How many years have you been riding a motorcycle?
Man, I'm a newby compared to some of you guys. I started in 1985 on a Honda Aero 50 while living in Toronto, Ontario. That didn't last long, and eventually made the jump to an '83 Virago 500. Got tired of the cruiser thing after a long trip through the Maritimes in '86, and traded it for an '81 CB900F. Spent far too much money on that headache, but traveled all over North America on it before reality set in and decided to go back to school to get edumicated. Bikes were set aside until about 5 years ago when I discovered the world of the SuperHawk. It's been all downhill since....
Photo is from July 1989 in Skagway, Alaska aboard the heavily modified CB900F with a Velorex 562 sidecar (great for storing all your gear and also handy to have the third wheel on gravel roads). 31 day trip from Toronto to Alaska, and through the lower 48 back home (covered 11,500 miles total). Longest day was Thunder Bay, Ontario to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (about 1100 miles in 21 hours). Ah the good old days! 
Last edited by Vince Lupo on Fri Jul 16, 2010 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I started when I was about 12yrs old an just turned 60 last March. First one was a Jawa 50cc model 555 that started life looking something like a moped without pedals and my Dad completely reworked it to resemble a small motorcycle. Then, the first Honda was a 66' CB72 250 Hawk in 1968.
Later on, Bill
I think my first go at motorbike riding was in 1961 on an Indian then on a single Matchless with a badly worn back sprocket and chain. it was sort of drop the clutch and then wait until the chain gripped and you were away. real good exciting stuff. About the end of 1962 I bought my first bike, a 150cc BSA Bantam and managed thousands of miles in the 8 months I had it. Traded it in for a 305 Honda Dream, 1959 model which to me was a heap of junk and lots of problems. It seemed to cost me a new set of bearings every thousand miles. The big end bearings gave up on one trip and the bike finally stopped when the crank shaft was moving around that much that the points stopped operating. It would still idle but when you put any load on it the points would kill it. Had a look when it was being repaired and there was about an eighth of an inch ground off the crank pins. Never found any of the needle bearings that were there once. Gave it back to the shop just to get rid of it.
Put me off bikes for a while but then saw this neat blue 1965 CB77 and bought that. Still own it and ride it. Did 100.000 miles in under 10 years. Great, new crankshaft every 30.000seemed to be main problem and averaged about 65 miles per gallon. mileage is about 130.000 nowadays. Had a few other bikes since and currently ride a CX500 for fun. travel about 10.000 miles per year on it. Leon James. Timaru. New Zealand
My first bike was a Honda C110, at about age 13. Our town was small, and the police didn't care if we rode the alley's. We had a blast! My main motorbike now is a Yama xz550 vision, the Rider's of Vision group had a 25th year get together in Colo.
Started riding on a dirtbike, I guess at the age of 13, a honda xl or something. When I got 16 I got myself a Honda PC50 (still having this one), and shortly after that a Honda C50 (I also have this one) This was followed by a Zundapp KS50. a kreidler florett, later a yamaha FS1 (50 cc), a honda SS50 (with 70 cc kit) and a Honda CD50 (I have one of these again).
When I was eighteen a got myself a yamaha RD350 YPVS followed by a Yamaha XJ600, then a Yamaha RD500 YPVS. After my study I bought a XT500, traveled to India (took me more then a year), but had to leave the bike at Sri Lanka. Started again with a Kawasaki KR1-s 250 (I still own this bike), later a second a RD500 YPVS (seized big time). I was fed up with the seizures of the strokers, so I decided to get myself a decent bike so I bought a very nice Honda CB400F '75 (first real classic), and for the work I bought a Honda XRV750 Africa twin which I still own. I was looking for a black bomber, but found by accident a very nice CB72 and a C78 and decided I wanted these. Later came the rest of my classics, and recently I bought a Honda 1959 C71. My daily riders are my late CB72 and of course my XRV. If the weather is nice I ride my CB400F or one of my dreams. In the summer I like to ride my mopeds too. On a perfect Sunday I take my stroker (KR1-s) for a ride, to feel young again (I'm 42 years old now). Jensen
Last edited by jensen on Tue Jul 06, 2010 12:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
assembly of Japanese motorcycles requires great peace of mind (Pirsig)
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