Contributions

[Tbeck]

I wrote a tribute to my grandfather on the old IA board some year's ago, titled Richard's Legacy. I attribute my love of riding to my grandfather who contributed the most towards getting me riding. However there were several other's along the way that made it possible for me to ride.
I mentioned a girl I went to school with and we became like brother and sister, still are to this day, but her family who owned the local Honda dealership and Penton motorcycles also treated me like family. They'd often take me along when they went to the family farm property where we'd ride hare scrambles and Enduro races on bike's they'd provide for me to ride.
In addition a close neighborhood friend would hook me up with his spare mx bike's and we'd be at the motocross tracks most weekends racing.
I acquired some invaluable skills thanks to all these folks, and without their kindness and generosity I'm not sure what turns my riding might have taken. In fact I continued racing motocross well into my 40's and only gave it up because my doc said I had to. I did some super and arena cross races but I much prefer an outdoor venue.
Anyhow these were the folks with the greatest contributions to me riding. How about you all, was there someone who without them you might not have started riding?

[Suzuki Johnny]

I was 15 at the time..and there was no way my parents would allow me to ride much less purchase any kind of two wheel machine.
Luckily for the whole neighborhood a parent of one of the boys we all hung around with bought his 16 year old a used Cushman..
Everyone wanted a ride and everyone eventually rode it, some not too carefully as it stayed broke down for one issue after another mostly from inexperienced adolescent individuals that had no idea how or what the darn thing was capable of.
I was immediately hooked and I mean hook line and sinker from the first twist of that throttle! And I have that friend of mine to thank for my absolute love of motorcycles..
I knew I had to own one come hell or high water but I did realize that it would have to be on the down and low because my folks would have tanned my hide if they were to find out..
All through high school my best friend (who incidentally only rode one bike and that was it for him) and I were working part time for his father who was a roofing contractor, After school and on the weekends.
Pay wasn't much but after a few years of saving most of it I had enough to at least to make a good down payment or even buy one outright if the price was right.. and it didn't take long before I found it, it was a total wreck, but I kept it at a cousins garage and worked on it until it was road worthy.
Once I hit the pavement, I was the proverbial kid in a candy store..
And my history on two wheels began that afternoon, later I bought a 350 Harley Sprint with 600 miles on the odo and rode it for over 80K miles.Then I purchased two wrecked 883 Sportsters, one was front end damage and the other rear damage, after several months of spending way too much time I had the real deal..To me it was a brand new red and white Sporty that I rode everywhere in the rain, the cold didn't matter to me.
The rest is history.......... In all those 60 some odd years I went through one brand new Suzuki 1400 and manyl Harley's, the last is a Brand new 2020 Harley Trike that loves me more than I love her!

[Herb]

When I was almost 13 we had a neighbor with a HD Hummer that was stripped down to a dirt bike. He started taking me for rides and I fell in love with riding. At about 13 1/2 he started teaching me to ride it. What a thrill, someone had figured out that it was a good idea to put a motor on a bicycle, no more pedaling.
My dad decided that he had enough of me being gone with the neighbor and when I was 14 he bought a new 1964 Yamaha 80 trail bike. I loved it and he let me ride it pretty much any time I wanted. Where we lived I had access to hundreds of miles of Forest Service roads, the only condition was that I had to walk it across a couple of county roads.
The summer after I turned 16 and had a job we traded the 80 in on a new, 1966 Yamaha Twin Jet 100 and a 1966 Yamaha 125 single. The 100 was mine and I rode it all the time. Been hooked on bikes every since and since thin I have never been without a bike except for about 10 months when I first joined the Corps.

[Tbeck]

Good stuff, keep it going

SJ, my dad acquired a mini bike like you described when I was 7, and between me and my older brother we rode the scrub brake off that thing many times. Next I had a Honda 90 trail, Harley Sprint, jawa 350 sport, and enough dirt bikes to start my own shop. Good times for sure.

[sgtcall]

I got this when I was 3 about to turn 4 years old and never looked back. My Dad rode a Penton at the time so we would trail ride and I would ride around the kiddie track at the Hare Scrambles races.

!970 Indian 3 speed automatic.

Before that I rode with my Grandfather on his Suzuki, he always blamed me for wearing the paint off his side covers with my feet.

[Tbeck]

Sgt, when I was a kid there was a company that made mini bikes that were the envy of my neighborhood. The company was Rupp, and those mini bikes were something else. While most mini bikes used a centrifical clutch the rupp didn't. So it took off and built speed/power as soon as you hit the throttle. The typical mini bikes had to wind up so to speak because of the clutch. Always wanted a rupp but it was too expensive for me back then.

[hillsy v2]

I can attribute my love of bikes to my older brother. He is 10 years older than me and when he left school he got a job and had decent money. Still living at home so a lot of that money was burning a hole in his pocket. He bought a brand new KE175 one day and brought it home - much to my father's annoyance (which I thought was odd because dad told us many stories about his Douglas 600). Anyway, he rode the 175 to work each day until he dropped it in the rain (70's enduro tyres weren't very good). So instead of giving up on bikes - he traded the 175 for a KH500 triple. Dad was quietly fuming....but I caught him looking at it with a slight expression of awe. And so did I - I remember going out to the garage when bro was home and just looking at it. It was shiny and sleek and for a 9 year old kid the best thing on the planet. Not long after that he traded up to a Z900 and that was a real thing of beauty to me. I knew I was going to ride one day. Cheers bro

[Tbeck]

hillsy, even though my grandfather and father rode, not to mention my dad getting us the mini bike, my Mom had a steadfast rule. We could ride dirt bikes all we wanted but we weren't allowed to ride street bikes while we lived under my parents roof. I kept my street bike at my best friends house from the time I was old enough to ride street bikes, until I went in the military. I'm pretty sure she knew it, but she never let on.
While in the military she'd always ask me where my ride's were taking me, and always asked about what bike I was currently riding.
When my kid's started riding she'd always tell them to listen to me, and pay attention to the way I rode. And if I got a new bike I had to take it by the house so she could see it, which always ended with her telling me to be careful out on the roads.
Needless to say when my daughter got her first street bike she had to promise me that she would ride only with me for her first year, to learn how to be safe on the streets. Was really more to make gramma feel more at ease. She rode thousand's of miles with me that year, and has toured by herself thousands of miles since. Very good rider if I do say so myself. My son is equally skilled on bike's but he prefers off-road rather than the streets.

[hillsy v2]

Yeah I think it's pretty much a parent / grandparent privilege to disapprove of their kids getting a bike. A bit of a "do as I say, not as I do" thing.

All good though - as much as I would have liked for my kids to learn how to ride I don't think their aptitude is safe enough to be honest. Kinda glad they have shown no interest.

[tabasco]

My brother in law had a KZ400 he didn't want anymore, as he was getting a Goldwing. He gave me the cow. I was 3I, married with two kids. rode the piss out of it, taking it to work daily, and up to Connecticut with the Grumman MC. It was funny ... the rest of the group relaxing on the slab while I whined out over 6 on the tach to stay in line, LOL.

Shortly after, I realised I loved riding, and got an '83 Virago in '86, new leftover, in the crate for three years. I rode the hell out of that bike, Americade, etc..

Then over the years went to VS1400, LC, and now C90. I'm turning 70 in Sept and still ride.

So, my brother-in-law.