What, Where, Why, When... your first streetbike

1971 BMW R60/5, bought on Thanksgiving Day 1979 for $550. I rode the hell out of it, rode it
back from Texas once and did a lot of jumping on Animal Hill with it. I donated it to Flatline Racing
for parts about 5 years ago, so pieces of it are still racing at Loudon.

 

On Cinco de Mayo in 1980 a drunk driving lady with the vanity license plate of GODPOWR turned left in front of me on Spring Street in Long Beach, Ca. and creamed me and my 1975 Fiat 124 Spider. Nearly rolled the thing, but mostly ended up OK despite getting clocked by the drivers side rear view mirror.

Took the insurance $$ to Newport Beach Vespa and picked up a shiny new P200E (two-stroke 200cc scoot). Had that through 1988, constantly upgrading with parts from the burgeoning UK scooter companies. It was followed by varied RD's and RZ's..

hooked since.

-jim

 

My whole life, as long as I can remember I wanted a motorcycle.

I wanted a Ducati 900SS but there was too much hassle. I was stationed in Italy at the time. I deployed to Kosovo, when I came back I had some extra strap, first stop military vehicle sales...

I bought a yellow 99 Buell Lightning. I loved her, but she didn't love me. Most unreliable bike I have ever owned, but it was an AB-so-lute blast flying around Italy with some EYE-talian girl on the back.

Then I got married... Sold the Buell, later bought an R6 then an RC51 next an R1. To be continued...

 

I bought a 91 Katana 600 with a oil leak and no second gear for $800 when I was 18 (2001) and got kicked outta my parents' house for buying a bike. It started an addiction, and over the last 10 years I've had a 94 rf600, 98 gsxr750, 97 gsxr750, 98 zx-9r, 99 r6, 2000 r1, two cbr900rrs, 929, 03 r6, 04 r6, 88 ex250, 01 grxr600, 97 bandit 1200, 99 sv650, 03 rc51, 74 HD sportster 1200, 06 gsxr600, and uh... I think that's it? No wonder I'm broke.

 

my older brother bought a 02 sv650s from the dealer and rode that thing for a couple years, then he boughtm a newer buell we were sitting at my dads house and ( dad owns 3 bikes) i was like 14 at the time i think, he asked me non shelontly (sp?) you wanna buy jakes bike? i was like, uh ya! so i got that and rode in the yard to get the hang of it then i got my endorsement when i was 17, rode it for a year and sold it back to my brother and bought my 06 cbr600rr then he gave me the sv back and i traded it for a dirtbike

 

1992 Katana 600, bought it used in '98 or so from a guy in Dayton. I was living just north of Lexington at the time, co-oping at the Toyota plant, making good money and had always wanted a motorcycle. I had taken the MSF course and was (and still am) a relatively safe person, so no good stories. I did lay it down almost immediately though. The place I was living at the time was at the bottom of a very steep, rutted gravel drive. The 1st time I tried to ride the bike up the drive I got a lesson in throttle control as each rut I hit caused me to roll on and then off the throttle. After about 5 or 6 of these ruts, the bike shot out from under me and fell on it's side, scratching the fairing and breaking the mirror. No issues after that and I sold it a few years later for what I bought it for. Next bike was a new 2002 600 F4i, wow was that first ride an eye opener after being acclimated to the Katana.

 

I had wanted a motorcycle for years, but my Mom was adamant that no kid of hers was going to ride a dangerous motorcycle.

August 1975, I was 18 and entering my second year of college. My HS track coach was selling his 1965 Honda CB160 as he had bought a new CB360 that summer. I offered to take it to school to sell. My parents were dubious, but somehow I managed to get away with this. I bought a helmet, hopped on and rode the two-lane from Chicago to Urbana. Learned how to ride along the way. Got hooked, bought the bike over time (4 payments of $75) and I've pretty much been riding ever since. Sold that bike in 1977 for $200 when I got a used '73 CL350

 

nonchalantly

When you're unsure of spelling. type "spelling" plus your best guess into Google....

 

Ahhh. CB160's. I did a partial resto job on one back in 2002 or so. Awesome little bikes...

This should bring back some memories: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ro2/sets/72157622779783299/show/with/4145980797/

-jim

 

I was 19 in 1982, went to buy a new CB750 SS with Comstar rims! I noticed this new red Honda V45 Sabre, it was about $800 more but I had to have this futuristic bike! It was fun, totaled it 2 years later, got a new 1000 Interceptor, totaled it 30 days later! (Niether was my fault) FUCK bikes!!! Didn't ride for 14 years till my cousin rode over with his new 1999 GSXR 600. WOW....gotta get another bike. So I bought another 84 1000 Interceptor in 99, 83 V45 Interceptor, 86 VF1000r, F4i, RC51, SV650 racebike...

 

1991- I was just out of the army and didn't want a car, so I traded a 67' fender Coronado XII to a buddy for his '82 CB450 nighthawk. I rode it for a year, traded up for a Yamaha 650 maxim, which I rode for another year and traded up for a '79 honda goldwing, in 95. I kept the GL for 10 years and constantly modified it, turning it first into a mini valkyrie, then into a quasi cafe racer. I kept blowing up engines- main bearings failures- so i'd buy another bike, pull the engine & keep going- it was cheaper than rebuilding. i got a few airhead beemers, as well.
in 2005, I got a bmw R1100S, the following year, I bought my first dedicated track bike, a gsxr 750. 3 years ago, i got rid of the beemer and gsxr and bought an 05 Kawasaki, which I still own.

 

1st was an 81 ltd 750 kaw in 85, then came 86 ninja 600, 88 ninja 600, 93 zx-7<with a built 9 engine> 98 gsxr1100, 96 gsxr 1100, 99 gsxr 600 <with fi 750 engine>, 3- 2001 gsxr 1000's, 2- 07 gsxr 600's. I think thats all of them.

 

My first bike was one of those old Sears mini-bikes with the ridged frame and a 3.5hp Briggs engine. It had a plywood seat with no padding, custom (dad and a rattle can) flat black paint job, and a performance boosting K&N air filter (scavenged off of one of my dad's old race cars). I rode the hell out of that thing. Then I went onto a late 70's Honda CB50. That thing was a blast. I wasn't great at a standing start when I first got it because it was the first bike with a clutch that I had ever had. I was 9 when I got it and could barely put my feet down to the ground. I remember bump starting it down the driveway for the first week or so. That bike was a blast. It was so cool to ride around my neighborhood on that thing. It was freedom. After that thing gave up I got a 1978 Yamaha DT 125 in green. That was the first bike that I learned to jump. I really miss that bike. At the same time I had a 1977 Suzuki RM125 that had been worked over. It had an oversize piston, had the ports worked on by a man named Joe Gilbert. He was a wiz at port work. He did the work on my dad's racecar heads and also on the yz50s that Danny and AJ raced. He also built the expansion pipe for that RM to match with the other work he did. Man that bike was fast. It could stay up with my buddies late 80's RM on the straights, but it was no where near as nimble.

 

My first street bike was a FZ600 (1990).I bought it because it had double headlights!I remember the first gsxr i ever noticed.A 1990 GSXR750.I thought it was rather wierd looking because all i ever did was race motocross and i never cared a bit about a street bike before then.Never saw a bike with fairings and i never watched road racing on tv.Well except chips patrol when Bruce pinwall was on the show.

 

my parents bought me an rs125 when I was 8 years old and I've been beating up tracks ever since

 

Suburban Rancher

My buddy has both the scrambler an std version of the 305. very fun bikes to ride. he also has a bridgestone 175 and 90

First streetbike - 82' seca 750 - I was 18
complete pile of crap. Used it mostly to ride in the corn field, took it off jumps, burn outs and what not. Occasionally rode it to my friends on all the back roads as I did not have a license.

first dirtbike I was 8 - XR80 80'

 

My favorite part of the bike is the little lip underneath that square headlight. It did nothing but look very cool to me. I also like the look of the '81 tail, very clean.

 

My first real streetbike was an 89' FZR1000. I had a dirtbike, a three wheeler and a few mopeds as a kid. When I was about 18 a friend introduced me to a racer from Canton Ohio named Paul who had a fleet of FZ's. After spending a few minutes listening to his stories, I knew I had to try it. I pretty much thought about it every day for the next five years.

Fast forward to 92. I was living in Southern Maryland and making some decent $$ and walked into a small bike shop in Ft. Washington. Bought the FZR with plans to race. Guys in the shop already raced, so it was like I found a new home. I loaded the bike and went to Nelsons for the riders school. I met Joe Brett Williams there. Talking to him sealed the deal as far as me racing.:up:

Found out over the winter when I sent in for my licence and got the rulebook that novices couldn't ride over 750cc. Went back to the bike shop and bought a used FZR400.

To this day the streets just not very appealing to me. Maybe if I lived somewhere with decent roads or was into Harleys it would be different. I always have a streetbike, but it usually just sits, and then gets sold. I'll be selling my current one soon. Florida roads suck.

 

My first street bike was a 77 kz650. I was 16 and my dad insisted that this was the perfect bike for me at 16. I think that thing weighed 700+ lbs and at 140lbs myself, I could barely get it up on the centre stand. I rode it regularly untill one day my girlfriend asked if we could go on his zx9. That was the end of me ever wanting to even look at the kz (not that I really liked it from day one, it was only 10 years ago).

 

That's a CL 77.

A friend had one and I chased him (attempted to, really) on a way-underpowered 1968 Yamaha YL-2 with block treaded-tires.

1972??? Whipper snapper!! I was chasing my buddy up RIver Road from NewHope to where Rte 32 meets Rte 611 long before you threw a leg over a machine!

Subsequent trips over said route were taken with a Yamaha TX500 , RD 400 ("NUFF SAID! ), a TZ350 that had an RD lower end and some lights were threw on it to test ride before we went racing the next weekend and a few BMW's, including the home-brewed race bike - R80 with R100 jugs.