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Your first motorbike


Kitty
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At 16, I acquired a beige NSU,a  funky moped that really brought the world to life, (about the same time as I contracted NSU  [:$]
Next came a BSA C15, an awful oily smelly thing which didn't stay long, a friend had an Aerial Arrow  which I loved the sound of when throttled away and another had a Matchless 350, which was the first thing I did 70 on up the Weston Road, but a great big heavy thing I could hardly lift, I started to lust after a Triumph Tiger Cub trials bike a friend was selling but it ran the ends before I could ride it. Of course about this time it was the beginning of the mod era and another friend and I got  Lambrettas, I painted the side panels BRG with a white flash and a friend packed the flywheel with Isopon to bump up the crankcase compression but although it went ok round town it didn't want to go round corners on a front wheel and side foot rest so I ruined a lot of mohair trousers. I swopped it for a Rover 90 as winter was coming. Now I have a James Captain just to pop about on locally one day, and prefer classic cars [8-|]

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Honda SS50 sports moped with footrests that converted to rudimentary pedals by a dog clutch to meet the moped regulations, after another of my exploratory strip down sessions the clutch could engage whilst in motion with spectacular results, it was difficult to remain in balance and control of the bike while trying to climb on the saddle to avoid the flailing pedals.

Just John, I once got lucky with a very undiscriminating female rider of a Raleigh runabout and as a result also became a member of the NSU club!

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I  like others got caught out by the 250 law brought in the year I would have been able to have a motorcycle instead we had to be content to being a laughing stock.

Raleigh Wisp

Mobylette finally fell apart at 70,000 miles. Bought new for £60.

Suzuki 50 five gears not a moped and it got me my first endorsment as I got caught on it a month before I could have one legally. EGL 255E

James Cadet - my dad still has it.

CZ 175 first new bike. Finally gearbox blew up at 80,000 miles. Fitted a 125 engine and it went on for  a few more years. Went to France on it two up camping. Used to use free nylon Bridgestone tyres from the Yamaha shop as anyone that wanted to live after buying an RD put Dunlops on.

Triumph 3TA soon blew that up.

Triumph Speed Twin with high level exhausts - toppled over when manouvering and got my foot twisted under myself. Ah the smell of burning flesh and very very painful waiting for someone to come and pick the bike of me. Sold the number plate JH 632 to a motor racer for twice what I paid for the bike.

Yamaha RD 400 Finally got some money and bought it new. Never wore out the front tyre it was hardly ever on the ground. Great bike but thirsty. Went to France on it camping a few times.

Bown Deluxe 98cc Bought because I had never heard or seen a Welsh built bike -still got it.

Yamaha SR500 traded the RD in when petrol shot up in price. Boring bike. Did kick back if you didn't follow starting procedure and nearly broke my leg after being used to the RD that you could start by hand.

Yamaha XS 850 Couldn't find an XS 1100. Heavy bike and made me realise I don't like triples. Not the buzz of a 4 or the feel of a twin and heavier.

Yamaha XJ 1200 Great torquey quick bike for its day but let down by front suspension. Did Nurburgring on three occasions on this.

Ducati Superlight 900 Rare early one that was actually a superlight. Got stolen.

Ducati 888 SP4 Best bike I ever had. Bought it in Switzerland from a guy running the Sauber F1 team. Bloomin expensive and daren't leave it anywhere. It had Swiss and UK papers. Full Ohlins and fantastic handling. Had early carbon cans and sounded like a low flying aircraft - it set of car alarms. Kept getting stopped by the force who wanted to look at it.

CZ 250 Enduro Getting into greenlaning. Rare alloy coffin tank bike.

Valkyrie Honda GL 1500 F6c Realised the SP4 was too focused and had started to realise the errors of being able to do three figure speeds with ease on twisty back lanes. So sold the Ducati and bought three different bikes and still had a few grand left.

Honda XR400. Bullet proof. Survived many trips to Wales and being submerged many times. Still got it.

CRM 250 as family bike.

Ducati Darmah 900 1976 Still got it.

CZ 125 Trail Still got it. Have a soft spot for CZs.

Kawasaki 1200 can never remember which model. UJM bought cheap and immaculate with 6000k as French bike.

Had some more bikes along the way but bought and sold swiftly.

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Started at 16 in 1974 with a Puch M50 sports - one of those "super-mopeds" that went at least 55mph  (Yeah ! at least that's what we told everyone we got out of them!!) - much to my mum's horror I had a couple of spills on that including going over the top of a roundabout, but no real harm. Then went riding a Suziki 185 but got so cold and wet one day (I had to wring my boots out!!) I gave up bikes forever - then went out and found a really good looking Yamaha 350 LC - might have looked good, but shook all over if we went above 60mph.

Now I am a bit richer and can chose when I ride and when I use the car, I have a beautiful big black Honda CB 1300S - fantasically smooth - plenty of power, good riding position for my aching back and neck (too much rugby!)  and the most idiotic thing I have bought as it is far too big for me!! - Still I do love it.

I am a bit worried though - whenever I suggest that I should get rid of it as I am likely to fall off one day - my wife insists I kleep it and ride it more often - I suppose she sees it as cheaper than a divorce - perhaps I should also be a little cautious when she serves me those wild mushrooms for breakfast!!

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crumbs, this is going back some!

on the road bikes:

flat bar chrome tank Honda SS50 with a straight through pot full of wire wool (good fun in the dark)

Honda 250 Super Dream ?

Honda CB 550/4

Suzuki GSX 750

Suzuki GS 1000 S (in blue and white like an ice cream van - the one with the bikini fairing) at the same time another CB550/4 as I liked them so much and a Honda XL 185 Traily bike for when it snowed.

Oh and my Harley Sportster that was sold when we came out here.

Would LOVE another bike, anything will do but alas, no spare € at the moment!

Steve

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Enfield 250, but in the 350 bullet frame (as manufactured), front forks got seriously bent on impact with a Hillman Husky (as did I !!!!!)

Lambretta 150 scooter - how sad was that.

Graduated to an MG TC (1947 model) then an 850 Mini.

Last bike was a 750 Honda K2, got rid of that after a sideways incident involving a diesel slick on the approach to a round about.

Have ridden (not owned) Tiger cub, Norton Dominator 99 (magic bike, wide frame model), Kawasaki 900, nothing bigger.

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First was a Tank Change Coventry Eagle circa 1932. 150 c.c.

Next a BSA 350 twin exhaust port; with the two pipes wrapped up in black insulating tape! Circa 1933, tank change again.

Then came a Douglas 600 c.c. fore and aft, wonderful machine with light blue and chrome finish on the frame and tank and running boards!

I was 14 at the time and had a mate who worked part time in a motorbike shop. Wish I still had the old ones now!

First road bike was a BSA Bantam 125 c.c.

Then a Tiger Cub.

Then an accident  with a cat and a broken wrist.

Then cars.

Although I did buy and sell bike salvage for a couple of years as a sort of side issue, mainly, 'cos no one else wanted to buy it and the insurance engineer was desperate! Bought two Honda CD 175 within two weeks of each other for probably a tenner: and made one good bike from the two. Sold what was left  to a dealer for less than the whole project cost. Rode this on sunny days for a few months and then sold it.

Rode a chum's new Kawasaki 600: frightened me to death! As did his earlier Yamaha Ramjet.

I'll stick to cars now thanks.

 

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[quote user="Dog"]

Ducati Darmah 900 1976 Still got it.[/quote]

Ah, excellent, another Dramah Queen - and an early one, too.  1979 SSD, me ...

(Plus Ducati SCR, Ducati Vento, Laverda RGS Corsa and Laverda 750 Formula).

First bike: a Moto Guzzi 250 TS.  Looked nice - go http://www.maier4all.de/Grafiken/Moto%20Guzzi%20250TS_1.jpg - but only went well on Belray and if I remembered to bounce it up and down on the front forks to mix the oil and the petrol.  Put me off 2 strokes for life, really ...

Ciao

Craig

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When I was 20 I was the proud owner (my first bike) of a 1938 "Cammy" Norton  - for all of an hour!!  I had "swopped" it with another youth in exchange for a 1936 Riley Victor.  As I said, I "owned" it for about an hour before his father gave him a flea in his ear and sent him to recover it forthwith![:(].  This was in the mid 1950s.

Some years later I had a BSA Bantam (175, As I remember)

Then a BSA A7 (500).  I changed the engine for an A10 (650) it being the same frame

Then an AJS 500 (Jampot)

Later BSA 650 "Lightning"

BMW R75/6

BMW R100RS

Also had access to Triumph Tiger Cub and Speed Twin.

Workwise progressed through Le Velocette (200), BSA 350 single, Norton Atlas.

Sadly MOH now thinks (probably rightly) that I'm too old.[:(]

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S/H Excelsior 250 Talisman Twin (with funky blue fairing)  Spent more time pushing than riding.

NEW 250 Norton Jubilee. I must have been the only one who bought one.

S/H AJS 650 CSR Sport. Bought from Pride & Clarke

Having not had a bike since 1965 I very foolishly allowed my son to talk me into buying a Honda Goldwing in 1994.  I only kept it for a year, I wish I had it here in France.

Nice topic[8-|]

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[quote user="steve"]Me dad had a 650 lightning (A10 rings a bell somewhere) mind you it was before I was born! I had the FIL's D10 Bantam but never got it going.

Steve

[/quote]

The "Lightning" was an A65 (650cc) and the first of the unit construction BSAs.  There were different names depending on the spec.  The A7 and the A10 were separate gearbox.  500cc and 650cc respectively.

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My Dad had a Corgi motorbike - one of the ones that was parachuted into enemy territory during the war, or so he told me.

What it was doing in Birmingham (where we lived at the time), I shall never know...

I found a picture of the what it looked like (but his was red).

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/cosford/collections/vehicles/vehicle_info.cfm?vehicle_id=9

 

 

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The first we had was a Tiger Cub - cost £7.10s.0d. 1958

Then there was an BSA A10, and a Norton Dominator.

Then the Enfield 350.

Having gone Japanese after that theYamaha XT250 and Suzuki DT400 were great for green-laning down around Dorking.

For town driving there was the Honda CB110R.

Whilst working with London Boroough of Merton as a Motor Cycle Instructor, finally I had the Kawasaki GPZ550 - but then I got pregnant and the OH wrote it off, and for the last 20 years I have been dutifully driving the daughter around, but once we get to France me and the OH will get back to biking (sensibly), we hope.

I keep telling the daughter that she should remember we are just 21 in wrinkly skins!

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Being a comparatively young flippertygibbet,  my first bike in 1979 was a Kawasaki KH125, followed by a Yamaha RD 250 with skimmed head and power pipes.  Being my only source of transport these were ridden every day come rain, snow and near-death experiences.

Passed my car test and that became my main transport, but picked up a Honda 250 trail bike that had been used off road,  as a 'fixer upper'.  Numerous new parts, respray and stove enamelled frame later the XL250 was ready for reassembly - in my third floor attic bedroom in my parents house.  Found out the hard way that its impossible to maneouver thirty plus stone of motorbike down three flights of narrow stairs.

Was very tempted by a Ducati 500 Pantah but that meant having to sit the test plus I didn't have access to a garage and said Pantah would have lasted one winter. Mature student poverty and subsequently marriage put an end to any further two wheeled dreams - and just as well given the projectiles that pass for bikes these days.

Mr Cat

 

 

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