What or who got you into riding?

[Artful]

Another thread got me thinking what got me into this glorious addiction we call motorcycles. I'm sure lots of folks have good stories about where they got their first "fix".

My father was the culprit in getting me hooked. He always had a Harley in the garage and I was drafted early to help work on them (hey, small hands can go anywhere in an engine case). I've been told there is a great picture of him riding with me on the gas tank, my oldest sister on the back, and my middle sister on his shoulders riding down the road. When I turned 15 I was helping him work on his Softtail when I asked him if he would let me work on his Sportster which had been sitting in the garage for almost 15 years untouched. He said that if I could get it running and pass inspection, that it was mine free and clear.

14 years later and I haven't gone more than a few months without tossing a leg over a motorcycle.

[psychobilly]

My father got me into it with a couple of garage sale mini bikes when I was six. Those lasted awhile then it was on to the 80cc yamaha big wheel and so on. Took a break from motorcycle thru high school. I was gone every week playing hockey. Then after high school meet a great guy  who had a custom bike shop. Became a shop rat trying to learn everything I could. Built my first custom with him. Rode it forever then found the wold of Ducati!

[Jaman]

Father putting a helmet on me, putting me on the tank, & taking me for rides planted and/or watered the seed that is likely in just about every kids psyche...

[Markus]

My dad. He took me for rides on the back of his '86 BMW K100RS. It was a beautiful bike in its day but a fairly extreme riding position and I could just barely reach the pegs. We'd just do slow rides around the neighbourhood and back roads near my home. I remember being terrified and excited at the same time.

We ride together now. He has a BMW K1200S and an SS/CR. His bikes don't get ridden a lot but it's still special when we get out for the occasional ride.
 

[Triple J]

My wife got sick of me looking at motos, but not doing anything...so she got me a helmet and MSF course registration for Christmas.  The rest is history.

My parents (mainly mom) wouldn't let me get any sort of motorcycle when I was young...so no dad story here.

[El Matador]

I always the simplistic aspect of the machines. But my parents viewed motorcycles with the same regard that most women view serial rapists, so having a bike was out of the question.

I did the only thing I could in the situation, saved up and bought a bike behind their back that I kept at a buddy's place. A busted up POS YZ250 that I almost killed myself on many, many times. Street riding was the logical progression of things.

[r_ciao]

My wife got sick of me looking at motos, but not doing anything...so she got me a helmet and MSF course registration for Christmas.  The rest is history.

Triple J, you are sooooo lucky.

My story.  My deeply repressed  desire for a motorcycle was finally satisfied as a result of an upcoming divorce.  My Duc represents many things to others but for me my Duc equals FREEDOM from my future ex!  Reminds me of a joke I heard many years ago.  "I got a motorcycle for my wife.  It was a good trade."    I'm so happy that I have my bike.  It isn't a mid-life crisis, it's therapy.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Ciao!

[jvax]

r_ciao, you remind me of my own story!  Wife never agreed to let me get a bike for the first 5 years of marriage.  One day we had a big fight (not because of the bike thing...), almost both signed the divorce papers, then decided to talk, maybe there still hope kinda talk, and that's when I decided to slip in my desire to own a bike with the list of things she would need to get over    A few months after that, we're still married, I have finished my license course, and last weekend I ordered my first bike (M796 Diamond Black Silk).  I've wanted to have a bike since I was a kid, but I only recently became financially (and matrimonially ) able to own one 

[duccarlos]

My dad had a bike, but I rarely road on it and my mom soon told him to get rid of it. While working in Georgia they opened a Duc dealer and I went in to see the bikes. Fell in love. Brought the wife into the dealer. Told me that if I used it to drive to work and up in the mountains, she would be fine with it. Sign on the dotted line right there.

[Spidey]

My brother and I were on a climbing trip in Joshua Tree right after graduating college.  He was talking about how he was going to buy a bike.  I'd kinda entertained the thought (like many non-riders have when they see a moto), but never actually considered it until he mentioned that he was probably going to buy one.  No one I knew growing up rode motos.  In the course of a single evening talking about motorcycles and climbing, and drinking beer by the fire in the desert, I became obsessed.  I woke up the next morning and had this inexplicably strong need to ride a motorcycle.  I got back from our trip, immediately signed up for MSF, bought a bike, and took the course.  All within about 10 days.  My brother bought a moto a coupla months later.

My wife got sick of me looking at motos, but not doing anything...so she got me a helmet and MSF course registration for Christmas.  The rest is history.

Best.  Wife.  Ever.   

[ManOrAstro-Man?]

For me, "what" got me into riding is actually why we are all here - the Ducati Monster. I've never really cared for motorcycles until I saw a Monster. I didn't know anything about motorcycles or the different brands and models out there, so I didn't like it just because it was a Ducati. But for some reason, I wanted a Monster after I saw one. The rest is history. My first was a Monster 620 and now a Monster 696.

[zarn02]

I don't really remember. It was during college when I got my first bike. I remember it just kind of occurring to me one day that a motorcycle would be a lot of fun.

Maybe I was just sick of my roommate taking pretty ladies on rides on his bike, and wanted in on that action.

[jim_0068]

no disrespect but i don't understand the wife thing...I'm engaged and my fiance' rides a 200cc sport scooter (doesn't like the shifting) and finds bikes both fun and dangerous; hell my brother died on one (unfortunately he was a squid and it was bound to happen )

BUT

No wife, fiance', etc is going to tell me what i can or can't have with my own money just like i won't tell her what to do with her money (after all the bills are paid). No one should have that type of power over you except your parents.

-----------------------------------

As for my story, had a neighbor take me for neighborhood rides on his gas tank when was like 3 years old. Grew up loving bicycles and bmxing but never got a real bike cuz the parents wouldn't do it. Fell in love with Ducati's from the movie "Fled." Told myself i'd have one some day....fast forward quite a while and bought my monster last year (felt a sportbike in chicago wasn't a great idea).

[Junix]

I lived in a small village near a city (ok let's call it a bigger village  ) on the Croatian coast.
I was 14 years old and had only 2 options to go to the city:
1. hitchhiking
2. motorcycle

So my father back in 1994. bought me my first TOMOS automatic (the peak of the Yugoslavian technology at that time.. ):

[fastwin]

This is my 45th year of riding. Started when I was 10. Mini bikes, my neighbor's older brother's Bridgestone 175, etc. Got my first real off road bike in 1969, it was a Sachs 125cc with a leading link front end. It was pregnant dog to get that front end up in the air over anything! Talked my parents into letting me race it. Those were the very early days of moto cross in America. Next was a Husky 250 Cross... good old days of metal fenders! . Then a couple different 250cc Bultaco Pursangs and a CZ. Finally ending with two Honda Elsinores (125cc and a 250cc) when they first came out.

My defense for racing (Mom still didn't like it!) was to say "Hey, I'm on a track, there are no cars to hit me, there's an ambulance right there, I wear all the protective gear. At least I'm not riding out there on the street!" Well, that all came crashing down on me when I rolled into the garage on a Yamaha R5!! Hey... she was pissed but she didn't make me sell it! It didn't last long before I sold it and bought the new and improved '73 RD350. Wish I still had that bike!

The list of bikes since then is too long to remember and type out. My current wife doesn't like bikes at all (Mom would be proud of her! ) but now my defense of riding has changed to, "I've been riding longer than you've been alive!" It's a conversation ender! She has no come back. Looking back on it I can't really say what got me started. I guess I just thought that was what I was supposed to do. It looked like fun and I couldn't stop thinking about it... nothing has changed. [moto]