My Dad had a Jawa 350, a big black beast of a bike to me back then. I was always sitting on it in our garden and watching my Dad tinkering with it. A mate of his had an 850 Norton Commando and I thought it was the most beautiful machine I'd ever seen. Unfortunately, as Sacha said, life happened and my dreams of having a bike were set aside.
I've never had a driving license and relied on my wife to take me anywhere I needed to go. Then out of the blue, for my 40th birthday, she bought me a little chinese 50cc twist and go scooter (can't remember what make). I passed my CBT using one of the school's geared 125s and rode the scooter for about a year until it died.
I didn't want another scooter so waited and looked around until I found a Honda CG125 that I could afford, a 'real' bike. I rode that for another year (having to retake my CBT) and the wife said I should take my 'Big Bike' test, so I did.
Since the CG125 I've averaged around 12k-14k miles a year. I ride the bike about 350 out of the 365 days of the year.