| Author | Message | ||
     Brighton |
Do you remember your first pangs of motorcycle love/lust? My first motorcycle lust was when I was 6 years old and saw the Harleys of the local outlaw club. My best friend Marty and I would stick cardboard in our bicycle's spokes to simulate motorcycle sounds. My first solo ride was on a friend's older brother's Honda 50. I was HOOKED for LIFE. My first motorcycle was a used Honda Benly 150. It never let me down. I rode it even in the pouring rain with bread bags over my shoes to keep them dry, and newspaper stuffed into my jacket to try and stay warm. | ||
| Ratman |
At 13 a Harley was out of the picture but I convinced my parents I needed a DT 125 Yamaha. Growing up in LA around various clubs fascinated me,I had to get closer so I did. Also had a buddy who lived next to the Hateley's of Triumph fame and Al baker of XR's only later to own his race 73 Elsinor 250. As a kid all this motorcycle stuff was euphoric, still is 39 years later, just like a kid in a candy store | ||
| Uly_man |
"first pangs of motorcycle love/lust?" Yes I do? After running around on a Honda C50 I, with my Mothers help, bought a brand new Honda CB100N. It had less power than a Zippo lighter, tires with less grip than a $50 coin, handled like a dead Elk, rusted like a 1940s Jap battleship and broke down every time it rained. I may have been a dim 17 year old but even then I knew it was a pile of crap. Ah, nostalgia. How to make something that seemed good, at the time, just as good today. | ||
| Etennuly |
Mine seemed to have started over with every bike I bought. My first being a 1973 Honda XL250. To this day I still have a 1986 XL 250. I really enjoy those little on/off road bikes. Just enough to get you through, not enough to beat you like my 1979 Yamaha TT500 would do. Then I got into road bikes starting with a 1974 CB 750, then a brand new 1979 CB 750F SS. A Gold Wing and a V65 Magna of note. There were several others, but as stand outs to get my lust for them fired up usually the NEXT bike is the one that does it for me.....until these damn Buells got in my way. My new '05 City-X came out in time to grab me. A few months later the '06 Uly came out with what I was really wanting. Since owning this Uly from new, I have had no desire to ride or own another bike. I have demo-ed several because I was at an event, but I have always been happy to be back on the Uly. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
1964 Honda S90 and I bought it for $140 | ||
| Teeps |
Yes, in 1967 I wanted a Hodaka ACE90 so bad I could taste it. That want went fulfilled. A '68 Honda CB-L 160 became my first. Followed by over 30 bikes over the next 20 years. Now closer to 40. | ||
| Skifastbadly |
I was 11 years old in 1966 when my best friend's juvenile delinquent older brother had a Harley. It was black and big and leather with fringe. It was so bad ass I swore I'd never be cool enough for one of those. | ||
| Etennuly |
  You are right!That is why you and I ride Buells (Message edited by etennuly on April 03, 2013) | ||
| Zane |
When I was 5 or 6 years old my older brother's close friend Donny Griffith lifted me up and sat me on the tank of this huge HD of some sort or other and took me around the block. I’ve secretly wanted a motorcycle ever since. At 16 my parents said no, then the girlfriend said no then girlfriend turned wife said no. One day I woke up, my parents had passed, the wife wanted a divorce and there was no one to say no anymore. Within the month I took a MSF course bought a Blast and never regretted it. Even rode the Blast to one of the divorce hearing just to piss her off. By the way, yesterday I rode from Yuma to Phoenix and back on the XT just to take a lady out to lunch. When I asked if she want to ride the bike to the restaurant she said yes. I’d marry her if she’d have me…lol | ||
| Ks_jetta |
Growing up I got to ride behind all the bikes my dad traded. Triumph Trophy and Bonneville, a Kawasaki 3 cylinder 2 stroke that was a little much, a Honda CX500, a Suzuki TS400. I rode my cousins trail 70 and was hooked. My first bike was a 1971 Honda SL350. What a heavy pig for an "enduro". When I moved out of the house I bought a Yamaha FZR400. Amazing that a stock 400cc motorcycle in 1989 could run 135 mph... A great 2008 Suzuki WeeStrom 5 years ago rekindled my passion, for which I'm grateful. | ||
| Uly_man |
Ok I admit it. I got the bug and always had it. I came back on a CX650 US custom bike. It was a good bike until the throttle stuck open. I panicked, pulled the clutch and damaged the engine. Its what got me into V-Twins and in the end to the Buells. In fact any V type motor. | ||
| Yamafreak |
This was the bike I rode to High School, and still have to this day!  | ||
| Yamafreak |
I have kept most all of my bikes.If I didn't love them I didn't buy them. Who could sell something they loved and had to have.I love the Buell and will never sell.My Grand Kids want them and they will get them,only after I am Gone. | ||
| Teeps |
Nice never having to sell a bike. Unfortunately, for me, the former had to go to make room for the latter. Except in the case of a few flips; they were just for the cash... | ||
| Tootal |
 Here's me sitting on my Dad's 1960 Triumph Thunderbird. Notice hand on throttle...some things you learn quickly!! My brother and I started with a couple of lame mini bikes but graduated to an eventual pair of Yamaha mini enduro sixties!!  Wow, I use to have hair!! A few years ago I was in a motorcycle museum and saw a mini enduro. Folks, you should never see one of your old bikes in a museum!!! Just sayin... | ||
| Zane_t |
When we were little shits back in the 60's all we had was our bicycles, but that didn't keep us from pretending to be outlaw bikers. The movie and TV show "Then Came Bronson" in 1969 had a far bigger impact on my becoming a wannabe biker than anything else. I was 23 years old before I actually owned a motorcycle. A used 1973 Harley Davidson XLH Sportster was my very first. Being a natural rider, I learned by the seat of my pants how to ride it and it wasn't long after that I was hanging with outlaw bikers and riding with them. I've evolved substantially since then, learning to like all makes of motorcycles, and aquiring a taste for lightweight, powerful machines such as Buells. | ||
| Fordhotline |
I remember seeing the Malcom Smith movie, On any Sunday. Had to get a bike after that. My uncle helped feed the motorcycle fever by giving me rides on his Norton. That being said.I started out on a Yam DT100. I loved that bike. Years ago while at the New York Motorcycle show i laid eyes on my first Buell XB. And I have been a mess ever since. lol. Its a sickness. | ||
| General_ulysses |
As a former owner of a Yamaha JT60 I can attest that's the most air I've ever seen anyone get with one! They had like 4.5 hp, but I loved it all the same. lol  My first motorcycle experience was aboard my dad's 1969 Triumph Trophy 500. I can still remember sitting on the tank and feeling the wind through my hair, the throaty rumble of the engine and the pull of acceleration as he rolled on the throttle in low gear. I was hooked instantly and forever. The thing I like about the Ulysses, is that it offers a scaled up/grown-up version of the same feeling and sound.   | ||
| Ratbuell |
I never had a real 'touch' connection to a bike growing up - nobody sat me on one, none of my mentors had one...but I'd always wanted one. I did a LOT of time on bicycles growing up - mostly BMX and mountain bikes, but a short stint with road/velo bikes - so slapping a motor on my toys was a natural progression. But, my parents were safety nazis. After college, it was a progression of events...I bought a house. Realized "hey, I'm not renting anymore..time to get a dog". Got my first dog, Calvin (who I had to put down just this past November, at 18 years old). Found a girl who had ridden in the past and her talking about that got me thinking again...so I took a good tax refund one day and bought myself a new 99 M2 in Molten Orange. I went with a Buell because I hated the I4 "angry weedwacker" exhaust note, but I wasn't "old enough" to get a Harley. She asked me when I pulled into the driveway (I hadn't told her about it at all) "what size is that?". Me: "1200". Her: "don't you think that's a bit much?" (She'd been on 600s). About 2 months later we bought her a used 96 S1. Thought I'd found "the one", but that damned Estrogen variable screwed it all up in the end lol! She paid me for the S1 and kept it, but I always loved that bike. The stubby tail, minimalist body compared to the manta-tank barcolounger-seat 99 M2...wow. I eventually found my S1W...but I'll always stick to my Buells  | ||
| Turf_moor |
I can remember as a 16 year old on the Isle of Man to Liverpool ferry (England) and lusting after a Honda 50 step-thru. I still have a thing for the modern version, the 125i despite having a Uly. | ||
| Choyashi |
August 1968/Yamaha 180  | ||
| Whisperstealth |
I came old to the party, being 32 at the time. My first bike was/is a 1999 KLR650. So happy to finally be riding and on such an adaptable bike. went on multiple 1000+ mile adventures on it. Road, dirt, freeway, took everything I threw at it. Not great at anything, but good at everything. Took naps really well, tough bike. Still have it, and it was awesome until my brother wrecked it and it sat for two years. Finally got it put back together only to have the water pump impeller snap on my first ride and blow up the engine. Still hoping to get it back on the road someday. | ||
| Terrible1one3 |
First motorized bike I got when I was 11, it was a 1985 KZ80. I had to get it after cruizing around a buddies yard on a minibike, he soon after got a dirtbike and I followed suit. Raced arena cross for a season, then just road trails up until I was 17 when I got my motorcycle license and pops got me a sportster 883, the rest was history as they say. | ||
| Etennuly |
My best friend/neighbor's dad bought a 1965 Honda trail 90. I was eight or nine when he gave me my first ride. Thankfully he took my over weight ass on a trail ride, I loved the grunt as it tore through a creek bed and the smell of the mud on the muffler steaming up. I was hooked, but I had to wait until I was 18 to actually own a bike, per my Dad. He had seen me ride my Uncle's Chapparal 70' as a teen ager and then when I was thirteen my uncle let me ride his Honda 305 SL, the scrambler with the high pipes. That may have been a mistake as I promptly rode it into the ground. I never forgot in the 1/4 of a mile that I successful rode it, how the 305 felt solid and powerful. I had to wait five years to get my first bike mentioned above. Dad was serious, he did not like seeing me face down in the dirt being chased by a 380 pound motorcycle. It was probably for the better since I also wrecked my older brothers two smoke Bridgstone 90 in right front of him. | ||
| Terrible1one3 |
Etunnuly... that reminds me... that wasn't my first time on a motorcycle. I actually can't remember if it was my Dad buying a beat old 70's dirtbike and ferrying me around the neighborhood or at one of his softball games throwing me on the back of his buddies Dad's ultra classic and taking me for a ride. Either way I enjoyed both of them immensely, I'd guess I was 8 or 9. Didn't ride my first motorized bike until 11 like my above post says but definitely took a ride on a couple before then. | ||
| Tootal |
I had to wait five years to get my first bike mentioned above. Dad was serious, he did not like seeing me face down in the dirt being chased by a 380 pound motorcycle. It was probably for the better since I also wrecked my older brothers two smoke Bridgstone 90 in right front of him. Hmmmm, that does explain a few things!  | ||
| Etennuly |
I thought it was important to learn the correct way to wreck before getting too serious about owning and riding a bike. I especially wanted that out of the way before I became a pavement rider. When I got done wrecking I was already fast! Greg.....Just so you know, I always wore a helmet. Safety first!  | ||
| Tootal |
Safety what? I rode dirt to learn how to fall down. Never wore a helmet, nobody did back then. I actually rode competition observed trials and I wore a funny hat and tennis shoes! Even the professionals wore either a funny hat or a hockey helmet at the most. It was the 70's dude, don't worry about it!!  | ||
| Etennuly |
Well, damned if THAT doesn't explain a few things! My dad was a non rider. HIS rule was helmet or no riding, that carried to my go-kart too. He was so ahead of his time!  Or it could have been the stories of a family friend who did a header into a car and ended up with a life time trip in a state home at the age of twenty due to head trauma and permanent brain damage. | ||
| General_ulysses |
Tootal that's hilarious and of course insane by today's standards. But things were the same way for me and my riding buddies back in the 70s (hence the helmetless wheelie pic above). Hardly any of us wore helmets and no real protective gear either. Good thing those bikes were underpowered turds, else somebody mighta spilled their drink. I also remember riding in the back of a Corvair with no seat belts on, eating chicken fried in hydrogenated Crisco oil and being regularly exposed to my dad's second hand smoke (along with everyone else smoking too!). And our parents would let us walk by ourselves 1/4 mile to the bus stop and wait for the bus unattended by any other parents. When we got home we wouldn't stay inside and watch cable because no one had cable TV then. Instead we'd run outside and play out of sight of our parents. Half the time they didn't know where we were or what we were up to. We'd often ride our bicycles or motorcycles on public roads, miles from home, completely unsupervised and unattended. Just as long as we made it back inside by suppertime/dark is all that mattered. It was a different world then, we were feral kids - that was "the 70's." That's why today there's often a big gap of understanding between people of my generation and those in their early 20's or younger. They can't imagine the world we lived in. Looking back on it, neither can I sometimes! |
