Bet that pine tree just came outta nowhere though!
At what age did you start riding?
- Thread starter Lightcycle
- Start date
The results of this poll are quite surprising, lots of people started riding right when they were able to get their license.
More surprising is how many people starting riding before legal age.
I would have thought a GTA-based forum would have skewed more towards the older age bracket.
I started pretty late in life - in my mid-30s. I was a car guy forever and at one of the car shows (I think musta been 2001 or 2002), Harley Davidson carted out their brand-new V-Rod, all shiny aluminum, brushed aluminum solid wheels, so cool-looking. I was sold. That inspired me to get my license!
Fast forward a couple of years later:
More surprising is how many people starting riding before legal age.
I would have thought a GTA-based forum would have skewed more towards the older age bracket.
I started pretty late in life - in my mid-30s. I was a car guy forever and at one of the car shows (I think musta been 2001 or 2002), Harley Davidson carted out their brand-new V-Rod, all shiny aluminum, brushed aluminum solid wheels, so cool-looking. I was sold. That inspired me to get my license!
Fast forward a couple of years later:
My son never had any interest in cars whatsoever and wore the wheels out his lowrider trike at 3.
Started him at MotoPark at 14 and he did not get a car licence until he was 24 and that was after a huge fight with his mother who finally agreed to pay for it as she was the only reason he needed it.
While I had to get a car license in the 60s that covered motorcycles then.
First thing my now partner asked me whether this motorcycle riding was a middle age thing but told her I'd been riding since I was 17 and she's never questioned it.
I really appreciate her support as she clearly sees the mental benefit to me and wants me to have a vehicle but not have to drive her precious Honda
I think a certain number of riders just want two wheels from the get go.
Iikely fell into that category in my teens...can't even recall my first car.
Started him at MotoPark at 14 and he did not get a car licence until he was 24 and that was after a huge fight with his mother who finally agreed to pay for it as she was the only reason he needed it.
While I had to get a car license in the 60s that covered motorcycles then.
First thing my now partner asked me whether this motorcycle riding was a middle age thing but told her I'd been riding since I was 17 and she's never questioned it.
I really appreciate her support as she clearly sees the mental benefit to me and wants me to have a vehicle but not have to drive her precious Honda
I think a certain number of riders just want two wheels from the get go.
Iikely fell into that category in my teens...can't even recall my first car.
Last edited:
Mad Mike
Well-known member
My eldest rode the wheels off an e-bike from the time he was 10. These days he rides a 50cc Yamaha QT50 on the street. He’s the only one in the family who can’t drive anything with a clutch.My son never had any interest in cars whatsoever and wore the wheels out his lowrider trike at 3.
Started him at MotoPark at 14 and he did not get a car licence until he was 24 and that was after a huge fight with his mother who finally agreed to pay for it as she was the only reason he needed it.
While I had to get a car license in the 60s that covered motorcycles then.
First thing my now partner asked me whether this motorcycle riding was a middle age thing but told her I'd been riding since I was 17 and she's never questioned it.
I really appreciate her support as she clearly sees the mental benefit to me and wants me to have a vehicle but not have to drive her precious Honda
I think a certain number of riders just want two wheels from the get go.
View attachment 71378
Iikely fell into that category in my teens...can't even recall my first car.
My middle son started at 4, in a Honda Lil Red Riders course. He rode my TW 200 around the cottage roads and trails till he was 16. He got his M2 without telling me, I found out when my Ninja 250 was missing from the garage - his mom OKd him taking it to Marathon for a camping trip with his buddies, it was his maiden M2 ride.
Started when I was 29. Couldn't care less about bikes and just got my license as a bucket list thing. Never had any intention of buying a bike or riding after that. A 100 bikes could ride past me and I wouldn't even look up.
Took the course at RTI and sucked big time, but still got my license. Then a buddy had a 1982 Honda 450 Nighthawk which he was selling. It only had 35k on it, but had 18 previous owners. He owned it for 2 weeks and couldn't keep up with all his gixxer buddies, so he went out and bought a gixxer 600. He sold me the Nighthawk for $800. I had no gear except a beanie helmet a tank top and my pack of smokes. That got me through my first season.
I was living at Lansdowne & Bloor at the time and took it out for my first few rides late at night when no cars were out. When I started riding I was so incomprehensibly bad.
Then joined this forum the following year and started reading every single thread in the technical forum to try and get caught up on a lifetime of moto ignorance. Bought some books like Twist of the Wrist, Sport Riding Techniques and started to get mildly better. Used to go practice riding curves in Awenda Park for all 6km of twisties in there.
I was always a solo rider but then one random day I checked out the rides/hookups forum and after reading posts from @lil red bird and some guy named @Lightcycle I wanted to check out this place called Calabogie. Found the BIG MAP and printed it up and laminated it and bought a Perly’s backroads map book and started writing out turn by turn directions for my first ride over to Calabogie. After that first twisty ride, that was it for me and I was hooked.
Took the course at RTI and sucked big time, but still got my license. Then a buddy had a 1982 Honda 450 Nighthawk which he was selling. It only had 35k on it, but had 18 previous owners. He owned it for 2 weeks and couldn't keep up with all his gixxer buddies, so he went out and bought a gixxer 600. He sold me the Nighthawk for $800. I had no gear except a beanie helmet a tank top and my pack of smokes. That got me through my first season.
I was living at Lansdowne & Bloor at the time and took it out for my first few rides late at night when no cars were out. When I started riding I was so incomprehensibly bad.
Then joined this forum the following year and started reading every single thread in the technical forum to try and get caught up on a lifetime of moto ignorance. Bought some books like Twist of the Wrist, Sport Riding Techniques and started to get mildly better. Used to go practice riding curves in Awenda Park for all 6km of twisties in there.
I was always a solo rider but then one random day I checked out the rides/hookups forum and after reading posts from @lil red bird and some guy named @Lightcycle I wanted to check out this place called Calabogie. Found the BIG MAP and printed it up and laminated it and bought a Perly’s backroads map book and started writing out turn by turn directions for my first ride over to Calabogie. After that first twisty ride, that was it for me and I was hooked.
We really have had quite a few of the same bikes (or variations of the same, at least) haha. Loved my 2006 Night Rod.The results of this poll are quite surprising, lots of people started riding right when they were able to get their license.
More surprising is how many people starting riding before legal age.
I would have thought a GTA-based forum would have skewed more towards the older age bracket.
I started pretty late in life - in my mid-30s. I was a car guy forever and at one of the car shows (I think musta been 2001 or 2002), Harley Davidson carted out their brand-new V-Rod, all shiny aluminum, brushed aluminum solid wheels, so cool-looking. I was sold. That inspired me to get my license!
Fast forward a couple of years later:
The results of this poll are quite surprising, lots of people started riding right when they were able to get their license.
More surprising is how many people starting riding before legal age.
I would have thought a GTA-based forum would have skewed more towards the older age bracket.
I started pretty late in life - in my mid-30s. I was a car guy forever and at one of the car shows (I think musta been 2001 or 2002), Harley Davidson carted out their brand-new V-Rod, all shiny aluminum, brushed aluminum solid wheels, so cool-looking. I was sold. That inspired me to get my license!
Fast forward a couple of years later:
The V-Rod is still the only HD I look at at think, hmmmm, maybe. Nothing against HD, they just don't do it for me but the V-Rod is a pretty sexy machine.
When you buy a V-Rod, you will hear this at least once a month, every month.
It's kind of magic. Like when you buy a Bonneville. Old men will just appear out of thin air at gas stations to ask you what year it's from, and tell you about the Bonneville they had half a century ago. Then they disappear, off to visit the next Bonneville owner at some other gas station on the other side of the continent. It's just part of the experience of owning these bikes.
You can get the exact same thing with a 1976 CB750 SuperSport. We were demo riding Royal Enfields near Erin this summer and the guy from Old Village Cranks spots my bike and starts telling me how he raced one back in the day.
Decades ago no one worried about having a license or not. At the cottage I rode on logging road trails occasioanlly but mostly on gravel roads around the lakes in the area. In Laval riding was more limited, but still used local roads.
There were risks no one really knew about or thought about, until the s*** hit the fan. Friend with a minibike sideswiped a guy on a small motorcycle and broke the other guy's leg badly. 1971 or so, no license, no insurance, had a plate and the bike was in his father's name. Father was sued and lost. Charges against father, lost his license, then his job as it involved local travel.
All of this s*** came out over time, which was good for me because if my dad had known about the consequences for the other familiy he would have sold my CT70 in a flash. By the time it all became public knowledge I was 15 and the bike had been sold when we moved to NDG in Montreal;
15 years old on a dirt bike. We had a property with maybe a few hundred acres adjoining forest. Self taught. Guy at dealership (Cycle World in Scarborough, I believe) sort of showed us what to do but we didn’t get to try.
Took it home, tried to remember what we had learned and studied the section in the manual. To my chagrin my sister figured it out before me, but we were both riding in an hour. I rode that thing sometimes 8 hours a day, sometimes with only shorts and a helmet but no shoes. LOL. Now it takes me ten minutes to gear up and I always end up forgetting something .
30 for me. I always wanted to ride, but while I lived with parents they never would have allowed it cause they viewed motorcycles as inherently dangerous. When I moved out on my own, during my 20s I lived in various sketchy apartment buildings in toronto so I didn't want to get a bike cause it would just get stolen. Finally at 30 I was living somewhere where i felt safe storing a bike so I got my licence and bought a bike. It's funny, until I started riding I had never been north of Barrie. By the end of my first season I had ridden all over Ontario from Windsor to Timmins. It opened up a whole new world.
I envy you guys who were riding dirt bikes as kids, that must have been so much fun. I would have been ecstatic if I could have done that.
I envy you guys who were riding dirt bikes as kids, that must have been so much fun. I would have been ecstatic if I could have done that.
I was lucky to grow up with a dad that was a gearhead and liked (and could afford) toys. Long before I ever had my drivers licence I had already been operating bikes, 4-wheelers, dune buggies, boats, snowmobiles, and lots of other toys. I didn't think much about it back in those moments, but looking back on it 40 years later I'm constantly reminded how lucky I was as a kid to have a dad like that.
Mom wasn't always on the same page. I know she was probably a giant ball of nerves every time dad gave me the keys for something new and said "have at it", more or less lol.
afici0nad0
Well-known member
Phase 1 - passed the written, passed the m1x via course at cenntenial college at eglinton/warden. Let the m2 lapse due to other priorities
Phase 2 - passed the written, passed the m1x via course at sheridan college in oakville. Passed m2x in oshawa on my own without course
All city riding for me so far. And short bursts too. Breaks every 30min or so.
Phase 2 - passed the written, passed the m1x via course at sheridan college in oakville. Passed m2x in oshawa on my own without course
All city riding for me so far. And short bursts too. Breaks every 30min or so.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
You get that on every old bike. I take care of a Bullet 500 for a friend, everywhere I stop it attracts a crowd of Indians, old and young - they just want selfies with the bike.
Started with a mini bike (13 brother 14). We grew up in the city with a couple of huge fields beside and behind our apartment building. We saw these two brothers with dirt bikes having a blast. My brother and I presented our parents with what I thought was a good plan for a loan and repayment. They tore it up and said not as long as we lived under their roof. So we gathered our paper route money. We tracked a guy selling a mini bike and talked him down in price. We hid it in our bedroom closet and had to have lookouts as we took out and down the hall down the elevator. Eventually the superintendent found out but he was cool with it as long as we didn’t start it in the building. My farther never found out. But my mother knew and didn’t rat us out.
From there I rode my girlfriend’s (wife now) cousin’s Honda 350/4 out in the country down dirt and gravel roads. No license or helmets. Fun days for sure.
From there I rode my girlfriend’s (wife now) cousin’s Honda 350/4 out in the country down dirt and gravel roads. No license or helmets. Fun days for sure.
A 350/4 really...??? Wow. Rare bird. Always want ( still want ) a 400/4
Only made for two years....swwwwweeeet
en.wikipedia.org
Only made for two years....swwwwweeeet
Honda CB350F - Wikipedia
I could swear it was a 4 into 1 exhaust? Maybe wrong but the exhaust was a work of art if I remember. The bike was blueA 350/4 really...??? Wow. Rare bird. Always want ( still want ) a 400/4
Only made for two years....swwwwweeeet
View attachment 71421
Honda CB350F - Wikipedia
