Since a good portion of the folks on this forum own (or have owned) a gs500 as their first motorcycle... I was wondering if/when/how they told their parents that they got a motorcycle.  I told my pop about 1-month after purchasing mine, and decided to let him tell my ma (didn't work, i still got a phone call from the mother-unit about it).  She wasn't
thrilled at all, but i don't think it will be in a issue.  

What about you all?  I'd toyed with not telling my mother (in order to keep her from worrying), but in the end I decided that it would be really unfair should anything happen.  

I imagine that more than a few folks here have significant-others who are pretty opposed to the notion of a motorcycle (even a fun, tame one like the gs).

Your thoughts?

yah see i tried that not telling them thing but when I found out I was gonna have to move back home for a while it was a bit difficult to keep it from them...

my dad said whatever...don't die...

my mom hates it...it's really funny..she gets all mad when i walk in wearing my helmet...

overall it wasn't really a choice to tell them...but I had the gs for about 2 weeks...

when they start paying my transp costs then they can have a opionion about what I operate,  untill then Christmas and birthday gifts will be of new riding gear or accessories.  (no car crap will be accepted).  cash and checks will be accepted conditionaly.

that's about what I told them.

Quote from: TarzanBoy...  I'd toyed with not telling my mother (in order to keep her from worrying)...  

Then, after finding out, she'll just be worrying about whether or not you're lying to her.  Truth is best, dontcha think?

Quote from: TarzanBoy...I imagine that more than a few folks here have significant-others who are pretty opposed to the notion of a motorcycle (even a fun, tame one like the gs)....

My wife wanted a bike for her birthday, and informed me that I'd better get my own unless I wanted to ride pillion on hers.   :lol:

Yea my Parents said yea die ... we dont care we got another one ...      
Yea I was the high strung one evidently ... but I also stole my dad's bike for years before he found out, been riding since I was 14-15 or so, and that's strange cos I didn't even get to learning a bicycle till I was 13 or so. I caught up wiht a vengeance ... I never went more than a month wihtout being on a motorcycle since then. Moving to US, winter in PA and WA and Canada - none of that mattered. I believe in 97 after I got hit by car #1 I went 28 days, in 2000 also its close to that, but I believe I didn't ride it, just parking lot putting in that wrecking yard parking lot followed by a drop the damn thing on my foot kinda deal ... my left shoulder was broken and I didn't even know it ... so I put it on the side stand, it doesn't hold and down it goes with me on it ... crushing my left heel ...  :x
Cool.
Srinath.

My dad bought his first bike just a couple months before I got mine, so Mom could really say anything.  The parents have invested in some decent riding gear, as well as soft luggage for me.  I took the MSF a few weeks after purchase, so they were very happy about that.  Generally, I don't care too much what my parents think, so I just tell them.  They know that I was raised right, so I won't be too stupid.

Here's a thread from last week with some good posts on telling your sig. other/ parents/ trash man/ whatever...

http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=193651&highlight=#193651

Dave  

My mom hates/hated bikes.  When I got my first ATV it was back in 1999, 5 years after moving out of the parents home.  After owning a few ATV's and playing that game I went and said I was getting a bike.  My mom would not let me borrow dads truck to take the Quad to trade it in on a bike.  So I lied and said I was getting a bigger sport quad, a Z400.  My Dad knew what I was doing because after we loaded the atv I only took one loading ramp .   When the GS came back she didn't talk to me for about a week.

When I went back for my bikes first scheduled maint my Dad went with me.  He came back with a used 2003 650 V-star Classic with around 3000 miles on it.  He got a really good deal on it.  The next day we brought them both back and mom didn't talk to me for a couple days.

Now she goes all the time with dad on the bike.  I have not got her on the GS yet but she did ask the other day.  It took time for my mom to accept it but she said that it was better that I waited until I was 30 years old to get a bike than getting one when I was 18.  She was right, I would not be here right now if I would have got one back when I was younger.  I still get a wild hair up my ass for speed sometimes but at least now I think before I do it.

My mom actually drove me roommate out so she could ride the bike back and then my mom let her store it in her garage since it was a surprise birthday gift.  I still have to make payments on it my roommate just got the loan since she has a way better credit rating.  Anyway my mom was like she's 24 not a damn thing I can say about it.  My dad and stepmom just said be careful.  Although now my dad is looking in to getting a bike.  He had one when I was little but sold it because he never rode it cause he didn't feel he had time cause he had kids now.  So since he had one he couldn;t say a word.

Well they knew i wanted to get a bike, but everyone in my family (most extended family - aunts, cousins) were against it.

Well the day i bought my bike, first call was to my buddy vinu and second wsa to mom and dad, rather the answering machine. I told them i had a surprise. they called me back a few hours later when they got home. Eventually I rode it up there to show it to them.

The rest of the family got to see it during a famliy gathering, and they approved it immediately. SOmething to do with it being a naked bike helped.


MOm wasnt too surprised though, she knew i used to ride in india. Of the 3 kids (my brother, sister and I), I am the only one who actually rode in India. My sister's lame ass licence was just a novelty item. God she couldtn even start her 'moped' for the drive test. She drove it 200 feet, away from the sight of teh guy and left it against a tree and walked back to the test guy.

I've had my gs for a little over a month.  Dad knows, he rode it home for me the day I bought it.  Mom still has not been informed.

She had a cow when Dad loaned me a helmet for MSF (before I got the gs).  She begged me not to get a bike.  She knows I am responsible/safe, but she's worried about some moron ramming me (a valid fear).  She reminded me of all of the injuries dad sustained on bikes (dirt mostly).

I was hoping Dad would let it slip to her, but no such luck (wise, wise father).  Last week she almost walked through my garage--that wouldof given it away, but she went out the front door instead.

She is not going to be happy.

My father knew I wanted a bike for a long time, but refused to let me get a streetbike right away. He got some cheap (and I mean CHEAP) dirtbikes for us to ride around on. I rode dirt trails for about a year, learning to thrash the hell out of the little 250. After doing that, my dad found a friend at work with an immaculate '92 GS500E. My father and I had to wait for my mother's approval to get the bike. A month after the initial year of dirt riding, my father and I both took the MSF course together, and passing as the top two in the class (I was only a couple points behind him, too!). After telling my mother of these results, she seemed to ease up a little, but was still stern in her conviction. However, one day she slipped and said, "I won't be responsible if anything happens to him." Well, needless to say, my father and I took the only chance we'd ever get and went and picked up that gorgeous '92 GS500 for $1000, decked out with DynoJet jet kit, full V&H, V&H ignition advancer, and a nice set of engine guards. $1000!

I had saved my money from my job at the local supermarket for the year, bought a full set of gear beforehand, and ordered a helmet to match the bike.

When my mother saw it, she was angry, but a week afterwards she was alright with it. After I crashed, she was still worried about me, but reluctantly agreed to let me get another bike. She seems alright with this one so far, but maybe that's because it's been in the shop since a week after I got it.

I bought and paid for mine first (used) then called my dad and told him my car broke down and to bring the trailer and pick me up. About 1/2 hr later he shows up with his truck and trailer and I started to load the bike needless to say he was confused. But when my mom found out she was better with it then he was she said "but you had one". True my dad has had 2 but no loger has them I was off the hook after that

The only people in my family that know about the bike are post-WW2 lol, and the only ones that like it are the men, excluding my kid sister.

I had to break it to my son. His reaction was to laugh his head off.  :x Little brat!  :lol:

Now he's Jonesin' for a bike, but he's not allowed to have one.  :mrgreen:

[Edit: My parents would have simply killed me first..they'd not have even given me a chance to die on the bike.... good thing I moved out the moment I turned 18    ]

...My dad wasn't to pleased, he spent several years as a ward nurse in an ICU, but I just told him about all the safety gear I had, and he was like "well, I guess there isn't much I can do about it."  

Single.
Financially Independant.

'nuff said.

havn't told them yet....4 months and counting.. I don't want them worrying...



it can't hurt them if they don't know

It was hard for me to tell my mother I was riding again after many years. You see my Father was a motorscout for the city police.

One evening after years of riding for a living he was responding to an accident. A drunk driver was rolling though a red light. His one liter Kawasaki smashed into the front fender of the LTD Ford. He was ejected from his bike and hit the pavement at 55 mph.

It has been three years since his ABI, acquired brain injury, and he is still bound to his wheel chair.

The ironic thing is My Dad arrested the man 2 months earlier for DUI.

The frustrating part is that the drunk driver died of cancer, liver, before the trial.  

All in all my mother understood that this is a demon I have to overcome. She doesn't like it, but she knows I have to ride again.

mine was easy...got my first job...was allowed not to pay for some bills YET...save enough dough for bike, registration, insurance, gear ...wait for them to go out of the country for their vacation...bought the bike then...when they got home ...they gave me some bills to pay  

oh yeah and an earfull from my dad....its all good now