What was your first street bike?

[Slyder]

I received a sizable graduation gift (high school, 1996) from the parents with a warning to not spend it on a bike. Less than a month later I had an 87 CBR 600. I think I got it for 2k. Never dropped it, let alone dumped it although a few months later I had a 94 gixxer 750. Been with the dark side since.

CBR was the first though I only rode it a few hundred miles.

[BrianC]

2001 Suzuki Katana 600... yellow. I bought this thing used for $2500 w/8000 miles on it. I didn't know much about streetbikes back then... like the fact that this thing weighs about the same as a newer hyabusa... but I had a lot of fun on her, and it was good learning on those scalloped oem tires! I remember trying to drag my knee and almost losing the front one day and just thinking, "man there's still alot of tread on the tire, wtf?". Not to mention that my knee was no where near the ground... . Imagine how the change in handling felt when I got on the R6 for the 1st time!


katana by bcrhoadsv, on Flickr
That's the actual bike at the dealer I bought it from.

[typeone]

'02 CBR600F4i purchased new in late '01. great bike.

[CBR929RE]

rf900r
4k in 2000

I wanted one of them so bad for my first bike. the Ferrari style kills. I look at it now and think how ugly that bike is.

[Wislon]

1978 Honda 400/4 SuperSport. Rickman fairing, panniers. Thought it was fast; certainly revved a lot. Toured all over UK and France with wife & camping gear. Cruised at 80, 8000 rpm. Couldn't understand why my buddy with the Laverda Jota just sort of disappeared!
Moved up to Moto Guzzi & caught him, but I still miss the little guy.
Wislon

[Hammerspur]

Used '67 HD (Aermacchi) Sprint 250 like this one (mine was HD "Racing Orange")



4 speed right side shift, 6 volts, cost $400.00 (This was in early '73... Oh yeah, What's a 'title'?! )

Listen here and feel the power!!: YouTube - 1966 aermacchi harley davidson sprint 'H' 250 CC

After that for $600.00 I got a modern, 'fast' bike: 12V electrics, 2 cylinder, OHC, 5 speed... a used '72 Honda CB-350!
Things sure have changed...

[Chippertheripper]

02 monster 750 dark. I was never in love with it. $6k.

[oVTo]

In 1976 I bought a 1972 KTM 125 Six Day Enduro for $400. This pic isn't my bike, mine had white Preston Petty front and rear fenders and lights. It looked legal, so I registered it but 'forgot' to get it inspected. It was a great bike.

I rode it to high school and work for about a year and a half until I wheelied though an intersection paying more attention to the girls on a school bus than the cruiser sitting at the front of the line of cars waiting for the light to change. It was a very expensive wheelie, and the bike registration was promptly cancelled. If this thread was first legal street bike, this post would have been about a 1976 KZ400.

[dhuze]

I had a 1979 Honda Nighthawk 650. This is the best pic I can find. It had the cutting edge chrome stickers on the paint.

[Doc]

What year was it and what did you pay for it.?

I don't wanna hear how you rode dirt for years before, or ya rode your brothers/mama's/ Daddies bike for years.

YOUR first STREETBIKE. Registered and Titled in your name.

[cbr_chick_nh]

CBR was first

Sounds right...


My first was a late 80s (87?) kawi 250, bought it for $1200. Used it one summer, sold it for $1500 to an ex bf...

[Garandman]

Got a 1991 kawasaki klr650 as my first bike. Got it from working a few hours for my neighbor in 2008. I miss how obnoxious the colors and big gun exhaust were...

In KLR circles those were called "Barbie bikes."

I didn't own a bike from 1999-2007, and first one I bought then was a KLR, which in Boston traffic looked like a giant Praying Mantis. Soon replaced with my first V-Strom.

[Ducrappy]

In 1998, i picked up a 1993 Honda CBR F2 for $2,750

this isn't my pic, but its the same color scheme I had

[R7]

1998 Yamaha R1, $10k new

[greenmonster]

1986 Suzuki Intruder. Liquid cooled v twin with shaft drive. I liked the buck horn handlebars too. Very comfortable. Nice all around cruiser which I rode for one year, replacing it with an '87 Yami FJ 1200.





FJ vid. (not mine) Monster engine with tons of giddy-up. I swapped out the 4 into 2 factory system with a chrome V&H 4 into 1 system. Wicked pissah, lol

http://youtu.be/s0zXWhsdOFA

[FirstDuc-1098]

81 CB750C, bought as new left over in early spring 83. Ran out of gas on way home, pushed it 2 miles to gas station and then realized it had a reserve. Duh

[KingCast 650R]

A fun thread. In undergrad I bought a brand new off the floor '86 or '87 KLR 250 just like this one, great simple colour scheme.

It was about $2,100. Later they would make it into a disco inferno. Barbie bikes I just read that LOL how true! I was a bit afraid of the RZ 350 leftovers that were only $200 more! Then I sold this and bought an RD 350B, mint. Wish I still had that RD you betcha.

[breakdirt916]

Another Ninja 600R starter here!



and it's funny going through this thread because my current bike used to be a lot of other people's first bike!

[sdog30]

96 YZF600. Look just like this. It was my neighbors, but he had no time to ride it. So he let me ride it all summer in 2006. At the end of the year, I worked out a trade of labor on his house over the winter for the bike. We figured $1800 of labor was fair.

Nice thread, doc.

Its nice when you can sell the bike after riding it for a profit. I traded the YZF for a 06 ninja 250 that I think I flipped for $2400. The guy I traded it to was a member of NESR and that's how I got signed up. He turned it into a street fighter:

http://www.customfighters.com/forums...t=26610&page=4

It's the black bike with the gas mask halfway down the page. Not my cup of tea, but DJ is a good kid.

[VTRumble]

The year, 1988. The bike a 1981 Honda CB400T Hawk, bought it off my grandfather for $400. Hit 100MPH at 10,000RPM.

[dontpanic]

October 1980. (Another old guy!) Brand-new 1981 GS450s, $1,800. Put 11,000 miles on in two years. Used to ride it to Virginia and back when I was in college.

Interweb photo:

[jcbell1007]

Wish I still had pictures of mine. I can't find them anywhere but...

Got my moto license in July of 2006, proceeded to by a brand new 2006 Ninja 650 in August a month later for $5500 out the door. Loved that bike to begin with. Spent a lot of money on that thing trying to turn it from a standard-ish bike to a sportbike. Realized it would just be cheaper to buy an actual sportbike. Put 7500 miles on it and sold it in April 2008.

[Falko]

I wanted one of them so bad for my first bike. the Ferrari style kills. I look at it now and think how ugly that bike is.

Yeah, they were different with the vents and the wide tail. The rear tail light was so wide it was two section and I combined the turn signals into it. The bike was pretty quick for its age and didn't handle too bad. I have a tendency to get bikes out of the normal. My next bike will most likely be the new Multi.

[tonyd]

Picked up a 1996 Suzuki Bandit 600 with 3,100 miles on it for $2700 in 1999.
Sold it in 2002 for $2500 with 51,000 miles on it.


Looked like this one.

[2v2Ducati]

74' Honda CB360T, in 70s blue haha I loved that bike, awesome $900 ever spent