What Was Your First Street Bike?

[morsetaper2]

Haven't seen one of these in this thread yet so I'll toss my hat in the ring. Purchased new (leftover) in 1986 from the Yamaha dealer in Stuart, FL for $2400 OTD. I was 17. I don't think I've owned a bike quite as fun since.

I bought a 1985 RZ350 new back in that same year. Rode it around stock for a year. Then over the winner I had a local 2-stroke guru do a stage 2 porting job, skim the head, recut the squish, and added a Toomey pipe kit. Good Lord! I never dynoed it by I'll guess in the end it boosted HP by 25 or 30% or so. It was truly amazing how those mods woke the bike up. I had an '83 Suzuki GS1100 at the same time. That RZ would accelerate just as fast as that stock GS1100 after the mods were completed. It didn't have the top end that the 1100 had. But that RZ truly was about the funnest bike I ever owned. Just like you say. And you see what really nice examples of them are selling for these days? Crazy!

 

[matty]

My first street bike was a year old '65 Yamaha 80, that I bought for $200

from a buddy needing money before he left for college. I bought it a week before I turned 16 and got my permit on my birthday. One week later I was licensed, but could only drive 1/2hr before sun up until 1/2 hr after sundown. I put over 5K miles on it in five weeks and learned how to clean out carbon from the plug, head, and exhaust. Every girl that rode with me still carries my "brand" on their leg. They couldn't get on or off without touching the the exhaust pipe with one of their legs. I guess I weighed a little less then-I could easily hit 50mph quickly. Mine looked like this, but it was black quickly followed by a '66 Super Hawk 305.

Awesome little bikes the YG1F, i ran one a 1972 red and had a smashed 1971 for parts i never needed. was my work and run around for two years loved it. Upgraded it for a 77 Yamaha RS100 which was quicker moderner but i did not keep it long. loved the YG1f would own another as a run about in a heartbeat.

 

[Soggy Biscuit]

A 2002 Honda CBR 600F4i was my first bike. It was the one that ruined riding for 20 years until I decided to get back on the saddle.

 

[RockyDS]

BSA Bantam. It was a long time ago.

Bought from a co-worker it was reliable except for the Lucas electrics. No surprise there.
(Not my actual bike in the pic.)

 

[BDKW1]

RD400. Got porting, DG heads, spec 2 pipes, Boyden reeds and kehien oval slide carbs. It was a lot of fun. I was 25 before I broke even on time of having my license versus having it suspended.

 

[Madmx]

1981 GS750L for $550 at 16yrs old. At 17 during winter, I replaced the base gasket using inf from a stack of books from the library. I could not find the 16 valve manual. Heck I did not even have a work bench. I some how figured to do incremental layout on the garage floor. Waited months for gaskets. Then assembled and another 10k miles of hell. I blew that base gasket from over rev also. Never worried about an oily leg from then on.