After my divorce I had moved to a rented house, which had a big Triumph Sprint in the garage. My new neighbour also had a mint V reg R1 (and still does). After the guy who owned the house had been out for a run he text me and said he had left the bike out on the drive if I could just put it back in the garage. I was terrified of dropping it so asked my neighbour for help. Sitting later that night I thought about it, and felt a bit stupid for not being able to put it away myself. Several trips to the garage, sitting on the bike and attempting to move it I realised I needed to do something in my life for me. So, booked a CBT having never rode a bike. Passed that no problem, and went and bought a brand new XL125 Varadero. Went everywhere on it, and the patience of my neighbour was a huge help as he waited on me several miles up the road every weekend. Within a month I went for the DAS, and failed the first test on the U turn. I did it, but the examiner felt I was a bit wobbly. Another month passed and this time I nailed it. Back home, off with the L plates on the Varadero and then scooted off to several bike shops. The service and helpfulness of the local Honda dealership won me over, and I bought a brand new CB600F-A Hornet that day. This was only in 2008, and within 2 months I had owned two bikes. More trips with my neighbour, who was always teasing me about getting a blade. But that terrified me more than anything. Had a shot of his R1, and was physically shaking. A few months pass, and I find myself booked to go to the TT. That first run over the mountain had a grin the likes I had never seen. Came home and immediately wanted something faster, and found it in an all black CBR600RR that had only 600 miles on the clock from the local bike garage at Hamilton. Awesome bike, that saw a TT, and with it my confidence grew and grew. Constant visits to the very friendly Honda garage saw me then trade in for my first blade, a 2010 registered white and black that had been fitted with all Yoshi trimmings, as they had just became Yoshi dealers as well. Another TT on this thing, and wow. I had moved house by this point, but still within 2 minutes of my neighbour with the R1 so we were out constantly. I had also joined a bike forum, and through one of their weekend trips to Keswick had met my now wife and mad biker herself. Someone who had grown up and been taught how to ride by Steve Hislop, and stayed in the borders village where she had grown up. Constant runs down those roads, either together or on our own. Since then we got married, and have both had a couple of new bikes. She had a Fazer which had been tuned to virtually an R6 spec, maybe even beyond. Traded in for a CBR600RR Hanspree, and then to what she currently has, a 2013 CBR600RR in all black, while I traded in for the all black Anniversary blade 2013. We are a mad bike daft family, with even the wee man coming out pillion on mine sometimes. The youngest girl is also keen to get into mini motos, while the eldest girl isn't that bothered about bikes, until she went to Knockhill recently on the Saturday of the BSB and loved it. So that is my tale, apologies for the long winded story. Despite getting in to biking very late, I am obsessed with the things. It is the most exciting thing I have ever done, while it helped me go to the place I love the most (IOM), and helped me meet the person who means everything to me and is the most important thing in my life ever. Have to say when I see all your posts about being into bikes very young, it makes me quite jealous. All those older, lovely looking bikes. My Dad had a bike when he was younger, but his brother in law crashed it with his sister as pillion. Hit a lamp post and nearly ripped her ear off, so he was never going to encourage me. I had been pillion on a couple of trail bikes when young, however one guy was drunk when riding and we crashed too which put me off them as well. He was worse, as I could see his kneecap such was the force he hit the road. I just slid off the back as the front popped up too high. I am never going to be the quickest, but I think I am quick enough at this stage of my biking. I could really do with a track day, however that intimidates me to even think about at times. So I just love getting out on the bike whenever I can, even short journeys. My mate with the R1 has been riding since he was a teenager, and he is bloody quick. Seriously quick. So he still has to wait on me a bit, just not quite as long as he used to. I love the whole camaraderie within the biking community. The fact people just want to look and talk bikes is brilliant. And it is a major regret that I never got into them when I was younger. But I will always be grateful that I eventually did. Met some great people, and spoke online to some very helpful people, of which 1000RR.co.uk has been the best. Sorry I also keep adding little bits to this too. I also did an off road day a couple of years ago, and loved that. Gave me more confidence on the road as well, despite my two offs during the day.
When I was 16 I Had a go on a friends Puch Maxi. Then waited until I was 17 to get a Suzuki GT185, I bought it 31 December 1976. Passed my test February 1977 then bought a Suzuki GS750.
Started biking when I was about 7/8 years old. My dad always had bikes and when he was in the shed working on them I used to come and help. Mostly just handing him the tools he needed, being shouted at and bringing him tea but I did learn a few things about bikes We had a small trial bike that we'd take over the fields to thrash about on. I fell off a lot lol. When I was 10 I got a Suzuki TS50X for birthday/xmas. It was my first full size bike and I loved it. A year later my brother also has a TS. SO we used to play tag in the fields on them. Was mental. I even nicked my mum's CB90 and took that for a blast up in the fields until the chain fell off and I had to wheel it back home only to be grounded for like a month We had a few other bikes that I can't remember the names of right up until I was about 15/16 and they either got sold or nicked. I never started road biking till 2008. It was just an impulse thing. I was thinking I really miss biking and having not ridden a bike since I was about 16, I thought feck it i'll do the CBT. Straight after passing the CBT I booked a DAS course and passed that in Feb 2009. Two weeks later I picked up my brand new Suzuki SV650S. I did 9000 miles in 18 months Then I got the bug for a sportier bike and went to Saltire Suzuki and test rode all the GSXR range. Fell in love with a black 750 but the dam feckers had sold it by the time I got a deposit together to buy it. Two months later I saw a limited edition white and silver GSXR K8 1000 with twin arrow pipes on it. I rode up to Cupars for a test drive and came back with the biggest grin on my face ever. The sound of them pipes was amazing. So i bought the thing. I was thinking to myself on the ride home that I was mental going from an SV straight to a litre bike but the GSXR was in fact more comfortable than the SV. Yeah it was ridiculously fast but it was just so easy to ride. I had Dorothy for 3 years, then in 16th September 2012 I had a low side. Going round a left hand bend the front tucked and I went down. The bike slid away from me down the road about 30m then slid into the bike. I bounced up full of adrenaline to check her over and to my horror I saw the frame had actually snapped in two. I was almost in tears. I had my full leathers on so there was no damage to me whatsoever, not even a bruise. On closer inspection of the bike I noticed that on both sides the frame had snapped straight down the weld lines. See pic below Anyways I wasn't allowed another bike until after the wedding so I had plenty of time to choose. In the end I went for a 2009 HRC Blade. I picked her up on 09/04/14. It was the first time I've been on a bike since Sept 2012. It felt alien at first and I was so nervous going into left handers. Am getting better on Betty but still a bit cautious in the turns. I have a trackday booked in Sept so here's hoping I can exercise those demons. Colin
I got my first bike when I was 6, a Suzuki RM50 motocrosser. 39 years later, I have never been without a bike since. I've had about 30 bikes in that time including motocross, trials, supermoto, tourers and scooters. In the garage currently is the blade, and 2 Lambrettas !, last bike was a 2012 Electra Glide. I like to mix it up a bit
RamJam: I would be asking serious questions about that. There is no way that frame should have fractured down the weld like that. Smells of metallurgical defect to me.
When I was 15 saw BIKE magazine with a Z900 and and FS1E on the cover, ended up buying a Yellow FS1E before my 16th, then the brilliant summer of 76 when it was the hottest on record allowed me to do many miles on the Fizzy so was hooked, onto a new RD200 then a brand new Suzuki GS750EC when I was 17 etc etc etc etc
I was another late starter, only got a 125 after giving up rallying on the advice of my bank manager, Apparently they like money in your account from time to time...... So sold the rally car, bought a DR125, CBT to Test, bought 600 on the way back from test.......Had a number of 600`s, ZX6r was my favourite, then Duc 749 which looked lovely but painful to ride, when got a chance via a mate to get the anniversary blade I know ride.....22 years since I passed my test.......getting old.
yes the hottest summer of our era............I had one of the last brand new ss50 5 speed "R" reg in the September of 77 just after the restricted laws were introduced.... better looking peds had been realeased but could only do 30 !!........ then onto GT185 (old man would sign HP for the GT RamAir)......KH 250 400fours..... powervalve 350 etc etc....
Never really had an interest in bikes when I was a kid (Mum and Dad wouldn't have let me have one anyway) but remember I was in London with some mates and saw a Suzuki Katana 1000 they hadn't been out long, and to be honest I didn't really have any knowledge of bikes, but being a flash git, I knew I had to have one. The design was so different to anything else on the road A week later I bought a Honda 250 Superdream (kept in hidden in my garage as had my own place) My dad only found out about the bike when he came over to borrow my lawnmower, my Mum was not to impressed and I had to promise her I wouldn't ride fast. I passed my test within about 12 weeks of buying the Superdream and went out and bought a Suzuki 650 Katana (shaft drive) I kept this for a couple of months before buying my dream bike. A Suzuki Katana 1000 did I think I was the bee's knees. I wonder now how the hell I survived riding a 1000cc Superbike with such little experience f*** all training, used to ride from home (Basildon) to Birmingham, up the M1 to see how quick I could get there (No camera's in those days) just wanted to ride it fast, and in a straight line, never really appreciated the fun that could be had on country lanes etc (young and stupid I suppose) After the 1000 Katana, I changed to 1100 Katana, and here we are 30 + years later still riding. Only time I have not had a bike in this period is when my 1st daughter was born (I was without a bike for 3 years) according to the Mrs I was such a 'miserable sod' in that time she bought me a FZR 1000 for Christmas.
12 to 16 years old various field bikes, fizzy at 16, x7 at 17, then loads of 250s which were uber cheap as licence laws changed to 125 and I had a full licence, gsx250, Z250, RD250, total riot, had a go at despatch riding on a plastic maggot (cx500) handled like a four poster bed but would not break, binned a Katana 650 (shaft drive Horrid thing) at 21 years, left arm, hand, wrist, leg, oya. Few years off, late 20s, ZXR750, mental, first proper sports bike, binned it again early 30s, right leg, oya. Married, mortgage yada yada. Early forties, GSX750ES street fightered thing, great fun, DIVORCE******, Gixer 750 and KTM 990 Super Duke, happy days are here again. And now for the first time ever a brand new bike. My Blade, talk about saving the best till last. All you need is 3rd da dadada da 3rd is all you need.
Wasn't allowed a bike as a kid as my Dad had a bad crash when him and my mum first started going out, but had a few goes on people's mopeds, puch 50's , fizzers, honda c90s etc. Got more into cars until about 2005 when I got into cycling and used to ride to work and back every day. Then moved and struggled with the extra ride and so got a twist and go, but quickly realised how dangerous they are. Did my DAS in 2008, CBT on the Monday and full test on the friday, having not ridden a bike seriously beforehand. Wrote first bike off, CBR600F (and the Astra I hit) about 10 months later. Had only just met the future wife when I did this, but a month or so after she took me to the dealers and told them to sell me a bike as apparently I was looking at the other bikes on the road like a little puppy with no toilet roll to play with. Got another 600F and had that for a few years until someone I knew put up on Facebook that he was selling his track blade with MOT and V5 for £3,800. Someone asked him if he would take an offer, he said £3k, I was sat in Costa Coffee with the missus and said to her that it was a bargain, she said buy it. So I did
Back in the 60s as a little kid growing up in Lambeth, my much older brother was a Vespa and parka type of that era, and much to our Mums annoyance used to drag me around everywhere on the back of it when I was around 6 or 7 years old, it just gets under your skin them, and the rest is history, cannot even guess how many I have owned....except never ever owned a scooter
First bike was a Raliegh Wisp at 14 that I hid from my parents at my brother's house. Then, at 16 nagged mother for 3 months for permission to by my first road bike - a Honda SS50 in 1984. have then had a variety of bikes since then, apart from a spell from '88-90 when bugger-all cash meant I couldn't afford to run one. Present bikes are an '05 Repsol Blade, '05 BMW 1150 GSA, Yam RD350LC special and RXS100 that I'm yet to perform some restoration on (too much fun to be had on the others to get the spanners out!). Can't envisage not having a bike now. Having a bike in the garage seems about as natrual as having a pair of legs.
