[hobo]

British bikes & Sportsters,shifted on the RIGHT side?
Motorcycles were not equipped with turn signals?
No special liscence required?
Most were 6 volt systems,generators & magnetos?
Kick starts?
No helmets required anywhere,except racetracks?
Mirrors were optional,not required by law.
Only point of this post is, if we've survived this long & still riding, it seems we must be doing something right, or is it just blind luck?
just wonderin',
the hobo
(oh yeah, i was)

 

[cosmic_chariot]

I have been riding since the 60's.. back then no helmet, glasses, jackets or gloves.. and I have scars to prove it

cosmic

 

[Sid Moen]

How bout the days when you could start any Japanese bike with a piece of flattened out coat hanger wire.

I don't miss the Kick start "feature" either. And the electrics on my old Triumph that constantly needed fixing.

I'm pretty spoiled by my wing.

 

[Shoundog]

Yea my first bike was a Monkey Wards s**t brown moped. Man would it fly at 23mph. Lets see 1962 I think.

 

[kikker]

Good question Hobo.
My first bike while in the US Army in Germany was a 1966 Triumph Bonneville with the brake on the left and shifter on the right. By the time I bought my first US bike....a 1976 Yamaha 650, the brake and shifter were like they are now.

I didn't have the Triump very long because it was stolen about 3 months after I bought it new.

This is not mine but mine was exactly like this one. I think it cost me a little over $700 by the time I took delivery.

 

[wimpyhonda]

Started in 1954 on a triump thunderbird with a sprung rear hub. :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[august]

My first bike (if you can call it that) was a doodle bug motor scooter. I got it in 1949, same year that I got my Red Ryder BB gun.

I have not been one single year without at least one motorcycle of some sort since then.

That would be somewhere around 57 years. I haven't sat down and tried to remember all of the different bikes, but I think I have had about 30 or so.

 

[Rajun Cajun]

Yes, I remember it well. I got my first bike in 1963 and have ridden
alot of different bikes over the years. No gear was needed ( we thought)
and I also have the scars to prove it. I rode my older brothers 305 Super Hawk and thought it was the greatest bike make ( I had a 50 Cub ) and rode my older Cousins Bonny and had to lean the bike over when stopped so that I could touch the ground,
I used to jump on the Mississippi River levee at LSU and ride with my older cousin and no one bothered us, you will get arrested now.
Nearly got killed riding on the graded road bed at the I-12 & I-10 split
when they were building the road through Baton Rouge back in the mid 60's. Lot's of great memories, thanks for bring this up.
I don't know I survived because I thought I was bullet proof and invisible.

 

[Wi_Winger]

My introduction to cycles was in 2003 @ age 61.
Never owned, rode, or sat on any bike until the first day of beginners MFS course.
One day after graduation I ordered up a '03 Candy Red Goldwing, and to this day I wear that smile day and night.

Sorry, that's my story, the start and hope never the end.

Cheers!

 

[Red]

Hey Hobo, man you're old! LOL... Asphalt had been invented and fire had already been discovered when I started to ride! :wink:

I do remember some of that stuff though.

 

[WingWing]

1965 Honda 305 Superhawk ...

man it was awesome!

Dennis

 

[IR Harry]

Red, I thought you predated the wheel.... :lol:

 

[Redneck Dave]

:shock: :shock:

Y'all are some old and ornery cusses but the history lesson from when I was in kindergarden was awesome and I'll share it with my local buddies who think they know somethin'. Y'all have it goin' on. :wink:
I really like that Triumph, my Uncle sent one home from overseas in 5 or 6 boxes of parts and then reassembled because the Government wouldn't pay to ship it but would pay for the shippin' on all them boxes. :lol:

 

[DON OLLER]

old bikes gosh ole times

started on 49 harley 125 ,famous james . k model harley ,indian warrior and 53 80ci chief ,had two ajs single and twin ,w-2 kawasaki,75 z1 two voygers 1300, two wings and kawasaki nomad time moves on

 

[Wolfer]

1965 Suzuki 50 scrambler bought new for $325.00, 1964 Allstate Compact. bought used for $25.00 ( twenty five dollars) The Allstate Compact was a better bike than the Suzuki and faster. It was ugly though. The Suzuki was a two cycle and it didn't have oil injection, what a mess that was.

 

[banana boy]

First bike was a 1965 yamaha 60 street bike, then came the twin 100 in 66 and didn't take long to get the 66 305 Superhawk. Then the Navy took me away. sold the superhawk. got back from first Viet Nam cruise and got a 67 yamaha 250 street bike. they were all great.

 

[kjmoyer]

Started riding 1951. Cushman Scooter. Then Harley, Triumph, Zundap, BMW, Yamaha, then to Honda GL in 1982, Still riding at 71.

 

[wingit84]

My first bike was a 1949 Indian, that was back in 1964! Since then, it has been many bikes and many cars also. Now I wish I still had all of them, it would have been the best investment over time I could have made. I did keep my Dunstall Norton until last year ( own it for 37 years), but it came time to sell it. Had it longer than my wife!

Dennis

 

[Keghead]

My first bike (if you can call it that) was a doodle bug motor scooter. I got it in 1949, same year that I got my Red Ryder BB gun.

You'll shoot your eye out kid! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Keghead]

My introduction to cycles was in 2003 @ age 61.

Good for you! It's never to late...