What Inspired You to Ride?

Reading a different thread and thought I'd ask.

For me, I always wanted to ride. Evil Knievel jumping Caesar 's Palace, my aunt taking me out on her RD350 back in the 70s. Neighbourhood friends with beat up RZ125 or KX80 dirt bikes.

Watching Rainy or Lawson squirming around the track. Dancing on one wheel braking into corners and power sliding wheelie coming out.

Catching Easy Rider on TV or Carmichael roosting through a track like a hot knife through butter.

Hearing a Kerker piped GPz or VMax burnout.

Or the chrome and gold Viragos.

Or cursing The Bonnie with possessed electrics or kicking a Shovelhead to life.

Loving Honda for the Shadow/Magna/Sabre V45/V65 machines.

Two stroke Yamaha RZ350 that ringed their front wheel to the sky with the wake of blue exhaust from the pipes.

Or the cool black and gold midnight special.

There are many others of course. I've never been a brand loyalist. Just loved everything that was two wheels.

How about when those HP wars? Busa and ZX10? When you could hear a bike and be able to know the make and model. When you could see the head light and just know what it is......


Bikes have always been a part of life in some way. It just speaks to me.

So how about the rest of you?

Did a vacation riding a scooter with a girlfriend or boyfriend plant a seed to get your licence?

A family member that rode or rides?

Are you a gear head?

Is it the freedom?

The track?









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Someone laughed at me when I started looking at bikes. So spite, mostly

I was eight, my mom said no to a two wheeled powered anything. My Mom and Dads relationship was always " no way!!" and a day later a mini bike turned up in the yard. That started it. 37 bikes later.....
Mom said no to a snowmobile when I was nine, it showed up a week later in Dads pickup box.

I was always ****** she never said no to a porche 911, when I was 16.

I started riding around 30.
Quit a job and had some time on my hands for a few weeks til I went back to school. Had no interest in riding, just wanted to get the license for kicks. A parade of a thousand bikes could go by me and I wouldn't have given it a second look.

A buddy of mine had a 1982 Honda Nighthawk 450. He wanted a gixxer so he could keep up with his riding buddies. I bought it off him for $800 and it had 32k on the odo with 18 previous owners. It was a beat up bike and asides from a decent helmet, I didn't have any proper gear for the first few years. My first jacket acted like a sail in the wind and I either overheated or froze many times for the first few years. I had no plans to really keep riding, until I went on my first longer ride up north to Algonquin area. Once I started riding nicer roads, I was hooked. Did my first multi-day trip down to Barber Museum in Alabama and here we are now, over 1/2million km's later.

My parents never rode two wheels but did support me and my 2 brothers by buying us bike when we were young. growing up in the little town of Stirling there was lots of places to ride and pits to play in back in the day. A neibour was selling a Ct70 and my dad thought he would buy that for my older brother. That bike got past on down to me and then my younger brother got it. As far as my first street ride it was on the back of my older brothers GT380..ahh the 2 stroke days From that day on I new I wanted to ride street when I reached age. I am the only active rider..the other 2 haven't rode in many years. My wife tells me I wouldn't want to be around you if you didn't own a bike lol.

Grew up on a farm and mom and sis (older) had horses. I didn't gel with horses (bucked off, bit) and one day spotted a used YZ50 dirtbike for sale against a tree at a car dealership for $275. Love at first sight for a 6yr old. Took some convincing but I was a hard working farm boy who didn't ask for much so they were supportive. Been on two wheels ever since for the next 30 plus years.

The first dream I remember was about riding a motorcycle, I was 3 and really mad when I woke up and was told I didn't have one. Actually ran around the house looking for my helmet (which I didn't have) because I didn't believe my parents it was just a dream. Had to wait until I got married and moved out before I could get a bike, I'm an idiot and I was forbidden (rightfully so in retrospect).

My father with his father's Norton a week before he emigrated to Canada (ya, that's a bomb shelter). It had a sidecar mount. Granny rode in that. The old man raced Matchless and Ariels all over Britain. I only ever saw him ride once. When I was ten he bought a Square Four, motor and most everything else was in actual peach baskets. "Helped" him put it back together. Rode on the back of it up the street with him, then he sold it. Bought myself something with my savings by the end of that summer. He was cool about it. Mother, not so much. Few years later had a bad crash and she was harping at me about my bike. Looked at her and asked her why the hell she married a guy that raced motorcycles. That shut her up for a while.......till the next bad one. started harping again about how dangerous they were. Told her fine, I'll quit and take up something safer. Like CURLING (they had curling sheets at the club, she tried it, fell, and broke her wrist). Never said a word to me again about it.

I started getting the itch to ride after seeing Fonzie on Happy Days

sent from my Purple LGG4 on the GTAM app

Joe Bass said:

I started getting the itch to ride after seeing Fonzie on Happy Days

sent from my Purple LGG4 on the GTAM app

Click to expand...

When I was about twelve a friend of my older brother pulled up in front of our house on a '72 Kawasaki H2 that hada Rickman fairing, chrome expansion chambers and a beautiful custom candy apple red paint job.When he left he did the longest wheelie I had ever seen,literally into the sunset and out of sight.The sound of that three cylinder two stroke with chambers is something l will never forget. That was the beginning of my lifelong love of motorcycles.

my aunt taking me out on her RD350 back in the 70s.


that is a very cool aunt..........my first bike was a '73 RD350.....
blue smoke and accidental wheelies were de rigueur those days

I ride a '73 RD when I'm not out on the '73 CB350F.

Started riding as a kid b/c I had friends who were given all sorts of bikes by their mechanic dad. Biggest was a Can-Am 175 that we kept riding even when it had no brakes. I recall circling the inside of our "track" until the bike slowed down enough that the other kids could run and "catch" the bike and rider. Ahhh the good old days.

Didn't start riding on the street until 35. Wife was eyeing up a diamond ring and we went for a drive to look at it. As we got out of the car I just put it out there..."if I get you the ring, then I'm getting a motorcycle." Best present I ever bought her .

My dad bought himself a brand new Honda CB90 in 1964 as a 30th birthday gift to himself, then quickly traded up to more modern CB100.
He rode me around on the back, took me to see Easy Rider in downtown Toronto on the thing in 1969 (I was 8 so I didn't really get it!). I was hooked. I still have my kiddie helmet (no, it doesn't still fit).
He sold his bike in 1977 when I turned 16 so I wouldn't ride it. So I went and bought my own!
I'm now in my 40th year riding.

I always wanted a bike but friends and family always discouraged me.

Then around 2005 a friend showed me the first episode of Long Way Round.
When I finished the series I went out and bought the MTO Motorcycle book and got started on getting my license.

By 2009 I was taking my first "long distance trip" on a bike

I had always thought about riding but never really had a strong urge to pursue it until a buddy of mine had a bike in his shop that he wanted gone (customer that didn't want to pay for the repairs and told him to keep it). Offered it to me for cheap and told me to pay him whatever I can as I can. Figured why not, I like cars, lets try a bike. After the first ride I was hooked, I wish I had the influence when I was younger to start on dirt or something similar.

It just kind of fell into my lap and man, I am so glad it did; commute everyday on a bike and rarely drive a car unless it's from October - April. Got the misses into it too and now we are planning a possible year long tour around North America.

uncle had an Ural back home, I thought it was the coolest thing ever, he had a spare seat kicking around that I would sit on and make vroom vroom noises

Was a challenge to myself to learn to ride and get licenced. Wasn't really aware of the lifestyle, just knew MC existed and it looked interesting. Only exposure was a neighbour had a mini bike running down the back lane way and a buddy had one for a day in his back lane. Got licenced mid season and had my first bike for that half a season. Decided I wanted to delve into the life more and upgraded the next spring. Quit my job that summer and rode to BC and LA with a year of experience.

I was 11 years old and my dad wouldn't give me the keys to the family car, so I bought a motorcycle. A YDS3. It was 1971. All my buddies had mini bikes and Honda 50s and 70s, I had a 350 twin.
Tried racing the Yamaha, that was a mistake. Got a BSA Starfire, raced that for a year, then started production racing my brother's Kawi S2. He crashed the S2, then he got a S3, which I crashed BIG TIME. He took the bike away from me, so I went dirt riding.

I think the first bike I rode was my cousin's Triumph T100 in 1970. I just picked up a 1971 T100R.

I was kinda depressed and not having the greatest time in life, I remember telling my buddy I was thinking of buying a motorcycle and he just kinda smirked at me. Bought one the next week, not out of spite but out of need to make a change in my life. ~30,900km and 1 1/2 years later and I've dropped the crowd that was keeping me down, quit smoking cigarettes, got out of some other nasty habits and now back to 100%. Hard to pinpoint what "inspired" me really, I'm not sure. It was almost a necessity

A lot of responses make me smile. Thanks for sharing.

I don't know if it was my dna or what? My Dad was a car guy. He worked at the Ford plant in St Thomas. His sister (the aunt I referred to in the OP) was married to a Dodge guy and she was always into Vettes.

My aunt and uncle did the tour of Europe on Yamaha RDs. Book on how to travel on a dollar a day, came back with tales of camping with strangers that become friends, pen pals etc.

There was always talk of cars and bikes. Dad gave his sister grief about riding but, my Uncle was a mechanic and HP junkie. He had a Kawasaki Z1 900 that was a rocket for the time. Dad was ok with me on the back of my aunt's RD with a helmet that was way too big.

Other friends of the family came by through the years. A friend of my parents that rode Suzukis. He had a Water Buffalo.

I would just marvel at the sound they made, the pipes. The metal flake paint.

I never get my own motorcycle until I was 20. And I went with a used Kawi Ninja 600 that was rode hard and put away wet many times. The paint was faded, the engine tired, and I loved it. Black with red, riding beat up logging roads out in BC.

When I returned to Ontario, I brought back my TW200 to bomb around on. But the MTO didn't transfer my motorcycle licence. Only car. I didn't sweat it and figured I'd pick it up again but, then the government brought in the graduated system and made things a little inconvenient.

So I just trashed the TW on a friend's farm and gave it to a friend of the family as time didn't allow me to get out on it much.

Projects came and went. A Honda Ascot, a Yamaha 850 triple were diamonds in the rough while Kim Mitchell was playing as I wasted weekends trying to make those poor machines road worthy with bubble gum and hacked fixed. They ran. But not for long. Budget for parts didn't exist and someone else would gradually take them off my hands.

A single car garage, an itch for a classic car but, kids with bicycles had me rethink the idea. A motorcycle could be my classic car or convertible and wouldn't worry about kids messing up the paint job. And honey, a motorcycle would be cheaper than a Mustang!?!

The search was on for a Bonnie. But, restored versions were just as costly as new. Both were a little more than I had budgeted for.

A fella was selling a his girlfriend's sportster. It kinda had the lines of the Bonnie. I rationalized it in my head that way.

I don't know if I was the only guy that expressed interest? The seller tossed me the keys and said take her for a rip? I didn't mention not having a license. Just up the street I said to myself.

And off I went for a 20 minute ride.

If I had the means and the space, I'd have fully restored bikes that made an impression throughout my life. There are too many to list. Some mentioned in my op.