First motorcycle

[silvercrew]

My first bike was a honda trail 70, had lots of fun with it and don't know the year likely early 80's.

 

First trike was a 1985 honda 125.

 

First quad 1995 kawasaki bayou 300

 

First street bike I bought 10 years ago is my 1986 kawasaki voyager X11 and still have it.

 

Not sure what or when I will get the next one.

[Twenty7Delta]

I had an 1979 xs400 that I paid $400 for in 1983, I put lots of miles on with that 27 HP ride! My buddy and I rode it from Fort St John to Peace River when the temp was 3 deg C. Lots of great times on that machine.

[az1103]

Thanks for the memories!

[hillrider]

1960ish Sears Moped. It's a good thing the pedals worked. The motor didn't. Or when it did, the shifter didn't. It's good that Owensboro is flat.

[GunnyButch]

BSA 650 Lightning, 1966

[greg_in_london]

1975 Suzuki B120 in 1984 for £75

 

Plenty more after that.

[big dude]

1981 650 maxim new

1982 750 maxim new

1982 650 seca turbo new in 84

198? venture standard

1987 concours (connie)

1982 650 seca turbo used /sold /now on craigs list form buyer

1986 Venture Royale current

 

never listed before

 

thanks Big Tom for the posting and memories

[midnightventure]

1973 Yamaha RD250. In one years time I wrecked it 3 times and put 10000 miles on it.

[Older...]

1966 Yamaha Twin-Jet 100

[tufftom4]

I always rode friends bikes then I bought a Yamaha RD 400 in showroom condition for 500$ That was fast as hell for a 400 I was in the Marine Corp stationed in Not Carolina and had fun riding the back rodes with it and I still miss it I traded it for a brand new 1985 Honda Sabre 1100, big jump. TOM

[crockettrider]

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w182/copusrider/honda90.jpg

 

Mine was never this nice but in 1970 I landed a real bike...the Honda 90. After years of mini bikes this sucker was the cats ass.

[hdroyer]

I had 1973 Yamaha 175 Endureo road it to high school one day got out of school and it was gone. The bike was not where I parked it had insurance bought 1974 Kaw S3 400

3 cylinder 2 stroke man would that bike fly. Taught Gail how to ride she was 18 an my best friend I was 17. Then 13 years later we got married and 20 years later we still ride she has her own bike now. One day I went to See Gail and her 2 sisters on the bike, they were sun bathing top not fastened stopped a few feet in front of them up they jumped hooters every where what a day for a 17 year old.

[AZSpyder]

First bike:

A Hodaka Ace 100 stripped for the dirt. Simple, light and easy to work on.

 

First street bike:

1966 Honda 305 Scrambler. Heavy but lots of soul.

 

First new bike:

1975 CZ 250 Enduro. The only thing I could afford at the time. $550 in a crate. Still have it but the lighting is rebuilt but not installed. Been thinking of getting it back on the street.

 

Jerry

[PBJ]

I won't count my mini bike. My first real motorcycle was a 1971 Yamaha RD350 2 stroke. I traded a guy a car for it.I recieved some old Cycle magazines years later that had an ad for the 350 that called is a mid sized touring bike!!! Man the world has really changed.

[GOMEZMORT]

morning

great question

if you consider the learning time it was a honda 50 scooter on a farm in ga.

first real owned bike honda 305 dream 1962.

she said if i could make it run i could have it.

shortly after soldering the mag wire back on i learned my first real lesson about bikes

dont use armor-all on the seat.......looks fabulous going up the street without you.

have a great day

doc

[adventurer 08]

it all started in the dirt with a 78 honda 250 elsinore. great on the street and off rode.

 

:thumbsup2:

[TEW47]

My first bike was a Yamaha 250 YDS3C then a 1971 Yamaha R5B 350,XS650,XS750,XS850,1971 BMW R60,R75,R80,K100LT,1986 Gl1200SEI,1963 Honda 305 Dream, 1968 MotoGuzzi V700,1997 Yamaha RSTD,2007 Venture. The R60, I put a 185,000 on it with the orignial rings, the V700 had 247,000 on when I bought it,and it was rebuilt for the first time at 245,000,had no oil filter.

 

tew47

[Dragonslayer]

My first street legal vehicle as a licensed operator was a 1970 Honda CB 750 with the in-line four cylinder engine. This motorcycle provided me spirited transportation to my ultimate subconscious destination at the time….......a death wish. A death wish that turned into a life changing influence.

 

It was because of this accident that forced me to aquire one of my most valuable life survival skills is the ability to turn a negative influence or event into a positive learning and growth experience.

 

May 7th, 1971 a life changing event occurred in my life. I had a combined impact of 150 mph head on collision on my motorcycle that successfully totaled a 69 Pontiac Bonneville, my motorcycle and me. This accident did in fact kill me at the early age of 16. What was left of the bike after the explosion and fire fit into three paper grocery sacks. I was poured into an ambulance. The kids in the other car came out of it without a scratch, but Daddy's car was totalled.

 

 

But, obviously that accident was not the end of the story.

The Crash:

 

 

May 7th, 1971 was a beautiful Spring day. I started the day at home adjusting the shifting linkage on my motorcycle in preparation for an afternoon bike ride. After making the necessary adjustments I went on a test ride to make sure the gears were shifting properly.

 

 

I rode to the end of my street and on to an abandoned access road along I-85 that dead ended after about ½ mile. This access road had a large hill about half way down. I had ridden to the end of the dead end road and was returning home when I approached the crest of the hill doing about 50 mph. Approaching the hill from the opposite direction was a car load of teenagers in the 69 Pontiac Bonneville (as it turned out former grade school classmates) who were going to the dead end to smoke pot. As they were approaching the hill they were racing the cars on the expressway alongside and were doing over 100 mph in the center of the road when we met at the crest of the hill. My motorcycle exploded on impact and I was catapulted over the car where I came to rest about 14 feet above the ground in the top of a Dogwood tree (Which was in full bloom at the time).

 

 

My right leg was twisted behind my back and my right foot was dangling over my left shoulder my right arm was pinned behind my back by my right leg with my right hand in my left front pants pocket. I know that at this moment you are trying to visualize this being possible. But, let me caution you to not attempt to contort your body in this position at home. It is not possible for a healthy body to get in this position. I know I have tried. But let me assure you it is possible if all the bones on the right hand side of your body are crushed or broken.

 

 

I managed to stay conscious for the next four hours which is how long it took for the paramedics to arrive, extract me from the tree, place me on a gurney and lower me down a 30 foot rock face cliff by ropes to the waiting ambulance below which was parked along side the expressway. The last conscious memory I had was the door of the ambulance closing after being placed into it.

 

 

The recovery:

 

 

At this point I’m sure you are visualizing the horror of the scene but, let me comfort you by saying that this event was the most positive, life changing event that I have ever experienced in my life. Please let me explain further.

 

 

That night the doctors explained to my family the biggest danger threatening my life was that the bone fragments of the broken bones in my right arm and leg had penetrated all the major blood vessels in my arm and leg and I was rapidly losing blood pressure and was bleeding to death internally. They were preparing me for emergency surgery to try to repair the blood vessels and restore blood pressure. They told my parents to mentally prepare themselves for my death because there was less than a 5% chance that I would survive the surgery or that night.

 

 

During that operation I lost all blood pressure and flat lined and for a few moments was clinically dead I entered that transition between life and death referred to as a near death experience. My spirit viewed my body on the operating table with the doctors frantically working on me to resuscitate my heart. They did manage to get my heart beating again and I did survive the surgery and that night.

 

 

The next morning the doctors announced to my parents that I did survive the operation and the night and my chances of living were pretty good and increasing every hour. But, they said to prepare themselves with what was to come next. I would need another surgery later that day to amputate my right arm and right leg. Even though they restored my blood pressure they felt that the bone and muscle damage was so sever that the limbs could not be repaired sufficiently to not justify amputation. During that operation the orthopedic surgeon decided to try a new procedure that had occurred to him as a last chance effort to avoid amputation. Completing the operation he felt sufficiently satisfied that the procedure would work that he informed my parents that amputation would not be necessary. But to prepare themselves with the fact that the limbs probably would heal to be useless. He expected that my right arm would hang uselessly by my side and my right leg would not heal to be able to support weight and I would never walk again and would spend the rest of my life in a wheel chair. Over the next few weeks I survived several other operations (seven total) to repair different parts of my right hand, arm, foot, ankle and leg using a conglomeration of pins, screws, nuts, bolts and plates. I was very fortunate that I did not sustain any damage to my head (I am very pro helmet laws), spine or left side of my body

 

 

From the time of the accident I stayed in a comma for three months. When I came out of the comma I found myself with my right arm and leg in traction which is were I remained in the hospital for a little over one year. The following three years were spent in a wheel chair undergoing massive physical therapy or Physical terrorism as I referred to it at the time.

 

 

I bet you are still wondering why I felt this was a good thing

It was because of the near death experience. Let me tell you what that was like.

 

 

A near death experience is like a dream of a wonderful journey to the center of the universe and back, in the twinkling of an eye. A dream that won’t be forgotten, won’t be denied, won’t be ignored. Each step of the journey revealed knowledge of basic universal truths, the answers to the questions of life, the reason for our existence. On return the specific details of that sacred knowledge is left behind, knowledge we are not meant to know as failing humans in the imperfect world of the living. But you do return with a sense of the feeling of what it was like to have once had that knowledge. And the broad strokes of the concepts to these answers remain like weapons in a warriors defenders arsenal. These weapons allow a view of the big picture and create an uncanny insight into the different scenarios we are all intertwined with. An insight the uninitiated can only imagine and only the initiated can possess. An insight entrusted that becomes a blessing, a shield, a responsibility, an endless task, a heavy burden, a work of love, a life mission.

 

 

This event was the beginning of the Dragonslayer. Recouporating from this accident required spending a year and half in traction, six months of physical therapy and then three years in a wheel chair before learning how to walk again. During that period my mother would encourage my daily progress by discussing my daily goals in terms of learning how to slay my dragons and becoming a dragonslayer. That name has stuck with me ever since then.

[DragonRider]

My first was a 1969 Honda SL90, very cool bike for its time, one of the first dual purpose bikes sold. Only made it one year, 70 it came back as the SL100..........but that 90cc engine was a good one. These arent actual pics of it. but this was the color.

[BIG TOM]

WOW...THE'RE SOME GREAT BIKES MENTIONED HERE...SOME I FORGOT EVEN EXISTED..I AM IMPRESSED..SEEMS LIKE A LOT OF US ALL STARTED OUT ON THEN 90 CC TO 250 CC CLASS..BACK THEN A 500CC WAS CONSIDERED A LARGE BIKE AND A 1000 OR 1200 WAS CONSIDERED THE HOLY GRAIL OF MOTORCYCLES..TALK ABOUT MEMORIES..NOW I'M GONNA HAVE TO FIND ME ONE OF THEM 125'S I STARTED OUT ON ..JUST FOR GIGGLES....

[loehring]

It's been a while but as I recall

 

1974 Suzuki GS750

1980 Suzuki GS1000

1984 Honda Aspencade

(17 year "being a good Dad so no bike". STUPID!!)

1989 1st Gen

2007 RSMV

 

Loved them all. Right about 400k miles later and there's still no where I'd rather be than "knees to the wind".

[Snarley Bill]

ecluding the motor bikes and scooters, my first real motorcycle was a brand new 1967 suzuki x6 hustler, 250 cc, 6 speed, it was very fast. could dust sportsters with ease. road the heck out of that little bike.

[mraf]

First dirt bike 90 Bridgestone, first road bike 72, 350 Kawasaki.

[rod]

My first bike was a 1970 2 stroke twin Yamaha Scrambler. It had over 15 hp so was freeway legal. A friend found one on Craig's list a couple of weeks ago but I do not have the money to buy it. In our garage at the time I got my license:

1967 Yamaha 250 Big Bear (2 stroke twin)

1969 Honda 450

1972 RD 350

1970 125 (2 stroke twin)

1972 ? RD 200

We toured on these bikes all over California with our back packing gear strapped on the back. Rod

[AZSpyder]

Dragonslayer, thanks for sharing. Heard many stories about people that have had experiences like that but they had been strangers and maybe fictional. Maybe there is hope.

Jerry