stormbringer Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I was thinking the other day what made me like motorbikes. None of my 3 sons are into bikes althought Matt my oldest (27) has just bought a ped to comute on and Al had an Aprilia ped when he was 16. My Dad had bikes because no one his age had cars back then and his dad was the first in his street to have a car. Dad got into bikes ,more than just comuting .he had various bikes an Aerial 350 being one his favorites, his first new bike was a Triumph Tiger 100 which he sold to put a deposite down on his first flat.My Uncle Harry had a Vincent Black Shadow,and dad and his mates Spent all there spare time(when not playing football) racing around the North circular and out to the Beehive or Spiders web. Mum had a Second World War flying suit and goggles she wore on the bikes. I've found some great photos of them back in the day with there bikes and mates.They toured all over including Lyton and Lynmouth during the floods. My Cousin and his Kids are all into bikes and trails. I think sitting on my Dads Velocette(at the age of three) with My Uncle Dan who was on a visit from Dublin was my start to biking. This photo was taken by Dad outside our first house 5 Ranock Avenue Kingsbury(which was a nice quite suburb of London at the time 1956). So What got you into bikes.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttaskmaster Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 What got me into them? Whitesnake and general 1970/1980s hard rock music, I think!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean_DT Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Well seeing as i've only just gotten into bikes in the last month, i know exactly why! Cheap commuter transport was why i bought one, but then i took it off road and now im hooked. already planning my next bike and trying to work a routine into place so i can have as much time on the dirt as possible! Waiting on my V5/MOT/Tax before i can use her on the road, but i cant wait! the buzz of riding a bike is way beyond anything i have experienced in a car, and thats whats got me hooked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dav a Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 What got me into bikes was joining the GPO (post office) as a telegram boy aged 16 they taught me to ride a 125 BSA bantam (resticted) spent the next two years riding and getting paid for it. then marriage mortgage and kids came along didnt ride much until my 50th then I got myself a Virago joined the owners club and havent looked back since . Dave. ps just noticed that Stormbringer is from St Albans that was where i was a telegram boy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveye Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 all through my life so far the thought of a bike was always there but just never had the cash to get one although i tried a few many attempts at it and now that ive got myself a decent job with fairly decent pay im trying to do as much as i can with bikes my dad used to have a few bikes as well many moons ago even a vellocette too Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leatherat Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Girls! Cute girls hung around with the guys on bikes. Simples! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up.yours Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 well to be honest, they were so easy to nick, i just couldn't say no.. it takes all kinds i suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormbringer Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 This is the Mum in her ex RAF outfit ,it still had the wings on when they bought it. The New Triumph Tiger 100 taken in 1950 the year befor they married. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neversaydie Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 A number of things, all which more or less coincided. Both daughters now able to fend for themselves (well, almost, so more pennies available for the old man) Wanted one for years but couldnt afford it Nottingham City Councils stoooopid Worklace Parking Levy (dont worry, coming soon to a Council near you!)whereby, although I dont drive on any roads owned, administered, maintained, or paid for in any way by that Council, park my car in a privately owned car park, travel to and leave work at unsocial hours so do not contribute to congestion, i look like having to pay an ever increasing annual sum into the Councils coffers to pay for a tram system that dosent come anywhere near where i live so cant use it to get to work, wont run at my shift starting and finishing times, said contribution is also to pay for modernising Nottingham railway station (I thought the railways were privately owned now), and "other" improvements to public transport within the City I never visit, but there are never going to be any improvements that I will be able to use to get to work by. Highway bloody robbery, no doubt subject to annual increases as its inevitable that the said associated costs have been incorreclty assessed (as is always the case with public/MOD/NHS contracts), crafted deliberately by petty part time politicians to extort money from people who live outside of their admistrative boundiaries so that we cant vote them out of office. Democracy in action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 My Dad was to blame for my addiction. My Mum brought me home from school one day when I was five and my Dad was sat in the living room with a big grin on his face and something was poking out from under a sheet in the lounge. A nice shiny NVT Ranger, putting out 18 horse at the rear wheel! (Yes I was only a child but no I wasn't spoilt before you say!) I remember going to the beach on it at the weekends convinced that the top speed was around 80mph and telling my friends that before they had a go. I've just got a photocopied manual off Flea bay recently and apparently the top speed was 22mph! Trust me at that age it seemed like more. Whilst my Dad always had a road bike, he and his friend always had beach bikes as well for what they used to call "Sammying". (I'm assuming that's reference to the off road rider from the 70's??) There was no better feeling back then than coming home on a Friday night from school and my Dad asking if I wanted to go Sammying tomorrow! The answer was always yes. My Mum and my Dad's friends wife used to do a few circuits of the beach on the back of the bikes whilst me and the other couple's daughters belted around on our bikes at (what I now know to be correct) 22mph. One of my best memories of the beach (the same beach I'll be going on when the DT is completed) was my Dad trying to cockily jump a sand dune and coming down front wheel first and being thrown off. The sight of him scuttling away from the bike before it toppled on him was only beaten by the fact that the bike had buried itself in the sand and stayed upright as he'd landed that hard! An image I'll take to the grave with me! Sadly my Dad has been registered disabled since 1984 and that was the last year he rode comfortably and I'm fairly sure that he would have loved to have tried some of the bikes that have passed through my fingers since turning 16 in 1989. So when I turned 16 I never did get the speech from my parents about bikes being too dangerous and wait for another year to get a car as they knew that it was all their doing! When I was somewhere around 11 ish, the NVT was sold as my Dad thought it was time for me to learn about gears and get away from the twist and go. Again with his friend, they invested £50 on a couple of worn out BSA Banthams and several boxes of bits. A couple of months later me and his daughters both had a working 175cc Bantham! One down and two up, ee by eck, them were the days. The Bantham remained for a couple of years when my Dad wanted me to get a serious Sammy bike. A 1980 Bultaco Sherpa T 250cc. I never did ride that bike. What a bloody stupid idea putting the rear brake on the left and gears on the right! Scared the life out of me trying to work that on the beach. The Bultaco stayed in the garage until 87 and I was bikeless for the first time in 9 years. Then July 89 came and it all started again ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wild foamy Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Got a 1989 DT50 2 years ago at age 16, rode it for a year backwards and forwards to RAF Halton (75 miles... 2 hours non stop riding each way!) sold that to get a car in october, met a very nice lady on here in february who happened to have an old XJ600 in her garden which i later bought, then got my bike licence in august '10, MOTd' the bike in september and have been riding it for almost a year now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator DirtyDT Posted August 3, 2011 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2011 What got me into bikes? I am not really sure. No bikers in my large family. I was 17 with a full car licence and worked with a guy who had a '74 GT250 (which I later brought). I saw a TS90 in Johns of Romford in Rush Green, Essex and wanted it. My boss at the time lent me the money - £185 I think - and that was it. Learnt as I went as I had never ridden a bike before. Many many moons later I am still in love with them. Neither of my sons are riders although my youngest passed his CBT this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 What got me into bikes? A cheap quick method to get from A to B thats far more economical than a car, quicker than a car through a city, costs nothing to park (in most cases) and gets me to work in just 10 minutes! I sold the car nearly a year ago and haven't regretted it in any way. Have now upgraded to something not quite so economical that puts more of a smile on my face instead... no regrets there either! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Duncan Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 allways been keen for bikes, ever since i was old enough to hold onto my dad, ive been on the back on his bikes, few BSA's which he still has, and a triumph trident 750 which he sold . . .ever since then i've been hooked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screw Guernsey Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Started on a KE100 at 14 (although you can only ride a 50cc now at 14, when I started, it was up to 100cc at 14 and unlimited cc at 16!) - that beat a pushbike hands down! Moved on to a KLR250 at 16, put 9000 miles on it in a year (on an island that's only 9 x 5 miles!) then sold it to buy a car. Was bikeless for a couple of years, then picked up a 1981 XV750SE with the usual starter problems, ran that for a year or so, then flogged it on to my mate and bought a 1979 XS750 with my old man, and, when other bikes came and went, that stayed with me for 14 years till I sold it last year. It went through many guises, and ended up as a Cafe-rat-bob! Now running a Kawasaki GT550 with a sidecar as my everyday commuter Just finished my Virago 750 Bobber (till the winter when I plan to strip it and clean and paint the frame, swingarm etc and probably replace the exhaust And my Virago 535 is nearly done - just waiting on the 2-1 exhaust, and 1-2 inlet manifold to be made. The latest pic I have of it (although it's a lot more finished now!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Started on a KE100 at 14 (although you can only ride a 50cc now at 14, when I started, it was up to 100cc at 14 and unlimited cc at 16!) - that beat a pushbike hands down! Moved on to a KLR250 at 16, put 9000 miles on it in a year (on an island that's only 9 x 5 miles!) then sold it to buy a car. Was bikeless for a couple of years, then picked up a 1981 XV750SE with the usual starter problems, ran that for a year or so, then flogged it on to my mate and bought a 1979 XS750 with my old man, and, when other bikes came and went, that stayed with me for 14 years till I sold it last year. It went through many guises, and ended up as a Cafe-rat-bob! Now running a Kawasaki GT550 with a sidecar as my everyday commuter Just finished my Virago 750 Bobber (till the winter when I plan to strip it and clean and paint the frame, swingarm etc and probably replace the exhaust And my Virago 535 is nearly done - just waiting on the 2-1 exhaust, and 1-2 inlet manifold to be made. The latest pic I have of it (although it's a lot more finished now!) Damn nice collection of bikes there. Loving the sidecar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carol.x Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 I never really made a concious decision to get a bike, I just accepted it as something that happened when I was 16 (but after my GCSE exams so I didn't get tooo distracted) However whats kept me into bikes is the people, and the cheap insurence. And the fact I can't pass my driving test. Aso, my parents met at a bike club at university, so if it wasn't for bikes I wouldn't exist! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weimieman Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 I never really made a concious decision to get a bike, I just accepted it as something that happened when I was 16 (but after my GCSE exams so I didn't get tooo distracted) However whats kept me into bikes is the people, and the cheap insurence. And the fact I can't pass my driving test. Aso, my parents met at a bike club at university, so if it wasn't for bikes I wouldn't exist! Actually you've kind of hit the nail on the head there. I waffled on for the forum equivalent of War and Peace about why I got into bikes and you summed it up in the first sentance. That it is the norm when you hit 16. Crikey, I'd forgot about that. I even enjoyed bikes so much that I stayed on them for a couple more years before buying a car as that was the next natural step. Mind you, the driving test thingy might keep you on bikes for a while!!!! Don't give up but don't forget yer roots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike1949 Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Bikes: Honda CB100, CG125, CB200 Benley, CD250 Yamaha XS250 x 2 Yamaha XJ600 Diversion (current bike/workhorse) What I would like is a Honda C90 I've just realised I'm in the wrong section. I should be in "what bikes have you owned" Sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator DirtyDT Posted August 5, 2011 Moderator Share Posted August 5, 2011 Bikes: Honda CB100, CG125, CB200 Benley, CD250 Yamaha XS250 x 2 Yamaha XJ600 Diversion (current bike/workhorse) What I would like is a Honda C90 I've just realised I'm in the wrong section. I should be in "what bikes have you owned" Sorry :lol: I guess it comes to all of us oldies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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