I wanted to hear how everyone came to the idea that they wanted to ride .
here is my story. I built a 1993 Nissan Sentra SER for auto-X I swapped two motors in it and ended up finally with a decent working JDM sr20DE . It started to develope rod knock for the last time so I sold it running to a seller telling him it had rod knock. I sold the car for 2K. well he didnt have 2K he had 1K and a motorcycle which happend to be a 1991 GS500E . I had not yet put on the new power stearing hose that I had bought and the old one on the car leaked. he said that he would give me his gs500 as a 800$ payment and get me the 200$ later. I told him that I would give him the new hose for the power stearing and he could fix it himself and not to worry about the extra 200$. we swapped titles and he gave me his gs500 with a helmate and jacket. the helmate fit me perfect and the jacket didnt, so I sold the jacket for 50$ on ebay and used my vans skate jacket for the time being. I never planned on buying a motorcycle but I figured it would be cool. that day I road a motorcycle for the first time in my life. no lessons no license and no reading on how to ride one. I road that bike a few thousand miles within the first 2 weeks of owning it. layed it down and tore my leg up the first day and that tought me a good lesson about controling the bike and how people wont stop for you when you lay down a bike. the bike has transformed a lot since the original owner and I am happy I started with the gs500 because I love it dearly and to sum up how I feel about motorcycles, well they are an addictions. I just have to have it and I have to ride it.
when I see other riders riding their bike and im driving my truck I think , dang I should be riding and I feel all anxious to ride.
and thanks to this site and a lot of helpful people on it my riding experience only gets better as the days pass.
ride on ride on
I never planned on riding either. One time when i was at my grandparents place, my grandpa started offering me stuff from his shed, including a 1965 80cc Yamaha with a frozen piston. My dad and I were going see if we could get it running. After I got it home, I did some motorcycle dreaming and it probably wasn't until a year later that we got around to fixing the the old Yamaha. I rode for a full season, meanwhile reading about a bike I found on this helpful forum... the GS500. The next spring I was making some money while on co-op, especially with a month of 60 hour weeks. All that overtime money payed for my GS and I've been riding it for the past 3 years now.
my brother got a tt-r90 and my dad a yamaha 200cc dual purpose. i rode them till my 16th b-day then got my own kawasaki dual purpose bike. i rode that thing in the rain snow sleet and everything. now between my dad and i we've owned 12 bikes and that was only about 5 years ago. now if u took my bikes away id probly die!
My father. He never pushed me to ride though, it was my own decision, but his happiness for it influenced me.
me and a buddy used to go down to adams morgan in DC, cause another friend of ours would always drag us down to the bars down there. if you have ever been to adams morgan, you know that it is a freaking shithole.
so we used to hang outside and talk to all the bikers that were there, then we both were like, wow we should get a bike. we want to be cool like those guys.
so my buddy bought an 81 honda cm400e offa craigslist for $500. then i got all jealous and bought the first thing i saw off craigslist, an 82 nighthawk 750. i paid $600 for it thinking, OH YEA I CAN GET THIS RUNNING!!. next day i went out and looked at it was like, damn, that was a dumb move. this thing is f%$ked up, i cant fix it. so i sold it for $300 (i hadnt done my homework and got taken for a ride when i bought it). that was a $300 lesson in not making quick and uninformed decisions.
Then i saved up some more cash and bought a 95 GS500 for $1350. loved it, and eventually traded it in on an 05 c50, so i could ride with my girlfriend on the back.
my buddy still has is cm400e, that thing is invincible.
so yea, i started riding to "be cool like those guys"
Was poor. Walked, took the bus, rode my bicycle. Made a little more money. Cars were expensive. Insurance was expensive. I thought, "I need a scooter. That would be fun. All this pedaling is making me tired out and haggard." Looked at the Vespa store and looked in the newspapers. Not cheap or plentiful. Then I thought, "I can't even take a $5000 scooter on the freeway. Why not just get a motorcycle." Thought about this for a long time. Nighthawk? Did web searches. Talked to random people. Got time off work and took the MSF course via bus. Met a guy with a GS. Paid more attention to motorcycles. GS500 emerged as ideal. Saved for a long time. Got a couple acting gigs. Craigslist. Went to see a couple via bicycle and public transit. Saw an 03 SV for $3000 but it had too much damage. 2004 F was higher priced than I would have liked but suddenly I had the money. Paid $90 for pre-sale inspection. Got him down $200. Been riding it ever since. Only stop for ice. Crashed it on the freeway but mentally I was ok. Bicycling everywhere helped a lot. Transpo and style for a poor man. Salvage title now but still good and insurance has paid for bike once over and then some. Would trust it to go cross country. Handlebars don't lock. That's the only real problem.
I was completing a professional internship in North Hollywood a few years ago. The position was unpaid but my boss tried to hook me up with cool stuff for hekping out. One Friday he asked if I was busy the next day. I said, "no" he said, "excellent, I'm teaching you how to ride a motorcycle."
I spent that Saturday riding his extra bike, (a honda shadow, I believe) uo and down side streets and around parking lots.
I was hooked.
Fast forward two years: I moved to Los Angeles on a bicycle, didn't have a lot of money and figured this was as good a place as any to be a motorcycle commuter.
Took the MSF course, started looking on craigslist, and bought my 96 GS500E from a member of this forum.
Been riding almost every day since.
I suppose it was in my blood, i can recall being around bikes from about the age of 5, both parents were bikers and plenty of others around in the neighborhood. I can recall cycling with childhood mates twenty, thirty miles to stand agog in some woodland somewhere to watch trials-bikes doing their stuff, hillclimbing events and occasionally sneaking into Brands Hatch where the stewards seemed to develop selective blindness at small gagles of kids, I guess they recognised the future.
I got my first machine, a two-stroke 917cc Lambretta about 1964/5 and rode for some years, like many people I drifted away from bikes, bought houses, had a family, all that stuff and became a Born-again biker in 2001 aged 55, bit of a shock passing the test again etc but well worthwhile, one of the best things i ever did!
Quote from: AWRobinson on January 21, 2007, 03:06:26 AM
I moved to Los Angeles on a bicycle, didn't have a lot of money and figured this was as good a place as any to be a motorcycle commuter.
Took the MSF course, started looking on craigslist, and bought my 96 GS500E from a member of this forum.
You moved to LA on a bicycle!? :o And I am thinking twice about moving there with just a GS :icon_razz: Although my current teacher arrived in the 1960s there with a motorcycle and a pregnant 18 yr old wife, survived, and made a long career in showbidness. Still, that takes balls... or naivete. somethin. Must have been a little time consuming getting around?
Not to thread jack but may I ask what parts you have found livable...
Quote from: jdanna on January 20, 2007, 10:22:22 PM
me and a buddy used to go down to adams morgan in DC, cause another friend of ours would always drag us down to the bars down there. if you have ever been to adams morgan, you know that it is a freaking shithole.
so we used to hang outside and talk to all the bikers that were there, then we both were like, wow we should get a bike. we want to be cool like those guys.
so my buddy bought an 81 honda cm400e offa craigslist for $500. then i got all jealous and bought the first thing i saw off craigslist, an 82 nighthawk 750. i paid $600 for it thinking, OH YEA I CAN GET THIS RUNNING!!. next day i went out and looked at it was like, damn, that was a dumb move. this thing is f%$ked up, i cant fix it. so i sold it for $300 (i hadnt done my homework and got taken for a ride when i bought it). that was a $300 lesson in not making quick and uninformed decisions.
Then i saved up some more cash and bought a 95 GS500 for $1350. loved it, and eventually traded it in on an 05 c50, so i could ride with my girlfriend on the back.
my buddy still has is cm400e, that thing is invincible.
so yea, i started riding to "be cool like those guys"
haha yea I know all about adams morgan. got some chill bars though and you always meet a lot of interesting people. I spent a week staying in a house on capital hill helping a military buddy of mine when he lost the use of his right arm.
got rear-ended, went to hospital, car was totalled, bought a bike :icon_mrgreen:
Growing up in the Bay Area (Alameda), an uncle, cousins, friends and an XBF had motorcycles and I always rode as a passenger. I met a guy who was very sportsy (scuba diving, skiier, hockey). He also grew up riding dirt bikes and quads. Eventually we got married. It was the second day of being home after our honeymoon, running around doing errands and we happen to stop at a Honda dealership. Saw a used Shadow. The next thing I know, a couple of days later, he got his permit and bought the bike. That was summer of 2002. Went to the Summer Rally in Myrtle Beach 2005 and saw a lot of women riding their owns bikes. I finally took the course in March 06 and my husband bought my 05 GS500 in April. I love riding and having my own bike!
The Great Motorcycle Glut brought me to motorcycling. Brand new GStwins in 3 flavors ("E"-"T"-and-"L") on sale for $1199 each (the high demand "L" commanded a couple hundred $ more). I love a good steal--it's the only thing that'll keep me from suffering buyer's remorse. :icon_rolleyes:
I bought 3 bikes during the GMG. Back then, motorcycle engine tech was more exciting than the standard automotive designs (the GS750 with its 16 valve head was like owning a Ferrari). And, back then there were no small bargain blaster cars on the market. Those came later.
Buy what you need and not what you want--a lesson to live by. Only an incredible deal can budge me from that position, and there are no bargains in the motorcycle market currently. Maybe the Hyosung @ 06's year end sale price if I had any faith in its problematic, non-servicable crankshaft. :dunno_white:
Says so in my DNA. :cheers:
Quote from: Dr. Love on January 21, 2007, 04:59:19 PM
Says so in my DNA. :cheers:
What would the scientists say. Probably increases your attractiveness to women somewhat and also allows you greater mobility, improving your reproductive and survival potential. However the chances of death or disability and the existence of other vehicles that could allow you the same advantages probably cancel this out.
Daddy was a mechanic. We were always tinkering with an engine or two growing up.
The Fam was never into bikes, and to this day they are trying to keep me in a cage.
I can remember the exact moment I decided to buy a bike. I was with the 12th Aviation brigade . Serving as a Tech and the commanders .50cal Gunner. I had been in the Army 3.5 years. It was the begining of the second War in Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom.
I was in the middle of the largest Military convoy ever. We were about 20-25 Kilometers from An Najaf, Iraq. We had been traveling from Camp Udairi, Kuwait for about 80 hours. It was really dark and really dusty out and about 2330 (11:30pm).
As we reach a Traffic control point and pulled off to the side to let another Armored serial pass us by, I spot a motorcycle abandoned off the side of the road, barely visible, I caught a glint of chrome from the passing vehicles.
Being the young idiot that I am, I dismounted from the top of the Humvee (where the .50 cal is located) and went to check it out. This is dumb because it could have been rigged to explode. Young and dumb, I guess.
Anyway it turns out to be an old HARLEY of all things. Really banged up, you can tell the desert is a harsh place for a bike. I picked it up and sat on it, Imagining what it must be like to take a bike out on the open desert and just ride in peace, free from War, free from responsiblities, and just plain free.
I tried to convince my commander to let us take it with us and use it as an airfield vehicle if I could get it running, but he said no of course. We did have a war to fight.
In the 7 months I was in the desert I had a lot of time to daydream and riding that harley was a frequent one. I would sit in the shade, trying to ignore the 100+ dry heat and just imagine living in a place where you can freely go wherever you wanted as long as you didn't bother anyone. Where you can travel with out a weapon and bullet resistant gear. Where you didn't walk around wondering who was trying to kill you.
As soon as I got back to Germany. I Got out of the Army, moved to Atlanta and bought My first GS500. Once I got around to making the trip to the blue ridge mountains I knew I would be a biker for life. I just knew it.
I now have 3 GS500's sitting outside. I believe bikers know Freedom. It's a good feeling.
I was driving my F.O.R.D. Exploder to work every day... Paying one gallon to get to work, $7 for parking, and one gallon to get home...... But, it was 20-40 minutes each direction... Unless there was heavy traffic... Then it could be an hour or so.
Then I decided to take the bus... $2.50 each direction... 45-60 minutes to get to work... and 1-2 hours to get home... THEN they killed one of my bus routes, so I had to walk a 1.5 miles to catch my damn bus... In the rain and cold... Up hill.... (Yeah, poor me :cry:).
I was bitching to a co-worker (as I often do) about the bus... They said, "Drive." I bitched about the cost... They said, "Ride a motorcycle... Free Parking... Carpool lane... 50 MPG... Fun..."
I started riding my In-Law's H#nda 90 around town to see if I'd like it... I did....
I signed up for the MSF and started looking for a cheap moto... I couldn't find one... Then the same co-worker told me about another co-worker that was trying to get rid of his GS500... NOW! (He bought another bike and his wife said, "GET RID OF THAT OLD ONE NOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!"
Ordered my helmet, trucked the moto home, took the MSF the next day... Rode around with a 70's open-face helmet until my full-face arrived...
Almost 2 years later and I still have the same bike and same helmet... :thumb:
there is some pretty cool stories on here! its like the age old how did you meet your wife / gf story haha. amazing how close we get to our bikes.
Always wanted one since i could remember. I don't know why i never got into it before.
GF wanted to get married and buy a house, OK. Then I come home one day 3 weeks later, she had packed some stuff and left, :cry:
So bought the GS. The rest is history.
I was walking around London one summer afternoon about 4 years ago. I started to notice the 250 and 400 sport bikes which were all around me. I thought "Interesting engine design, sure sounds neat. I bet they're fun to ride." I found the interesting because they were so small and nimble, unlike the massive Harleys that pervade the midwest.
As soon as I got home I began compiling information on motorcycles. Through beginnerbikes.com (long gone now) I discovered the GS. I took the MSF the following spring and realized there was no going back. I bought my GS a little over a year later, after waiting for the right deal to come around.
Prior to noticing the small sport bikes in the UK I had never paid much attention to motorcycles. "motion activities" such as flying, driving, equipment operating, etc. generally bore me. I much prefer to design and build things and leave the operating to others who enjoy it far more. However, I find that I enjoy riding a motorcycle just as much as I do working on them.
I find it's so much more enjoyable to travel on a motorcycle. Sights sounds and smells I never notice in a car pop out at me on a bike. Just a few weeks ago I was riding home about midnight and was treated with a beautiful meteor shower. If I'd been in the car I likely would never have noticed. The smell of the corn fields on a hot, muggy, summer night is something else that gets dulled inside the tin can car.