Was there a ?moment? for you........?

[redbirds_imp]

I'm the first in my family to have a motorcycle. In high school (60's) it seems many of my friends either had a Cushman, Vespa or one of the new Japanese bikes. My father despised motorcycles and forbid my having one. A friend bought a BSA 441 when I was 18 and I learned to ride on his bike, I was hooked. My younger brother at 14 had the bug and we started buying dirt bikes and he went on to become a pretty fair motocross racer. I remained a bachelor till 31 and was lucky to find a woman with as much enthusiasm for bikes as I had. Sparky had her own motorcycle when we married, a Kawasaki KZ650.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Great story Red. Love following them. The history is wonderful. Human.

My mother "kicked me out of the house", twice. Once on the first bike I brought home (never ridden a street bike up to that point), and then again on the replacement bike I brought home. She was really unhappy. By the third bike she was completely acclimatized and quite supportive. (probably because I hadn't killed myself yet)

 

[Blockhead_imp]

When I was growing up all of us neighborhood kids aspired to have a ‘mini bike’ but most of our parents either didn’t have the money or didn’t approve of them. We were stuck riding bicycles instead.

One day I was at a friend’s 8th birthday party and his dad wheeled out a brand spanking new mini bike (can’t remember the brand) as a surprise.
I’ll never forget watching him get on the bike for the first time in front of an audience of ten of his buddies, he had never ridden one before. It was like a comical YouTube video when he hit the throttle, panicked and rode full speed into a row of thick shrubbery instead of turning and pretty much disappeared, while his mom freaked out ... after that his dad let us each have a turn riding it in the yard and I was hooked. I remember it like it was yesterday even though it was 1970

 

[Haggard Rider_imp]

Two 'moments' - first, probably 1968'ish, would have been 15 or so, meandering with schoolmates from school into the local town (Wolverhampton) and seeing an MV Agusta (I think) in racing trim, in a motorcycle shop. Shop was sufficiently small that the bike filled the window - it wasn't for sale, but had in fact been specially ordered and purchased already, allegedly by someone who traded in his Monkey Bike!

Second, a year or so later, walking to school this time, and a CB750 went past me. It looked the epitome of cool. I was lost to bikes at that point. Went to races, to the TT, fixed mates bikes and stuff but never had a bike of my own, only ever a pillion. My father, with great cunning, had said I would have more fun in the back of a car! To a hormone driven teenager, that sounded a good plan. So took my car test rather than bike test. And true to his word, Dad bought me a car! And indeed, fun was had....

But I had to wait till I was retired to actually get to take my bike test and get my licence, but the dreams kicked off by that CB750 made the first bike I bought be a CB1100. Got an RS now. Happy Days!

 

[the Ferret]

wow Haggard...that was quite the wait.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Yeah, an endearing example of passionate patience.

 

[Houtman_imp]

Now I know where the expression "dirty old man " came from , it was your Dad !

 

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

When I was 12 or 13, I sent away for a Triumph catalog, and I remember poring over that publication until it literally fell apart. I started riding, stopped when the kids came along, then started again when they were grown.

 

[Inhouse Bob]

mine actually caught on fire once! don't recall too many details, but obviously wasn't anything major...

Was there a smell of burnt toast?

Was there a [url=https://thebind.org/do-you-smell-burnt-toast/]smell of burnt toast?
Maybe it was a two-STROKE :banana:
I don't recall a single moment, but many small moments prepared me for the day in 1979 when a guy in our running club decided to sell all his worldly possessions and become a monk.
Yeah, that's what I thought, too.
Anyhow, he had a '75 CB400F with 400 miles and wanted $200. I had to borrow the whole 200 but after a 10 minute riding lesson I made it home from Galveston that night. Mom wasn't happy but Dad thought it was pretty cool. Not my bike, but just like it...
[url=https://postimages.org/]
BTW, he also sold his AMC Javelin "Trans Am Victory Edition" for $1500. In retrospect, I'm not sure I made the right choice, but ain't that always the way. Not his car, but just like it...
[url=https://postimg.cc/cv1Tb3qF]
I've often wondered what became of Mike Aunch.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

mine actually caught on fire once! don't recall too many details, but obviously wasn't anything major...

Was there a smell of burnt toast?

Was there a [url=https://thebind.org/do-you-smell-burnt-toast/]smell of burnt toast?
Maybe it was a two-STROKE :banana:
I don't recall a single moment, but many small moments prepared me for the day in 1979 when a guy in our running club decided to sell all his worldly possessions and become a monk.
Yeah, that's what I thought, too.
Anyhow, he had a '75 CB400F with 400 miles and wanted $200. I had to borrow the whole 200 but after a 10 minute riding lesson I made it home from Galveston that night. Mom wasn't happy but Dad thought it was pretty cool. Not my bike, but just like it...
[url=https://postimages.org/]
BTW, he also sold his AMC Javelin "Trans Am Victory Edition" for $1500. In retrospect, I'm not sure I made the right choice, but ain't that always the way. Not his car, but just like it...
[url=https://postimg.cc/cv1Tb3qF]
I've often wondered what became of Mike Aunch.

Looking back at those times in our past - $200 for that sweet thing seems like a no-brainer. Obviously it was not the case in-the-moment.

Pretty cool.

 

[Inhouse Bob]

I just checked. $200 then is $724.56 now. So I think it was a good buy

 

[Cormanus]

It was. And you made the right choice. Who knows what would have happened if you’d made the other one?