Featured Your Motorbike History?

Thanks. I sold the 500 last year and the profit paid for the 350.

 

Wheelies on an X7 were really easy, especially two up. They were very light bikes, that's how they went so fast. The difference between cold running and hot running was quite pronounced and once warm there was suddenly a lot more lower down grunt, so if you weren't careful coming out of a T junction into traffic the front wheel would be in the air while still leant over and then pogoing a couple of times with the gear shifts.

Cornering at speed also took a while to learn for the same reason, humps in the road could unsettle it, not because it was a poor frame, just because it was so light and the front end would unload; that's how I sailed into my first accident, I still have the gravel rash scars.

Old age and a heavier bike hopefully means I won't do that again.

 

I had an X7 as my second bike. The wheelies/light end was helped when I added ace bars as it put more weight over the front end. I also added koni dial-a-ride rear shocks that were a bit longer than standard. It was a great time on a fun bike, but I did destroy 2 engines... well it did like to rev and kept egging a young lad on.
I went 2 up touring on it, from the midlands down to Cornwall and then up to Tyneside. All with camping kit. It did cause problems though when trying to climb out of the harbour area at lynmouth. A 2cv stopped in front of me on the steep climb and I couldn't get going without it constantly popping a wheelie.. Had to turn around and take the long way out..

 

That is a list great subject & post by the way so…. not sure of spelling but an Ossa 250 Trials bike (Dads bike), as kids me & my brother learn’t to ride on this in fields close to home.

Yamaha DT 50… loved it first bike etc & still at school with this bad boy..
Honda MTX 125… second day of ownership flipped it while trying a wheelie up a hill, gutted that day
Yamaha RD350 YPVS… should of kept it, had a engine rebuild after piston ring failure or similar (long time ago)
Suzuki GSXR 750…. First year of upside down forks (G-reg) white & blue best colour combo after 2 years of riding like a twat, got into a massive tank slapper whilst approaching a corner, let’s just say I didn’t make the corner, bike totalled, even more gutted insurance money paid for deposit for our first house then that was it for 30 years….

Two weeks ago picked up my new Street Triple 765 R, loving it, back in the game

 

1964 Francis&barnet 98cc 3 speed hand change girders and rigid back end,start with the basics?
125 Bantam,
350 B31 BSA
Thunderberg for a fortnight ,never got it started
T110, thrown over a hedge!
Ducati Cadet 98cc?
Yam YG1
Velo MAC,
Rebuilt T110 + Watsonian Oxford saloon sidecar, fortnight trip to Morocco,1970
Tempted by those foreign devils into a CX500 ( yes three camchain replacements) but once sorted a good bike,
CX650 some times solo and sometimes a banking sidecar,
Ater a trip round the Hinkley factory in 1993 bought the first 900 Trophy
almost wore it out 139,000 miles,
Bought a second hand 900 Trophy almost identical to first onewith 58,000 on it ,
380 cc Burgman, FIM in Croatia, engine blew up a couple of months later and so did the second hand replacement ( fragile the early ones),
Still riding the second Trophy 95,900 miles on it now,
Burgman 400 K9 being sorted by the dealer, for FIM in Spain in June and
Lithuania in August on the calendar for this year

 

My first bike was donated to my by an uncle, it was a Honda 90 (not the step thru model, mine had a proper tank etc). The only thing i remember about it was that it was a B registration and it was bullet-proof.
I was 16 and needed to commute 15 miles each way to work so that bike was a much better option than the bus.
When i turned 17 i lusted after a Yamaha XS250, the RD didn't appeal at all for some reason. Dragged my day down to Earls Court Bike Show, 1976 or 77, and then persuaded him to lend me £694 to buy one fresh out of the showroom. RTY991S, ive still got the bill of sale. Loved that bike and lived on it between the ages of 17 and 21.
Sold it to a mate to buy a car for impending family and then had a gap of about 15 years until on a whim i bought a Ducati 900ss (L271PDT) off a work colleague.
Owned it for 5 years up in Cumbria and had 5 superb summers.
Sold it before my luck ran out, i was riding it faster and faster and sensed my impending doom.
So, another gap of 21 years. I was well into kit cars for 7 or 8 years from 2012 onwards then reverted back to a bike buying a new 2021 Speedmaster. My wife then suprised me with a 1978 T140 to restore and tinker with.
They're both happily sitting in my garage at the moment waiting for decent weather.

So, only 5 bikes but spread over 45 years with 2 huge gaps in the mix.....

Great idea for a thread.

 

Oh the way we were.

P.S. Really enjoying this thread, its great discovering people's biking histories and the memories it prompts (gosh I really am old) Having just read @CraigHew's post and thought I'd add my previous registrations, you never know they might still exist or someone else may have owned them.

Suzuki GT250X7 (Red) AVM19T
Honda CB400N Superdream (Red) XWP134W

I saw a good condition white X7 for sale at around £6K. I knew I shouldn't have sold it.

Sorry if this post sends the thread off course.

 

Cheers, Your right about how bikes have come on over the years, I was telling my best mate from the good old days about the tech etc with cornering abs & traction control to name but a few (ride by wire throttle) and quick shifter no way
My biggest issue at the moment THE STATE OF THE POXY ROADS they are a lot worse from what I remember… forgot had to add the biggest difference from road riding back in the 80’s & 90’s virtually NO SPEED CAMERAS

 

24 bikes in 42 years and only started as a cheap commuting alternative to a thirsty XJ12 I had at the time!
In as near chronological oerder as I can remember...

Test passed on an '81 Yamaha DT250MX, then straight in at the deep end with an '83 Kawasaki Z1300.....
Then, 1985 Harris Magnum 2 (built up from rolling chassis)....
1986 Kawasaki GPZ1000RX
1988 Kawasaki ZX10
1990 Suzuki GSXR1100L
1991 Yamaha FZR1000RU
1992 Suzuki GSXR11OOL
1993 Fireblade
1995 Another Fireblade
1996 Yamaha Thunderace
1997 Another Fireblade
1998 Yamaha R1
2001 Suzuki GSXR1000
2004 Yamaha R1
2011 Ducati 1198SP (WTF made me buy that!)
2012 Kawasaki ZZR1400
2020 Triumph Street Scrambler
2022 Another Street Scrambler (Don't ask)

Some offroad/dirt bikes, can't remember the years...
Suzuki TSX250
Yamaha TY250
Yamaha TY250R
2009 Honda XR650R (2001 model)
2010 Husaberg FE570.

As can be seen, back in the '90's I was a sucker for the latest SOTA Jap missile and thought nothing of dropping £2k in part ex when new bikes in the class were £4-5k!
Some bikes were keepers, I still have the ZZR and the Berg. The '04 R1 was another favourite and to this day I still regret trading it in for the Ducati which I only kept for around 4 months and took a big hit off loading it. I even went back to the dealer to see if my beloved R1 was still available but it had gone. I have a new love in my life now in the form of a Street Scrambler.

 

This thread is great fun and it's amazing to me to see how many bikes so many of you have had and how varied the makes and models.

I started riding motorcycles in 2011. Except for about my first year I've had either two or three bikes in the garage. I'd love more but have neither the space nor the money for that! My current bikes are the Speed Triple, Street Glide, and Fat Boy. I well pleased with each of them and find myself at "homeostasis" these days. Here's my list.

2010 Harley Davidson Street Bob
2012 Triumph Thruxton
2012 H-D Switchback
2014 H-D Road King CVO
2016 Triumph Thruxton R
2017 H-D Road Glide Special
2017 H-D Low Rider S (Dyna)
2019 Triumph Speed Triple RS
2020 H-D Street Glide Special
2020 H-D Low Rider S (Softail)
2021 H-D Fat Boy