when AND why

Edited Date/Time 4/24/2012 10:00am
Just curious as to what reason you fellow riders started riding and who got you into it? Were you fed a bike straight out carriage or did you bug mom and dad or work hard for anything with 2 wheels?...
Let's start...My dad drag raced while growing up then stopped due to work and children and he always had this Z50 laying around and decided to try my luck in the trails with it then a few years later my first "motocross bike" was a 2003 cr 85.
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4/23/2012 3:28pm
Just curious as to what reason you fellow riders started riding and who got you into it? Were you fed a bike straight out carriage or...
Just curious as to what reason you fellow riders started riding and who got you into it? Were you fed a bike straight out carriage or did you bug mom and dad or work hard for anything with 2 wheels?...
Let's start...My dad drag raced while growing up then stopped due to work and children and he always had this Z50 laying around and decided to try my luck in the trails with it then a few years later my first "motocross bike" was a 2003 cr 85.
My dad raced and wanted me to. I was a tall lanky kid and raced mostly Kawasakis. My best finish was third. I was better at football where I played in college.

In my last race, I saw these young kids flying past me and thought: "What the heck am I doing?" I was getting married and really didn't have the money to ride and race. I've followed the sport since 1982 when my dad took me to a supercross. I was there when Bailey and RJ duked it out. I went to the LA Coliseum (after the Rodney King riots) when Bradshaw lost the title at the final race. I love this sport and will continue to follow it. It has been 19 years since I last threw a leg over a bike and I've been toying with the idea of riding an over 40 class. I would likely buck the old guy trend and get a 2-smoker. I never had a Honda and would love to get a 250 to race around.
Switch
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4/23/2012 3:36pm Edited Date/Time 4/23/2012 3:37pm
I was raised in it, started racing when I was 4, been riding for the past 23 years. Switched (see what I did there?) from Moto to Off-Road when I got older, it's just more fun and less stressful. My job gives me enough of that, I ride to enjoy it. Still follow moto every weekend, same as it has been for as along as I can remember. My racing "career" has survived over 5 different waves of "riding buddies" that all quit because they took it too seriously. In a way, riding is like Vital...
Falcon
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Menifee, CA US
4/23/2012 3:54pm
My dad had an old DT175 in the '70s that he would ride around with me on the gas tank. I bugged him for a motorcycle for so many years that he finally relented and bought me a '74 XR75. This was in 1981. We didn't know much about bikes and that thing didn't run very well... I probably only got an hour or so on it.
In '83 we sold that roach and got me a used RM80 that had been used in the Suzuki school of MX... I rode the wheels off that thing and I've been riding ever since.

Just 2 days ago I trolled my son around on the gas tank of my YZ250 and thought to myself how wonderful it was to come full-circle.
Switch
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4/23/2012 4:02pm
Falcon wrote:
My dad had an old DT175 in the '70s that he would ride around with me on the gas tank. I bugged him for a motorcycle...
My dad had an old DT175 in the '70s that he would ride around with me on the gas tank. I bugged him for a motorcycle for so many years that he finally relented and bought me a '74 XR75. This was in 1981. We didn't know much about bikes and that thing didn't run very well... I probably only got an hour or so on it.
In '83 we sold that roach and got me a used RM80 that had been used in the Suzuki school of MX... I rode the wheels off that thing and I've been riding ever since.

Just 2 days ago I trolled my son around on the gas tank of my YZ250 and thought to myself how wonderful it was to come full-circle.
Very cool

The Shop

4/23/2012 5:45pm
My dad got us a mini bike when I was 5 and then I saw the 1971 movie "Evel Knievel" with Gerorge Hamilton and I was hooked.
brocster
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Aliso Viejo, CA US
4/23/2012 5:58pm
long story and I'll try to abbreviate.

my dad and his friends rode bultaco's and drank wine and my mom hated it.
my uncles got hooked on bikes from my dad
i wanted a bike so my dad quit
my uncles toted me with them to the tracks growing up
was never allowed to have a bike but it was all i wanted to do
rode a lot of bmx instead
at 20 years old i bought a bike and a truck on the same day
been riding/racing for the last 23 years almost every single weekend
4/23/2012 7:17pm
Dads seem to be a common theme. My theme too, my dad raced when he was a kid. I got an 86 jr 50 from santa. I have been an addict ever since. Now my son is hooked too-his first word was Chad Reed (it came out Chaw Weed)
EastFlorida
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Merritt Island, FL US
4/23/2012 7:22pm Edited Date/Time 4/23/2012 7:24pm
Minicycle Action 1975! I got my first bike after pestering my parents to death! My Dad told me when I weighed 100 lbs, he'd buy me a bike. I ate bananas until I puked! 1975 Kawasaki MC90.

1979 got a used 1977 YZ100...

1980 got a used 1980 YZ125 and had my first race. Got lapped twice in a mud bath!

3rd race at Burnt Hickory in Dallas GA and finished 3rd! Raced almost every weekend until 1985 before focusing on college...

My Mom freaked when I quit high school football to race. It wasn't popular back then like it is today...

I waited every Friday for my weekly Cycle News to see how Hannah did...
pCp 252
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Hampden, MA US
4/23/2012 7:37pm
motocrossed the movie on the disney channel made me want a ride a dirt bike more than pre teen girls.
hokes4
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Yuba City, CA US
4/23/2012 7:42pm Edited Date/Time 4/23/2012 7:43pm
Started at the ripe old age of 26. I always wanted a dirtbike growing up, but we were too poor. I bought myself a brand new bike as a college graduation present and have been riding since. Going on almost 6 years now. Get smoked by everyone, but have fun doing it.
EastFlorida
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4/23/2012 7:43pm
hokes4 wrote:
Started at the ripe old age of 26. I always wanted a dirtbike growing up, but we were too poor. I bought myself a brand new...
Started at the ripe old age of 26. I always wanted a dirtbike growing up, but we were too poor. I bought myself a brand new bike as a college graduation present and have been riding since. Going on almost 6 years now. Get smoked by everyone, but have fun doing it.
Good for you! Stay with it...
4/23/2012 7:45pm
My uncle let me ride his xr70 when i was around 7 and i was hooked from there. Too bad i wasnt able to get my first bike till i was 14 years old.Sad
Tiki
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Fantasy
4/23/2012 7:51pm
When I was a wee lad, I saw this guy in Red White and Blue jump over some fountains in Las Vegas. I thought that looked cool; even though the guy looked like a rag doll, so my dad took me to some movie that was out called "On Any Sunday." Been hooked on two wheels ever since.

Dad was a F1 fan, (so am I.)
bigmoto
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Philadelphia, PA US
4/23/2012 8:30pm Edited Date/Time 4/23/2012 8:34pm
My uncle had had the silver tank yamaha mx 125 and would ride on the tank. Then at 6 got a yamaha jt 1 60. Then in1980 a yz 80. First race 1983 on a 82 cr 125. Then it was cr 250's from there on out. Raced 4stroke class on a trick xr 350.last bike raced was a new 96 rm 250. Then just rode on a 04 crf 450. During all these years riding was lucky enough to have a private track on familys farm. Track still in use for next gen. Even though I don't ride anymore. I feel lucky to have been part of it. Nothing like early Sunday morning loadin up and headin to the races.
chump6784
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AU
4/23/2012 9:20pm
Dad and my uncles all rode. At 6 dad bought me a peewee 80. When I got older he bought me an xr80 then an xr100. I was big into basketball but my knees weren't taking it as I was 12 and still growing so the doc told me I couldn't play anymore. Dad and mum took us boys to a local race one day and said do you want to do that? The next week the xr was gone and a kx 80 was in the shed.

raced a lot for the next six years then decided to quit to concentrate on my last year of school and I was just over it too, just wasn't fun anymore. Didn't ride a dirt bike for 10 years. had a stint on streetbikes but as mates started losing their licences I thought I should give them up. sold my streetbike, bought the missus a ring and myself a dirt bike. started racing again this year and love it
4/23/2012 10:42pm
I begged and begged for a bike from about 6 years old, but my parents were not financially able to get me one. When I was eleven my mom finished college and bought me a bike with her first paycheck at her new job. I remember how excited I was to get that bike, my dad took me out in the field and I had the hardest time learning to use the clutch, but got it down in the end.
ocscottie
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Redding, CA US
4/23/2012 11:03pm
A couple that lived in our same townhouse complex that were good friends w/ my parents. Glen and Brenda had 2 CZ's. i still can hear him start it for the 1st time and how apeshit i went! (i was prob 3 or 4yrs old) Wasnt long before they talked my dad into getting his 1st bike, i can still picture it, its was blue and an 'Eagle" or some shit?

I have told the story many times how my pop was a full blown Husky guy, his last one before my parents stopped riding and we (bro and i) got serious with racing was a Husky 390 Auto. Mom had some cool bikes like a badass Hodaka Dirt Squirt, we got her plastic Preston Petty fenders and a plastic tank for it xmas one year. Later on she had a really trick XR75 that we turned into our pit bike at the races. Growing up we went camping / riding every single weekend at Hollister, back when the Wosicks owned the store there. Later on my best friends dad owned if for a long time.

Ive posted this a million times, still love it, i got my start riding on the front of my dads Husky.

TDeath21
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Somewhere, MO US
4/23/2012 11:19pm
My dad has been a fan of the sport and has been riding since he was a teenager. He ran the Agency MX track here in Missouri for two years. I think in the Racer X vault you can find it, because I doubt anyone has ever heard of it. I guess that's where it all started.

Anyways, when I was 4, in 1995, I went to my first SX race. It was at Dallas and was a huge mudder. This is one of the first memories of my life. When I was 4 or 5 (can't remember), my dad said if I can ride my bike down the stairs without crashing, he'll buy me a 50. I did, and he did. I remember the first time I ever rode that thing. It was a quick loop around the drive way, but it was one of the greatest feelings ever. In 1996, my dad and I went to the first ever SX in St Louis (where Emig broke the streak), and haven't missed a race there since. We also go to Millville on occasion. Haven't been there since RC's last race though. As for my riding, I went from the 50, to the KX60, to the YZ125, to the RM250, then finally to the CR250 I have today. All two strokes of course.

MX isn't in my family at all. My dad, two of my cousins, and myself are the only ones that follow the sport and ride. Everyone else in the family thought the bike did all of the work until we explained to them how far out that theory actually is.
jndmx
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South Kingston, RI US
4/24/2012 3:28am Edited Date/Time 4/24/2012 3:30am
I rode trail bikes and some moto with friends as a kid growing up.
We had 6 kids in the family and were basically poor so buying a bike was not an option.
A friend of mines dad took me with them to the races a few times and signed me up as his kid......lol.

My son was born in 95 and I took him to watch a local race when he was 3......that was all he talked about.
I mean that was Alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll he talked about.....lol.
We watched races local and national and the early FMX vids, it was all he wanted to do....he was that Honda commercial come to life.......lol.

Got him a PW50 when he was 6 and he has been riding since then, racing since 2004
It has given me a chance to see my son grow up and spend time together as father and son, wouldn't change it for anything.
Feint
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Leominster, MA US
4/24/2012 3:49am
My dad is in to anything with a motor. I first had a 50cc Suzuki atv when I was about 3. Then I got a PW50(I think) at about 5 and had that for a while. I was probably about 10 when I got a DS80, which was also my last bike. My parents split up not long after and we never really had the time to ride. Back when I was 10 or 11 I rode a tw200 around the driveway...could barely reach the pegs. Would love to get a bike now if I could afford it. All I have ridden in the last 15 years is a dr650 up the driveway once last year.
danman
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Readstown, WI US
4/24/2012 8:38am
Here's one for the great Uncle award:

My mom and dad divorced when I was 4. It wasn't pretty. My mom used to take me to my Aunt(my dad's sister) house while she went to work because they have a son that is one year younger than me. Well, my cousin and I were basically brothers since I spent so much time over there and they treated me pretty much like one of their sons. My uncle was a total gear head and was majorly into cars and bikes. He got my cousin into riding at age 5 and for the most part it was just riding and competing in hill climbing. Well, at about 12 they started inviting me to go along with and watching. I would get to ride his bikes around a field now and again, but that was it. At 14, my uncle asked me if I would like him to but a bike for me to ride, but it was under one condition. He has always made extra money by buying bikes, fixing them, and reselling them. The deal, he bought me a 1982 RM125 in decent shape, but did need some work. My cousin and I had to totally take it apart(without splitting the cases) clean it, paint the frame(back when they had steel frames), and put it all back together greasing it.
He paid $260 for that bike, I rode it for 2 years and he sold it for $400. Then he bought me another one to repeat the process. When I turned 17, I bought the bike from him and have been riding since. I still talk to them more than my own parents and it's not that I don't like my parents, I just have more in common with my Aunt/Uncle.
I owe them more than I could ever repay them. I am the youngest of my mom's 5 kids and the only one that graduated from high school. I went on to get a Bachelor's degree, got married, and now have 2 boys that love to ride. I attribute it all to being at their house pretty much every day!
Teej317
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Colstrip, MT US
4/24/2012 9:11am
Family moved away from the city life when I was 9 years old and we settled down in the countryside of North Dallas. My dad noticed that our neighbor's kid had a bike and thought it would be a good idea to get me one now that we had some acreage. One day my dad picked up an old Yamaha 100 enduro on his way home...it was way too big and scared the hell out of me. I took a few tumbles and didn't want anything to do with it. That next Christmas I was blessed with a brand new TT-R 90 that fit me just right. Over the next two years, I fell in love with the sport. Seeing local pros like Scotty Wennerstrom and Charlie Bogard really drove the sport home for me and I haven't looked back since...
Underdog999
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Kalaheo, HI US
4/24/2012 9:18am Edited Date/Time 4/24/2012 10:27am
My stepson, Bryce Vallee, took it up on his own when he was about 8. He loved it. His mom took him to races. As time went on I saw how much fun he was having.

One thing led to another, and 2 years ago, at the ripe old age of 48, this crazy old "gidget surfer girl" decided to ride. I have gone from a ttr 125, to a Honda 150RB, and am now riding an '05 YZ125 and a '06 KX250. Been riding for 2 years now and I have fallen in love with riding!

So, you can say, I did it backwards!
Shawn142
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Burleson, TX US
4/24/2012 10:00am
My Dad raced off-road before and after I was born. At 4 he bought me a PW50 and we went to the MX track since it was more kid friendly. As my interest grew we pretty much stuck with MX. Here we are 26 years later and I still ride every weekend. My Dad still does too at the age of 58. He can still win the O/40 class.

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