When did it happen to you?

[stevekleincustom]

Here's a new topic......When did it happen to you? When did you get bit by the motorcycle bug? What caused you to deep down inside decide that one way or another...I am going to get a motorcycle?

It's all Ronnie Hauperts fault.
As a 6 or 7 year old kid living on our family farm I could hear our 14 year old neighbor Ronnie come down the gravel road on his Cushman Eagle. I would run as fast as I could to the edge of the road just to see him fly by. His Cushman was red, had a straight pipe and must of been going at least a hundred miles an hour. I finally got him to stop one day and got him to play some catch baseball with me. This gave me the opportunity to work on him to let me ride his Cushman. He never let me drive it, but I did get an occassional ride from him. At 6 years old this was not a motorcycle...it was magic.

Steve Klein

Side Note: After many years of collecting vintage bikes I arrived home from a business trip a few years back to find my wife had bought me a 1960 Cushman Eagle. 40 years had passed.....but it was red and had a straight pipe

[pem]

The bug bit me when I was still in grade school in the late 50's early 60's. To this day I remember this "old" guy who used to ride thru town on his full dresser. Saddle bags, fringe, windshield, dressed in black and wearing the white billed aviator cap with googles or jet black sunglasses. And then when my dad's relatives let it slip out(after a few beers) that he used to ride(standing on his seat with no hands) that was when I knew I would someday ride a motorcycle. Once I started riding I could never get my dad to take a ride on my bikes. I always thought that was a little strange but eventually I learned that he sold his beautiful Indian Chief to his best buddy and a week later his buddy was killed by a drunk driver. My dad never talked about it once.

My first ride was on a cushman too and I eventually got to drive it. I've heard all my life "how dangerous" motorcycles are from many different people and I still think their full of sh*t. I worked on an ambulance for 10 years and believe me there are worst ways to die.

Dick Werner

[Blupacer]

Started in 1958

Neighbors dad brought home a gas powered toy tractor and Gary pulled us kids around in a wagon. This was soon rebuilt into a small street legal four wheel cart. Cart was soon traded for a very used 1949 H-D S 125. This got all four of us hooked. Gary was 17 and I was the youngest at 12. The other guys got Cushman Highlander and Servi-Cycle. All I could do was ride along on the back hanging on for dear life. There were no passanger seats , I can still feel the burn of the gas leaking out of the Highlanders rear mount gas tank. By Texas law I could not be licensed until 14 . By 1961 Gary had bought a new 250CC H-D Sprint, Man was it fast and had seating for TWO. A Real Motorcycle.
In October 1961 I turned 14 and started working on my parents. Gary traded the Sprint in on a used 1960 H-D 74 FLH HI FI Green , NOW THAT WAS THE ULTIMATE RIDE FOR A PASSANGER.
March of 1962 brought sale of our home and move to the suburbs, new furniture for Mom AND A MOTORCYCLE FOR ME !
1962 H-D 175cc BT PACER , Skyline Blue. Now I was in the wind and am still going strong at 60.

1962 Pacer
1965 Sprint H
1967 XLCH
1941 WLA bought in 1972 for $500.
1977 XLCR
1982 FXR
1996 Road King
2001 FXDXT
1966 XLCH restored bought in 1989

[Blupacer]

Started in 1958

Neighbors dad brought home a gas powered toy tractor and Gary pulled us kids around in a wagon. This was soon rebuilt into a small street legal four wheel cart. Cart was soon traded for a very used 1949 H-D S 125. This got all four of us hooked. Gary was 17 and I was the youngest at 12. The other guys got Cushman Highlander and Servi-Cycle. All I could do was ride along on the back hanging on for dear life. There were no passanger seats , I can still feel the burn of the gas leaking out of the Highlanders rear mount gas tank. By Texas law I could not be licensed until 14 . By 1961 Gary had bought a new 250CC H-D Sprint, Man was it fast and had seating for TWO. A Real Motorcycle.
In October 1961 I turned 14 and started working on my parents. Gary traded the Sprint in on a used 1960 H-D 74 FLH HI FI Green , NOW THAT WAS THE ULTIMATE RIDE FOR A PASSANGER.
March of 1962 brought sale of our home and move to the suburbs, new furniture for Mom AND A MOTORCYCLE FOR ME !
1962 H-D 175cc BT PACER , Skyline Blue. Now I was in the wind and am still going strong at 60.
Steve
1962 Pacer
1965 Sprint H
1967 XLCH
1941 WLA bought in 1972 for $500.
1977 XLCR
1982 FXR
1996 Road King
2001 FXDXT
1966 XLCH restored bought in 1989

[Chris Haynes]

My first was Globe Safety Scooter back in 1960. Made in Chicago and powered by a Continental Red Seal engine. Centrifical clutch. It was the only one I have ever seen. I soon moved on the a Cushman Eagle.

[INLINE4NUT]

I grew up close to one of the oldest HARLEY dealers in the country,then it was a small shop in a converted chicken coop! His son was in BoyScouts with a bunch of us and we would go over to the coop as we called it on any chance we could and Im not so sure his DaD really care for us to be there but never said to much! Man I remember seeing all years and kinds of MCs in that shop and did I dream! it all end when Id go home and dear old MOM would snap me back to reality!!!I just i was a Jr in HighSchool and some of my friends with more cash than I, had cushmans ,BSAs and even a few had Hondas which did not interest me! But every time I saw an Indian or Harley my world would stop until the MC went out of sight!!! Later that year a friend had a DEAL on two panheads a 56 and a 53 I ended up with the 56 brought it home and expected to get WWIII rained down on me instead my dad took it for a ride! He had courted my Mother on an old Indian with a sidecar she hated MCs and after marrying the oleman that was it for him until I brought that bike home I dont think I ever saw him that happy when he pulled up in the yard from that ride,he never got on one again and I havent stopped ridding ! It truely has been a love affair for me from day one! Many bikes have come and gone but Ill never forget my 1st 200 dollar Pan!!! By the way I went on to work for my friend at the dealership and still love ridding now with my wife and daughters on their own MCs!!!

[Paps]

I figured your first bike would have been steam driven Chris. Just kiddin... Pops rode em before my entrance to the world and had em all my early childhood. Uncles all had em. One Uncle always had the Police Panhead at home too. Mostly all Harley and all Indians in the family but many a Cushman too. Paps