10-30-2017, 12:04 AM
Like Houtman I hated riding a bicycle as a kid (but I hate walking even more). I come from a motorcycling family. My dad rode Indians until they went out of business in 1952 then switched to Harleys, but had quit riding by the time I got old enough to see him ride. He still got the Harley Magazine though and I loved reading about motorcycle adventures. When I was 10 I used to walk several blocks to watch this old guy up the street polish his Harley before firing it up and taking off up the road. It was thrilling to watch. When I turned 15 I needed transportation to take me from high school to my job. My father said it was time to get my first motorcycle. I wanted a Honda C110, but my dad being a WW-2 vet hated the Japanese and wouldn't let me have one. Instead he took me down to the Harley dealer where we bought my first motorcycle a Harley M50 which was really a re-badged Italian Aermacchi. It cost $318 brand new and I paid for it working my restaurant job at $1.25 an hour. I rode the wheels off that thing. Talk about freedom, and that was just the beginning. I loved riding and at 22 I went into the motorcycle industry and spent the next 17 years immersed in motorcycles. I haven't been without at least 1 motorcycle since age 15. I've had as many a 6 at one time. My older brother, one of my two older sisters and my younger brother all became riders as well. Funny as my dad got older he took up motorcycling again (as did my mother and we still have her bike) this time mostly on Japanese bikes, Hondas and Yamahas although he had a Moto Guzzi and another Harley too. Motorcycles have taken my wife and I to 42 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and 5 countries in Europe. I can't imagine not riding a motorcycle, and at 67 I still average riding 25,000 + miles a year.
As of last count I think we currently have 14 members of the family that ride their own bikes. My older brother passed earlier this year, but was still riding at the time of his passing and my one older sister gave up riding, but both of her adult sons ride and they each have adult sons that ride. I ride, my wife rides, my adult son rides, his wife rides and he has one son that rides. My younger brother rides. My son's father in law and mother in law both ride, and my son's wife has 2 adult cousins that ride.
As of last count I think we currently have 14 members of the family that ride their own bikes. My older brother passed earlier this year, but was still riding at the time of his passing and my one older sister gave up riding, but both of her adult sons ride and they each have adult sons that ride. I ride, my wife rides, my adult son rides, his wife rides and he has one son that rides. My younger brother rides. My son's father in law and mother in law both ride, and my son's wife has 2 adult cousins that ride.