I had always wanted a bike, my dad had one when he was young. Some of his friends still had them when I was young, but it wasn't until my friend bought a used GSX-R 600 that I wanted one myself. I never had the money until last year, and being recently single at the time i figured why not? I bought my Ninja and absolutly love riding. Now 3 more of my friends have bikes and I always try to get the other friends to buy as well, and especially my brother. But after having mine for a season now I can't imagine not having a bike in my garage for the rest of my life.

Its funny because my dad always tried to talk me out of buying a bike, but since I have had mine he is always talking about buying one. He has his eyes on a FJR1300

 

I was introduced to the sport by my cousin, who at the time had a CBR600F, which I would later own one of, who somehow persuaded me to get on the back of his bike, and that was the END of my spending money, it all went to bikes and parts, every dime is STILL tied up in either bikes or the occasional 6 pack of yuengling.

 

or the occasional 6 pack of yuengling.

haha that made laugh

 

$4 dollars for a gallon of gas driving a 4x4...

So I just wanted a SCOOTER, then realized I could use the bike to ride to the next town for college, but scooters are not allowed on the highway, so I figured if I was going to get a 'real bike' I wanted one that could handle the curves really fun-like (as mentioned I drive a 4x4, so I miss taking tight corners) so that meant sport bike. I tried to get a Lifan GRX200, but never worked out so I started looking for a used 250R Ninja, looked for 6 months, but never found one. so I tried to get a brand new one, nope total build out on those too... So I just asked the salesman for a bike under $5000.

My main focus is still my truck, now that I can ride the bike for the summer the truck is getting dismantled so I can work on it all summer.

 

Midlife Crisis.

. . . um, I mean, "I feel the need for speed!" Yeah, that's it. Need for speed.

Actually, I've always been an adrenaline junkie . . . lifeguarding, scuba, surfing, kayaking, white water rafting, skiing, snowboarding, backpacking, climbing, hang gliding (although gave that up quickly due to being geographically challenged), sky diving (gave that up when an instructor I knew was killed), roller coaster junkie . . . I was ready to add motorcycling to the list.

 

Started riding at 8 years old. Got a 50cc Honda and just went from there. Motorcycles are in my blood. They've been my only real passion for as long as I can remember. Had that 50cc until I was about 10 then I got a KE100 Kawasaki. I also had a KX250F Dirt Bike and was really and still am very into Motocross, Supercross, and Freestyle Motocross. Got my Ninja 500 in 2004 when I was 14 but was not allowed to ride it on the street (only parking lots) till I was 14 and got my license. Really got into just riding twisties and then after owning it for about 3 years and riding a lot of mountains and being stupid on it I got into stunting and made my Ninja into a stunt bike. Been stunting for two years now and am currently in the process of buying an R1 and am going to start heading to the track this summer.

 

I've always loved motorcycles. At age 12 I started riding the neighbor boys' dirt bikes. My parents said no way, can't have one. At age 14 I talked my dad into a moped one night while my mom was working (she was a nurse and worked different shifts). I don't know what kind of fight they probably had over that because my mom hates any 2 wheeled motorized vehicle. I got the moped though and rode it til I got my driver's license. When I was 24 I bought my house and wanted a dirt bike so bad because I was out in the country where I could ride one. But I was busy with horses (another life long dream I finally fulfilled) and the dirt bike idea went to the wayside. I always wanted a street bike, too, but didn't even know if there were any I'd fit on. I'm a woman on the short side. Also for many years there was that stigma if you were a woman who rode (please don't take offense to that anyone). I've always been a person who did what I wanted though so that didn't affect me so much as whether a woman my size could handle a bike. Then gas hit over $4 a gallon and I have a full size truck. Ouch! That finally got me to say, screw it, I'm getting a bike. So I started reading and going to dealers to investigate what was available. I knew I wanted a sport bike or possibly a dual sport and not a cruiser. Being short there weren't too many options but I quickly discovered the Ninja 250 and then the 500 and the decision was made. I chose the 500 due to the extra weight (wind blows all the time around here) and because I knew it was a bike I could keep and not grow out of for a long time. Since then I've also added 2 dirt bikes to the stable and am having a great time with those as well. I'm glad I got the bikes finally. Better late than never!

 

Hi all... new to here... just bought my EX.. yaa she's sweet... been a long while since I rode.. Grew up on dirt bikes... lol a little Honda 70.. but seemed huge back then... My family all rode, but with change in life and the death of my dad it all came to a crashing halt.. now.. my babies all grown up.. just turned 18.. and my bf rides a beautiful zx12.. time for me again.. just doing the parking lot riding right now getting a feel for her, making sure I am comfortable as I know cars try wiping me out in my car.. looking forward to doing alot of back road riding... then looking to tour down to Portland..

 

[Repost from here]

I think my dad gave me a quick ride or two on his 1981 Kawasaki GPz-550 when I was around 3 or 4. He sold it when I was 5. I remember seeing it in the garage but that's about it.

11 years later, in 2001, I was 16 and a friend of my dad's came over on his bike. Incidentally, it was the same exact GPz my dad had earlier. I had become interested in motorcycles only a year prior and they both saw me staring at the bike. They must have talked briefly because shortly thereafter, my dad asked me if I wanted to take a ride with his friend. Being a quiet kid, I merely grinned wide and nodded. My dad dug up an old helmet from the basement, I got on the back of the bike, and off we went.

It was a weird feeling at first. I was used to riding my bicycle a lot and feeling every bump as a sharp jolt. On the bike, it was like riding in an old Cadillac by comparison, the bike moving gently up and down over the bumps. I admit I did feel a bit uneasy when we first set off, feeling like I had nothing really holding me on the bike. I liken this to the feeling one gets riding in a car with no seatbelt, only worse. I soon got more comfortable, though, and we turned onto a multi-lane highway. "Ready?" my dad's friend yelled over his shoulder. "Yeah!" I yelled back. At that moment, he leaned forward and grabbed a huge handful of throttle. I was caught by surprise by the kind of acceleration I'd never experienced before and struggled to hang on for a moment. Once I secured my grip, I gave a quick glance over his shoulder and saw the tach swing up to the 9000 RPM redline with the engine screaming. It was exhilarating beyond belief and I never stopped grinning like an idiot until at least a few minutes after we returned. I was hooked. ;D

My dad's had the stock black twin-pipe exhaust but you get the idea.

A couple years later, just after I graduated high school, my parents bought me a 2002 Kawasaki Super Sherpa (250cc single) and my dad taught me to ride.

 

I took my first two-wheeled motorized ride (on a neighbor's moped) when I was 12...in 1960. Almost got my first motorcycle when I was 15, a family acquaintance had a 1953 Panhead Harley in a box that his brother was killed on...he told me if I put it together out in back of his plumbing shop he'd sell it to me for $300. I got it 90% together all by myself, which at 15 years old was a real experience. I had to figure out a way to slide the engine into the frame on a couple of 2x4s...couldn't pick it up, it was too heavy. The day I fired it up I was ecstatic, and the next day when I went after school to work on it some more, it was gone. The basturd took it and sold it to someone else once he saw I got it running. My Mom was dead set against me having a motorcycle (which I never really understood, since my Dad had two motorcycles when he was stationed in Australia in WWII and my Mom met him when he offered her a ride), so I never got any support in getting it back...and that was the end of that bike for me.

Anyway, I rode friend's bikes in high school (Harley 74s, Honda 160s and a Mustang), and rode passenger with them also. I've never ridden as a passenger since. After I joined the Navy, I was stationed in Pearl Harbor (terribly tough duty for a 17 year old, but hey, somebody had to do it!) on a destroyer and on one of our cruises to Vietnam, we stopped in Japan, where I bought my first motorcycle, a 1967 Honda 90 Scrambler. I paid $200 for it through the Navy Exchange...coincidentally, it weighed 200 pounds. I got special permission from the captain to take it with me, and two of my shipmates helped me carry it up to the 2nd deck. I coated all the chrome with vaseline, poured 2 cans of motor oil over the rest of it, covered it with a plastic sheet and a canvas tarp, and tied it down. It sat there (yup, outside all the way including through a typhoon) during our combat operations off the coast and up the rivers of North Vietnam, and when I got back to Pearl Harbor we carried it to the pier, I washed and polished it, and there wasn't a mark or ding on it. I rode it in Hawaii for the next two years and left it there when I went home on leave after volunteering to go back to river combat in Vietnam.

I got my 2nd motorcycle while I was on leave before I shipped out. My Dad co-signed for a Honda 450 Scrambler, for which he caught holy hell from my Mom...but she couldn't really say much to me...she finally realized it wasn't going to do any good anyway. When I got back from Vietnam the next year I walked in the door, kissed my Mom, hugged my Dad, and went out and got on my bike. Instead of going to work I spent the next 18 months riding, riding and then riding some more. Gasoline was $.23 a gallon.

I won't bore you all with the gory details of my next 28 bikes (maybe some other time)...

 

These are some awesome stories

 

Spring of '79 I think. A friend came down on levy for Germany, 15 days notice. Got a quadriphonic sound system as well. Good times! CB500. I'd love to have one again. Someone in that company had the sport model as well. Did I mention good times?

 

I as about 10 visiting my cousin with my family in New York and my dad told me he would teach me to ride my cousins RM80 later on in the day. My cousin told me he would show me. So being about 10 I said ok. He showed me how to start it and then told me to give it gas and let out the clutch. So I did and ended up on my back after doing an immediate wheeley. My dad did show me later that day and I have been hooked ever since.

 

i was introduced by my dad. when i was 15 he let me drive his vulcan 1600 everyday after school for about a month. then he bought me a vulcan 750 i kept it for a year and then i traded it like a month or 2 ago for a ninja.

 

I had dirtbikes growing up as a kid. Then last year when gas was so high, I couldn't afford the 100+dollar fillup for my big truck (which I HAVE to have). So I bought my beater 500 off craigslist. That and a guy I worked with had a zx11 and he pretty much told me I should get a bike. So now I have two of the damn things in my garage ;D a 93 EX500 and a 95 zx-6e

 

Friend w/ mini bike, cousin w/ dirtbike, the rest is a familiar story

 

Friend w/ mini bike, cousin w/ dirtbike, the rest is a familiar story

You brought a whole new meaning to "short story".

 

Motorcycles are in my blood.

Sounds painful ;-)

Been stunting for two years now and am currently in the process of buying an R1 and am going to start heading to the track this summer.

If you're in love with the R1, then by all means buy one, but realistically, you'll learn to ride well MUCH faster on an R6, or even a (much cheaper) SV650. lots of power and expensive,sticky tires tend to mask weaknesses in your riding. And even at the track, there will be VERY few times you'll get to use all that R1 power. Most tracks just don't have a long enough straight. I know a guy with a 1098R who has never gotten above 167 (GPS verified). He rides his 848 a LOT more often. It's just more fun.

I was 'introduced' to motorcycles on my own. Bought mine w/ very little knowledge, learned in my back yard and on my driveway, got a temps, and took it to the street.

 

My dad used to have an old ninja 750 when i was a kid, i remember wanting one back then but he got rid of it and I didn't really think about bikes until a couple years ago, in 2007 my friend bought a gixxer and it made me think about getting a bike, last year the gas prices started going up and i was driving a gas guzzler so my other friend and I started looking at bikes together, we went to the local dealers and I wanted the FZ6 from the get go but I couldn't afford it and the dealer decided to see if i could finance one and before they could get an answer from the finance company they needed to have a bike listed as the one i was applying for financing on, this was the only bike shop willing to work with my bad credit and given my preferences the only 2 bikes they had that fit the more upright stance i wanted were the fz6 that was just out of my budget and the ex500. we checked on financing and i got approved (barely) and I got my 500, my friend didn't get financed (he actually had WORSE credit than ME) and did not get his bike. later all the car dealerships started making deals for people with bad credit and he was able to finance a brand new car so now a year later i have a bike and he is trying to save up money still to get one

 

Friend w/ mini bike, cousin w/ dirtbike, the rest is a familiar story

You brought a whole new meaning to the term "short story".

oh you wanted short? okay:

me + bike = fun

 

My dad has rode all his life. When I was a kid, we'd go to the powersports store together and I'd sit on the bikes while he got parts/bought a new bike/whatever. He started off with cruisers, but eventually got a Ducati when I was in high school. I was sold. I've always loved Maxi scooters (I remember when Honda came out with the Helix... my little 8 y.o. brain thought that was the most awesome thing I'd ever seen!) and half-faired sportbikes ever since. In fact, my dad rode my Ninja home from the dealer for me, and he commented that it reminded him of his old Ducati 750 from the early 90's.

 

I have an uncle that was always a little different.

One day, when I was 12, he showed up at my parents with a Honda Shadow 750. No one saw that coming as he was in his late thrities and hadn't owned a bike in years.

I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I begged my parents to let me ride on the back; to my surprise they allowed it. That first ride was something permanently etched in my mind that will stay there till my last dying moments.

Crazy uncle helped me find my first dirt bike, fix it up for my first ride, fix it up a second time after my first ride, and so on. When I hit 16 I bought my first road bike, a fire breathing Kawi 250 LTD. Oh ya, I was the ****!

Crazy uncle showed up after I bought my kawi riding a new Harley Softail Custom. He was welder and engineer by trade and he had turned it into a real show bike. Anyhow, he dropped by and said "lets ride". By the end of the night we had a possy of Harley's (about 9) plus my little kawi but I felt like one of the big boys. Those were the days.

Those experiences are what drew me back to bikes when my income finally caught up with expenses. While my EX500 might not smoke any bikes out there and it certainly isn't a show bike, the hours of enjoyment are irreplaceable and it's all because of crazy uncle.

 

my grandpa used to have an old ATV and my dad would always take me on rides when we visited, not quite the same vehicle, but same idea, open air motorbike styled engine little twisty throttle.

LOL I found this photo, my dad and me on the mentioned 4wheeler. Crazy to think it was only a 250cc, I remember it being insanely fast! It'd beat the ninja in a race easy.