When did motorbikes 1st interest you?

Howdy Doody all

Just been talking to a mate (fellow biker)and got on to the subject of talking about how we 1st became involved/interested in bikes.

Turns out both of us got interested the same way ie our dads were into them hense we grew up with them as a big part of our lives.

Ican still remember my 1st ride on a bike,it was a little italjet 50cc when i was 7 before working my way up to bigger more powerful machines as well as riding my dads bikes on the road from the age of 12 katanas and gsx's(he used to be on the back and we did it on quiet country roads).

I've had plenty of thrills and a few spills but still here riding(it's in the blood).
So what 1st got all of you interested in 2 wheels?

i had 2 weeks in Cyprus when i was 15 and had my own monkey bike i was then hooked, got home got a job at 16 and got a Suzuki Fr (c90 lookalike) thats where it all begun.

[mister c]

Parents didn't have them, but where I lived, my mum's neighbour was a big biker, then we had some Hells Angels move in a few doors down (great bunch of people). My uncle had bikes, so it stemmed from there.
I have got an old black & white photo of me sat astride an old BSA 250. I was about 4 years old I think, that's where my love comes from.
When I was 17 I bought a brand new X5 Suzuki 200 (Couldn't afford the repayments for the "New" X7). My boss threatened to sack me when I was 19 if I didn't pass my car test, which I still wouldn't have done if it wasn't for him.
The rest is history, I haven't really been without a bike since.

My older brother got one and started giving me grief about how he was better than me, so while he wobbled about on L plates, i went and did my test and bought a gpz500, dumb reason, good result.

My brother got hooked and had fun with loads of mates and girls so thought I would get one so I could get the girls (didn't work by the way).

I broke up with my EX.. was walking through the shop where i worked and out of nowhere.. i thought "i want a bike" so i sold everything i owned and got a DT125 then passed my test and got the SV.. then woke up this morning after dreaming about a GSXR 750... and now im here... bikes have SERIOUSLY changed my life

[fizzwheel]

My dads always had bikes, I grew up in a household where there was two or three bikes in the garage.

Dads garage was a weird and wonderful place, full of bits of bike, oil cans, petrol, paint etc etc. I helped him rebuild the engine in one bike, OK I sort of hung around and got in the way.

When your a little kid theres something mysterious, magical and majestical about a bike, and I think if you get hooked at an early age it never leaves you.

My brother used to knock about with a lad on a Lambretta and I bought a Triumph tiger cub from a customer on my paper round.

My parents and my brother hated motorbikes so that is good enough reason to get one.

Since then my brother passed his test, bought a Hardly Driveable closely followed by 2 Triumphs, 3 Ducatis, 2 Aprilia Mille, a TZ350 and a BMW. The 999 Ducati was replaced by a MV Augusta F4.

Unfortunately Pete died last year from a heart attack. At least he enjoyed his biking.

When I was a little kid and just moved to England the young lad over the road had a new bright yellow Norton Commando, and now and then he'd let me help him clean it in exchange for a pillion ride up and down the road. I'd have been about 8 yrs old because the Commando was a 1970 H plate (I can still remember the reg number). I bought my first copy of Bike Magazine when I was 12, and a Yamaha FS1E when I was 15 ready for my 16th birthday in April 1978.

About a month ago at the local bike club I bumped into that same once young neighbour who owned the Commando (he has a distinctive Polish name), he's now 55ish and rides a BMW Boxer Cup. It's nearly 35 years since we last saw each other and he had no idea what an influence he had on me back then, or that I went on to own bikes as well. Both of us have always had bikes since we were 16 and ride all year round.

My Dad and Uncle used to restore british bikes. My first ride was at the age of 3 on a 1920s Panther, Sat on the tank between my dads arms! only very slowly the length of a carpark though! My first propper pillion ride was on a Vincent Rapide, around silverstone! (the grounds though not the track) at about five. I think the Rapide gave me my love for twins.