What was your FIRST motorcycle

[Luke’d]

Mine was a Kawasaki KE-175 when I was 16 years old

 

[670cc]

My first motorcycle was a 1975 Yamaha DT125 Enduro I bought at age 16 or 17. I think they sold new for around $600 US. I paid cash with paper route money. In my state, 16 and 17 year olds are limited to under 150cc, so the 125 was a popular starting point. This was the only Yamaha motorcycle I’ve ever owned.

Back in that time my hometown had about 4 motorcycle dealers, almost one for each major brand. So, I bought it from a dealer that sold only Yamahas, a little store front shop downtown. Now that town, which has grown a lot, has no motorcycle dealers.

The one in the photo isn’t mine, but that’s what it looked like.

 

[Maverick820]

At age 14 I had a Fox Doodle Bug mini bike, 4bhp. In 1983 I had a 1980-to 1982 Honda 900 Custom. Wish I still had that bike. Have had 7 or 8 bikes since then-mainly Harleys. But now a proud owner of a 2018 NC750X DCT and I love it. I'm semi retired, wife is retiring this May. She has had more bikes than me. She wants a Can Am Spyder. She has had several operations on her left knee and can't apply pressure to it. Sorry if I got off the subject.

 

[dduelin]

My first motorcycle was a 1971 Honda CL175 Scrambler. The payment was $41 a month of my paper route earnings. Before the 175 my parents gave me a Honda MiniTrail 50 in 1970 that I traded even for a MiniTrail 70. After about a year on the Honda CL175 I bought a Kawasaki F7 175 Enduro and started what we called back then trail riding. I still threw my paper route with the Kawasaki until I got a car in 1973. I have had about 30 motorcycles IIRC.

 

[Rabbit]

2014 Royal Enfield c5 classic, battle green. Awesome looking bike with a top speed of 70 ish mph. Rode like an off balance washing machine humping a paint shaker.

 

[the Ferret]

The year was 1965. I was 15 and had my first real job and needed transportaion. My dad was a Harley rider, and said it was ok to get a bike. I wanted a Honda C110 50cc sport. Took my dad down to the only Honda dealer in town and showed it to him. He grabbed the front fender and said "This "da*n thing's made out of plastic" I tried to explain injection molding plastic to my dad, but he sid no. "C'mon, we're going down to Harley and see what they have".

So we go down to Ray Conkler's Harley Davidson in Cincinnati where my dad did business and they had these Italian Aermacchi 2 stroke 3 speeds in the left handle badged Harley Davidsons. He rapped on the front fender and said "See, metal, this is what you're getting". So my first real motorcycle was a new 1965 Harley Davidson M 50. $ 318 brand new. Had to pay for it with my $1.00 per hour job busing tables at a restaurant. Identical to this one that a collector buddy of mine has)

It was faster than my best friends Honda C110 (when mine wasn't fouling spark plugs). Had a measuring cup on the bottom of the gas cap. You pulled in, got gas, see how much gas you got, poured the "correct" (yea right) amount of 2 stroke oil in the cup, poured it in the gas, replaced the gas cap, grabbed the front brake and shook the bike to mix the oil and gas lol. Rode it every day. Rode it to High School, to work and all over just for fun. I think I took it back in for the 600 mile service a week after picking it up, and ended up putting about 10K miles on it as a daily rider before moving up to a Honda CB 160. Freedom baby! I was hooked and have been ever since. Never get tired of riding! Like DDuelin I've had a little over 30 motorcycles, American, British, Japanese, Italian 2 stroke, 4 stoke, CVT, 3 speed, 4 speed, 5 speeds & 6 speeds and now DCT, belt, shaft and chain driven, air, air/oil and liquid cooled, hand shift and foot shift on both sides, from 50cc to 1300 cc.

 

[Klap]

I graduated from a Rupp Roadster to a Mini Trail 50, then to a Bridgestone 100, which I rode for years, ‘til I passed it to my younger brother, and got a Suzuki Water Buffalo. Like many others, have owned quite a few bikes, mostly Airhead BMW’s.
Down to just two bikes now, my NC, and a Honda ST1300.

 

[670cc]

I graduated from a Rupp Roadster to a Mini Trail 50, then to a Bridgestone 100, which I rode for years, ‘til I passed it to my younger brother, and got a Suzuki Water Buffalo. Like many others, have owned quite a few bikes, mostly Airhead BMW’s.
Down to just two bikes now, my NC, and a Honda ST1300.

So the first bike was a Rupp Roadster. What model year was that?

 

[TNHoosier]

My first bike was a 1971 Honda CB175 that I bought used when I was 13.

 

[670cc]

Thread title modified to emphasize FIRST.

 

[Itdoesn'taddup]

1980 Suzuki GS450T. I was in the Navy in San Diego.

 

[davidc83]

I was 18, in 1977 I bought a 1973 Honda CB350...

 

[TonyKZ1]

My first bike was a 1975 Kawasaki KZ400D. I tried to attach a photo, but apparently it didnt' work. I rode it for several years before buying my '89 Kawasaki Ninja 250.

My Dad bought me and my brother an already well abused Yamaha 80 dirt bike when we were kids.. It was great! That bike was passed on to our cousins as we got older and they passed it on to someone else.

 

[Luke’d]

My first motorcycle was a 1975 Yamaha DT125 Enduro I bought at age 16 or 17. I think they sold new for around $600 US. I paid cash with paper route money. In my state, 16 and 17 year olds are limited to under 150cc, so the 125 was a popular starting point. This was the only Yamaha motorcycle I’ve ever owned.

Back in that time my hometown had about 4 motorcycle dealers, almost one for each major brand. So, I bought it from a dealer that sold only Yamahas, a little store front shop downtown. Now that town, which has grown a lot, has no motorcycle dealers.

The one in the photo isn’t mine, but that’s what it looked like. View attachment 51482

Not a lot different than my Kawasaki back in the late 70’s

 

[Luke’d]

It is really cool to see how everyone got started!

 

[DTMWAP]

In 1971 I was 15 and bought a 90cc Suzuki Honcho with money earned working hard at A&W.

 

[Klap]

So the first bike was a Rupp Roadster. What model year was that?

That would have been about 1969 or 1970. I recall riding to a local convenience store ( Moody’s in Picayune, MS) to fill it up, when gas was less than a quarter a gallon!

 

[Deleted member 1183]

My first bike was a BSA M21. I was aged 20 when I started riding and the BSA was totally unsuitable for a beginner of slight stature. I narrowly avoided some sticky situations with it and struggled to start it occasionally. This pic is not the actual bike. Just one off the web.

 

[Luke’d]

My first bike was a BSA M21. I was aged 20 when I started riding and the BSA was totally unsuitable for a beginner of slight stature. I narrowly avoided some sticky situations with it and struggled to start it occasionally. This pic is not the actual bike. Just one off the web.

View attachment 51497

Very cool bike though!

 

[Luke’d]

That would have been about 1969 or 1970. I recall riding to a local convenience store ( Moody’s in Picayune, MS) to fill it up, when gas was less than a quarter a gallon!

I had to look up pictures of the Rupp Roadster. That would have been a blast when I was a kid