How did it start for you?

[Kev L]

How did your interest in bikes start? Mine was back in the early sixties watching Vic Eastwood and co thrashing through mud on old (now, new then) Greeves, Husquvarnas etc watching on Saturday Grandstand with my Dad.
Dad owned a Francis Barnett at the time and brought home MCN & Motorcycle every Wednesday for both of us to drool over the Gus Kuhn Commandos and the various offerings from the Japanese.
Dad changed his bike a few times from a c50 to a CZ125 for commuting, and was a proper all weather motorcyclist, a point he would rub in on a regular basis when I mentioned not wanting to dirty my bike.
I got myself a job in a bike shop in Palmer Brothers, Lower Sydenham when I was 14 and continued there on school holidays and weekends until I left school.
Dad helped me get my first bike, a Garelli bimatic moped and rebuild it in time for it to be nicked just prior to my 16th birthday. The smell of red Hermetite still takes me back to rebuilding that pile of poo. After that got nicked I bought a FS1E with the help of Dad and a loan.
All bikes since, even up to the Storm, have always been taken over to show them to my old man for approval.
But no more I am afraid. My dear old Dad passed away today at 11am, 12 days after his 90th Birthday. He had been in Hospital since the 2nd and his body just gave up.
Please forgive me for any sentimentality but he really was a gentleman, thanks for all the help mate.

[AMCQ46]

Kev,
what great memories to treasure your dad by.... he sounds like a good'un.......may he rest in peace.

[agentpineapple]

sorry to hear your news kev, i bet you got plenty of good stories to tell about your old man. my old man past away when i was 15, it doesn't matter what age they go, it's still one of the hardest feelings, chin up buddy, i'm sure you will have a pint and toast his name and celebrate his life...........
oh and my love of bike started when i was doing the black cab knowledge 1993, there was me 20st on a c90/t80/suzuki rg125 wolf(i loved the wolf).......lol after nearly 3 years i fell in love with bikes, i went and done my test and a week later bought a cbr600 another 2 weeks later i stacked it and ended up in hospital.....doh!!!!!!!
my first love

honda c90

tamaha t80

suzuki rg 125 wolf(de-restricted)

cbr600f

vfr800


all in there correct colours, how ocd of me....

[aces-high]

Nothing to be forgiven for Kev, I've yet to experience the loss of either of my parents and I dread the day I do. Utmost sympathy to you and your family.
Ian.

[pinkyfloyd]

RIP Daddy Kev. The good thing is you have all those memories and certain smells will bring them flooding back fondly. Cherish them.

For me my passion for bikes started sometime in 1974. I went to bed with dad and woke up with mom. 9 months later I popped out and was unleashed on the world. Even before I can remember I would sit in the pushchair and shout "bike" as a motorbike passed by. Mother tells me so it must have been true. While my school friends were busy with their football I was watching the likes of Joey Dunlop, Kevin Shwantz(however you spell it), Mick Doohan, and even Foggy racing. At the time I couldnt tell you who was playing for who and what football team was winning division 1, as it was at the time, but I could tell you who was winning the NW200 and what bike they were on, I could reel off facts and figures about the BSB and WSB.

I remember at 16 years old the old Slingshot GSXR 750 was one of the best bikes to own at the time. I was one of the kids that dribbled over them as they screamed past the car when I would be out for a day trip with my Granddad. A year later the Fireblade was born and unleashed on the world and I fell in love all over again. I promised myself that one day I would ride the very bikes I used to dream about. At 20 years old I managed to get on 2 wheels properly after the odd pissing around with off road bikes and mini scramblers. I had an RXS100. Sadly I had to give up biking for 15 years a year later due to lack of money and change of location. But when I did manage to get back on 2 wheels it was sheer blind luck that a friend from an online game, also a biker, offered me a loan of a bike when I passed my DAS. As luck would have it the first big bike I rode was a 1991 GSXR 750 slingshot, one of the very same bikes I would see hammer past all those years ago.



Imagine my smugness. I had gone from "one day I will be on one of these big machines" to riding around on one of the very machines, year and model, that I used to dribble over as a kid.

I now ride a Firestorm because I love the V2 thump but one day I will be on a 1992 Fireblade just to complete my childhood dreams. I may never own one but I will ride one so anyone want to let me have a go?

[lumpyv]

commiserations mate i lost my mum in november and really miss her. she was a mum and dad to me , and a really good friend. mind you she hated me and my brothers having bikes always worried we were going to do ourselves a mischief (she didnt say much about my dad having one . coincidentally he had a franny b as well . a 200cc falcon). anyways i guess i took it up because dad and my older brothers had bikes. the brothers had had triumphs and beezas. i started with an inherited raleigh runabout and have always had something running or not running for about the last 35 years.

[Image]

My start was the usual way. Got a moped in 1979 age 16, upgraded to a 250 when I was 17, passed my test and got an RD400 and so on and so on. My longest ownership of a single bike was my Kwak GPZ900R, had it for 12 years. Loving the Storm.

Bikes owned
Suzuki AP50
Yamaha US Custom 250
Yamaha RD400
Yamaha US Custom 400
Norton Commando 750
Honda Four
Yamaha XS250
Suzuki 550E
Kawasaki GPZ900R
Honda CBR1000
Honda VTR1000

[geodude]

This is where it started for me. Aged 5 sat on my brothers YDS7



I don’t have pictures of all the bikes I have owned but here is my bike history

My first legal bike was a Honda Vision like this without the top box. Lethal machines!


I then inherited a Yamaha RD125 which was great fun


I then bought a Suzuki RG125 Gamma which was race tuned by Stan Stevens at Brands which scared the bejusus out of me!!


I dislocated my knee during martial arts training and could no longer sit on the RG so sold it and bought a Yamaha DT125R like below but all plastic and the tank was red.



Once I had gone through 8 months of physio, my physio said I could return to a race bike if it felt comfortable. It did and I decided to buy a new bigger bike and do a direct access course to pass my test. I went to Bike Business to buy a

2 stroke RGV250


or a 2 stroke Kawasaki KR-1s


However they had a CBR400RR NC23 on an E plate which I wanted NOW!!! lol



I also had a few off roaders as well







Note: None of the pics above are of the actual bikes i have owned however the model and colour scheme is right. (except the DT125)

Since getting back into biking I have had a CBR400, VFR400, the wifes CBF125 (I rode it more than she did) VTR1000F, Bandit 600 and now have, well you know that right?

[Steve6088]

I am very sorry to hear the sad news Kev. Motorbikes are something which bring me and my dad together, something which I should appreciate more.

My motorbiking history is quite a short one.

I started out on a Lifan 125GY just before university. A piece of rubbish but it was all I could afford at the time and it made me happy.





it did keep breaking down though, much to the amusement of my friends, who would rather take a photograph than help!



After passing my test in 2009 I bought a 93 CBR600F



All was going good until a woman reversed out into a main road and wrote my bike off

My courtesy bike after the accident was a Suzuki gladius. This gave me a taste for a V-twin. I just wanted something a bit quicker and more of an all rounder. Hence the Firestorm!

[lloydie]

i started out when on a family visit to my Arties when i was 8 and my cousin took me for a ride on his bike cant remember what it was but it was fast as fook
then when many years later when i started collage i need transport and picked up a
yamaha t80 for £40

passed the cbt and my test on that .
the day after i passed my test at 17 years old i sold it for £300
and within an hour a brought a
yamaha rd125 lc

i had that for a year or so till i put a hole in the piston and fooked the engine.
weks later a brought a xs250 cafe racer for £200 rode it once as it was a piece of sh1t and swapped it
for a gr250 gamma that came in lots of boxes
rebuild it and learned alot from it

i had a big off over a bonnet of a escort and gave up biking for 8 years
asi wanted to get an other bike my friend had a 1990 cbr600 fl
in his unit that needed lots of work to get it on the road so i paid him £100 for it
and got it though the mot

a year later i got a cbr400rr nc23 tri arm of the same friend for £10

that also needed lots of work to get it back on the road but that wasnt my plan with it ...
i took out the cbr600 engine and put it into the cbr400 frame .



i picked up some fairings for it and put it though the mot it past
then as i had the modding bug i put on some 600rr body work

and rode that for a year .
then i was offereda cbr900rrs as a swap for it and i jumped at it

i cleaned it up

rode the assss of it but i didnt mesh with it after a year so i swaped it for the firestorm

now in progress to get it how i want it as this one is staying

[ChrisC]

Kev,I would like to send my condolences to you and your family,sounds like your dad was a true gentleman,keep the good memories you have of him, they will stay with you always.
Regards ChrisC



First bike Triumph Cub 200cc's of sheer delight...and rust
cost....£8...not a typo..£8

[geodude]

How did your interest in bikes start? Mine was back in the early sixties watching Vic Eastwood and co thrashing through mud on old (now, new then) Greeves, Husquvarnas etc watching on Saturday Grandstand with my Dad.
Dad owned a Francis Barnett at the time and brought home MCN & Motorcycle every Wednesday for both of us to drool over the Gus Kuhn Commandos and the various offerings from the Japanese.
Dad changed his bike a few times from a c50 to a CZ125 for commuting, and was a proper all weather motorcyclist, a point he would rub in on a regular basis when I mentioned not wanting to dirty my bike.
I got myself a job in a bike shop in Palmer Brothers, Lower Sydenham when I was 14 and continued there on school holidays and weekends until I left school.
Dad helped me get my first bike, a Garelli bimatic moped and rebuild it in time for it to be nicked just prior to my 16th birthday. The smell of red Hermetite still takes me back to rebuilding that pile of poo. After that got nicked I bought a FS1E with the help of Dad and a loan.
All bikes since, even up to the Storm, have always been taken over to show them to my old man for approval.
But no more I am afraid. My dear old Dad passed away today at 11am, 12 days after his 90th Birthday. He had been in Hospital since the 2nd and his body just gave up.
Please forgive me for any sentimentality but he really was a gentleman, thanks for all the help mate.

OOps. I copied and pasted the bike stuff from another forum I am on and overwrote some of the original message.

My brother used to take me out in the fields out back on an old TS50. I later learned to ride an RD50 when I was 12 in the same fields.
My first legal geared bike was payed for by my other brother who is no longer with us. He was my father figure. I owe a lot to him and miss him dearly so although it was over 15 years ago that I lost him, I kinda can relate to what you are going through. God bless his soul and rest in peace Kev's awesome Dad!