When did the biking bug bite you? Post a photo if you can find one.

Just got given these by a relative and thought I'd post them. Pink T'shirts and yellow socks were in fashion I'll have you know!

This was a non-runner in a friend of my Dad's shed, and I spent hours getting this and an old step through running though I had no clue what I was doing. I then spent hours riding this up and down the garden (and falling off it). It's a YB100 I think? I'm about 12 or 13 years old here. Second pic is my Dad chuffed to bits that I got it running.





Though this was the real first bike (ie: not a poster on my wall) that I fell in love with, though obviously I was never permitted to ride it at that age, though I spent enough hours sitting in the garage dreaming about it. I look a bit younger and smaller in this photo. Maybe 11.



What about yours?

My first legal bike was a Suzuki X1 50cc restricted. This was the 2nd and the one I fell in love with. GSX250. Boy did I ride and clean that machine a lot. You don't see many engine blocks that quality nowadays.

17 years old and just before I turned wanabee Punk.

No photos, but it was a yellow Norton 750 Commando Fastback that got me into bikes. The 18 year old over the road owned it when I was about 8 and we'd moved to England for the first time that I could remember. I used to go over and help him polish it and in return I'd get to ride pillion up and down the road, all helmetless because you didn't need one by law in 1970. Before the Norton he owned a Suzuki Super Six 2-stroke but I wasn't interested in that.

Weirdly enough Richard, the then 18 year old over the road, and I met up last year at the local club meet where he didn't recognise me at all - hardly surprising as we hadn't met in over 30 years. I took great pleasure in telling him and his mates (some of whom I've known for years but didn't realise he knew) that it was all his fault that I have spent far too much of my hard earnt on bikes since then.

I was sat at work on christmas day 2010 feeling utterly miserable about not being at home, that's when the bug bit me so I booked the theory test for the following week. Alas I have no pics.

[andrewsmith]

No photos again here.

My old man hada half restored GSX 400 sitting in the yard until I was about 11.
Then it was when I was on placement in 08/09 and shared an office with 2 petrol heads. The bike that got me was a Aprilia RSV in Factory guise with a few tasty toys even more brutal brembos and full exhaust system.
Didn't help that the then Assistant director had a tergimoni on his 05 Blade

Originally Posted by andrewsmith

The bike that got me was a Aprilia RSV in Factory guise

Same here. Friends dad had one with akrapovic exhausts and it seemed so special. That was about 4 or 5 years ago now and it took me until July last year to do something about the urge to ride.

Same as Lozzo no photo but sitting on the back of my dads Raliegh runaround when he took me down to the shunting yard in Perth. Also first time on steam train cab.

[JamesMio]

Summer 2007, I had a go around the back fields on my mate's KTM SX125 after work on a Friday night. As I couldn't wipe the stupid grin off my face for the rest of that evening, I phoned the local DAS place the next morning, did my CBT the next week and the rest, as they say is history.

My dad's always had bikes, and 'getting my bike license' was always somethign I fancied doing, but the bug never truly bit me until that night on the KTM.

December 2006, when I was still only 14 years old and my dad bought himself a 125 for commuting into work. It was a cheap Chinese thingy, but I wanted in...

late Feb 2009, at 15 years old (I turned 16 four days after, passed my CBT the day after my birthday) I bought myself a Derbi GPR50 and have never looked back...

No exciting pics either I'm afraid and, like Stenno, quite recent. One of the directors at work had bought a newish Royal Enfield and proceeded to retro it. Then a Triumph 3TA "Bathtub" to restore, then the father-in-law/boss dug out an old Scott Squirrel he'd had for years and bought a couple of old Greeves scramblers, then an old Velocette arrived and I started thinking, "I've always liked the idea of bikes but never quite done anything about it." Wifey had briefly learned, DAS'd and crashed when we first knew each other and the bug was still there, so when I tentatively asked if I could have a CBT for my 40th birthday, she jumped at the chance to get me on a bike and herself back into it. Loved it, bought a boy racer 125 (NSR125 - cracking little bike) and couldn't get enough. Lessons, big bike lessons, big bike test and apart from crashing on my first Mod 1, I loved every minute. SV is my first big bike and I'm still loving it.