What did you learn to ride on?

Woodinville...?? Just moved from Bothell 6 years ago.

A home made mini bike. Rigid frame with a 5 hp Briggs & Stratton pull start with centrifugal clutch and paddle brake on rear wheel.
Wore out two clutches on that thing when I was 10.

Join us for Newstoc in June.
T
 
Lambretta scooter...late sixties:cool:

P.S. Also not long after the Lambretta, i started riding a Russian Ural COSSACK 650. A friend bought the bike brand new in the crate, around 1970/71 we both assembled it ,the hand book was in Russian. He worked away a lot, so i took over the reins for a while.
Cost was $650 for 650cc. Had a 6v electrics, which we changed over to 12v some months later. It had separate saddle seats, the passenger seat was higher than the front and had a looped grab
rail on front of the seat and they were comfortable.
Also had a heal/toe gearshift, not sure if it was 4 or 5 gears. Below and behind my leg calf was a small gearshift lever, and i think that was meant to be used if a sidecar was fitted.
I am pretty sure it had an advance/retard lever on the handlebar, to kick the bike over. It also had massive mudguards, which did a great job of keeping the water off.
Easy to work on, had points ignition, able to alter timing to suit ,valve clearance adjustments were a piece of cake. A lot easier bike with the spanners than some of todays rockets.

I ended up getting a Yamy 650 XS1 ( drum brakes). Some months later we took of travelling around the lower half of Aust. Both bikes performed well.
phantom :bk13:
 
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First bike I rode solo was a Honda Trail 50. But that was only up a steep hill about 30 ft with a crash near the top so didn't really learn much. First bike I owned and finally learned on was a 73 HD dual sport 125. Learned ALL the ropes of owning a HD from that one, including having it taking it apart in the garage through the first winter due to freezing up the piston. Removed from the frame and dismantled the engine, had the shop bore out the cylinder, and reassembled with new piston/rings and other parts to get it back on the road.

This one is just like it but mine was all black.
73 harley_davidson_sx125.jpg
 
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My friend's brother's Kawasaki 350, circa 1972. Dan, his younger brother, and their dad all raced motocross. Their dad rode the Kaw 750 Mach... 2? Mach 3? triple, Dan had the 500 triple, and baby brother had the 350 but didn't ride much on the street, so that one was my learner bike.
Kept it hidden in the bushes at the bottom of our driveway, so my folks wouldn't see it.
My first bike was a 1974 Suzuki GT550, 2-stroke air- cooled triple. When the 1974 was totalled by a cager, her insurance paid for my 1975 model.
So the 550 was what I really learned to ride on, everything before that was just like a preview of things to come.
 
Yamaha 50 CC. 1 HP in the official heavily restricted Danish version - top speed 20 mph. After a few mods I was able to push it to 50 mph with about 10 HP. Until police caught up with me and took all the illegal parts off right on the spot. Had to walk home
 
1975 Yamaha RD350B.
I still have it. It's almost completely stock with only the carb boots swapped for the Banshee boots with a crossover and the voltage regulator swapped for an electronic version. It ran wonderfully before being put in storage and I tell myself every year that I will take it out and get it going again but as we all know, life gets in the way.
 
Well a mini bike first. If you mean a real motorcycle that would of been my 82 Kawasaki LTD 250. Big mistake as I out grew that thing in one year and traded it in for a 550 Kawasaki 550 Spectre. And oh yeah I took a beating as I only got half my money back in on trade. But I did not care cause I had a bike that I could finally keep up with friends on bigger machines.
 
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