What was your Gateway Drug?

I woke up in the wee hours of the morning yesterday, suffering mightily from P.M.S.. Life here in the Northeast sucks this time of year for me... I couldn't fall asleep and my mind drifted back to my first exposure to this wonderful life of motorcycling.

The first ride is a bit fuzzy in its detail. It was either 1975 or 1977. Spent a year in Oregon in 1976, so I know it wasn't then. My first ride was on the back of a friends Honda Trail 70. That was cool. That sunny summer afternoon he let me take the bike for a spin in their gravel driveway. After not enough explanation of the controls, or enough attention paid by me, I hopped on, twisted the throttle and shot into their garage. Wammo! Target fixation at it's best! Shook it off, found the brakes, realized the throttle worked in two directions, pointed the 70 in a safer direction and off I went. Life has never been the same since. I remember the overwhelming feeling of flying, just inches off the ground.

After much pestering and convincing my mom that I would not be killed, my dad joined in and convinced my mom that she should not be raising a boy in a bubble. Not sure what deals were made in the background, but my Dad came through for me. Thanks Dad! Thanks Mom! See, I have not been killed yet!

In the spring of 1979 dad presented me with a little booklet to keep track of my "bike balance". I had precious little $$, so it was decided that he would be my bank and I would work off the balance and could get a bike when I had earned enough. Game On!

We heated with wood, so there was plenty of wood to cut and split. The barn needed painting, along with the caboose (yes, we have a caboose) and I mowed neighbors lawns, as well as ours.

We started shopping! In retrospect, the purpose was two-fold. First, to figure out what to buy, but perhaps more importantly, to keep me motivated. I was not earning much and the required funds seemed huge. I remember checking out the Kawasaki KE100. Red or Green. I loved it! (I loved anything at that point!) My dad was not impressed.

Next we checked out the Yamaha DT125. Wow, that was a real step up from the KE. That looked like a REAL manly bike. Mono-shock rear suspension. That was Rad! Yes, I was a Yamaha man for sure!!! My dad was not so sure. I could see that this was going to be a long process.

More cut, split, stack, more painting, more mowing, some birthday money, more odd chores, lather, rinse, repeat. Getting there. In August we visited the Honda dealer. Woah! XR185R I want THAT! Gaaaa! That is a lot of money. About $1650 if I remember correctly, The XL185s was less. $1450 or so. My dad saw it as less for more. You get headlight, turn signals, horn, street legal (some day) etc. I wanted the XR! The dealer happened to have a 'new' XL185 with 600 miles on it. Classic situation - guy bought it for his wife, she didn't like it. Traded it for a pink moped... $899.99 SOLD!!!! ($963.00 with tax.) I had almost enough and dad let me work the rest off. Woooohooooo!


Disclaimer:
It was 1979.
I am posing, not riding (as far as you know)
I didn't have enough money for proper safety equipment...
It was hot in August.
It was 1979.





Hey, at least I had a helmet!

In action:
Note the extensive use of saftey equipment, including eye protection.
Note the extreme air!
Note the matching barn paint on my jeans!




My first bike and I still have it. It doesn't look as purdy as it did then, but it still runs, starts with one or two kicks after sitting all winter and has taught a second generation how to ride. What more could you ask?

What was YOUR Gateway Drug?

That is awesome that you still have your first bike after all these years! My first bike was a real POS 1979 RM125 (bought quite thrashed in '86) that I saved up all winter to buy. It would break every 3 rides. As crappy as it was I wish I still had that bike.

After that hard lesson in used bike dealing I got an '83 RM250 that following summer (after another winter of saving). What a difference! That beast would come on the pipe and I would find myself bouncing along the ground on my ass while the bike ghost-rided away.

Here is the drug in it's pristine unused condition....



Here is six months later after using said drug.



And a picture of the drug user returning to ther scene of the crime looking for scraps left over scattered in the dirt....

xr350. Picture is from 1980 IIRC. Rode it to school everyday, and blasted in the AZ desert on the weekends. I had minibikes and a couple of those little honda's (50 and a 70), but this was my first street legal bike. Been hooked ever since...

My gateway drug was a 1969 Penton 125. Had a fantastic time chasing friends around in the stripmines of Western Pennsylvania. I had way more fun with this than with the new '73 Honda Elsinore 250 that I bought to replace it.

This is good! Mine was a Briggs & Stratton powered mini bike. The throttle was a pipe slipped over the handlebar controlling a throttle cable from a lawn mower. (Yup, you had to twist it both ways. Unintentional cruise control) That thing almost killed us many times as we bounced around on it through the woods trying to "de-throttle" the thing. Typically we'd bounce off and the stupid thing would continue grinding it's way along until it tipped over and then proceed to dig itself into whatever it ended up on. I had blisters on my hand all summer from the throttle death-grip. God that thing was fun!
From then on I harangued my parents for 3 or 4 years, worked and built up my "account" until I finally got a 1976 Harley-Davidson SXT125. Made by Cagiva, I think. I think it was about $850. One of the best days of my life. We owned an orchard, so I had a good place to practice amongst the apple trees. My buddy had a little 70cc Honda dirt bike (xr70?) and my other buddy had a 90cc Honda Trail 90. (love that low range!). Together we set off to explore the wild beyond. Of course, none of us had drivers' licenses, so it was the nearby railroad tracks that were our path to freedom. We'd barrel down the railroad tracks then stitch that together with farmers's fields, bush trails, ditches and bits of pushing along the highway (well, actually riding side-saddle so that we could jump off and pretend we were pushing if we spotted a cop) to get to the logging roads (forestry roads...modern politically correct term) where we could ride anywhere we wanted. That snow capped peak in the background in the below pic was one of our destinations. There was a fire lookout up there. What a blast!! And from there, there was a rough trail down the back that got us into a whole new network of logging roads.



Me and my freedom machine!


The motor finally packed it in after a few years. Destroyed the piston. Connecting rod scored up the cylinder. I still have it, in pieces. Someday I may put it back together if I can find some parts...

Looking back at it now, I wouldn't have wanted to be my mom when I took off into the bush for a day having no idea where I was going, no communication, no tools, no patch kit...nothing. Sometimes 60 miles into the woods (it had a 2.5 gallon tank!) with nobody else around. When you look at how bubble-wrapped kids are nowadays, it's amazing we survived!!

I used to chase my friends around the stripmines in western PA. A little later on, I had a '78 yz 250. (and a '74 CJ5) Whereabouts ya from?

Do NOT laugh.......$140 if I recall right.

Nice 1/2 shirt!

1981 Xt550

But I rode a lot of other peoples bikes. I cut my teeth on a Honda 250R 3wheeler.

Not the first...........

An Italjet and a Mullet

Without a doubt I was the baddest mofo on three wheels. Even dragged my knees..

..seriously.

mine is a '63
I still have it needs carbwork

Hodaka Combat Wombat babyyyy

Cushman Eagle. A 57 model in about 1962. Also would ride my friends Big Bear scrambler (Yamaha) during lunch in high school while he and his friends would cruise around in my car so they could smoke. (tobacco only,) they said. Bought a Yamaha Gran Prix 350 2 stroke in 68. Lost count since then. SeeeeeYaaaaa Racer07

My sister had this real sleezy boyfriend, (the only kind she's ever had) he came by the house one day in 1971, on a Honda 750 Four. I talked him into giving me a ride, and I was hooked. We got about 10 miles from the house and we got pulled over. Turns out the scumbag stole the bike. I told the cops I could walk home, Got my first bike a few years later. I've had a fondness for Honda's since that first ride though.

Sometime around 1960 or so the family was visiting extended family in Pekin, Il, and my uncle came by on his Harley/Indian/something. He gave my mom a ride around the block, then a couple of the older kids. He then announced he was leaving. Things got a little hazy. (There were tears in my eyes.) Mom noticed and said, "Steve, you're just too little". I was. At eight or nine, I was the size of a typical 5 year old. Johnnie took the hint and said, "Maybe we can make this work". I sat on the tank and held onto his forearms. I'll never forget the feeling.
Then, when I was fourteen, my older brother rented a Suzuki 80cc street bike with a friend from a shop in Waukegan. I didn't get to ride, but I thought it was so cool and managed to pick up some brochures. Later, one of his friends, one of the lake surfers we hung with, gave me a ride on his 50cc Italian Harley.
It was four long years later, and more motorcycle magazines than I can count, that I finally purchased a bike. We had moved to Iowa City, Ia. The day after I graduated HS, in '69, my dad drove me to Cedar Rapids where I took posession of a brand new T120 Cat.
I don't own cruisers, even claim not to want one, but that Harley/Indian/something was definately my gateway drug.

Mine was a 1972 SL70. My dad was a mechanic and did some work for a guy and he paid him with the bike.

I remember driving it really fast over a hill all excited and had my dad come out and watch. He about came unglued when he saw me jumping the bike...I was hooked at that point.

I don't have a pic of mine, but here is one a guy online restored...looks just like I remembered it (only in better condition)!!

At 9 years old, the problem came early.
There is no end in sight....

Yes, in a game of one-upmanship, my brother got a lightly used RM250 from the same Honda dealer. That thing was a freekin' beast with a powerband like an off-on switch. I could only touch on one side at a time...

I hit the on switch one day in fourth gear, long, long, long wheelie (which I was good at, or so I thought) and over cooked it a bit at about 50 mph. Over she went and when I stopped sliding, I realized I was going to be buying some new parts for my big bro. Pretzeled the handlebars and seriously creased the rear fender. :eek1

That thing was a total beast in the woods... Learned a lot about why enduro bikes were tuned differently than Moto Cross bikes...


After that hard lesson in used bike dealing I got an '83 RM250 that following summer (after another winter of saving). What a difference! That beast would come on the pipe and I would find myself bouncing along the ground on my ass while the bike ghost-rided away.[/quote]