What was your first motorcycle?

[Cliffnopus]

My first bike was a BSA Bantam D7; 175cc's of underpowered fun.

But a great learner.

My second bike was a BSA Lightning 650 and my third was a Kawasaki Mach III, a two stroke mosquito fogger that was the fastest street bike of it's time, regardless of size. Crank it and try to hang on.

Don't have one now, but my son has a Harley Springer that I occasionally play with.

Cliff

 

[Knight Lights]

Cliffnopus, that MachIII was the 750 version right? That's the big brother to my 500cc triple, I think!

Bill

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Them Kawa triples were pure EVIL!

Two more bikes I miss! My 1980 CBX and my 1986 VF700F, a Gentlemans Express!

 

[Uncle Bob]

Mine was a 1981 Yamaha 250. Great for city commuting and rides up and down LSD (Lake Shore Drive) in Chi-town.

 

[bwaites]

The CBX, a six cylinder behemoth! All those pipes were seriously cool!!

And yes the Kawi triples were scary!! Fast as anything built and nasty (meaning not good) handling! Tankslappers were a right of passage for a triple owner!!

Bill

 

[Icebreak]

Missed a gear and double posted.

 

[Icebreak]

1969 500 Triple

1972 750 Triple

CBX

 

[Reaper]

BSA Rocket Gold Star

 

[Jay R]

Honda PX50. Off road style moped. Followed a year later by the classic Cub C90.

 

[Cliffnopus]

Cliffnopus, that MachIII was the 750 version right? That's the big brother to my 500cc triple, I think!

Bill

No, my Mach III was the Kawasaki 500 triple. I owned that for two years before the 750 came out. When the 750 arrived on the scene it blew the doors off my 500. Then I had to be content with having only the second fastest bike. My dealer asked if I wanted to upgrade to a 750.... I told him I was having a hard enough time keeping the front wheel down as it was.

The 500 and 750 were real fast but I never appreciated them as much as my 4 strokes. Probably because of the God awful whining "bumblebee" sound vs the nice rumble of a four stroke. But gosh ,were they FAST !

Cliff

 

[zespectre]

1985 red Kawasaki Eliminator just like this one:

Heyyyy, same here (mine was green and black). Nice bike that got me through my college years then I sold it to an incoming freshman. I still miss it sometimes but I think riding a bike in washington dc is fast suicide so I don't do it anymore.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I'd dig having one of those "Touring" CBXs from the early 80's...

But I really want a Beemer "Dual Purpose" opposed twin!

Alas.... and will probably get neither!

 

[Brian Johnson]

I had an '89 Kawasaki EX500. I miss that little bike.

 

[Starshiptrupr]

1976 Honda CB360T... which I had to kick start most of the time it seems. (I think I finally got a decent generator for it?) I almost got my dad's CX500 (when he got his Goldwing) but it was a bit too top heavy for me.

 

[vmaxoutlaw]

1976 Suzuki TC 185 at 16 years old.

 

[Atomic6]

I bought a used Harley 45 Servicar for $100 when I was in college. I then managed to pick up 2 more Harley 45's that were not working. From the 3 bikes, I got 2 of them running. Then after a couple of years, I was down to only the servicar running. The trike had 3 forward gears and one reverse gear.

I had an old truck radio in the trunk and slung a 12" speaker from the handle bars. I used to pile 4 other guys on the trunk and go to the root beer stand - lots of fun when the car hop tried to figure out where to put the tray.

There were a bunch of us with motorcycles that used to go on beach parties. My 3 wheeler would hold six cases of beer in the trunk in addition to the radio.

Out of all the motorcycles I've owned over the years, that 3 wheeler was the most fun. If I could find something like that today, I'd buy it in a heart beat.

The pictures aren't very good, but the best I could find for something that old.

Jim, that was my first Bike too!! Those were a blast to ride for sure. Actually I t was a loaner and on it I delivered papers in the wee hours :slightly illegally When I turned 14, I got my own bike: a Honda 50.

A6

 

[sr45]

My first motorcycle was a 1949 Harley Davidson 125cc two-stroke. A "Harley Hummer." It was 1965 and it was dug up in an Iowa cornfield, The farmer cleaned it up, painted it fire engine red and put some tires on it, The magneto was shot, so the electrical system was an old nine volt drycell battery taped to the vertical frame member. The exhaust system consisted of a very nice chrome kitchen sink drain pipe coming out of the engine and running along the trailing arm. It was stuffed with steel wool to form a muffler. The steel wool was held in place with a Snuff-Or-Not. The bike had a springer front end and tractor style seat with a pillion for the ladies (snicker... I was 15 years old)

Oh, yeah. I paid $60 for it.

 

[BVH]

Suzuki 80, Bultaco 175 Campera, Kawasaki 350, Triumph 650 Bonneville, Norton 750 Commando, Honda Goldwing.

Boy! The Snuff-or-Not mentioned above brings back some memories!

Rode a Harley Servi-car at work. We built police cars and transported them between the shop and the cop factory. We towed the Servi-car behind the patrol car so we didn't need two people to transport a vehicle.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Wasn't the first by a long shot...

A Honda 305 Dream. Stamped steel frame, interesting springer front end, ANEMIC twin cylinder single carb.... and a HANDFULL to ride!

Got to ride a BSA Gold Star 500 thumper when I was still mostly a pup... that thing was impressive at the time!

 

[TedTheLed]

BMW R69US my one and only.