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Still doing. For atleast 50 of my 55 years thus far. Started on bmx(still do btw) and turned to motocross at 20 and here I am 35 years later riding 38 out of 52 weekends last year. Throw in some mtb as well. So yeah, life behind bars for me also. True story!
Me too. I got a bicycle around age 4 or 5 and an XR75 at age 10. I've been on two wheels ever since.
Good to hear I'm not alone with this Cruel and Unusual punishment with Life Behind Bars.
It's been about 58 years for me and wouldn't change a thing.
Grew up ( I use that term loosely) on G-Hill overlooking Glendale California and we had awesome places to ride across the street from our home.
Started off on bicycles and lawnmower powered Mini bikes and the Honda Mini-trail 50 was a dream machine. That never came to fruition--Pops would never pull the trigger so I had to ride my friend's bikes. But once I was able to earn some dough, I have never been without a motorcycle in the garage since I was 12.
This was my first off the showroom MX bike 1974 TM 125 when I first learned how to cross-up that was a big deal. 😂
Damn, a true life Gary DeCoster.
Good stuff G-man. I was growing up in Sylmar around the same time and it was so cool to ride your bike out of the garage and just hit the hills.
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Great thread.
So thankful to have grown up when and where I did. The Santa Monica Mtns were our playground for BMX, Horses and Motorcycles. The story hasn't ended yet....
Ha! Thanks Ed that's a huge compliment as Roger was and still is one of my All-time Heroes in Life.
Sylmar must have been a great place to grow up riding dirtbikes as well.
Southern Cal boomed with dirtbikes in the late 60's and into the 70's.
Thankful to have received a life-sentence behind bars when I was young; not interested in having it commuted.
It started in the '70s when I was convicted of using a Yamaha Monoshock during the commission of a crime -
Magoofan, that first picture ( girl on the back of the mini bike) cracks me up. A couple days ago down the street from my house, I stopped behind a red light flashing school bus, a little girl jumps out of the bus, runs around the bus just as a kid rides up on a kx 80 (or something), she jumps on the back and they ride home. Loved it!
I love these kind of threads!
While I did NOT grow up in the Mecca of Moto that California has always been, I am happy to report that it was virtually the EXACT same thing here in the Land 0’ the Redneck that is Oklahoma! 🤪
I got my first scooter at 7 years old in the summer of 1972 when my folks gave me my very own brand new 1973 Honda XL70! (I begged for the XR75, but that’s a story for another time!) and it has been a life “behind bars” and a steady stream of all things motorcycle for 51 years now and still going strong!
Growing up through the 70’s, I hardly knew A kid that didn’t have a Briggs & Stratton mini-bike or one of the many common trail/dirt bikes from the era, but when my son went to school in the early 2000’s, he only knew ONE other kid that had a dirt bike! (😵💫 👎❗️)
I can’t even count the number of bikes that have came & gone between the two pictured above, and I wish I could have kept every one of them! (The XL70 in the front yard of my childhood home and my mint 07 CRF last year at one of the local MX tracks! I got the CRF a few years ago from a fellow Vitard and I recently added a 2023 300SX to the garage as well! Also a fellow Vitard! 😝)
I have ZERO intent or interest to stop riding and frankly all I have been doing lately is sitting around lamenting the lousy arctic cold we’ve been dealing with the last 10 days or so, chompin’ at the bit to get out for a ride, whether it be moto or a pedal on the MTB! (I have been an avid cyclist since the mid 80’s too!)
I live just a few miles from Toby Keith and his favorite corner bar & grill, (Hollywood Corner!) and we happened to be there for dinner one evening when he made an unscheduled/impromptu visit and played one of the first sets he had done in public after going through his recent cancer treatment…He explained how one of his new songs came to be and it really struck a chord with me! Regardless of how anyone might feel about him, or the guy that inspired the song?
We can ALL take the message to heart as we continue the journey to our inevitable demise and…
DON’T LET THE OLD MAN IN!
Keep on Keepin’ on fellow old dudes, WE RULE! Ha 😎 👍❗️
66 and started at 14. Step thru 90 was the 1st of many to come. Garage full of bikes and riding more now than ever. Grew up in Downey and able to push our bikes to the open field a couple blocks away. After many laps and running over another rider for the 1st time hooked me. Almost all weekends racing and track days dominate my spare time. Great life on 2 wheels!
51 years behind bars for me with no end in sight. I have to admit that I’m very envious of you that were fortunate to grow up in socal in the’70’s. I can only imagine, but it just wasn’t in my shuffle. Love to all the gray hairs and no hairs out there still living the dream like me!
I feel lucky to have been around this sport since it started in the late 60s. Lived and rode in many states. 67 now and still riding modern and vintage MX bikes. I'm retired and live in middle Georgia now.
Started on a 1955 (I think) Triumph Tiger Cub 200cc back in 1966.
Even had a 1964 Honda 160cc twin street bike I chopped up for dirt from 1969 - 71. It didn't work at all.
Rode my Dad's 1958 BSA Gold Star 500cc also from1966 to 1976. Won my first MX trophy on that bike in 1972.
Then I finally got a real MX (some might not think so). A 1973 Suzuki TM250. It was like an out of body experience the first time I rode that bike. I loved and raced it for from 1973 - 76.
Bought a 1976 Suzuki RM250 next. Loved that bike. Raced a little from 1977 - 80.
Then a 1978 Yamaha YZ250 from 1979 - 82.
My first brand new bike was a 1982 Honda CR250. I blew my left knee out six months later on it.
Wow this is getting long but I love talking about life in Moto. After I blew out my knee. I went almost four years without riding. I was in the Air Force at the time and got stationed overseas in Germany. I didn't ride but got to go to many MXGPs during the mid 80s. When I got back to the states in the fall of 1986 I had to get back into it even though I never got full range of motion back in my knee. I bought a new 1987 Kawasaki KX500. It was a lot of bike to get back on but I had put on a few pounds in Germany and thought I needed the extra power (haha). Rode that bike awhile from 1987 - 95.
Then I bought a 1991 Honda CR250. I didn't really like that bike even though it was winning everything. Rode it a couple years.
Bought a 1991 Kawasaki KX125 next from my best friend for a good deal. I was too big for it but it was a real good bike. Rode it maybe a couple years.
Then one of buddies bought a 2000 Yamaha YZ426F. He had a 1993 Honda CR250 so I bought that from him in 2001. I loved that bike and can see why MC loved it. But after I rode my buddies 426 I had to have a four stroke.
I finally bought a 2001 YZ 426 in 2002. I loved it. That 426 four stroke engine brought back memories of my Dad's 58 BSA I used to ride and race. Rode the 426 from 2002 - 2005.
In late 2005 I bought a 2005 Honda CRF450. Great bike and turned much better than the YZ426. Rode that four a lot of years.
Then I bought a 2011 Suzuki RMZ450. I really loved this bike. Rode it from 2012 - 2016. By this time my left knee I blew out way back in 1982 was giving me a lot of pain. I stopped ridding and had it replaced. It didn't go well and a year and half later I had it replaced again. It was better but not what I had hoped for. My range of motion was even less than what I had before. So I couldn't even get my left foot on the foot peg. I went four years without riding.
Finally I got my range of motion to a point where I could get my left foot on a foot peg. So in 2019 I bought an old KTM SXF350. I still have it and love it. I have to be more careful now but at 67 I should be anyway. I still love to hit the track even at my slow speed.
I also have a couple vintage bikes. A 1961 Greeves MCS250 (Dave Bickers Replica) I restored and a 1973 CZ MX250. As well as my little 78 Honda XR75.
Ok, I'm done. That's pretty much covers my Moto life in bikes.
Mumbles wins....
Respect.
Love the XR-75! My first bike.
No doubt. That's a veritable tome.
Wish I had pics from my youth - memories get fuzzier every year.
Great early picks from mumbles I wish I had pictures of my actual first motorcycle my Uncle gave to me a, Gilera 175 from Italy that was sold through Sears. Shifter and brakes were on opposite sides and the shift pattern also was opposite--oh man that was pretty interesting. 😲
That biked didn't last too long but I ended up buying a CT1-175 from my cousin and converted it to strictly dirt with a 21 inch rim, fork brace and plastic fenders.
My buddy who started air brushing did the tank, I was rolling now!
Early racing days
I like that 1977 RM125B so much that I wore it out and bought another 6 months later.
Parents never even knew all the bikes I bought as they were the same color.
In 78 Can-Am came out with this Rotary-Valve inducted Rotax engine and it was a deceiving rocket ship 🚀 With its smooth power to the ground delivery.
Won a XR75 that CMC Stu Peters gave away to the winner of each class--6 weeks series alternating tracks Saddleback and Carlsbad.
87CR250 was unreal in power and handling.
Many bikes in between had each displacement Full Floater which were awesome machines!
First Aluminum Framed bike 87CR250
First 4-stroke was the 01 426
Then onto the CRF450's
Now I like to Dualsport
Many more bikes but it's enough for now as it's a pita to do it on the phone.
Good to know I'm not the only one who has spent LIFE BEHIND BARS. 😜
Funny you talk about the Gilera being shifted on the other side. When I raced in 1972 - 75 I was still racing my Dad's 58 BSA Gold Star 500 which had a right side shift and then I would jump on my 73 Suzuki TM250 and race that the same day which obviously was left hand shift. Made for some interesting first corners.
"Made for some interesting first corners."
That's hilarious I cannot even imagine trying to do that--opposite shifting bikes on the same race day!
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