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[moscooter]

i just bought my grandson his first motorcycle, a honda xr50, cant wait to give it to him... his dad dosnt  think he is ready yet, and i said how old was you when i gave you a honda 50? thats right...10, so have not seen either one them for two weeks now  the weather is going to break here in iowa soon and im sure my boy will come around and teach his son to ride

 
FFreddy......Saw your location and had to ask.  I grew up in Omaha and graduated High School there in 1960,  so I'm an old dude..(in fact,  my Mom was a grade school teacher in C.B.  she taught at Hoover and then at some Jr. High after that.

Anyway,  the most ever fun I had back in the late 60's and early 70's was dirt bike riding and one of our favorite spots were the hills just north of C.B. along the Bluffs.  Normally,   we would get there via the Mormon Bridge and then cut down to where we parked.  Other times,  we could go to South Omaha and cross the bridge there and immediately turn off there and could ride on the Iowa side clear up to where we would go thru a drainage ditch (under) I-29 and then end up at the Bluffs spot.  Ever do that???  

[fastfreddy]

FFreddy......Saw your location and had to ask.  I grew up in Omaha and graduated High School there in 1960,  so I'm an old dude..(in fact,  my Mom was a grade school teacher in C.B.  she taught at Hoover and then at some Jr. High after that.

Anyway,  the most ever fun I had back in the late 60's and early 70's was dirt bike riding and one of our favorite spots were the hills just north of C.B. along the Bluffs.  Normally,   we would get there via the Mormon Bridge and then cut down to where we parked.  Other times,  we could go to South Omaha and cross the bridge there and immediately turn off there and could ride on the Iowa side clear up to where we would go thru a drainage ditch (under) I-29 and then end up at the Bluffs spot.  Ever do that???

oh yes i did, grew up on the west end of town and since i could ride a bike i was down at the river, there is only one place left by the south O bridge to ride now, its a club type deal. lewis and clark monument/park is the bluff area im sure your thinking of. yes there were miles and miles of trails to ride bake then... thanks, that brings back so many memory's of my youth. i still live on that end of town.... about a mile from the train bridge 

[RGlideKid]

My second, and probably my most favorite bike was a Kawasaki KZ650. I ended up adding a fix fairing much like the one pictured below. With my pull out stereo unit, my hard bags and truck on here, you couldn't tell me anything. This was the first bike that I ever truly left my comfort zone. I left Abilene Texas (about two hours west of Fort Worth) and headed to Phoenix Arizona. This is also when I realized that I10 was straight and boring. OH!!! And that it takes a day worth of riding to get out of Texas. I stopped in El Paso. This bike and I have the most memories and I would end up writing a book on it trying to share it.  If I just had money and space  for one, I would get one just to relive my memories.

Gotta love those old Windjammer fairings.  They were the coolest looking fairing you could put on your bike.  No telling how much that company made in those early years!
I had one on a Honda CB750.  Pretty amazing for almost 40-year old technology.

[HoustonBussa]

Gotta love those old Windjammer fairings.  They were the coolest looking fairing you could put on your bike.  No telling how much that company made in those early years!
I had one on a Honda CB750.  Pretty amazing for almost 40-year old technology.

You're ever so right!

[KGB]

Gotta love those old Windjammer fairings.  They were the coolest looking fairing you could put on your bike.  No telling how much that company made in those early years!


I had one on a Honda CB750.  Pretty amazing for almost 40-year old technology.

You're ever so right!

I was a Honda Tech in the early 70's and installed my share of Windjammers, Cycle Sounds, and Bates Saddle Bags on GL1000's CB750's, You don't know how glad I was when the Goldwings started coming with fairings and bags! My first week I thing I built 3 GL1000 dressers with Windjammers, bags and light bars, and I wanted to fix motorcycles 

[jhuff]

Riding my ole Z1 900, its not a Harley, but always fun!

[Icewater]

Mine was a 1980 Kz-750. Bought it April Fool's Day 1983 with only 1200 miles on the clock. I was 18 and just arrived at my first assignment...Ellsworth AFB.
I promptly ripped the exhaust off and installed a Kerker 4 into 1 header, threw the baffle in the trash and rejetted the carbs.  That thing was more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I rode over to Sturgis and had the week of my life.

[Sprintkid]

My first ride was my uncles Shriner Doodle Bug. I put a million laps around the empty lot next to his house. That started a life time on two wheels. I had some dirt bikes as a kid. A Hodaka super rat, Ossa Stilleto, Bultaco Pursang, Ossa Pioneer. I bought my first HD at 19. A brand new 1974 Super Glide from Kempers HD in Omaha. I am on number 19.

[RGlideKid]

My first ride was my uncles Shriner Doodle Bug. I put a million laps around the empty lot next to his house. That started a life time on two wheels. I had some dirt bikes as a kid. A Hodaka super rat, Ossa Stilleto, Bultaco Pursang, Ossa Pioneer. I bought my first HD at 19. A brand new 1974 Super Glide from Kempers HD in Omaha. I am on number 19.

A long career on bikes just like so many of us!  I'm on number 10 right now.  Quit riding for a long time over one of my marriages.
I regret not having more pics from when I was younger before leaving home!  Like many parents did, my folks struggled financially early on, so taking film photography wasn't high up on their list.  Shame that.  But I still have the memories!

[Dan_Lockwood]

This isn't my first, but second bike.  My first was posted earlier in this thread and this is my Bridgestone 175 Dual Twin.  My first one was a Bridgestone 50 Sport.



I'm wearing my dad's archery deer hide leather jacket.  He was very active in the early archery days in MI.  He used to shoot in tournaments with Fred Bear.  There are patches on this jacket that no one else has to this day.  But because I was such a douche bag back then and didn't care about preserving items, this jacket came up missing and I never really looked for it.  A true bit of MI archery history gone.

Like Harry pictures were not all that important and there was not enough money for the "extra" things like pictures.  I did find a few boxes of slides a few years ago that I didn't know I had.  I've since scanned them and they are near and dear to me now.  This was one of them.

Dan and mom did want me to have some fun and when able, they got me materials to build my own things.  Dad taught me to weld with torches and braze as well.  I made, with just a little help from dad, my first mini bikes.  Then I made all my own stuff.

Before that time though, we lived on a lake and I had a gas pump down at the lake and sold gas and oil.  This was the beginning of a very nice marina.  In 10 years we sold Polaris, Arctic Cat, and Johnson snowmobiles, Bridgestone motorcycles, Johnson and Mercury outboards, Crest pontoon boats and Safety Mate fiberglass boats.  Safety Mate was bought out by Four Wynns.  It was funny because John Wynn was our Polaris rep before his dad, him and two brothers formed Four Wynns boats.

So dad bought me a set of plans from Popular Mechanics and a few sheets of plywood and some paint.  This is what I ended up with.  This was my first motor, a MK15A Mercury.  Within a couple months my brother did some trading and I ended up with my MK20H Mercury racing motor with a Quickie lower unit.  The little 8' hydro would hit 55 mph with a slight ripple on the lake.  I was 15 in this picture.  In the picture above, I was 16.



Sorry for the bad picture, but this is after restoration software did it's thing.  I carried this Polaroid in my wallet for years.  It did not like that very well.

This is a '56 KH Harley.  Not to be confused with the first Sprotsters.  They came I believe the following year.  This was a flathead.  It was a 45" with a 3/4" stroker from Harley.  I believe that's what the H stood for.  I paid $50 for this and the guy never got me the title so after getting it running and illegally riding it for a few months, I tore it down to do some stuff to it.  When the guy came back I threw it all in hit truck in pieces and he gave me back my $50.  That could have been a very nice bike to have today.  I'm sure at the time he just tossed it out in the brush when he got home.  But no title, no keepy the bike.



Sorry for rambling this much.

Hope to see y'all in ES in 6 or so weeks.

[RGlideKid]

This isn't my first, but second bike.  My first was posted earlier in this thread and this is my Bridgestone 175 Dual Twin.  My first one was a Bridgestone 50 Sport.



I'm wearing my dad's archery deer hide leather jacket.  He was very active in the early archery days in MI.  He used to shoot in tournaments with Fred Bear.  There are patches on this jacket that no one else has to this day.  But because I was such a douche bag back then and didn't care about preserving items, this jacket came up missing and I never really looked for it.  A true bit of MI archery history gone.

Like Harry pictures were not all that important and there was not enough money for the "extra" things like pictures.  I did find a few boxes of slides a few years ago that I didn't know I had.  I've since scanned them and they are near and dear to me now.  This was one of them.

Ramble on, brother!  That was all good stuff and great pics.  You looked like quite a tough guy back then.  I looked like a complete geek!
A lot of us were thoughtless when we were younger.  Not trying to get you in trouble with Linda, but maybe you left that jacket on some young lady's bed one night?   

Thanks for the memories, Dan.

[Dan_Lockwood]

Ramble on, brother!  That was all good stuff and great pics.  You looked like quite a tough guy back then.  I looked like a complete geek!
A lot of us were thoughtless when we were younger.  Not trying to get you in trouble with Linda, but maybe you left that jacket on some young lady's bed one night?   

Thanks for the memories, Dan.

Harry, I can assure you that did not happen, no jacket on no bed...

[Scott7d]

I bought and sat on a motorcycle for the first time almost 5 years ago to the day. I bought one on a whim because a couple other good buddies rode and I could never tag along. Now I'm addicted and literally ride more than most of my friends in a year combined. One of the best decisions I've ever made. My first bike was a Honda Shadow 1100cc, Maybe a 2001 and or 2002. A few months later I bumped up to a Kawasaki Vulcan 1700cc. Had that about a year before getting my Road King, have had it for 3 years and no plans of trading or selling.

[RGlideKid]

I bought and sat on a motorcycle for the first time almost 5 years ago to the day. I bought one on a whim because a couple other good buddies rode and I could never tag along. Now I'm addicted and literally ride more than most of my friends in a year combined. One of the best decisions I've ever made. My first bike was a Honda Shadow 1100cc, Maybe a 2001 and or 2002. A few months later I bumped up to a Kawasaki Vulcan 1700cc. Had that about a year before getting my Road King, have had it for 3 years and no plans of trading or selling.

I had a Vulcan years ago.  After I got my first Harley, I used to joke that the Vulcan handled like a hippo with handlebars in comparison.  That Vulcan was massive.
Glad you've acquired the love for riding Scott!

[Rollin]

1992 Honda CBR 600...buddy of mine had Kawasaki EX500 and I thought it was awesome!  Met a guy at a car wash that was selling his 600 so he could upgrade to CBR900RR.  One look and I was sold.  Mom about killed dad for co-signing...oh man!  Had a lot of fun on that bike, glad I lived through all of it!