How Did It Start

At scout camp at 12, learnt on Honda XR80R and progressed to GN125, so a Bonneville knockoff GN250 was first bike. Was a good bike, although hadn’t been looked after so needed tlc.

 

RD200
Happy days

 

My first road bike at 16 was an MB 50 which seized on me after about 3 weeks, so I put an 85cc big bore kit in it.

 

Honda cj250t . I had mx bikes from 14 onwards so no way was i having a 50 so stuck with my pushbike till 17

 

Yamaha FS1-E, quickly followed by Suzuki TS100, great fun....( wish I still had them - fetching silly money now)

 

Kawasaki Z250 (this was 1980). Brand new. Had it delivered on a Saturday morning to a Star Rider training course at a local college. Six of us there (plus instructor). Course lasted 2 hours..I was still there after 4! Obviously a very slow learner. Eventually departed only to encounter the Saturday afternoon traffic in Manchester. Crashed the bike at a T-junction a few 100 yards from home . Lesson learned - never, ever begin your biking career on a brand new bike.

 

Honda SS50
Was a lot rougher than this one. Cost me £45

 

Suzi GP100 back in 84

 

One of these...



And a video of one as a treat!



I had to rebuild the engine - new rings, oil seals and clutch. The brakes were a bit shit...

PS: The video and photo are of someone else’s bike and not mine. The bike I owned was probably recycled into razor blades and other useful utensils a very long time ago - Brutus’ knife was allegedly hewn from a spoke of the front wheel...

 

First road bike was a BSA bantam about 1969, ape hanger bars and stars & stripes tank paint job,

 

SleepyOwl
That was my Tracy's first bike aswel she took her test on a cb100n that she built herself. She had the blue ss and loved it. It was a proper little flyer at the time. But the pedals had to go straight away or she would not ride it.
Regards
Joe.

 

GPT100.
I had a 125 bantam my Dad gave me. I could not get it to run and smashed it with a hammer. My Dad never forgave me for that. He had put a dodgy condenser on it to see if I could fix it. I failed. And you know I have had about three of them over the year and fell of them all.
Regards
Joe.

 

Sound like a similar age to me @Dozers Dad ... had to endure a year on a Yamaha RD50 (with a god awful micron exhaust) until I could move up to a CB125t (shown in an earlier post somewhere) the only way I could get that slug to wheelie was to stand on the sissy bar and dump the clutch...

The RD was exactly like this but in black


This was exactly like the CB... even the sissy bar/toe rest

 

DCS did you use Maddricks or John Stewarts??

 

John Stewarts for parts and general ogling ... there was a Kawasaki dealership in Ulverston too, but can’t remember it’s name ...

Both bikes were second hand, still never owned a new one

 

If it works, one of these. If not, it's a Ducati 200 elite.

Bought it when I was 15 in 1969. Learned to ride it on the road so I could legally take my test at 16. Lucky I survived.



Bugger me, it worked. Mine was an old nail though. On starting it would sometimes throw a great flame out of that bell mouth carb. That would set the seat edge smouldering as it was directly in line. Happy days.

 

One of these...

 

I got my first bike at 9 years old, a Yamaha YG1-F. I'm 55 now and haven't been without one since...
My first road legal road bike was a Yamaha RS100, the first in a very long line of the 100's of bikes i've owned over the years.