What is your back story ?

[hamamatsu]

We have asked several times on this forum about how our members got started riding, and since we have a lot of new members, I'm going to ask...what is your "back story" ?

Here is mine:

I got hooked riding motorbikes back in 1956 at age 13 when I begged a ride on my friend's Whizzer motorbike and from that day forward, I have been hooked on two wheels. I started on the old Whizzer and then to an Alstate Mo-ped and from there it was Harley Hummers and small bore two strokers.

During the 60s, it was a Honda 305 SuperHawk, a BSA 441cc Victor Special and a BSA 650 Hornet. The 70s saw me riding a 1971 XS650 Yamaha and a 1979 Kawasaki KZ750. The 80s were the KZ750 and a Honda V-45 Magna. The 90s saw me with a couple of nice old XS650s, one of which I showed at some of the local bike shows and the other I used as my every day rider. I still have my 1981 XS650H which I will probably always own.

In 2003, I bought a new V-Star and started taking interest in exploring Ohio with a bike and a camera. In 2007, I retired and bought another new V-Star which I'm still riding today.

I started a web site when I retired in 2007 because of my love for motorcycles and the people who ride them. Since I started the site, I have met and ridden with some of the nicest riders on the planet. I can't think of anything I would rather do than sit across the lunch table with my fellow riders after a brisk morning ride. So there you have it, I'm old as dirt and proud of it. I'll be 68 in a couple of months and I still have many Ohio roads to explore.

What is your back story ?

 

[pumps]

Well let's see. I had some friends in high school who were riders. They rode a 77 KZ650, a 78 KZ650SR, an old Bonneville with slightly extended forks and a 79 650 Special which were current models at the time. Rode the Special some but I was much too big of a partier. Would've killed myself and somehow I guess I knew that. Flash forward to about 10 years ago. I decided I wanted to ride again. My wife called it a midlife crisis, I called it , "I can afford it now".
I decided I wanted a KZ650SR as that was the one my buddy had that I liked the best. I hadn't been on a bike in 25 years? Took the MSF course and got my mc endorsement and found a cherry 79 KZ650SR in the local paper with 7200 original miles on it. Rode that for a while and sold it but somehow the XS came to my attention again . Bought and sold a couple bikes, flipped them actually, made some money. Then one day my XS came up on my local craigslist about 10 minutes from me . Went and looked with my neighbor and rode it home for $550. The guy had bought a new sporty and couldn't have two bikes. The 77 needed love and still does but it'll get there.
I love going to the local shows and have some neighbors who ride so we have fun. Ride to work weather permitting. Recently there has been some guys trying to get a local chapter of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club going so I've been trying to help out there. Love vintage bikes of any brand really. I'm one of those guys who like mostly stock because I'm not a metal worker but I am a huge fan of some of the bobber/brat bikes as I can see the work and craftsmanship that goes into them. I just don't have that kind of vision I guess.
My daily rider right now is an 86 Yamaha SRX600. 600 cc single cafe style bike with a kick start only.

 

[ProSimex]

Well my first bike was a 1981 GS650G that I bought when I was 16. I never put it on the road and used it as a field bike. I got pretty good at drifting that beast around between hay bales. It gradually got worse and worse and my mechancal ineptitude didnt help. I wound up giving it to a frind of mine last year when I moved out of his house. I got a call from my mother when I was 18 and came home to find a immaculate XS360! I took a MSC and put that baby on the road. Man I had a blast riding that thing. I tried to do the Ton on it once with my buddy in his VW keeping the road clear. Even laying down on the tank with my feet up on the seat and my head jammed between the bars I couldnt get it above 85mph. One day I put a nice little windscreen on it and took it for a spin. A pickup truck pulled out in front of me as I rode through an intersection and BAM I was flying. The bike was fine and I didnt break any bones but I was pretty hurt and gave up riding. Flash forward to this spring and I got myself a CB350 for cheap. Took it home got it running,and played with it for a bit. I found an 74 TX650 and talking the guy down got it for $900. I sold the CB to my buddy and have been loving this baby ever since. At leaset, I do when its not broken down!

 

[Tia813]

All it all to my pops. He had every bike in his shop. My favorite was his Benelli. I used to watch him race motor cross back in the Philippines. When we moved to the US he picked up a Kawasaki and I would ride on the back to baseball practice. In the 90s he hung up his boots and I picked them up in '97. Street rode till 2000 then road raced CCS (Championship Cup Series). I hungem' up in 2004 when I got married. Never thought I'd get back on till 2 years ago. He rolled up on my driveway with a "ratted out"'79 KZ 750. I wanted to get back on but decided not to till my only sister passed away unexpectedly 6 days after her birthday. She was 35... Then I realized I never rode with my dad. Life is short. Now I'm full blast on my build so me and me old man can ride together.

 

[pumps]

All it all to my pops. He had every bike in his shop. My favorite was his Benelli. I used to watch him race motor cross back in the Philippines. When we moved to the US he picked up a Kawasaki and I would ride on the back to baseball practice. In the 90s he hung up his boots and I picked them up in '97. Street rode till 2000 then road raced CCS (Championship Cup Series). I hungem' up in 2004 when I got married. Never thought I'd get back on till 2 years ago. He rolled up on my driveway with a "ratted out"'79 KZ 750. I wanted to get back on but decided not to till my only sister passed away unexpectedly 6 days after her birthday. She was 35... Then I realized I never rode with my dad. Life is short. Now I'm full blast on my build so me and me old man can ride together.

It doesn't get any better than riding and wrenching with your dad does it? Life IS short.

 

[TeeCat]

Well, my back story is brief. I always loved bikes as a kid, but my parents forbade me from having one. That worked out about as well as trying to make a good Catholic out of me. I loved my folks, but they always told me that I'd have a motorcycle "over our dead bodies", and with all due respect, that's exactly what happened.

I got my endorsement in '06, at about 50 years of age. My first bike was an '05 Kwak Ninja 250R, which I bought new in spring of '06. I can't imagine ever selling her; they are incredibly underestimated and under-appreciated bikes.

In '07, I decided I wanted to get my hands a little dirty, and anyone who has been on here or the old 650rider.com for any length of time likely knows my saga of getting my '73 back on the road after she sat on a collector's shelf for many years.

TC

 

[bergoff]

Well I was raised by my grandparents and me grandpa bought me a cb125 when I was 10 or so. He would take me to the park and watch me ride all day. Well then my uncle stole that bike from me to support his habits. And then he bought me a it175 I beat the crap out of that bike for a few years. When I was 13 I mowed a lot of yards and with his help I bought a xl125 and it was pry my favorite dirt bike. Like most teenage boys I started to grow like a weed so I needed to upgrade. I traded my 125 and some cash for a xl600 what an I opener and a blast. I started to work on some farms and it was to far to ride the xl on the rode with knobby tires so my grandpa would take me there and he was tired of it. The farmers wife had a 79 xs650 and he worked out a deal and didn't tell me about it until my 16th birthday. I cried like a baby when he handed me the keys. He actually drove me to work then that night he came to pick me up handed me the keys and a helmet and told me to drive my own ass home. I had that bike for 3 years and sold it to get a car. What a mistake that was. I was going to my girlfriends house and seen the bike in the ditch. The guys was drunk but ok. I offered to buy it back but he shot me down. I went a few years with out a bike until I was at my uncles house and seen his 83 gs850g sitting behind his shed. I offered him $500 for it and took it home. I put 10k on it in 3 years. I switched jobs then the bike sat for awhile and I decided to sell it. My estranged father passed away and I had to settle that damn nightmare and after that was all done I got married, bought a house, sent the wife to college it was time to think about myself and I missed that honda thumper so I bought a xr650l. Well it wouldn't break any land speed records it would pull stumps and 4th gear wheelies when I was done with it. I started to jump it off road so hard I cracked the frame and sprained my wrists so it was time to to full dirt. I traded that for a crf450r and wow that damn bike about killed me. If you haven't rode a new 4 stroke mx you need to. I wanted to make it into a fulltime supermoto but I couldn't afford it. Then one day a new coworker wanted me to fix his 79 xs650 I told him no I will buy it and he told me $350 well that was a no brained. This is my current and only bike and I'm loving every minute of it. I have to thank my grandfather because if it wasn't for him I would not be the man, father, and husband that I am today.

 

[Purplezinger]

As a child I was small for my age, thin and shorter than most of my friends. One the the "older" kids on our street got a Harley Hummer 125. He was 15, I was 12. He rode the Hummer everywhere. I wanted to ride, but I couldn't reach the ground while sitting on the seat. One day we got a third kid to help, they held it up and then pushed to get me going. I rode it to the top of the hill, turned around, rode back down, slowed and they caught me as I stopped. I was hooked, you could go up hills without having to pedal. It was amazing. That was 60 years ago, I'm 72 and have been riding since then.

 

[XS1961]

My Dad got me into bikes.After coming home from the war he owned various Brit bikes, mainly BSA's .When I was born he got a sidecar on his 650 Golden Flash which was our familys only transport until I was about 4 years old ,when my brothers arrived he took his car test but continued riding.
In the late sixties hed buy us old bikes such as Triumph Tiger Cubs, BSA Bantams,C15's etc. which I rode on a local disused airfield,I learnt to re-build 'em after regular blow-ups & got to know Brit bikes pretty well, When I got my licence in 1977 I bought a Gilera then moved to Jap bikes (I turned down the offer of my Dads '59 SpeedTwin for free!!),I bought my first XS650 in 1978 (£730 new!) but sold it 8 months later because all my mates were riding 2-strokes !I went over to trail-bikes then bought another XS a couplve years later & Ive had at least one ever since (about 55 in all) as well as about 70 other Jap ,Brit & Italian bikes over years... This is why Ive got no money & the reason I left it 'til last May to get married (first time) in my 50th year!
I now own two XS's - a '76 , a '78 & an SR500.
The End.....

 

[1974jh5]

My dad rode H-D's back in the 1940's so I come by my motorcycle love honestly. I have a really cool picture of him looking all James Dean-ish sitting on his last Harley. When I was about 5, he got a lawnmower engine minibike from a neighbor and he rebuilt the engine on the picnic table with me watching raptly. So he's also responsible for my love of wrench twirling. He died in January 2010, during our last conversation he and I touched on our shared love of pretty women, bikes, cars and wrenching. He and I went trailriding together many times when I was a kid up through my teenage years, looking back those are some of my favorite memories.

Anyway, I rode that minibike for a couple of years, busted my ass several times but loved it! My brother and I moved up to a Rupp minibike, then a 1969 Honda Mini Trail (both of those are worth a WAD now), then an SL70 (started MXing on that one), he sort of lost interest in motorcycles at around the time of the SL70's so I then had an SL100, a few SL125's, an XL175, an XL350 (big heavy turd, that) and a whole host of busted basketcases of various makes that I fixed and sold to make money to keep the main squeezes running. During this time, King Kenny was ruling the motorcycle world and I promised myself I'd have an XS650 someday.

I then got sidetracked into girls and partying, the motorcycles were always in the back of my mind but not #1 on the hit parade any more. At one point, I bought a 1981 Seca 750 and learned to be horrified at the thought of a shaft drive sportbike.

I got interested in radio controlled cars for a few years, man that crap is expensive. Women and motorcycles are cheaper. I got out of that and back into motorcycles, I started back with an XR250 Honda, then an XR600 (another heavy turd), then an XR400 (neat bike but not exactly bleeding edge tech). I was back into racing, mostly enduros and hare scrambles and I loved it! About that time I got married and we had a kid. I traded the XR400 in on a WR400 Yamaha, talk about a night and day difference! But it was so much faster than anything I had ridden before that it gave me pause; it was quite possible to hit 60-70 MPH in the woods VERY quickly.

At age 43, I was sitting on the start line at the Big Buck GNCC in Cross Anchor SC and looking up/down the line for my class and I realized I was the oldest rider in 4 Stroke C by at least 15 years. (Hey, I said I loved it, not that I was fast! ) These kids could bounce back a lot faster than I could and the younger ones didn't have mortgages and kids to worry about, so I figured I better dial it back a bit. I did OK; I was 12th out of 54 in my class that day. Not bad for an old fart!

That was my last big race, I went back to trailriding but still had a jones for racing so I got back into something I had dabbled in previously: autocross. I built this car, a 1980 Spitfire powered by a 12A Mazda rotary:

and a little later branched off into hillclimbing:

Hillclimbs are SCARY. The vid doesn't really show it, but at one point the faster cars were going 110-125 MPH with a 180 degree switchback coming up. I was running maybe 90-95 at the same point. That car has been sold and I built a rotary powered Jensen Healey to replace it.

I still tinkered with motorcycles: I restored two Hodakas, a 100B enduro bike and a Super Rat MXer. At about that time, a co worker told me he had a Yamaha that his kids were trying to make a go cart out of and he was sick of looking at it. Did I want it? Hell yeah. Imagine my delight (which I had to hide) when I discovered it was an XS650.

Then my personal life exploded and I went through a nasty divorce, the ex was bipolar and it got really bad. The bike and the race car both went on the shelf while I battled her for full custody of my daughter, which I now have. Once that was completed, I was flat broke but had time on my hands so I pulled the XS out of the boxes it was stored in and built my tracker. I wound up having to sell my house and move to a different city, I am currently in the process of hunting a house I can afford on my own since I am honestly not interested in getting married again. Once that is settled, the J-H will get a Lexus V8 swap (the 13B rotary is fun but has no torque) and I'll be back hillclimbing again.

The six-fiddy is my catharsis; when things get under my skin I put on the brain bucket and go for a ride. In fact, that's on today's agenda.

 

[grepper]

I was always interested in motorcycles, but as a kid my mom was a nurse. So she said, 'No motorcycles while you're under my roof'. As a young adult I got married and my new bride said, 'No motorcycles'. In my early thirties I found myself divorced looking for a new hobby (hanging out in bars, drinking, and trying to pick up bar sluts was not doing my life any good). So I thought, what the heck, I'm getting a motorcycle. I've always been handy fixing stuff and I didn't want to spend a lot of money, so I picked up a bike to fix up from a co-worker. A 1980 650 Special. I had no idea what it was. All I knew is that it was only $400 and over 500 cc's like I wanted. The rest is just a history of a passion for xs650s, vintage bikes, and a love for wrenching.