Your First Bike

[ReconRat]

First bike was a white Honda CB160, in a world where small bikes ruled.

More like a fast scooter, I rode it all over Ohio and neighboring states,

and blew one camshaft, one stator, one crankshaft, and several tires. A learning experience.

Luckily most failures were close to home, and I just pushed it back.

$200 bucks, and I spent maybe $2000 fooling around changing it.

Followed by several CB/CL350s, and a bunch of bikes I bought, repaired and resold.

And then the Honda CB750 hit the market, and the world changed forever.

Looked like this one, before it got modified...

Edited May 4, 2012 by ReconRat
replaced pic.

[Strictly Street]

Holy Thread Revival Batman!!

First bike was in 81. A 75 Yamaha RD 250 two-stroke smoker.

It would go 118mph downhill with the wind behind it. You could lean it over in a turn till you dragged elbows and almost shoulders before it started to slide out on you. Put about about a hundred turn signals and 30,000 miles on it over two years riding in the snow and the rain while being a poor student without a car. Couldn't afford the insurance for a car but a bike was so much cheaper. Chicks dig bikes, even little ones back then.

Then I got my 80 KZ 550 in 08. Lots of miles and lots of smiles! Always wanted to get back into riding but always put it off till "next season". Finally got off my ass and just went out and bought one. Didn't really like the newer sport bikes and the cruisers looked slow and heavy so I got this instead.

Not sure what the future will bring. But I'm thinking older iron, mid 80's to mid 90's. About a liter and with electronic ignition (The rd tought me to hate changing points)

[alienpi]

My first real motorcycle was a 1996 Katana 600. I got it mainly to save wear/tear on the car, and of course save money on gas, because it was 2008.

[hollywood3586]

my current 2003 sv650s popped my cherry

[chevysoldier]

My first bike was a 2007 Ninja 250.

When I first got it:

View image in gallery

When a friend wrecked it:

View image in gallery

After I fixed it back up:

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[crf69]

94 cr125......99cbr600 f4 street

[JBWalker]

Dateline: 1961

1952 whizzer sportsman.

Edited July 25, 2010 by JBWalker

[Steve Butters]

i wanna hear from redrocket what hes riding now...he sold his sport bike, sold his crusier, and then told everyone that he bought hoblicks old vfr...but word on the street, is that he doesnt actually own that vfr....someone get us the scoop

[Big Kitty]

Started my riding career on a '74 Kawasaki KD175 at age 11. I rode the piss out of that until I was old enough to get a street bike and bought a '72 Honda CB100. I swear that thing got me around all summer for about $5.00 of gas. That winter I picked up an '81 Yamaha XS850 special. Next was an '82 (I think) Kawasaki KZ 550 LTD, then an '84ish KZ 440 LTD followed by another of the same. Then my room-mate got an '86 katana 600 and I was exposed to sport(ish) riding and I had to have one of my own, I decided on a CBR and ended up with a '94 CBR 600f2. Loved that bike, rode it cross country from Hatteras Island, NC to Denver. It got vandalized outside my apartment building and the insurance company totaled it, I replaced it with a '96 CBR 900RR, which I also took on a couple cross country trips. I eventually sold the RR to buy my current '05 SV1000s which has since been converted to naked, crashed at VIR and currently sits in my trailer waiting to be transported to my new home in Fort Lauderdale to complete the rapairs.

Have also owned as a result of being married, a '99 250 ninja and currently, an '05 sv650s, also converted to naked.

[Bad324]

i wanna hear from redrocket what hes riding now...he sold his sport bike, sold his crusier, and then told everyone that he bought hoblicks old vfr...but word on the street, is that he doesnt actually own that vfr....someone get us the scoop

meaning didn't own it in the first place or anymore? I saw him on it and he let me sit on it and look it over when I was looking to buy my VFR

[Steve Butters]

meaning didn't own it in the first place or anymore? I saw him on it and he let me sit on it and look it over when I was looking to buy my VFR

meaning he had it for a very short period and "couldnt keep it" so it ended up back at the dealer since it was sitting there for sale right after he supposedly bought it?

he hasnt made any posts about it, so who knows anymore lol

[Trambo]

First bike was a Yamaha YZ50 at age 10. Probably put 10,000 miles on that silly thing in the dirt. First street bike was a 1984 Honda Magna V30, I fell in love with the V4's and I still lust after the mid-eighties Interceptors (and I may still get a 25th Anny RWB VFR one of these days.) Next up was a Suzuki Intruder 800, rode it for a few years & decided the cruiser thing was killing my back. After a few years off, I bought my 2007 SV 650 Naked... and it's been the greatest bike ever. In the near future, I'm looking to add to the stable a dual sport, a VFR (for touring) and maybe a retro cafe import like a Bonneville.

[the_silverfox]

meaning he had it for a very short period and "couldnt keep it" so it ended up back at the dealer since it was sitting there for sale right after he supposedly bought it?

he hasnt made any posts about it, so who knows anymore lol

It's back for sale at IP. Didn't go back there today (it was busy) but it's been there as of Thursday.

[Bad324]

meaning he had it for a very short period and "couldnt keep it" so it ended up back at the dealer since it was sitting there for sale right after he supposedly bought it?

he hasnt made any posts about it, so who knows anymore lol

damn and I thought I was getting bad

[Sniper_308]

My first bike was a 2000 Honda CBR 600 F4.

[Steve Butters]

edit

[Osiris-016]

My first bike was a 49cc pocket bike dirt bike with a centrifugal clutch, 2 stroke. Thing was a PoS.

I then upgraded to a 99' and 03' XR100R, Honda 100cc dirt bike.

Then upgraded to my current bike, 1993 Kawasaki Ninja 250R

Some wouldn't call that an upgrade, but whatevz.

[drew95gt]

First bike was a 2004 Ninja 250, my second and current bike is my Kawi Z750s. Next bike will hopefully be a Z1000 or ZX14.

[curby]

99 GSXR600 - new off the showroom.

02 cbd954rr - salvaged.

05 Roadstar Warrior - used bought off buddy who bought new.

[redkow97]

First bike was a 2002 Honda Nighthawk 250. I started riding later in life as a response to the ridiculous gas prices of 2008.

I don't understand how people rationalize the gas-saving logic. The cost of the bike itself makes this totally impractical.

even when gas was $4.80/gallon, my bike got roughly 2.5 times the gas mileage of my truck. I'll round to triple the mileage to make the math easier. (assume 20 for the truck, which is optimistic, and 60 for the bike, which is also optimistic)

The more you ride, the more you save, and according to Chevy's data on the Volt, the vast majority of Americans drive less than 40 miles a day.

so, on a typical 40-mile day, my truck would burn 2 gallons of gas. The bike would burn 2/3 of one gallon.

truck cost: $9.60/day. bike cost: $3.20

savings per day: $6.40

Cost of bike: ~$1500. Cost of insurance: ~$100 (mine is more like triple that, but I'm basing this on an ideal scenario)

$1600 in expenses, divided by $6.40 means you have to commute 240 days before you BREAK EVEN on the bike. If it takes you more than a year to get to those 240 days, then add on another $100, and another 15 days to break even.

I don't know about you, but I definitely don't ride often enough or far enough to break even, let alone save money. And I used the highest gas prices Ohio has ever seen, and probably the cheapest cost possible for a bike. this is an IDEAL situation for saving money. In reality, it will take multiple years of consistently riding the bike and parking the cage to even break-even.

Edited August 10, 2010 by redkow97

[SAMBUSA]

My bike is paid for, insurance is $300/year. Truck gets 15 mpg at best. Bike gets over 40 mpg while commuting. Pretty good savings for me.

[Unk Greg]

Howdy JRMiii - Nice topic... uh, my first bike, what two summers ago? Was/is the Honda Blackbird...dealers just wouldn't deal on the Hayabusa, so bought this Bird for what I had intended as a down payment on the new Busa.

[CBBaron]

My first and so far only bike

`06 Ninja 250R

Bought it last fall after taking the BRC and have been riding since March. Only about 2500miles so far but enjoying all of them.

Craig

[progrmr]

89 Yamaha Virago 750 - still regret trading that bike away.

[redkow97]

My bike is paid for, insurance is $300/year. Truck gets 15 mpg at best. Bike gets over 40 mpg while commuting. Pretty good savings for me.

but you're not saving until you've RECOUPED the cost of the bike.

you can't spend $7,000 on a motorcycle and then say, "yeah, i'm saving a ton of money on gas," until you've saved $7,000 on gas.

If you like riding a bike (I certainly do), then that's all the rationalization anyone should need. I just laugh when people buy a showroom new Ninja 250 because their Durango gets 16 mpg highway.

They'd have to ride like 60,000 miles to cover the cost of the bike. (that's BS math right there - I'm happy enough to do exact calculations if someone wants to give a specific car/truck and bike)