What was your first street bike?

[bornagainbiker]

My first street bike was a 1972 Yamaha DS7 250 that I rode the hell out of for several years, and I still remember how fun and zippy that little smoker was.  What was your first street bike?  Unfortunately I don't have a pic of my bike, but here is one I grabbed off the net.  It looks just like mine did back in the day.

 

[YZEtc]

My first motorcycle that I could legally ride on the street was my 1982 Yamaha XT200J, a 4-stroke, single-cylindered dual-purpose bike made for both street and dirt riding.

I rode it everywhere.

 

The first motorcycle I had that was a bona-fide street-only bike was my 1993 Yamaha XJ600SE, AKA the Seca II.

I rode it everywhere (on pavement, only), too.

[crsnhppr]

A Suzuki Drz400sm 

[Slug]

I bought a 2006 Ninja 650 for $2500 in 2013 that had an oil leak, terrible wiring issues, and a dented gas tank. And I loved it like no other. I don't think anything can come close to the love for one's first bike that they have, no matter how bad it may be. But looking back, that bike was terrible.

 

[phanomenal07]

Cbr 600 f3 1996. Accidentally turned the idle down to low for the bike to run and couldn't figure what I did wrong for like a month

[gregjet]

My first street bike was a Ducati Desmo 450. VERY fast light and...AWEFUL. Handled incredibly ( 130kg). Left side direct action kickstart thaat actually destroyed boots. Fibreglass tank and seat unit. Vibrated so much if you reved on the centre stand it would actually move across the ground.

 

The pictured one only has the double leading shoe front brake so it may be the 250 or 350 version. Mine had the quad leading shoe brembo and racin ceriani forks. The Pirelli tyres were so bad in wet conditions if you sneezed the bike would slip over. The electrics had an intermittant fault where the bike would stop when it got hot. The old man and I figured out it was the reluctor coil ( advanced electronic ingition made by retarded workmen). We rewound our own and fixed it.

Clutch required the grip of Herculies to pull it in and keep it there

And yes that IS silver big metalflake . It wasn't paint but part of the fibreglass gel coat.

Every bolt had to be lockwired. Even vibrated the rear axle loose.

The light was ..er.. well you could see it was on if you looked atraight into it from the front. I swore I would never own another Ducati after it. Wasn't until I rode the first 696 decades latermonster I reconsidered owning one. But bought a Cagiva Raptor 650 instead. Ducati designed frame with a Cagiva modded SV650 motor. Best of both worlds.

 

 

https://www.bikesales.com.au/editorial/details/classic-bike-ducati-450-desmo-28504/

[shinyribs]

My first street bike was a '76 CB750 F that was given to me. I tossed in a new battery, chain and tires and logged about 15,000 miles over the next year or so. She never failed to run perfectly, carried me all over the State I live in and never complained when I asked her to take me to 125mph.  Absolutely wonderful bikes. 

 

 

[gregjet]

Slug. I suspect you got a stuffed one. I raced the naked version of the ER6 and the wiring was very good. It was quite a good bike ( rear shock excluded). In fact until the 07 came along I am prepared to say it and the 696 Ducati Monster were the best of the 6xx twins.

It had some very advanced engineering on it. Hollow mags, casette gearbox, excellent rear swingarm, superlight tank, good airbox design. They do very well in racing.

[robbo10]

As avatar. 1940s Ariel 350 (Military). Gave it a new piston, conrod and a rebore, painted over the khaki with white with a black frame. And off I went, a very happy 16yr old.

[Slug]

59 minutes ago, gregjet said:

Slug. I suspect you got a stuffed one. I raced the naked version of the ER6 and the wiring was very good. It was quite a good bike ( rear shock excluded). In fact until the 07 came along I am prepared to say it and the 696 Ducati Monster were the best of the 6xx twins.

It had some very advanced engineering on it. Hollow mags, casette gearbox, excellent rear swingarm, superlight tank, good airbox design. They do very well in racing.

The guy before me wired in some under-glow lights, and I suspect he didn't know what he was doing. However, I didn't know enough to fix it, and it ran good enough for what I needed. I had a guy at a subway tell me how he raced a Ninja 650 and how well they were setup for the track, so I'm sure you're right.

[norcal616]

first street bike at 20 was a 1986 ZL1000 by Kawasaki... still wish I had it...sadly the carb airfilter caught fire and noodled the top of the frame, melted the wire loom into a cooper clump and darn near blew the gas tank...

 

waited about a year then got a Ninja636 in 2006-2007 time frame- bike was totaled a year later- couldn't walk for almost 4months

 

for almost 7years after the ninja 636 I never owned a street bike as rode dirt bikes and started working on building drag racing cars

 

then in 2015 I got a FZ-07 which I still have after almost 16k miles- going up for sale within the next year for a helleva deal

then in 2016 I got a FJ-09

[mossrider]

Mmmm, summer of 1969...

The world got distinctly smaller

[Mr.Puss]

A '15 FZ-07!  Better late than never I suppose.

[tavisb]

1994 FZR-600

 

 

[avanti]

1959 custominzed Cushman Eagle in 1961; I've posted a pic previously.

[azuryn]

2010 Ninja 250, I am just a baby.

[dmoney]

2012 ninja 250 all black. Fun little thing

 

[Grip it & Rip it]

1990 FZR 400 3BF

 

 

[Beemer]

19 hours ago, Slug said:

I bought a 2006 Ninja 650 for $2500 in 2013 that had an oil leak, terrible wiring issues, and a dented gas tank. And I loved it like no other. I don't think anything can come close to the love for one's first bike that they have, no matter how bad it may be. But looking back, that bike was terrible.

 

 

I'm more interested in the car. Details?

[Beemer]

My romance with Yamaha began in 77" with a 75" DT100 that I picked up for $375. It came with a cracked head but it ran good until the day I had new rings put in it, I pushed it too hard and the spark plug shot out the top, ha! (BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!) I had the head welded but it never was the same after that. Still, I had a lot of fun on it. (bike pictured came off web)

 

[mcbrien]

First bike was a gacho 50 1yr earlier than this one. I was 14, got my license at 15.

 

[Slug]

2 hours ago, Beemer said:

My romance with Yamaha began in 77" with a 75" DT100 that I picked up for $375. It came with a cracked head but it ran good until the day I had new rings put in it, I pushed it too hard and the spark plug shot out the top, ha! (BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!) I had the head welded but it never was the same after that. Still, I had a lot of fun on it. (bike pictured came off web)

 

So I'm almost 100% sure I have this same bike back at my parents house. I had a 80's pitbike that was bought from a vintage bike swap meet, and my dad got this bike so he could ride with me. Once I grew out of the pit bike, I started riding this. Really brings back the memories of riding in the woods next to my house in grade school.

 

Also, the car in my pic you mentioned is a Chevy Bel Air that my buddy restored and drove to his wedding. I believe its a 1962, but I could be wrong.

[DewMan]

A used CM450. The one pictured below isn't mine but it's that mine looked like. If I'm being honest I really don't miss it. It was nothing special. and was way too heavy for 450cc twin bike. The Radian that replaced it was much more svelte even with 600cc and two extra cylinders.

[Beemer]

On 9/17/2017 at 11:11 AM, bornagainbiker said:

My first street bike was a 1972 Yamaha RD 250 that I rode the hell out of for several years, and I still remember how fun and zippy that little smoker was.  What was your first street bike?  Unfortunately I don't have a pic of my bike, but here is one I grabbed off the net.  It looks just like mine did back in the day.

 

That's a gorgeous bike! I would love to have one. Dang-ditty-dah-dang-dang-dang!

[faffi]

An absolutely horrible and abused Suzuki A100, like the one in this picture

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