How'd it all start with you?

How did you get into bikes?

Me? During the summer at our camp my friend would let me ride his Trail 90 Honda on the camp roads. Another kid had a Rupp mini-bike that I thought was THE coolest thing back then, I'm talking 1967-1968. Rode a Bultaco once or twice. Hodaka a few times. Then, after returning home for the off-season, I noticed my neighbor (a cop) had boxes and boxes of old motorcycle magazines out in his driveway for the rubbish. I asked if I could have them and off I went.

I absolutely devoured every one of them. I practically memorized all I had read. CycleWorld and other mags from the mid-sixties and LOTS more including a Honda catalog that was just glorious! I became a virtual encyclopedia of those old classic bikes. I wanted a Norton or BSA when I "grew up" which I still have not (grown up that is). I really loved the Hondas of that day too. The 305, the Motosport models with the candy finishes and black pipes, the 450 Scrambler (got a nice leg burn from that). My friend's dad bought him a Bridgestone 100 2 stroke and man, we rode that thing everywhere. A real killer bee sound. Fun? You bet. I held onto those mags for years never wanting to give them up. But, the MC Jones had me. I haven't ridden in a few years and never rode as much as I wanted to. My best ride was up Route 101 from south of San Francisco to Portland, OR back in 1976. Me on my Suzuki GT 550 and my buddie on his RD400 Yamaha. Good bikes too. Nothing like today but, reliable and good enough.

I'm still a huge magazine hound. Those boxes of mags started it all. I have an old barn filled with magazines. I just can't let 'em go to this day! I'm off today but, really, when Evel Knievel passed the other day, it brought back a flood of memories. Really, if you were a kid like me back then, you wanted to be Evel and tried things on your bicycles you NEVER would have thought of otherwise.