Triumphrat

Normandy

When I was 15 a friend let me ride his 175 yamaha. Was hooked and had bikes ever since.

badrufus

I spent much of my childhood either on my bicycle, a beautiful black 3-speed English Racer, as they were called then, or my Flexible Flyer, roaring down snow-covered hills hills. No exposure to powered bikes until age 13, when I managed to snag a couple of rides on a friend of a friend's mini-bike. Later I saved and bought a 15' racing sailboat when I was 17, and mostly sailed it solo, fast as I could. When I was 34 and had spent most of my life slogging through school, then graduate school, plus working at the same time, I decided, pretty much out of the blue, that I was going to get a motorcycle, or go nuts. I looked at HD's but in 1990, they still had a pretty bad reputation as far as reliability, so I looked a Yamahas, and bought a 750 Virago. Not an easy bike to learn on, but within a year I bought a 1980 Yamaha XS650, parallel twin paint shaker that was more fun the the English Racer, Flexible Flyer, and sailboat combined. Another Yam in 92, and then traded it in for what I really wanted, a new Bonnie. I have no idea of where the urge for either the sailboat or motorcycle came from--I certainly did not have anyone encouraging either activity, but I pursued both on my own and with much passion.

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2005 T100

sargent

For me it was pretty simple, I grew up in a house that was never without at least one motorcycle. My first moto memory was burning my right leg on the exhaust pipe about 2 seconds after dad told me to wait until he could pick me up off the bike. After that it was a childhood spent riding on the back of dad's BMWs on adventures to places all over the US. Mom rode too so I was hopelessly hooked.

When I was 19 they agreed that it was time for my own and helped me buy an 88 Honda Hawk GT; they didn't want me getting a piece of junk since that's all I would have been able to afford on my own.

Flash forward to college (and a few bikes later) and my then girlfriend/now wife and I went on one of our first dates to the MSF course so she could learn to ride on her own.

Now she's on her 5th or 6th bike and we have a 4 month old son who's ready to start the cycle all over again Hopefully I'll pick up a Bonnie Black or Scrambler in a few weeks and keep it in good enough shape that I can pass it onto him when the time is right.

caolddude

My best friend bought a Triumph 250 trophy single in 69 and we both learned to ride on it. The end of 70 I bought my first bike a 71 honda cb350. Had a down payment the next year on a 71 triumph 650 tiger (single carb) but lost my job so ended up with another 360 honda, then more honda's through out the years (85 goldwing was the last ) and waited all this time till last year when I finally got my Triumph.. 03 T100... Yes actually it was worth the wait.

Bhakti-rider

My first time operating a powered 2-wheeler was when I was 13 or 14, 1959 or 60. It was called a Blazer, I think; it was like a Tote Gote, if anyone remembers those - small tractor-type tires, rope-pull-start Briggs & Stratton. This was on a ranch. In 1963, after graduating from high school and getting a job, I got a '54 Allstate (Vespa). I rode that off-road too, and the first time I ever had the front wheel come off the ground cresting a small rise was a revelation. In '64 I got a Yamaha 80. After a while I got a big sprocket, knobbies, and a spark arrestor and used it for trail riding and hillclimbing, and learned to jump with it. The next year, fresh out of tech school in the Air Force, I was home on leave and bought a brand new Honda CB160. Man, was I in heaven! I rode that from San Jose to Tucson to my first assignment; sold it when I got orders to Viet Nam. After I got back from there, I bought a new Super Hawk (305cc roadster). Then came a CB350, later a Yamaha 250 4-stroke single road bike for commuting (I got knocked off that and stopped riding for about 15 years). Then I got a Honda CX500 for a while, and stopped again for a few years. In 1997 I decided to ride again and got a Magna, in spite of my disdain for the shallow-fork-angle look and handling, because I fell in love with the engine. After a year I traded it for a BMW ("Bring Money With", "Bleed My Wallet") 1100 Roadster. In 2002 I became a multi-bike guy by buying an SV650, which is so good I still have it and will never voluntarily part with it. Which brings me to 2005 and the purchase of a T100, which has now had many many mods and is almost finalized. There are a lot of bikes that are good and are great to ride, but only a British twin is a British twin!

Hope I didn't bore anyone!

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James Dean drove fast. Albert Camus drove fast. Mario Andretti didn't drive fast enough.