First time on a bike

[beeman]

Last night took my 7 year old on a 25 mile ride for the first time. He got a helmet from father Christmas and has been waiting for the weather to be warmer for his first ride. He started very still and I could hardly feel him there. By the end he was peering around me to see where we were going. He loved every minute of it so another motorcyclist is born.

I was thinking back in the mists of time as to when I wanted to ride bikes. I know that when I was six it was always what I wished for when pulling the chickens wishbone, but cant remember anyone who actually had a bike. Next doors daughter did hang around with some scooter lads (mid 60's). I also had an uncle who was a bit of a jack the lad who had greaves 250's etc but I only found this out years later. Although for a couple of years when I was really small I lived in my grandparents house where he to lived so this must have rubbed off.

My first bike was a group bike an NSU Quickly I think. which took about 200yards of pushing down a hill to start and than ran for about 100 yards till the track came out onto a road, if you were lucky it could be turned around and get half way up the hill before stopping, still kept you fit and with 3 of us a ride every 3rd go.

PS I just remembered my dad had a moped for a short while but fell off and never rode again. so no influence there then.

I was wondering what were other peoples memories and reasons for first riding bikes. Certainly writing this has made me realise how things pre-conscious memory, must have influenced me more than I realised.

beeman

[Bill Rutter]

My dad had Golden Flash outfits when my brother and I were nippers and I loved 'em. I was always outside the front of our house giving them a wash and polish. I seem to remember him losing a few carbs etc to the local er, Rocker fraternity but our annual pilgrimage up to Durham from London was always a highlight of our year. It seemed to take ages and the A1 is all but unrecognisable now! Full brekky in Baldock....luvverly! A few years later as a teenager I remember cadging a pillion ride on a 650 Beezer twin and being hooked all over again. I had to go through all the "there's no motorbikes coming to this house" from my worrying mum but I just went out a bought a brand spanking new KH250 from Boyers of Bromley and took the flak. Happy days ;-)

[TOAD]

My first time on a bike was in the 60s when I was about 5. My Grandad gave me a lift from his house to mine (about 3 miles)
on the back of his Francis Barnet.He made me wear his helmet and he went without which was legal at that time.
I do remember feeling afraid of the noise and vibration.I was glad to get off and never went on it again.
I never thought about bikes again until the late 70s when I started work in a garden centre and a boy I was working with had a fizzy (yamaha fs1e).He let me ride it round the car park a few times then when he sold it to buy a CB200 I bought it from him .I've had one bike or another ever since except for a gap when I was having babies.

[MrFluffy]

My dad had a ariel square four and used to go to work on a villiers engined james and a greaves and had a couple of outfits to take the kids out and stuff, but he died when I was young and was ill for a fair few years before that, so I only know that from my mum and siblings.
However, Im the youngest of 7 and he most definately stamped his mark on all the older ones and they all remember holidays and trips out in a bracknell double adult on the ariel, so I just grew up around bikes, there was always a bike or three on our yard, my 3 sisters always ended up dating bikers, and there was always a dead or seized rd in the shed and younger long haired blokes smoking suspicious smelling cigarettes, I remember playing in woods and they would come along on a indescript dirt bike and all the other kids would run off as they were afraid of them, and Id stay and talk bikes and try and blag a go because they probally were dating one of my sisters or wanted to be. And I remember elder brothers driving mum mad by playing TT sound stories albums too loud. And I remember the police were forever knocking on our door carrying eldest idiot brothers helmet as he couldnt stay on anything...
First bike I ever went on the back of was a DT175, my second eldest brother passed his test on it (250 law days) and came back from the test station, and took me out for a ride on the pillion because basically I was the first person there who would say yes. It was orange with white plastic guards and had trail tyres and a high level pipe I burnt my leg on.
First thing I ever rode was a jawa interstate moped belonging to another brother as he came up the ranks, that ride was cut short by someone running after me and pulling me off as I headed toward the open road throttle pinned in delight aged about 9 barely able to reach the bars and certainly not able to reach the floor. After that I remember doing a paper round and cut down a old c90 for a field bike with the profits...
Nowadays, one of my sis's is still married to one of them long haired layabouts who dreams once more of owning a us spec bonnie, next brother to me has a duke s4 monster (and a ct90 that I would love to own!) and next one up cant ride after a big old bike accident left him solid at the hip but he keeps taling about a trike, although he's been off doing the v8 thing (another one of dad's traits, v8 engined cars). Eldest idiot brother is still a idiot but gave up bikes quickly.
My lad's 3 this year, today he was sat on the xl125 saying "daddys bike" and twisting the twistgrip making noises and checking out the switchgear while I photo'd some car alloys ready to ebay. When he's old enough, he'll be being taught to ride on the dirt and machine control in the safety of our field. Ive already discussed getting a pw50 when the time is right with mrs f. Got to keep passing it on...

[Steve H]

Nothing quite as inspiration as the above responses. My parents were into Lambrettas, I dont remember my first ride but my father had to make footrest hangers for me as I couldnt reach the running board. Helmet was one of the old cork/vinyl things. I still hanker after a Lambretta occasionally.

[tony#270]

My parents weren't into bikes but seeing Steve's note reminded me of the Lambretta TV175 I owned in the early 60's.  I went to lots of rallies and even used it for time trials at Brands and Snetterton.  I retired from two wheeled transport for 35  years before buying a Honda XBR 500 (since replaced by a modern Triumph Bonneville) - now I'm 21 again!  One of my brothers bought a James 150 before replacing it with a BSA Golden Flash combination - now that bike could go!

[pigafetta]

I don't know how I got into bikes, it just sort of had to happen. My mates had big brothers with bikes and back yards full of dead ones so we occasionally got some old crate spluttering and took it down the beach, inevitably having to push it back home later.
My first pillion ride was on my Uncle Bobs C90. I was about 9 or 10 and bloody loved it. My first solo ride was a Suzuki GP100 which I promptly dropped. I was only a little chap. I learned to ride properly at 14 on various fizzies etc.
When I was 15 (1985) I bought a Suzuki ZR50 custom for £35. I thought I was proper cool on that thing. Bright yellow, it was and I kept falling off it. Next was a Honda CB125 which eventually fell to bits. I loved it, it'd do 80 but you could hear bits falling off onto the road behind. Then came a superdream.
I've had a few bikes since but took a long time away from riding after losing a couple of good mates on bikes. I went off to art school to be windswept and interesting.
A few years ago I bought an old bike for £40 while I was off work ill. A bit of a project to keep me sane. I got right into the whole bike thing again, passed my test, which I'd never actually got round to taking, and I've never looked back.
My little lad will be getting much encouragement. He's only 3 at the moment but loves to hang around me in the garage when I'm noodling about. In a couple of years I'll get him one of those little dirt bikes and stick him on his Grandads field. I can't wait...

Dave B

[stuart]

Hope this works.....

I had no interest in bikes until my sister's boyfriend took me out on his Honda CB750 F2 (circa 1978, the date - not the bike!).  He tapped me on the knee and pointed at the speedo - he was doing 120mph!! The following day I bought a Rayleigh Runabout from a friend's father for £5!  A big difference but it was a start.  The a Honda CB250G5 when I was 17, then a Suzuki GS550DC, and so it begins.....

[Andy M]

I was never around bikes as a kid as my dad stopped riding when the AFS dispanded in the early 70's, a few years before I was born. Before that he'd had Greeves trail bikes and a Vellocette 350, plus ridden the AFS BSA's, so there was always an interest there. We used to do any sort of motor museum or event on holiday. When I needed transport for university it therefore made sense to get a bike as there was no way I could afford a car (could have been worse, I could have bought a Green Goddess!). My first ride was therefore a CB100N which was a pile of pooh and enough to but anyone off, but my grandad (ex-Bantam rider and Sunbeam fancier) died and left me enough cash for my first MZ.

Having had a few goes on the Zed (very entertaining after they moved the controls during the 25 years he was off the road!), my dad's actually got back into things and went to a Kawasaki ER-5 and a Guzzi of all things.

Andy

[Ken]

Mine was on the back of a neighbours BSA Bantam when i was about 8, What a thrill. Now I am hooked for life.

Ken

[GB500nz]

A mate decided it was wrong to have personal property so right there parked his Lambretta 150D and walked away. When he told me I went and got it from the towies and rode it for years. Rode it down into Mexico and back in the winter, damn near froze, had it held together with chewing gum and wire by the time I got back. It was pretty quick after I messed with the engine and I loved it. Gave it away, left there and got a Francis Barnett. Never loved that thing. But onward and upward.

[guest40]

I must have been around 4 when dad used to take me up on the tank of an Ardie 250, with mum pillion and my sister facing rearwards on mums lap. We travelled around southern Germany like that in the early 50's.
I didnt ride on a bike again until I was nearly 18 in OZ and that was a Suzi B100P single 2 banger, which I chose over the little Yamaha twin LS1 100. That got me well hooked till about '76.     you know the wife ,the kids ,the car, the house ,the mortgage.... the whole catastrophe. I became a born again bike rider in '99, with predominantly singles since.

[mav617]

First ride was on mate's TY50, aged 14, on the moors above Darwen, then I went half share in an old KE125 and was hooked. My dad had bikes when he was younger, including his beloved and oft mourned Goldie 350 which was wiped out before I was born by a Triumph Herald or some such. When I got into them he sided with me against dear old mum and they helped me buy my first road bike at 17 - a secondhand GP100 which I did about 12000 miles on in a year! Having installed a 125 barrell and carb, Allspeed exhaust (retaining the 100 head for higher compression!) and X5 mag wheels I thought it was the mutts nuts. I thrashed it and crashed it, passed me test, flogged it and bought a 250LC that was a bit of a shed but boy did it fly.............more strokers followed (Yamaha, obviously, LCs YPs and TZRs) then two FZR600s and now the SZR, a welcome change of pace from nutterdom..

[Steve Lake]

It always seemed to me that everyone in our family had a bike of some sort.....A prewar Sunbeam (marston) and double adult sidecar was our only form of transport and was my earliest memory....dad had 3 bikes, all sunbeams one working the others being rebuilt/restored 2 600's and one 500 sidevalve, i loved being in the basement workshop we had, most evenings, dad tinkering me spreading all his tools about much to his annoyance. I remember riding on my uncles velocette, sitting backwards on the pillion as we rode through runnymead much to my mothers annoyance!
my grandfather used to come and visit us on a saturday on his flat tank BSA, seem to think he was over 80 before he sold it.
Bit of a tradition now, that father takes son to the Isle of Man TT, grandson is now 6, and no doubt my Son will be taking him one day, as I did him, and as my father took me and his dad did too. My first bike was a Bantam, solid rear end, nearly solid front! did thousands of miles on it before buying my fathers gold flash / steib outfit, and so on and on...can't imagine not having a bike.....love reading about everyone elses experiences too.......similar in so many ways....its a good thread

[peterj]

I was amazed when my dad agreed that I could have a bike for my 13th birthday. I think it helped that he had owned 3 bikes when he was a young fellow in the 1920's - a Francis Barnett (the original bolt together frame one I think), a belt drive Douglas and a Model P Triumph with a chair.

The bike I got was a Honda PC50 - the spindly single speed step-through with an OHV engine - I think it cost 50 quid which was by far the most expensive present I ever got, and the best one by far. First ride proved interesting as I had assumed that you rolled the twistgrip forwards to go forwards, and vice versa to stop. It took a few rides before stopping was perfected, so I'm glad it was a PC50 and not something with more horsepower.

Longest I've gone without a bike since (30 years) was 18 months. Despite my love affair (obsession?) with bikes, I feel kind of relieved that my daughter has never shown any interest.