What would your life be like without motorcycles?

oldbikenut

After reading another thread and the comments it made me think about what these old bikes mean to all of us. My motorcycle days started in the mid 70's when my dad brought me home a Honda trail 70, I've been hooked ever since! I know we have a wide range of ages on this site, which is great that we can all share are similar interest in old bikes in general. I really enjoy reading others stories of when people got started with motorcycles. One that stands out to me if I'm not mistaken is tee-cat, who did not started riding until he was in his fifties, he now has a great looking bike and he sounds hooked like most of us here! Now there are some people on this site that have had or have careers working with motorcycles like xsjohn, whos skills with bikes is beyond what I could ever hope to acheive, but I sure appreciate him sharing his knowledge!

Anyways back to my original subject. I can't really imagine my life without motorcycles, I own 5 1/2 of them now and have owned some 20 or so since the age of 12. I in some way everyday I do something invovling motorcycles, even just posting on this site keeps me involved, I think my wife appreciates it, as she does'nt have to hear about it. If I did not have motorcycles, I think I would be more into jeeping or possibly woodworking(with hand tools), these are things I dabble in but my motorcycles come first.(actually family first).

If you feel like sharing when you got started riding and on what, I think it would be interesting and what other hobbies might you have had gotten into if you did not have motorcycles?

xsjohn

10 or 11 years old................dad wen't away for 3 months...Air Force stuff........when he came back I had ridden his bike around the house at least a 1000 times after being told not to touch it.......a trench gave it away........ ass whipping............

xsjohn

nudude53

I raced quarter midgets as a kid which introduced me to the thrill of speed and feeling the wind in my face. My very first bike was a mini bike with a Clinton 2 stroke, I had saved up my allowance, Christmas and birthday money to buy it for $50. Man, that thing was fast, my dad put a stop screw in the trottle at the carb to slow it down and keep me out of the hospital. That was in the summer of 1964, I was 11. In '67 I saved up enough money from baling hay and mowing lawns to buy a Honda Cub 50 for $125 from a local Honda shop and my brother inheirited the mini bike, I've been his hero ever since. Between bikes and in the winter months I build model planes, an excercise in patience that has paid off in working on bikes over the years. When the kids grew up and left the nest I regressed, I'm addicted to the smell of gasoline and model airplane dope and still can't get enough wind in my face, or bugs.

oldbikenut

Very cool!
xsjohn, what kind of bike did your dad have?

nudude53, great pictures! I always wanted to try and race carts(nothing quite as fancy as you had there), but nobody was doing that around where I lived. I did race BMX, it was pretty new in the late 70's, you did'nt need all the fancy gear they have today or the $1,000 bikes!

Barbara

Hi Guys,

Once upon a time, when the Earth was young, and it's crust was cooling, a certain father bought his oldest offspring a Lambretta scooter, a 1959 LD125. His intentions were good, although somewhat unusual for the time, and his eldest was quick to seize the opportunity.....

That was in 1962. Was it great to have my own transportation? Oh, yeah! (No license, but lots of fun!) Was it fun to be unusual and have people notice, in those days before "You Meet The Nicest People", and when the only females on bikes were beatnik chickies? You betcha.

Was it fun to repair the thing, under the loving guidance of my father, who would show me how but make me do it? Well, no, not at the time, but I love him for it now!

That was many hundreds of thousands of miles and somewhere around 50 bikes ago. I have my '77 XS650 that I have had since February of 1978, and it has lasted longer than two marriages.....I took my son to kindergarten in my first sidecar, on that very bike.

otorcycles are such a part of my life that I feel withdrawal if I'm not doing something bike-oriented every day. So--what would my life be like? Friggin' BORING, that's what!

I have my son and granddaughters--they come first. I have my bikes. I write and in a rather microscopic way have been published. I adore aircraft of WWII and WWI and the years between--the "Golden Age Of Aviation". I read about three or four books a week and enjoy that a lot.

But bikes---bikes are magic carpets. On a bike I am young, and a bit silly sometimes, and--well, it gets metaphysical; to explain is to insult the rest of you guys, since you already know, or you wouldn't be here.

(With apologies for the rather lengthy post.....I do go on...and on...and on!) Rolling Eyes

gordo

Barbara, that is awsome!!! John, my dad, too, had a bike when I was young. But it was way too big for me,(an old Pan Head he used to ride on base.)My mom's father did not ever own a car,he too had Harley's with the sidecar. My first bike was a QA 50 from Honda, I believe I was 8 at the time. First in the old 'hood with a bike.( Like the hip-hop slang?)
those early year's were the best, as all the kid's I grew up with had some kind of bike, whether it was a 'mini bike' or QA or whatever. Anyone remember the Hodaka's? Then thing's started to get crazy.
My first street bike was an old HD.750 sportster,1956 with the shifter on the right side, popsicle kicker. I got it for like $50.All in boxes. I eventually got it all together, after hounding all the guy's at the local Harley shop. I even got a job there one summer after all was said & done.
Boy, I sure do miss those day's, although not the merciless beating's I got when the cop's brought me home instead of arresting me/us. Boy oh boy, were we bold brat's then. Shocked

Yea Barb, they are magic carpet's, as when I ride, I am often in a wourd of DILLIGAF.,,,Gordo Shocked

oldbikenut

Barbara wrote:

(With apologies for the rather lengthy post.....I do go on...and on...and on!) Rolling Eyes

I thought your post was a little short Laughing

Barbara I could tell from reading quite a few of your other posts, what motorcycles mean to you! It really nice hearing some history of what may have had led you to this passion for bikes! I can't imagine a life without bikes either, it would sure be boring to say the least!

Gordo, you mentioned Hodakas, they had the strangest model names that I can think of, names like dirt squirt, super rat, road toad and wombat to name a few. That for sharing your story, what a first street bike you had.

nudude53

Here's a couple of pictures that I just found in the archives of me at the age of 7 in 1960, notice the T-shirt in the first one (Hanks Speed Shop). You're never too young to feel the "need for speed".

Taken in Havertown Pa. with my very own Kodak Brownie Starmite camera. (if you can remember what a Brownie camera is you are almost to old to ride) Barb???

xsleo

I guess I was a late bloomer, I got my first ride at about 16 on a friends Yamaha DT100.
My first drivers license was for a bike.
y first bike to own was a Rupp minibike. Next I got a '74 Kawasaki H-1, was much too fast. A 75 XS650B came along next, best of the bunch so far. Was without for a few years, got a Suzuki TS 125, lots of fun, but too small to travel much on.
I went a few more years with out, found the 75 XS650B I now have. Rode it hard untill it got to burning oil by the gallon. Parked it, bought the Harley in 04.
I got the computer and found this and other sites for parts and info and ressurected the 650. Now the Harley's down. At the dealers getting a remanufactured engine, under warranty, my cost $50.
To live with out now would make life unbearable. I have the Harley for the long trips, the heavier bike is a bit less tiring after 7-800 mile days. The xs650 is just a fun bike to ride for everthing else.

gordonscott · Full Member Joined: May 06, 2009 Posts: 304

Christmas day 1976, we had no money but my mother saved and after a year of dealer visits (I lived next door) it was mine, words can not describe Very Happy

p.s. look at the helmet

Barbara

nudude53 wrote:

Here's a couple of pictures that I just found in the archives of me at the age of 7 in 1960, notice the T-shirt in the first one (Hanks Speed Shop). You're never too young to feel the "need for speed".

Taken in Havertown Pa. with my very own Kodak Brownie Starmite camera. (if you can remember what a Brownie camera is you are almost to old to ride) Barb???

Ouch! That would hurt if it weren't true.... Very Happy

I remember Brownie cameras. My Poppa had a darkroom and developed his own black and whites, and had a huge pressman camera that I thought was some sort of monster...and I never did figure out a light meter.

But...."almost too old to ride"? Nope---if I live to 90, *THEN* I'll be almost too old to ride. A friend of mine from a British bike site is riding around Washington State on his Gold Star BSA---he is in his 60's. His riding partner rides a Velocette single and is 90 years of age. Seriously, he rides a kick-start Brit single at 90!! How cool is that???

I sort of look forward to getting old--I want to be a real curmudgeon--you know; the old lady that the neighborhood kids think might be a witch. No housedresses and endless cleaning, though--no, Sir! I want to grow old out in my shed, surrounded by bikes!

After all: "First Things First!" Wink

xsjohn

"""""""""""""surrounded by bikes""""""""""""""

I would rather have one bike and surrounded by women........... Very Happy

xsjohn

nudude53

Barb wrote:
"no, Sir! I want to grow old out in my shed, surrounded by bikes!"

Now there's an attitude that can't be beat.

Here are some pictures of our "Secret Fort" Barb, out in the woods with a narrow path winding in to it, this is where it all comes together.

oldbikenut

gordonscott wrote:

Christmas day 1976, we had no money but my mother saved and after a year of dealer visits (I lived next door) it was mine, words can not describe Very Happy

p.s. look at the helmet

Awesome! Is that the same helmet? Did you somehow stretch it? Laughing

Great pictures and story!

xsjohn

Jumping the dunes at Play Linda Beach and watching the Moon Launches there at night from the beach.......... living for sure.....we had free run of the place till all the assholes moved down there......and up there....

xsjohn

oldbikenut

xsleo wrote:

I guess I was a late bloomer, I got my first ride at about 16 on a friends Yamaha DT100. My first drivers license was for a bike.

16 is not to bad!

y first license was for a motorcycle as well and made me think of a teen experience I had. My friend and I who also had his motorcycle license only, snuck out his dads truck, we drove it to the next town over and of course being two stupid teenagers ran out of gas. We started walking to find some fuel when all of a sudden a police car pulled up quickly in front of us, then another, I think they thought we stole the truck(remember just barrowed). After questioning us about what was going on and my friend presenting his motorcycle license, which they somehow did not realize was not an actual drivers license(lucky Wink

)we were cleared. Now we still had to do something about the gas situation, one of the policemen who initially stopped us, drove us to get gas and dropped us back off at my friends truck and talk about driving carefully home and feeling extremely lucky Smile

We stuck with motorcycles after that until we got are actual automobile license.

xsjohn · Last edited by xsjohn on June 20, 2009, 12:50 pm; edited 1 time in total

About 8 of us met at Daytona........in my early 20's.........one of them was a 85 or so ole man.......don't know how he rode there but he did........we were all sitting around a big table and a good looking waitress was standing there ....the ole man was just kinda staring down at here crotch and all.........she politely ask him what he was doing.........he replied "reminiscing"..........half of us fell on the floor laughing..........the other's spit beer all over themselves........

xsjohn

Teebs · Full Member Joined: Aug 26, 2008 Posts: 255

Awesome stories. I'm glad you started this thread oldbikenut. I think it reminds us all of the importance of the thing we have in common.

Technically I got my first bike when I was 8 (a '73 GT80) although I did have a couple before that.

y very, very first bike was my Big Wheel. I caught the fever and never looked back. I'd take off down the street peddling like mad, the wind in my face... it used to drive mom nuts!

Then I graduated to a totally sweet 4 stroke 4 hp Sears and Roebuck minibike... you remember the one? With the big, chunky sprung seat and the cool apehangers? Hell, yeah!

y doom though was Dad's BSA's. A '66 Spitfire and a '69 Lightning. Born across the pond and dragged over here when he was 5, I think he was struggling to find his roots. I grew up watching him assemble those bikes out of the jumbles he brought home in old milk crates, cursing the English for their engineering all the while.

He's a gearhead through and through and passed a bit of that on to me. I was his tool jockey (hell, at 40 I still am, why fight a good thing?) whether it was bikes, or his '67 Camaro, or his big old Catalina. He'd work on his Spitfire and I'd tinker on my 80 when I wasn't fetching tools for him.

y first street vehicle was an '81 GS250 that he bought for me, just for the hell of it. We went over the bike from top to bottom, did a little custom work on it, and took turns zooming it up and down the street until the neighbors looked thoroughly annoyed.

The next year I swapped it and a bit of cash for a '71 Sportster chop. Dad helped me fix that one up too.

He came over the other day and I showed him where I was on my latest build. We talked for quite a while, as always he was great to bounce ideas off from, and had some good insights. I can tell he's excited about seeing it finished. (He just wants to ride it!)

No matter how many bikes I own, I always have some nostalgia creep in on me about my old bikes. I wish I had kept every single one... watching them go down the road with someone else seems lousy payment for all of the memories...

yamaman · Last edited by yamaman on June 20, 2009, 1:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

Life without bikes! mmmmmmmm well for starters I wouldn't know anybody!
Aside from a very select few folks, I've met all of my friends through bikes and the ever expanding circle around them!

Started with a Cub 50 when I was 10, used to drag it around the local motocross track (after hours), poor thing!

Blew that up & dad got me a CT 90 woo hoo power!!! Man I did some miles on that bike, it went everywhere!

Ended up having quite a few dirt bikes, culminating in a XR 500, what a beast that was!

The day I got my road licence (the very day I was eligible for it). I bought a RD 350 LC & put 250 stickers on it! How I ever survived the first few months on that is anybodies guess!

I've tried to count, but I keep getting different numbers. More than 20, less than 25 anyway.......

The 2 runners I've got at the mo will stay with me for a long time.
The XS is a keeper, it may even see road service again some day!

I bought my TRX 850 new (the only new one ever) in '96 and have loved it ever since! Pretty sure TRX's never made it to the US?????
It's a shame, because it's everything an XS would be now. Twin Cyl (270* firing) 850cc (still not a huge bike) cafe style, sweet running, great handling machine! I've ridden it twice from Perth to Melbourne return (check that ride on the map)!

I guess you get the TDM 900 over there? They'd make a great cruiser for someone after a "new" special!

I've got a rather second hand Cub 50 in the shed at the mo, will be good to get that mobile again!

last thing, I wouldn't be here right now!!!!
Cheers

nudude53

Teebs:
Just be glad that your Dad is still around, relish it while you can.

oldbikenut

nudude53 wrote:

Teebs:
Just be glad that your Dad is still around, relish it while you can.

I second that!

I definately owe my passion for motorcycles to my father!

xsjohn

If I had a wife or a girlfriend that told me to get rid of the bikes.......guess witch one would see the curb first....... Laughing

xsjohn

Teebs · Full Member Joined: Aug 26, 2008 Posts: 255

I hear ya, nudude. Every chance I get. My uncle's (his brother's) funeral was yesterday. It only drives the point home harder.

I know how fortunate I am. We not only share a love of bikes, but music as well.

Things were pretty rocky during my teens and early twenties, but we came through my arrogance OK. Not that that is anything out of the ordinary.

We spend quite a bit of time together now, and I help him (both my parents) every chance I get. Small payment for growing up in a good home and being raised right, I do all I can and I love it. Pop has a great sense of humor.. at least we laugh a lot when we're working on a project together.

I'm all too aware that my parents won't live forever. So, I take every opportunity I get to spend time with not only them, but my brother and sisters as well. None of us are spring chickens, me being the youngest, at 40.

I'm leaving on a long bike trip with no definite destinations the end of August, so I'll side my parent's house and garage before I go, and whatever else I can, because who knows what will happen when I'm gone...

y sympathies to all of you that have seen your parents pass.

rhilker · Last edited by rhilker on June 20, 2009, 3:19 pm; edited 1 time in total

My father rode Enfield's and Harley's during the war. When I told him I was going to buy a bike with $200.00 I had saved up from farm work he insisted that he go with me so I didn't make any mistakes. That was 1970 and I was 13 YO. On the first day we found what "he" was looking for, a 1945 Royal Enfield 500. Air cooled twin, suicide shift, hard tail frame, full fenders, BIG saddle/spring seat and wide bicycle style handel bars. It was a garage find I guess, pretty dirty but it started as the vendor had put in a new battery. My dad and I cleaned it up, tuned it, changed the tires and it was ready to go. I had no licence being only 13 but I drove it everywhere. I figured out how go for a 50 mile run accessing trails and remote roads. I sold it to a Biker who wanted the frame. The engine was starting go at that point needing a ring job.

Since then I've owned: 1973 Suzuki GS250, 1945 Harley 750 (war bike, government surplace, still packed in sea crate, built it and sold it, it even had the slit head light cover) 1972 H1 Kawasaki (full cafe fairing, expansion pipes, Koni suspension, FFFFFasTTTT) and: 1980 Kawasaki 900 new.

I sold the 900 when I got married in 1984 (wife was afraid of it after I took her for a couple high speed spins).

I bought a 1979 XS650 last summer, stock, restored. My brother in-law had a 1972 XS that I had driven and I figured: (the power is perfect for what I want now, cheap insurance, easy maintenance)

I love the bike and it gats me away with the old lady because she hasn't been on one since I took her for a ride.

What Happened to 650rider.com?

Yamaha xs650