Tears...
 

My God I must be menopausal because when I remember getting my first bike a Yamaha 80cc YG1 I became tearful remembering my Dad who died a couple of years ago, having to sign the HP agreement.
I cannot remember how we got it home from Parsons Mead Croydon but I do know my Dad told me to wait for him to get home from work and he would give me some instructions on how to ride it. Well you can guess what happened by the time he got home I was already a budding Hailwood and screaming around the estate.
That was 42 years ago now and my screaming around days, well mostly, are long gone but the thrill of riding a bike remains the same and even though I tried to replace that with a sports car several years ago its still there and will only go when I go.
Once a Biker always a biker.

My first of many bikes was at the age of 16. A two year old 1972 Honda SL100 (Red of course). Loved the bike as it gave me my first taste of independence outside of public transit. Thought I was going to wear it out until I smashed it into a chain link fence one night following a High School Dance. Gates weren't locked the last loop around the school. Ooops!

Couldn't seem to upload a pic here due to file size but here's a link to one just like mine.
http://www.marblesmotors.com/images/...100_K1_Red.jpg:

Great memories ... Cheers!

My bike gene suddenly started expressing in my 17th year, despite no family history. A year of obession in cluding 6 months of saving saw me arrive home one evening after riding across london from Sanderstead Motorcycles with a 1992 Yamaha RXS100. A very funky little bike it was too!!

http://i15.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/b5/36/ff74_1.JPG

Elsie
 

An '86 Yamaha RD 125LC with the worlds biggest K&N cone filter and noisy pipes at the tender age of 19 - have been hooked ever since! :thumbup1:

I used to get my bikes MOTed at Sanderstead Motorcycles, and if it's of any interest, it's now an Indian restaurant - quite a smart one. Since about 8 years or maybe more.

It had been 6 months since my CBT day in Wembley and me buying the RXS.

No bike experience either side of that so I do remember the shop and the side road next to it as I spent 45 minutes going up and down it until I finally worked up the courage to pull out on to the main road.

Crossing london at rush houron your first day riding a bike alone is a baptism of fire somewhat!!

I did my training in Leeds but was at Kingston Poly/Uni, so did my early riding round West and Central London. Fifteen years later and guys I ride with will suddenly drop out of sight in traffic then come storming up a few minutes later whinging about some bit of anti-social/dramatic filtering. I guess it stays with you :innocent:

Andy

Ah, yes. The old filtering in London.

Whilst at Uni I was only able to finance anotyher year of biking by being a courier over the Summer holidays. Now that really did see me picking up some really STOOOPID habits. :scooter:

I'm glad to say I held on to most the road sense but ditched the more suicidal tendencies when I returned to London as a daily commuter.

Filtering does leave a grin on my face but occassional I do chide myself after a daft risk now and then. It was easy to forget that, as a courier, you were just delivering a boring document of some kind and not the key to society's salvation....

Warthog
 

Living just down the road from Sanderstead Motorcycles I remember them well. In fact given their location I am surprised just how long they survived in business.I am sure that given how popular motorcycling seems to be these days that if they could have survived that bit longer they could have had a better business today as I seem to remeber they sold good quality bikes.Sadly if you don't know already it has been replaced by an Indian Restaurant.

Summer of 1996 and a red Yamaha FS1! A red hot summer and one of the best ever, if anyone knows where E707 HRE is please let me know coz I'd love to find out if she's still out there.

My first bike in 1961 wasa an ex WD Matcless 350 from Pride and Clarke.... soon to be followed by my first Triumph, a 1969 cub..two years later witha 1961 Triumph 500 for teh road and a 350 Enfield for offroad...
Some years later had a 1970 Triumph Trophy.. then five years ago a BMW R80RT.. which has just been traded for a 500 Enfield..

Cagive Planet 125cc. Mito Engine, Disc brakes and upside down forks !

Not bad for a mad 19 year old :)

http://kenandtheartofmotorcyclemaint...-planet125.jpg

Being the proverbial young 'un I'm still on my first bike. An X reg Bandit 600. Got it last year after the missus decided that we were definitely going to learn how to ride bikes, oh yes, no mistake.

While the Bandit has served me well I'm constantly looking at what I want next. The choices are either a Bonnie, a Thruxton, an Africa twin, a Griso or a lump of parallel Teutonic engineering. Decisions decisions!

Hmmmmmmm... MIGWELD.... very, very, very welcome to the HUBB.

I know you're young and have a missus and a Bandit and all that -- but can we be best friends?

Absolutely NOTHING to do with the words MIG and WELD in your user name - I'm just a friendly, happy, fellow biker. (with lots and lots of broken alloy casings) :innocent::innocent::innocent:


PS: What does the missus ride? And does she know she's called missus?

My first bike...
 

My first (legal) bike when I turned 16: http://www.suzukicycles.org/photos/s...0gamma_450.jpg

MORE SIGNIFICANTLY --

My first BOYFRIEND's bike:

http://www.rallye-tenere.net/Bilder/...ektbild_rt.jpg


Been an XT GIRL at heart, ever since 1986!