year old airman at the time, and that extra $300 was a no go for me.