Riding Experience (No. of years riding)

    • 1161 posts
    January 8, 2010 4:46 PM PST
    Only got to Drive Solo 1 time on a little 50cc dirt bike in 1993, but I was a passenger for some times as a youngster (Uncles H-D Hard Tail then Bagger 2 years later, Then Dads best friend on his Sport Bike). Took The Motorcycle Safety Course 6 months ago and still looking for a cheep reliable bike. Been around motorcycles and MC's most of my life just never had the time or the money or both. But I finally got my lisence after trying to get it since I was 16 (the legal age in Alabama at the time) Now im 33.
    • 513 posts
    January 9, 2010 12:09 AM PST
    I have been riding legally on the road for twenty seven years but was riding bikes off road from the age of thirteen, so in total about thirty one years and have loved every minute of it!
    Would I change any of it, truthfully no! All I ever wanted to do was ride bikes.
  • January 9, 2010 6:06 AM PST
    Mini bike at 10, dirt bikes to keep up with my brother...Honda shadow (what was I thinking???) for a short time, 97 Softail 5 years ago, and a 2009 Street Glide last August!!... I'm 47 now...
  • January 9, 2010 6:47 AM PST
    Rode biotch on dirt bikes for years. Got my first Sportster 883 five years ago when I got my license. Now I have three Harley's.
  • January 10, 2010 1:07 AM PST
    My dad had me on a mini bike before even a bicycle. I dirt bikes and off road up until I graduated HS. Then grownup live & kids got in the way and I moved to NC. When the kids were gone...I bought the Shadow, been on the road for just a little over a year now. There is no going back!!
  • January 10, 2010 1:24 AM PST
    Wow! guess Im a pup. Been riding for about 23 years. My first bike was a Yamaha special 50cc. then moved up yo a Honda cb750 4.Took out a Chrysler New Yorker with that tank!
  • January 11, 2010 4:35 AM PST
    Wow, hard to really say. I got a mini bike around 11 (i think) rode all kinds of different bikes until I was about 30, took around 10 years off after a bad experience. Been riding again for the past 7 years. So it's either 35 or 25 years, depends how you look at it.
  • January 11, 2010 5:00 AM PST
    Rode my first bike 40 years ago. Mini bike with a 5 horse briggs and stratton pull start engine. I have been riding pretty much ever since. I started my kid when he was about the same age. I hope the tradition continues.
    • 1040 posts
    January 11, 2010 5:31 AM PST
    Since 1966 or 67 (42 years or so) I think. Rode my uncles Hodaka 90cc in the Northern California mountians. The rest is history; many ridden and owned since.
    • 2072 posts
    January 13, 2010 11:16 AM PST
    Started riding just prior to the invention of the internal combustion engine. Had round stones for wheels (picture the Flintstones). Was a bitch going up hill........ OK, I'm exaggerating a LITTLE bit. First bike was a Honda 50 then moved up to a big cruiser.............. Honda 55!!!! Been on bikes of one kind or another ever since!!!!!
  • January 13, 2010 12:00 PM PST
    started on a honda 305 scrambler. rode for a few years then car pulled out in front of me.swore i would never ride again.well i wish i would have got back on sooner.been riding the last 5 years
  • January 13, 2010 12:07 PM PST
    Started 50 years ago when I was 12 on a Cushman scooter my uncle owned. First real bike I rode was a 1948 Indian. Have owned Triumph, Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Harley.
  • January 13, 2010 12:47 PM PST
    Theres always been scooters around as far as my earliest memory, my daddy had one, uncles had them and I was primed as a wee one to straddle two wheels...Got my first mini bike when I was in 4th grade, had a huge crush on Evil and totaled it in less than 4 months, Grew up with oil spots on the living room floor and went to my first run when I was 13...I can remember like it was yesterday...good times...still having them and still riding...
  • January 20, 2010 1:44 PM PST
    Well I got to ride a honda trail70 a couple of times back in 79 and 80 I got to ride a huskie 750 enduro in '80. a long time then to 90 when I rode my first street bike and almost wrecked. then august '09 I take the MSF pass and get my license and my first bike a GL1200 Honda Goldwing Aspencade '87. got my first 4000 miles done in 3 months and ready for the snow to melt so I can get another 4000+
    • 0 posts
    January 20, 2010 2:15 PM PST
    I started riding at 13 years old on a honda trail 90 (the original one you had to change sprockets on) Parents did not like it much when I started climbing tree's with it, but they did not stop me. I think they thought I would learn my lesson. (I never did)

    Next went up to a brand new Honda cl360 in 1975 and had a blast running all over Washington state. My girlfriend (now wife) was willing to have fun on it, so we went everywhere we could on the bike.

    Later I stepped up to a Suzuki RE5 Rotary motorcycle where I learned my most important lesson of all... Don't armor all the seat! Bike was a lot of fun but wayYYYYYY to much fuel. It averaged 32 MPG.

    I put that bike in storage and got onto a Sportster 1000 that was a great ride with the exception that it would shake itself to pieces all the time. I replaced the exhaust twice before I said to heck with it and just started welding it back together. (no, That does not work either)

    I went down on that bike twice, Once leaving the road at speed through a farmers field, and the other sliding under the back corner of a bus. (It was a blind corner with traffic coming and I was going too fast)

    At that point I decided I was going to kill myself. That and circle track racing was killing my finances. So I walked away.

    Now at 52 years young, Back into riding and enjoying life more than ever with the addition of the bikes. My 1300 is a dream and, like a bowling ball, it is customized just for me.

    • 19 posts
    January 23, 2010 11:14 PM PST
    damm good one! i been rideing for a,a,a,bout 38 yrs.1st bike 65 cc yamaha then 100cc yamaha 1 street bike 650 triumph chopper,had a head on with a stationwagon in 79 out of the hospital with cast on left leg, get on back of brotherinlaws panhead,to go see my girl,oh those were the days! by the grace of god,i'm still rideing at 52! got a big 1800cc honda never quit what you enjoy!
  • January 23, 2010 11:22 PM PST
    1st bike was a suzuki ge 125 enduro when i was 14,still riding 33 years later with no end in sight.
  • February 5, 2010 1:16 AM PST
    My first bike turned me into an Outlaw, at 14 we got restricted licenses here, max 5 bhp / 50 cc's. I bought a new 1966 Honda Scrambler 90, had 8 bhp.  my fate was sealed........ looked like this.
  • February 5, 2010 1:49 AM PST
    I started riding about 4 years ago when I got my first bike, a Kawasaki Vulcan 800. I had a friend who let me ride his Honda Dream 250cc from time to time in the mid 60's, but probably never rode 500 miles until I got my own bike. I had cancer, Lymphoma, and decided that if I got cured, I was going to get a motorcycle. I did not want to be laying on my death-bed thinking "I wish I would have gotten a motorcycle". The Lord was good to me and I did get cured so I bought the Kaw used in 2006. Now, I just bought a Yamaha V-Star 1300. The Kaw was much lighter and quicker on acceleration but the Yamaha is like a Lincoln compared to an Escort. Lower and nicer to ride. I love this part of my life and the ability to enjoy new things!
  • February 5, 2010 1:59 AM PST
    Well, here are my 2 cents worth of fame... I started riding behind my brother at 13. We had a standing rule, if he ever met up with a babe who wanted to ride with him... I walked home. LOL, Just a point of interest, I never had to walk home.

    I started riding my own with a purple 125 Yamaha street bike. I rode it for about 2 years then moved up to a 440 Kawasaki. I rode that bike for about 4 years then traded it in for a 850 Yamaha triple. That scooter was stolen twice and after the last time it had some major damage so I went without for about 6 years. Then I ran into my last bike while looking with my younger brother for a bike for his wife. I currently ride Rita, a 2001 Road King. I've been riding for 45 years... so far.
  • February 5, 2010 2:18 AM PST
    I was lucky to be raised on a 500 acre farm, my dad bought me a Yamaha 80 trail bike when I was 13yrs old, I rode it everywhere and have never been without a bike.
    So that makes 43 yrs I've been riding.
    RandyJoe......Ride Fast Safely...
    • 6 posts
    February 13, 2010 2:38 PM PST
    I've been riding the back (yeah, I know, that's not what it's called! lol) for my whole life; I bought my first bike when I was 15, a Yamaha 650 Maxim, 4 cyl. poked around a little bit, parked it. Bought a Yamaha 1000 Virago, never heard the thing run, but not for trying lol. ended up getting rid of both of them about the same time and bought my Mom's 1980 400T Hawk last fall, and I've been pretty much hard to control ever since lol. (Got REAL tired of that back seat!!!!) Sturgis also gets old when you have to hoof it everywhere lol. I bet Gina and I are probably THE rookies on this site lol, born into it or not.
  • February 13, 2010 2:44 PM PST
    Late bloomer here. Only been riding for about 4 yrs on my own and pillion for another couple before that...Probably a good thing too, or I'd have never gotten my kids raised!