what was your first bike?

[Bentley eight]

Hi all,
Well ive read most of the previous write ups and i see repeated the bit ref whats happend to the forum as not many people are using it,

Well maybe a bit of new blood may help and as im the last to join im the last drop of new blood to arrive and so here goe's

Question,
Do you remember your very first bike ??
They say you never forget your first love in my case girl,  and the same can be said for the first bike experience,

It was 1963 and i was 14 going on to 15yrs of age and this lad who lived down the council estate from me had a "wait for it"
 ( BSA MARK  1 bantam)
I delivered the daily news papers to this house and the bike would be sitting there on it's stand every morning,
it was painted post office red and had only one seat,

This lad was older than me "17" but he new i liked the bike and one saturday he asked if i'd like a go at riding it,
We ended up going to an old field and he taught me the gears (all three) and he ran beside the bike as i took my first ever ride of a bike. (no skid lid in those days)
I bought that same bike 12 months later off him for £11-00, and i had it for 12 months and it went in part exchange for an ariel leader,
Tobe honest i really missed that BSA and i was sorry i let it go,

But i had many good times on the ariel leader and ive the memouries of those early learning to ride lessons off "Alan Parker" all those years ago.

Whats your first bike experience ?

[murdo]

Being doubled on the back of my older brothers Triumph Saint. Scared me sh*tless, but when he stopped I asked him to do it again.
My first bike was a Yamaha 80cc 'T' framed YL-1. Flogged it around the farm until it broke the gearbox.

[Bentley eight]

Hi Murdo,
It sounds like a memoury worth haing, those we're the days when we kids didn't have PC's but needed to have imagenation,

Do you remember your riding test, and did you pass first time?.

The times and bikes have changed so much since the 1960's but here in france you dont have any test for the bike to be on the road
ie in the uk it's called the MOT.
But here in france for a car its every 2 years and its a control technique, "But for bikes no matter how big the cc is "  "Nothing" just insurance,
Ive only just found out about this and i was so amazed,

When you think about the danger of a bike thats not road worthy and the chances of serious injury or death you'd think the bike mot/contol-tech would be at the top of the list.

Ive just this week got my english licence changed for a french one and i had to have a medical if i wanted to keep my bike side of the licence, the doctor told me the medical was because of the amount of deaths due to bikes on the road.
It was the doctor who told me that the bikes didnt have any test (mot)

But im pleased to say all's well and it only took 2 weeks to have all changed over. (french love red tape and i was expecting all kids of hold ups but as i say all's done and completed) and now ive the french licence.

Some of the french driving laws do make sense, ie my wife changed her driving licence at the same time,

 "now here in france"  the womens licence is in their maiden name and not the married name, the reason being if you get devorced etc you still have your maiden name and not the married one.

All ive to work out now is how i get the english reg'd bikes re-plated to french ones,

The AJS/ VELOCETTE/ BSA/ & TRIUMPHS are all no longer made and the french like a form called certificate of construction, these are normaly got from the makers of the bikes,

So ive that little lot to find out how its "now" done or should i say who to go to and get what the french want in the way of paper work
"red tape".


Anyone already done any of this re-reg stuff and have any info that may help ? please let me know;

Nice talking to you Murdo.

[murdo]

Hi Bentley.
I live in an Aussie country town and in those days you just fronted up to the copper shop (police station), and the licencing sergent watched me go down the street, do a 'U' turn around a centre garden and come back and park in front of the station. When I did the car I took him to the corner shop to buy a packet of smokes and back to station.
 I think growing up on the farm and driving everything I could from the time I was big enough helped. Most kids from the farms in those days had no trouble.
My dad bought a broken 1928 AJS 350cc in 1938, and after replacing the bigend bearing he rode it into town one Saturday morning to get his licence. The sergent asked him where he had come from? Dad replied that he had ridden the 35 miles from the farm. The sergent said, "if you can ride that far you'll be right" and gave him a licence!
Years later my mum got her driving licence in the only vehicle we had on the farm at the time, a three ton Bedford. She only handed in her heavy vehicle licence at 80yrs.

[Bentley eight]

Hi Murdo;
It sounds just like the place i live in now, very country feel about this place "farming folk" and not much else for employment, infact most kids head off to the bigger towns and city life when they leave school,

If we see or hear more than half a dozen vehicles per day then somethings going on, ie maybe world war 3 has started,

It's great for us as we both lived in cities pre us retiring and calling that sort of life "a had enough day"

But we do see a lot of older ladies driving tha horse and carts along the tracks here as for bikes im sure a few barns have some classics just sitting in them.

[Scottowner]

My first bike ?   Not that well known,a 1930 A.K.D. 150cc  OHV. The problem was that the push rods were at the back of the cylinder and due to the revs being so high,(to achieve the speed required by a 17yr old) it was possible for the rods to get so hot they bent !! This was all in 1952. My next bike was a 1930 AJS 600cc side valve (if I remember correctly) V twin. The cylinders ACROSS the frame like a modern Guzzi. Happy days. Now I am restricted to Scotts and Stafford Mobile Pups.

[wink]

It was probably a 125 Ambassador posted on here within the last 2 years. Or a Red Panther or Tandon Imp but the first bought bike in original condition was a 1960 Greeves Scottish which I kept until 1990.

[K Bishop]

Hi,    My first bike was a '53 BSA B31 plunger I bought as a project when I was 14 - 15 . The pic is me at 16 Ahh those were the days

[rgsjohn]

Thought that I might revive this topic. Here is my first motorcycle. A 1946 tele rigid BSA C11. Of course when I bought it, it was not as is shown in the photograph! Obviousley what you see here, is how it was after the De rigueur mods of a sixteen year old. Clip on handle bars, upswept silencer, dual seat and ally mudguards, all from Pride & Clarke. My version of a mini Goldie (well at least thats how I saw it in my head). That bike proved to be a brilliant buy. I thrashed that bike to within an inch of its life, and despite that it proved to be the last word in reliability. In those days I knew nothing. Never knew what an oil change was, I just topped it up if it look a bit low. I went every where on it and never carried even a spare chain link. When I went to college I used to ride it from London to Huntingdonshire most weekends what ever the weather. I owned the bike for two years then sold it to buy a Sunbeam S8 but that is a different story for another day. All in all it was a great bike, and because of that I still ride a BSA today.

[ClassicMotorcycle]

Hi Guys, new to the forum 

looking for some inspiration for my first real classic bike i have been riding a Sinnis Cafe 125 and now i have my full licence thinking of maybe a Triumph T120 TT or something along those line

what are your recommendations ?

thanks

[Rex]

A genuine T120TT? Really?

[popstar1]

 A Honda CB125 in 1977,I wanted a bike a year earlier but my dad would not sign the guarantors form at the bank so  during the fantastic summer of 1976 all that I could do was listen to my mates on their fizzys, Tiger crosses , SS 50s ,and believe it or not one of the lads had a Puch Maxi, The Honda 125 was a great little bike I bought a  megaphone silencer and put crash bars on it and two extra brake lights on the back !Plus not forgetting the day glow orange headlight cover! Then all of a sudden we got into the Yamaha RD250's,  we were always down at Granby motors at Ilkeston finding all the little  bits of tat that we could afford .

[pursang]

My first bike was an old Briggs and Stratton mini bike I think I paid $ 15 dollars for it, but what I consider my first real bike was a Honda XL70, here's a link to my small stable of scooters.

http://bultaco.proboards.com/thread/17/bikes