just a random thought

When I was 18-19 I so wanted a Suzy X7 with a black leather jacket with an extra layer of diamond-stitched leather on the shoulders. Good as well I didn't, I'm sure I wouldn't be here now.

When eventually I did start to learn - a little bit older than most - all I knew was that I wanted a Triumph cos they're so damn cool. Didn't think about bike gear etc. Took slightly longer than expected due to an unfortunate accident but I got there with my previous bike:



and then my present bike:

As a kid Carl Fogarty was my idol so naturally I wanted THAT bike with THOSE leathers and THAT helmet. Hence why I made a beeline for Shark lids when I actually got into riding. Still got posters of him on my wall and my shirts and hats from when I was 7 or 8. I remember being so gutted when he retired.

[BanannaMan]

At the age of thirteen I started riding on the road (illegally of course)
on a 1968 BSA Lightning exactly like the one pictured below.

Cool isn't something you aquire, it's something you're born with.









OK, OK , so it belonged to the car dealership where my dad was a salesman. I still consider it my first bike.
Got a job there washing cars, sweeping floors, etc. after school.
They would let me ride it on the road (things were different back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) or
clean it up, etc. whenever I got my work caught up.
Lasted for about a year. Then they sold it.


So much for being born cool.

mate im from N.I
joey dunlop was a god amongest men,
and i justed to walk the long way to school to look at a srad 750
which im happy to say i did own ,even if i did swap it with paul the 6th soon after

Originally Posted by hongman

My first bike, aged 14, cost me £50 off a stranger I met in KFC.



Had spanners as wheel spacers and such like!

Didn't your Mum talk to you about stranger danger? Lucky he didn't take you into the woods to find his lost puppy

Brought up at the racetracks so always knew most things with an engine were going to be cool, especially bikes as daddy raced them

It was my "cool" years (or not looking back) that made me miss my own opportunities to get into it properly myself.

Then I got cool with my cars...

Then I got into bikes as its faster, and cheaper, but im no-where near the fly boy i once was Still, luckily one of my bikes still keeps me on the edge of epic coolness and internet E points.

Mind you, when I got my first bike, I thought it was awesome. Until a young lad on a MotoX bike used to absolutly hammer me performance wise, also on an 80cc bike.

Originally Posted by B1k3R

Didn't your Mum talk to you about stranger danger? Lucky he didn't take you into the woods to find his lost puppy

Yeah...worse bit? I said I'd buy it in a week, we met up again at KFC and he took us in his car to his house (in Ongar, few towns away) to look at the bike, and dropped it back to Harlow for us. Never seen the bloke before that, he'd overheard us talking about another mate who had acquired a DT125 recently and how I wanted one.

I was with a mate but there's not a lot 2 14yr olds could have done should things have turned nasty. Scary when I think back.

So I'm grateful that the worse thing that happened was I got sold a complete death trap It got me hooked as my first taste of bikes though hehe!

I know there was/is a KFC at Staple Tye. Down the quite country roads to Ongar through Epping Forest. Well bugger me! You were lucky.

Got my first one at Johns of Romford in Rush Green.

The very same one. It's still there Staple Tye used to be our little gathering spot...ah, those were the days...

Sorry, I'll stop derailing!

I remember a Harley Dealers opening near me in the 70`s and thinking "if motorbikes looked a lot better I would have one" .... this was at the age of 7 or something . Back in those days it really did look like the Ogri cartoon strip , bikes leaking oil all over the place and fusty looking guys with tassled jackets and beards . Then one day , in the 80`s , I heard a crackle and rasp and turned around to see a local lad with his tart on the back of an RD500 , and I knew from that moment on that this was a one way ticket . I eventually got my first bike which was a TZR125 , which was then replaced with a newer one with a Stan Stephens Stage III tune and Swarbricks exhaust ....... I am so glad I grew up when I did , 2 stroke bikes were an absolute pain in the butt to be honest but fond memories , and they taught me a thing or Two about home maintenance .

I always wanted a Simpson lid as well , I eventually had 2 or 3 then some stupid Car program came along and ruined it all