I was 11 when I got my first pillion on my sisters boyfriends bike - it was a Norton Comando & that was it. None of my friends could understand the facination. Infact, even some of my mates now still struggle with my passion coz they'd rather go shopping or some other irratating pass time lol.
I'd love to hear how others got the bug of the bikes
its in the blood both my parents are bikers so its natral i would follow i been on that meany bikes i car't rember the 1st bike but now i ride all the time i drive but does nothing for me its just u feel the elements good or bad and the freedom on a bike and i think more younger poeple should ride more.
In the 60s my Dad owned a garage on one of the main routes to the south coast and had a few different groups of riders coming in, mainly Greasers and Mods. I must have been about 5 at the time when I realised that I used to like the Greasers and their bikes and not the 'tinny' vespers and lambrettas.
Got my first bike at 12 years old and rode it on the farm. As soon as I was eligible for a license I put in for it and passed first time, much to my brothers annoyance (2nd time for him).
Left school and had many bikes, but always kept in with the same crowd, greasers & rockers. Back then they all rode, BSA, Nortons, Matchless and Vincents, but there was one guy who had a Red Indian and at that impressionable age made me take note, so I've always been into Indians and HDs from very early on, still am today
invalid characters In: West Sussex
Posts: 647
Karma:
Next door neighbour was going out with a rocker in the early/mid 60s, he had a Triton with polished alloy tank, that was it really.
Used to nag dad to let me look through the bike-shop window after church on a Sunday.
Looking back I guess that kept me quiet after listening to that cr*p!
My grandfather was a racer and was president of the MCUI after retiring from racing, me dad raced, so I kinda grew up with bikes and racing. Its a genetic thing for me I guess. lol
Weirdoraptor In: Brough, E. Yorks
Posts: 2087
Karma:
I grew up with a biker living next door, he always had big stuff at his house, big brits, jap fours, Harleys etc. I used to look at 'em for hours.
Then my older brother got a bike in 1975 and that was me pretty much hooked.
This, Barry Sheene, and the bikers nights at the Ferryboat pub near me showed me what i wanted to be.
Not sure actually, there were no bikers around me, hardly anyone rode a bike in my family when I was young, but always had a fascination for them. I used to cycle a lot and used to pretend I was riding a motorcycle
Always wanted to take my license ever since I can remember but only did it a couple of years ago. I so wish I had done it earlier now, I love it more than I thought I would!! It's become a huge part of my life, none of my old friends understand it, they all think I'm a nutter
I used to go into town with my dad and we i used to sit on all the bikes in and outside the shop,ten years later i went to the shop and bought my first bike
my grandad used to take me" brambling" on his honda in the country we allways had a great day, my dad and my bro are both bikers too , so i guess i spent a lot of time in the garage watching and hoping for a trip out,,,funny 37 years later and im still waitingx
My dad had a bike to get to and from work and I have no idea what it was. But there was something alluring about it. Not something you can pin down....the smell, the sound, the look of it... It stayed with me, and when I turned 16, got my provisional and got myself a wee 50. 27 years later and bikes still hold a strange power over me. They get the blood pumping when I'm depressed, they soothe when I get angry, they're a constant companion when I need one. Here's hoping I get another 27 years...
My dad had a couple of flat-tank side-valve Nortons when he was a lad, and then a clapped-out Brough Superior. His big sister, who was a quiet and refined old lady when I was a kid, had driven a staff car in France in the First World War and was a founder-member of the RAF. She had a motorcycle as a wedding present. So I suppose it's in my blood, really.
My dad put a push bike kids seat on the back of his moped when i was about 4 but my mum soon put a stop to our fun. I got my first ride on the back of my big brother's BSA C11G when i was 8. No helmet and wearing a skirt! Hooked from that evening. Then when i was 14 naturally gravitated to greasers
I never grew up around bikes but when i was 17 i had a 125 but went on to a car at 18 because wore lass had one in the oven. But 6 years ago I lost my best mate to a bike crash and it was at his funeral i decided i wanted another bike. So i did my direct access and got back into biking as a way of remembering him.
Quite simply, motorbikes
If that makes sense, bought my first bike at 17 as simply a way of getting to work, didn't have a car licence then, and it was all down hill from there....
a fella! i was 15 and he was 17 and had an RD250 with a 400 engine in it...i thought he was cool but then discovered that actually the bike was more interesting than he was. My dad said id grow out of it....hmmmmmm and who said parents know everything!
An ex!
The night before the relationship finished he came round on his bike and took me out on it! Although he scared me sh*tless I was hooked.
I don't ride myself (but hopefully that'll change next year) in the meantime I just love being on the back of a bike
My dad had bikes all his life and my brother to so i guess it would have been rude not to take part at some point......... I started as a 9 year old.......what a misspent youth i had.....i wouldn't have changed it for anything......
Mum died when I was 9 years old, left in a house of older brothers and my Dad, was all about cars and bikes, used to be sat on pillion seat of one of brother's bikes before they had decided we were off out, so has been in my blood for a long time