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Your first motorbike


Kitty
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I have a theory (cough, cough)**.  So many Forum members seem to have had motorbikes that there must be a correlation.

I have alwys thought that the Brits that I meet in France are mildly adventerous, which why they (we?) have settled in France rather than staying in Blighty.  Having a motorbike is mildly adventerous.  Therefore, if you are a Brit in France, there is a higher correlation of you having owned a motorbike.

Yes or no?

** See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOzVkSFnKxI

 

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Was yours a Garelli Tiger Cross Cathy? Lord only knows why the name came back to me last night.

Back in them days it wasnt so much adventurous as necessity to get to and from work etc.

The winters always used to sort out the real bikers from the fair weather ones, who for some reason always seemed to prefer  Mk1 Cortinas for their winter wheels (hardly adventurous) but still carried on wearing their leathers [:D]

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I rode a bike come rain or snow until the age of 25.

I even used to get to work in snow and ice when car drivers didn't.

I finally succumbed to my  first wifes nagging and got a Reliant three wheeler great fun going around roundabouts on two wheels and I could  lift it onto axle stands.

Unfortunately my first one ended up cartwheeling across the carriage way and flying over a hedge after I hit a deep hole and overcorrected. I exited the passenger door and did a series of backflips.

On each one I tried to stand up but the momentum was too great and I just carried on. When I finally stopped the contents of the boot, the spare wheel and a large tool box crashed down just missing me.

A car driver who saw the action stopped and manged to help me find my specs and offered to give me a lift to hospital. I said I was OK and he drove me to a mates house, on the way in the front seat of his car I sort of levitated into a solid standing position and had real trouble getting out of the car.

Went to hospital but just buised. Car was not so lucky chassis ripped apart and the body completely off. So I got another and promptly got done for speeding by a cop in a 3000 Granada that said he couldn't keep up with me! But that's amother story.

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Never one to run with the crowd ...........

First riding experience was a BSA Winged Wheel

First legal bike a Francis Barnet 150 (Villiers engine) big end went after about 3 days, learnt an awful lot fixing that myself.

Then a stripped down Ariel Arrow with expansion boxes, what a lovely sound, thank s JJ [;-)]

Next a Greaves 250, seems I was developing something of a preference for 2 strokes, probably the smell and noise.

Then the Mod era beckoned but no Vespa or Lambretta for me, I bought a Moto Rumi, yet another 2 stroke twin (125cc) which would pi** over just about anything of a similar displacement, the only thing which would regularly best it was the Lambretta SX200 and that was only because the SX being a bit narrower could crank into the corners a tad tighter than the wide Rumi. When that got nicked I'd got a bit fed up with dificulties with spares so I did relent and had a succession of scooters culminating in an SX 200.

After that it was marriage and soon after kids which meant 4 wheels and never really felt the hankering for a bike again othet than perhaps a little local run around.

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[quote user="Cathy"]

I have a theory (cough, cough)**.  So many Forum members seem to have had motorbikes that there must be a correlation.

I have alwys thought that the Brits that I meet in France are mildly adventerous, which why they (we?) have settled in France rather than staying in Blighty.  Having a motorbike is mildly adventerous.  Therefore, if you are a Brit in France, there is a higher correlation of you having owned a motorbike.

Yes or no?

** See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOzVkSFnKxI

 

[/quote]

Of course there is a correlation.

It is the risk thing. Motorcyclists are not over scared of risk and you need skill and some faith in yourself to do the Nurburgring for example.

If I had two candidates for a job I would always go for the motorcyclist.

Motorcyclists on the whole are a kind hearted bunch and prepared to make decisions that they have the courage to live with. Having said that I have lost five friends to motorcycling and know hardened motorcyclists that have cracked up at the TT when team members have died.

Life goes on and there is no better way to get away as the Steve Gibbons song goes. Although he was singing about Hardly Desirables.

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J.R wrote: Was yours a Garelli Tiger Cross Cathy? Lord only knows why the name came back to me last night.

Nah, JR.  Nothing so exciting as that.  I think that it was a 50cc moped.  [geek]  I have been trying to find an image of it and I think that it was like this:  

http://digilander.libero.it/massimo254/MOTO/garelli_gulp_flex.JPG

I remember going to a party in stilettos and a cheese cloth dress.  The heel got stuck in one of the pedals and the dress in the spokes....

 

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Of course I cannot speak for the rest of you ex bike owners, but in my case it was because it was the only way you could get around on anything with a motor in it in those days.  Not many people could afford to buy a car then and I don't remember any of my friends or their fathers owning cars, if you were a family man you might have a sidecar.  Go down any council estate in the 50s and early 60s and you wouldn't spot many cars parked, neither would you spot armchairs and sofas out in the front gardens!!

Ah! But 1964 was a bit of a golden year, when I could afford to purchase a Humber Hawk, the driving licence though would have to wait for a bit.  Should I tell my children about that?[Www]

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[quote user="Cathy"]

J.R wrote: Was yours a Garelli Tiger Cross Cathy? Lord only knows why the name came back to me last night.

Nah, JR.  Nothing so exciting as that.  I think that it was a 50cc moped.  [geek]  I have been trying to find an image of it and I think that it was like this:  

http://digilander.libero.it/massimo254/MOTO/garelli_gulp_flex.JPG

I remember going to a party in stilettos and a cheese cloth dress.  The heel got stuck in one of the pedals and the dress in the spokes....

 

[/quote]

So you invented "Punk" then [:D]

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Anyone remember the Italian Itom moped/bikes?

At one time they were the fastest 50 c.c. thing on wheels.

Had a chum - the envy of us all - who had a superb Sunbeam shaftdrive: then a sort of icon bike.

He was poodling along the local arterial road at circa 50 mph and heard this awful noise: which became louder and louder!

He was convinced summat bad was up with the Sunbeam: sounded like raw metal scraping on raw metal. It became louder and louder..........

As he became really worried, an Itom 50.c.c. screamer crept past him flat out: at 51 1/2 MPH!

[:D]

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  • 3 weeks later...

[quote user="Chief"]Suzuki Bandit 1200 Honda CBR1100 Super blackbird (carbed) Honda CBR1100 Super blackbird (Injected) Triumph Rocket 2300 BMW K1200S (with all trick bits)[/quote]

So you started with a Bandit with balancing wheels and a 30bhp kit?

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[quote user="Dog"]

[quote user="Chief"]Suzuki Bandit 1200 Honda CBR1100 Super blackbird (carbed) Honda CBR1100 Super blackbird (Injected) Triumph Rocket 2300 BMW K1200S (with all trick bits)[/quote]

So you started with a Bandit with balancing wheels and a 30bhp kit?

[/quote]

Sorry you have lost me with the last comment
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[quote user="Dog"]

[quote user="Chief"]Suzuki Bandit 1200 Honda CBR1100 Super blackbird (carbed) Honda CBR1100 Super blackbird (Injected) Triumph Rocket 2300 BMW K1200S (with all trick bits)[/quote]

So you started with a Bandit with balancing wheels and a 30bhp kit?

[/quote]

Are you perhaps referring to the new restrictions on riders, or the bike i learned to ride on???? Not sure but for clarity.

I learned on (but did not own) a ER5. Aged 38..ish

The first bike i owned was a Bandit 1200S

There were no restrictions on the size of bike you could own after passing your test 2002-3

I passed my test on a tuesday and picked up the bike from Stoke-on-Trent on the saturday morning.
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[quote user="Dog"]

It is an ambiguous subject title but it could still be considered a little unusual to have a 1200 as a first bike.

[/quote]

ahh. Agreed, as most of my friends pointed out at the time. What i found was that at 6'1" and 18 stone, i tended to dwarf the 600cc range, and quite frankly, i looked stupid on them. Another factor was that the price differential between used and new then was well within my comfort zone, and the idea of looking stupid for 12 months on a bike i didn't want, and buying second hand when i knew i would soon be craving for a new bike, resulted in a decision to bite the bullet and go big on both size and budget.

Was right decision for me, but perhaps not for everyone. At 38, and with over 20 years in a car, brain ruled more than ego, so not such an unwise choice for me.
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My first bike was a Puch three speed with the gears on the handle bar....

Then I had a Yamaha FS1i   looked like this one, Which made you feel real grown up as it looked like a proper motor bike 

Then it was a Yamaha 100 from my big sister who had gone on to have a Triumph Bony 750

Not an exceptional list but was as some have said the only way of getting around on your own from a village.

Judith

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  • 4 months later...

It's not long before "Show Bike" in the Medoc (June 27th/28th) , with thousands of Harley Davidson owners meeting up for a festival.

Did anyone have a Harley as their first bike?  Or are they only for grown ups?

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A Suzuki B100P, named 'SuperBloop'. Took me to college and back and never missed a beat.

Then an MZ250 - truly a terrible machine. Cheap, as I had a mortgage and no money, but electrics were all over the place, it oiled the plugs and conked out in the most inconvenient places. The dealer kept taking it back and couldn't find anything wrong, except that it conked out on him. Wilf Green, the importers, didn't want to know and, when the kickstart fell off the dealer told me that I was kickstarting it too much (trying to get it to start!). Eventually sold to a chap who said "all MZs are like that" but still wanted it.

Then a Honda 400, lovely little bike but needed a bit more poke, so traded up for a Honda CX500.

OK, stop laughing, the 'Maggot' was utterly reliable, never let me down, maintained a respectable speed, started first time every time, and was the bike of choice for London couriers which is saying something. I had that bike for ten years but rust claimed it badly so it was sold on.

No longer on bikes but into kit cars ...
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