The Honda Owners Club

Just curious what your first bikes were, sparked by conversations with my Dad recently about the K2 he had years ago.

My one and only bike was a brand new (in 1981) XS250 Yamaha. She was a bright red beauty.

Bike my late ex-hubby had was a fabulous big blue CB650Z (W reg). We went everywhere on that bike... it was brilliant!

My Raleigh Runabout was the Brit version of Chimpy's "Va-va-voom"!

My first real bike was an L Reg CB125S and I've owned Hondas ever since. (and Triumphs).

My very first bike was a Honda 125 to learn on - great fun! I then traded it in for my first big bike - a Kawasaki ZZR600 a lovely bike but very 'clanky' gears and costly to maintain. Then I got into Honda's proper !

Mine is Iggy, a 1981 CX500. Wanted her for ages then my Dad finally handed her over in April after I passed my test. There are definatly other bikes that I would like but I will always keep Iggy

My first was a Honda SS50 5 Speed!! in 1977!

.........Closely followed by a Yamaha RD200DX and then a Honda CB200!! Oh happy days! Followed by a CB250 G5!

Sublime (RD) to the ridiculous (G5) then Chris?

My room-mate had a G5 - it devoured top ends faster than his student grant could keep up. He chopped it in for a brand new 750F1 in yellow in 1977 (bastard....)

Lindz,
The first bike I "owned" was with two other mates when we saved our paper delivery money, a princely 10/6 (52 1/2p) per week, clubbed together and bought an Ariel single, can't remember if it was a 500 or a 600. We cut the chair off and rode it around a field like Mike Hailwood, or so we thought.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Viffer.

Viffer wrote:Lindz,
The first bike I "owned" was with two other mates when we saved our paper delivery money, a princely 10/6 (52 1/2p) per week, clubbed together and bought an Ariel single, can't remember if it was a 500 or a 600. We cut the chair off and rode it around a field like Mike Hailwood, or so we thought.

Wonderful mental image - when was that Viffer?

Mine was a 1976 250 Ossa MAR (Mick Andrews Replica), a trials bike which I bought after my first summer holiday job in 1982. Took my test on it two years later when I turned 17, in the very last week of the old one-part 250 test. The examiner was quite surprised that my bike - with no lights, a speedo down by the front hub, and a bulb-squeeze hooter - was even legal! Despite that, I passed the test. Where are you now, RLA 89R?

Sold that to buy an RD200DX brand new for £495 (RNL 490Y) which was later stolen and recovered after being dumped in a pond. Of course, having spent all my money on the bike I couldn't afford to insure it through the winter, so the repairs had to come out of my own pocket. At least they caught the thief...

1977 CB125S which some plank in a Avenger trashed for me then a CB250N which was a great bike and then the Fantastic CB750K6....then Marriage.....Bad Times.............Boo Hoo......... Nothing 1985 to 1993, got rid of her for a better one and Happy Days, CB750KZ, VFR1000R, CB750K2 and the great CB1000 Big One which i still have today..... Good Times...O got carried away there it was just the first bike.... Never mind...

Guy,

The answer to your question about when we bought the Ariel was, I would think, about 1963 or 1964, but we were very, very, young!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Viffer

Viffer wrote:Lindz,
The first bike I "owned" was with two other mates when we saved our paper delivery money, a princely 10/6 (52 1/2p) per week, clubbed together and bought an Ariel single, can't remember if it was a 500 or a 600. We cut the chair off and rode it around a field like Mike Hailwood, or so we thought.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Viffer.

That sounds brilliant

Have you got any photos? (thats to everyone)

I go back quite a way but I can remember the first bike I bought. It was an old (even at that time) ex-GPO 150 Bantam, which I paid the princely sum of 30 shillings (£1.50). It had no front wheel and no gear lever. I bought it for the engine, which was going in a go-cart I was building (I never did finish the go-cart). I was about 13 at the time. Within half an hour of getting it home I was riding it on a bit of waste ground opposite where I lived. My mate had a spare front wheel as he had a couple of even older Bantams and the gear lever was a pair of mole grips. great fun. It never ran as well after and I spent the next few years stripping it down each Saturday to get it running for a day up on the mountain on Sunday. After that it was a BSA M21 600cc side valve (we had 2 of these as the first got stolen and trashed). One we cut the chair off and used as a smoking den at the top of the garden. I was still under 16 then. Various other bikes came and went but we (my best mate at the time and later my best man) ended up with a very nice 1953 Matchless scrambler which we stripped and painted and used to thrash around the local mountain. Later when I started work I borrowed a stop watch and we used to have races around the mountain. I held most of the records, particularly the most spectacular crash and the most crashes on a lap (about 1.5 miles) as well as the absolute record. I still have the spare 350 AJS engine for this bike but sadly me and my mate went our separate ways and he ended up with the complete bike.
My first road bike was a 1955 250 BSA C11G. It cost me £5, then there was the £5 road tax and the insurance (which my old man paid for) was £7. Man I thrashed that thing but it started first time every time and returned smack on 80MPG no matter how I rode it. I got on the road a couple of days after my 16th birthday. I still had this bike on the road when I got married on my 18th birthday but shortly after that I bought a Norton Jubilee in a big box for £6. the guy had taken it apart and couldn't put it back together. I loved that bike and spent a fortune doing it up. Sadly it didn't last too long after all the TLC and repaid me by stuffing the lay shaft through the side of the case. being unit construction it was curtains for it. Meanwhile the BSA had been sold off for I fiver I think. It made it's way back to me after a couple of years as a couple of the lads bought it for field use. It had not been fired up since I sold it. A quick battery change, some more fuel and an oil change and it started second kick. It is long dead now as I understand that the frame snapped but somebody did say that the engine was transplanted into a lawnmower. meanwhile back at the ranch and bike less I had an old Maico Maicoletta scooter sitting in the garden. The engine was a proper bike engine so within a week of stuffing the Norton it sported a Maico engine. I ran that for years of an on and it was great off-road. It amused all my mates as well as it was a proper bitsa in the true sense of the word. I bought a Tiger Sports Cub all in bits for about a tenner and did that up and gave that a hiding. Full Dunstall swept back with reverse cone mega, great fun. Sadly I don't have any photos of that one. In 1974 I had enough spare cash (bank loan) to buy a brand new Honda XL250 Motosport (Silver tank K1). I gave that a bit of a caning and used it nearly every weekend to go trail riding and the odd enduro. 1975 saw me attempt the welsh International 2 Day trial. unfortunately I managed all of about 30 miles before the camshaft seized in the head. luckily it freed off again and I managed to ride out of the worst piece of bog ridden land in Wales. I even managed (after several oil changes) to ride it around mid-Wales for the rest of the competition (only watching) and road it home. The camshaft didn't have bearings left by then and a rebuild resulted in a new camshaft, rocker box cover and head. the camshaft was replaced with a Yoshimura half race affair and it is still in there today. the bike is still running and I still own it but it is awaiting restoration. I passed my test in 1975 shortly after the fee went up from £1 to £1.50 (makes you sick don't it). This is how I stayed as family commitments took over and a car was bought. A few years ago I bought a 1968 BSA D14/4 Bantam and that is half way through a restoration. Last year I borrowed a Cagiva Elefant 750 and went to Ireland to visit a friend. This sparked off a desire to get a "big" bike as the XL has been used off and on since it was bought but I wanted something more capable of touring. I wanted a V twin or a big single and the NX came up, so I bought it and boy am I enjoying biking again, though I never really left it. If anybody is interested I can post some photos.

Sorry for typing so much but I got carried away.
Ride safe
Mike

Dirt Grabber wrote: If anybody is interested I can post some photos.
Sorry for typing so much but I got carried away.
Ride safe
Mike

Yes please!