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

HAHAHAHAHAH shit.... Yours was so much nicer than any of the 7 that I have owned. lmao My first track experience was on a 95" 600 Kat. I loved that damn bike.

 

1986 Kaw. 600R...for 15 minutes...traded in on 1986 GSX-R 750 that went directly to Summit Point for a WERA race school in the snow...with Al flagging the weekend...Cool shit!

 

89 Katana 750. It was my first race bike too. There was a couple unhappy Gixxer and ZX7 owners that year.

 

I moved out of my parents at age 20 from Chicagoland to Tempe AZ.

Within 2 weeks I purchased this for $1200. Mikuni Flatslides and an unpacked V&H Meg.

I could not pay my bills but had just enough for gas and insurance. I was happier than a pig in shit.

 

This was my "street bike" back in the day...........

 

grew up with a dad who raced WERA and rode dirt from the time i was old enough to reach the handle bars. first bike was a Honda XR70. first street bike was a 2004 KTM Duke. still have it and its exactly like this one except i had to put Dunlops on mine

was also my first track bike. did one track day on then went and bought a track-prepped SV which is still my racebike to this day.

 

This was back in 1999. I didn't even have a license yet, but I was getting ready to take the MSF course. I was just poking through the ads in the Washington Post as saw an add for a Zephyr 550 for only $2000. Excellent shape and low miles. I asked my friend (an MSF instructor) about the bike and he said it was a nice standard bike and would be a good beginners bike.

So we called the guy, hopped in the truck and went to take a look. Well the Navy Admiral we met had been using it to commute from Arlington to the Pentagon on it. He let my friend take it for a test ride. When my friend came back he basically told me "if you don't buy this bike I am going to buy this bike." Well that was good enough for me. The Admiral took a personal check even! I guess you don't get to be an Admiral without learning how to read if people are honest or not. Unfortunately he kept his license plate surround that read something like: "My other vehicle is a nuclear submarine".

My friend rode the bike back to his place and I followed in his truck. We stopped at a toll booth and when he gassed it coming out of the other side it put out a bunch of black smoke. I asked my friend about it and he said, "Yeah that was the first time I really gave it the gas. The Admiral probably never revved the thing past 5k on his commute so it blew some soot out of the exhaust."

Well I loved that little bike and it never blew black some again. The only problem I had with it was that I occasionally had to drop the left float bowl and clean out some rust if it sat too long. If I would have kept it longer I would have had the tank creamed and put some stiffer springs on the rear shocks (we did put new springs in and service the forks while I had it).

 

First street legal bike was when I was 14. A 91 Kawasaki KE100.. Put about 3,000 miles on that thing. Rain, cold, hot didnt matter. I didn't get my first car till i was 17 but didn't care because I enjoyed riding the bike to school and everywhere else. Anytime id ride in heavy rain the points would get wet and it would sputter like hell until I could stop and dry them off.

 

The intent was to drive you out into the open, again.

Aren't you near the YMS fields?

 

19 years old, I had a Baja Bug.
While offroading it down a trail, I caught a tree w/ my back tire (12" wide so they stuck out kindof far), bending the trailing arm pretty bad.
Asked the local mechanic (long time VW nut) about it, and he suggested trading it for his motorcycle, a 1993 Suzuki GS500E (this would've been back around '98).

I had always thought his bike was cool, so it was a done deal.
Been riding ever since.

 

First legalstreet bike Was a 1989 gsxr 750 red n white i loved that bike i was a juinor in high school it was fun racing all the guys with fast cars
lol good times it ended quick i got hit buy another bike and it was totalled 3 months later i would like to buy 1 just like it though

 

What: 1972 KZ900 Z-1
Where: Suburban Detroit
When: 1980
Why: My older brother and I split the $750 cost! It was a beater but ran like a scalded ape. I was years away from getting my license, but I had already been riding minibikes and dirtbikes for years, so figured "I can handle an 800 lb. KZ900!" Scared the hell out of me, and should have killed me at least twice. Oh yeah...where were my parents? Well...my brother and I avoided that potential problem by keeping it at a friend's house down the street!

 

best motorcycle story so far in this thread

 

Bandit 1200...I didn't just pull the name "KrashBandit" outta the sky

 

My first bike was a brand new 2003 Yamaha R6. Did not have a MC license or know how to ride, so a friend rode it home for me. I practiced the clutch in my driveway and after a couple days got the nerve to try my street. I got up to 25 mph in 3rd gear!!

The next big step was driving in traffic. I pulled up to the interesection out of my neighborhood...it was a 50 mph 4 lane road!! After about 5 mins of sitting there getting cooked in the heat I took the plunge and pulled into traffic. I kept taking the roads that fed into the interstates/beltways because I did not know if I could keep from stalling out at a light/stop sign. After 50 miles of riding I made it back home. I put 19K on that bike in 18 months.

I had 17k on the clock before I got my license. I was on my 3rd learners before I was able to get into the MSF class to get my license. In MD at the time, the MSF classes opened up in Jan and within 2 hours my choices were 2nd to last week in Oct and the last week in Oct. I rode with a guy from work all year and he opened my eyes to other bikes.....the Aprilia Falco and Honda RC51. I sold my R6 and have had twins ever since. Current bikes in the stable.... Aprilia Falco, Aprilia RSVR Factory, Honda RC51 and a little Ninja 250R.

 

Back in 2004, just graduated from high school. Rode dirt bikes my whole life, and took some spins on my cousin's SRAD 750. Always wanted a street bike, but the parents said hell no, stick to dirt.
I didn't have a bike then, so I was riding my cousin's RM125 and doing freestyle. Crashed on a 80 footer, blew my spleen apart, tore my rotator cuff, dislocated shoulder, concussion, etc. Spent a week in ICU for the internal bleeding.

First day out, I asked my parents for the okay to get an RM of my own, and my mom thought it would be safer for me to get a street bike.

Went two weeks later and picked up an old 1993 ZX6 with 9K miles. Put over 50K on it, rebuilt the trans 3 times, and sold it to friend for cheap. That's when I switched to Honda's.
175,000 miles and still going.

 

About a mile and a half. They're down on the river, I'm up on the hill out of the flood plain.

Since you seem to know the way to New Hope*, maybe you "outed" yourself



*Known locally as "Provincetown on the Delaware" NTTAWWT

 

I was fresh out of high school,rode out of a local Yamaha dealer's parking lot on July 17th at app. 5pm in 1967 on a candy apple blue 100cc twin with electric start.
Less than a year later I bought a Bridgestone 350GTR that I couldn't get both feet flat on the ground

 

2006 GSX-R600

Until 2007, I had never sat on a motorcycle of any kind, dirt nor street. I was taking a shit looked down and saw a motorcycle magazine sitting there with a guy going around a curve, dragging his knee, in a pack of other racers.

I picked it up and said "now that shit looks fun". So i asked a buddy what i should get, he said a Gixxer. So i called the dealership and they had a new, leftover '06 so i grabbed it.

Went to the dealership and they rolled it out of the back and i was like "umm, you mind putting it up on the trailer for me?". I didnt want to tell them i had never sat on a bike and didnt know how to start it. [/squid]

Took it to my buddy's house and he showed me how to turn it on, which levers did what etc. I put my gear on and took out down the road. The next weekend, i took the MSF course.

Few months later, did my first track day. 6-7 months later, did my first race. Rest is history.

 

I joined the Coast Guard in August 1980 and after boot camp was stationed in Marathon, Fla. Keys In October. My only riding experience was my 1971 SL125. In December I went to Key West Honda and purchased a brand new 1981 750F that the owner had bought for his son but then wouldn't let him ride it. This was the overseas model, not the one with the goofy 85mph speedometer.

I rode that bike everywhere. My aunt had a condo on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale so I rode up there every weekend I was off. In May of 1981 I was cruising around Key Biscayne in Miami and saw a group of girls having a party. I stopped and started chatting them up and hit it off with one of them. We dated over the summer and then she moved to Charleston, SC to get a job in her industry (she was in college in Miami).

Well, not being one to give up easy, I hopped on the trusty 750 and left Marathon on a Friday afternoon and rode to Charleston so I could hang out with her for a day and then turned around and came back. 1408 miles just to be with her. She moved down to Marathon a month later, so this May we will have been together for 30 years.

I still say that this would have never happened if I didn't have that bike. I was broke as hell being a lowly E2 Coastie, but I could always manage the $3 it cost back then to fill the bike up and go. And to this day she has never questioned anything that has to do with motorcycles. A bike is why we are together. Still have the bike.