Where does your motorcycle passion comes from?

Had this on the old forum a while back with very little or no reaction so I deleted the thread……let’s see how it will do here

There is one common denominator here…….a machine on two wheels.

It sure would be interesting to learn how it all came to be.

Was it friends, the freedom, the need for speed, traffic congestion, the rebel in you or maybe something completely different that steered you down the motor cycle path.

Let’s be a bit nostalgic and share a glimpse of the past, that past that let you became a biker…..or a motor cyclist if you want.

Don’t be shy and share your story, after all, we are all like minded here……maybe a bit out of the main stream but we all share a love for bikes.

Well for me, it has been there as long as I can remember. I cannot pinpoint a specific event that catapulted me into bikes. Perhaps when I was a baby riding those little black motorbikes, that I think every kid in SA grew up with, it had an effect on my subconscious.

Needless to say I started riding bikes very young and have not looked back since then. It started with offroad bikes and that is where my main passion still lies. However, anything with 2 wheels will do and even when I had the Zongshen I still loved to ride.

Its one of those things that you cannot explain to other people unless they too are passionate about motorcycles. I hope to have the passion burn until such time as I can no longer swing my leg over a bike.

Morpheus

My story is simple:
For me it was a yearning since I was in high school and only my brother was allowed to have a bike - Suzuki 50, then a Suzuki 100 and he still rides his Suzuki 750 (oh, that greeny look in his eyes..)
I met my husband in varsity and I must admit that the Honda Hawk 400 and the red Alfa Export contributed to the initial attraction
Unfortunately he sold his bike after his younger brother was killed in a tragic motorcycle accident. The loss of his brother was a big one and neither one of us ever mentioned the word motorcycle . . until the ..

ermm okay okay let's call it by the name: Midlife crisis hit me and all I wanted was a motorbike!

To avoid 'domestic violence', and being the level headed person he is, Marius suggested that the BMW Club will be the best environment for me and also suggested that I buy the BMW F650GS. I happily agreed and got my first bike 3 years ago. Deep end in - with a learner's lisence on the Club's first trip to Mozambique - and the bug bit big time. The rest you all know... He got his 1200GS a year later, we got involved in the Club, oh yes and I recently upgraded to the beautiful 800GS and we enjoy every minute on and off our bikes.

First I was to young, my brother met the road on his Honda Gold Wing(or somthing like that) All bikes was banned and all upheavals was met with dads leather belt. I was always the guy with the envy in the eye.
On a tender age of 42 about a month ago there was a family revolt. I decided that dad is old and will never be able to carry out his threats. The result is my first bike Red F650GS. Eish what fun and freedom. The wind at 120 (yeah right) feels much differnt than in my cage. Shoul have done this twenty years ago.
Dad is not even mad He is already joking of buying his own. Hope not, with his driving skills.........eish. He was a racing driver in his prime. The problem is he still thinks he is. EISH.


According to my "ex" it is midlife crises. According to me I should have rather married the bike.

This is a great thread, thanks for starting it MadnohB.

Well my inspiration for bike riding is simple. On a personal level I find that I am inspired by the actions of others. That is why I only read non-fiction books.

I bought my F650GS to commute to work and for no other reason. Then I got an e-mail form a friend with a link to some trip reports. Once I read all these reports, I was hooked, I was inspired, and addicted.

I post these same links below, PLEASE, take the time and read them. Some of them are a bit long, but like a good book, once you start reading, you cannot stop.
I am sure that some of you might have read some of the reports before, but read them again !!

Lesotho
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124550&highlight=transkei

Namibia - Kaokoland
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134368

Southern African Loop
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219879&highlight=mozmalzambots

Transkei
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121705

Angola
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269251



This is what makes me ride my GS, fall off my GS, and what makes me free.

Enjoy

Great read so far

Each story special in it's own right.......

Morpheus - born biker
BMW - mlc (don't feel alone...a fairly big % of us are in the same boat)
Henk - spite???, mlc
Sharkie - to commute and then there was a spark

keep them coming........

When very young an uncle of mine had a bike - cant remenber what it was - might have been a beemer - but always went for rides on it. During the early 1970'S the Buffalo Rally was normally held in Port Elizabeth and all an sundry lined the streets to whatch the Mass-Ride. Suppose i got hooked there.

Started riding in 1974 - roughly 14 years of age, got my license 2 years later, and have been riding since then with a 10 year interlude after selling my Honda 900 Bol d'Orr and buying my first Boxer. Except for said 10 years, the bike as always been my primary mode of transport, and even though i commute 5 days a week, I still look forward to and thouroughly enjoy biking over the weekends with Elsabe. More detail to follow shortly in the Who's who thread.

A picture is worth a 1000 words . . .

Guess who that little guy is in the pic ! Yes with ALL THAT HAIR !
Don't mock - it was the fashion then !
Look at the car registration in the bottom right corner. Yes, TRG . . . this car registration was as hated as the CY registration ! In the days were TJ was JHB, TRG was Randburg, and the most wanted - TSN - was SANDTON ! The mayor of JHB had TJ-1 .
As a youngster, the biggest thrill was to see the latest BMW bikes at the German Pavillion at the Rand Easter Show in Milpark, Johannesburg. I think that's where my love of bikes began. And look what I am riding today !

Absolutely amazing...........this one is.......well it's good.

Thank you so much for sharing.

While we take a trip down memory lane let's see if we can indentify the cars, but lets make it interesting. There are 6 clearly identifiable (sort off) cars in the picture. Each member name just one car

1. Ford Capri - Back f.l.t.r. 3rd car (brownish/bronze)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

ps. was this photo taken with a digital camera.....a small one?

Valiant. My father's favourite. He must have owned 5 of them

Oi, play nice

While we take a trip down memory lane let's see if we can indentify the cars, but lets make it interesting. There are 6 clearly identifiable (sort off) cars in the picture. Each member name just one car

1. Ford Capri - Back f.l.t.r. 3rd car (brownish/bronze) - MadnobB
2. Valiant - Front f.l.t.r -last car (white) -deonp
3.
4.
5.
6.

Sorry, I grew up with those cars. Most of which I could actually identify by sound as well . No Beetles there.

deonp wrote:Sorry, I grew up with those cars. Most of which I could actually identify by sound as well . No Beetles there.

no problem with you answering......but get in step with the program sign on the line man

What about the one bhind the Ford Capri - Also some Ford

Yip, we had one exactly like that..........but let's leave it for someone else to list

Ford 20 M

Uncle had many of them as well
Sorry, only mastered the pic thing recently - dont know how to add to the line.
I think TRG is a JAG
Could be a Morris or a Fiat behind me.
Ok that's me done !

deonp wrote:Sorry, only mastered the pic thing recently - dont know how to add to the line.

ever heard of copy and paste and one car per member Mr centerstand

1. Morris or Fiat - Back f.l.t.r 1st car - deonp.........any takers?
2. Ford Escort - Back f.l.t.r - 2nd car - Wahl
3. Ford Capri - Back f.l.t.r. 3rd car (brownish/bronze) - MadnobB
4. Ford 20M - Back f.l.t.r last car - deonp......might be a 17M as well
5. Jaguar - Front f.l.t.r 1st car - deonp ........but where is the bonnet badge?
6. Valiant - Front f.l.t.r -last car (white) -deonp

Sorry, couldn't resist !

Oh . . . COPY and PASTE . . . great concept. Will try next time !

Yes, could be a Ford 17M - I agree.

Don’t have such a striking picture as deonp but I do have a story to tell (anyway, that picture will be hard to beat........brilliant Deon)



Way back , and I mean way back – think it was the year Paul Kruger played prop for Diggers - when I was a little boy (8 year old), I was very often waiting till midnight on weekends so that I can sneak out of the house. And it was easy, simply jump out the window, no bb’s in that time – bb, imo, btw…… boy I love these acronyms – anyway bb use to stand for burglar bars before it had something to do with sleep and eat.

The sole purpose of this excursion was to go and sit outside the house of a biker – and a rough and tough one he was.....a miner – and wait for him to return home after the night’s “kuier” at the Tivoly hotel. (was a “plattelandse dorp” with only one hotel). I had to walk 2 km one way to get there. Now back to the wait – I was only there to catch a brief look at his 750 Honda and to listen to the sound, think he had a four-into-one Kerker pipe, when he returns home “blink gedrink en lus vir rev”........he never even noticed me. That was an adrenalin rush of note and my weekend “fix”.

Now bear in mind, in our house we were not allowed to think about a motorcycle let alone talk about one or even worse, sneak out to go and watch one. The penalty would have been severe if caught but the reward was big enough so I took my chances.

Eight years went by and the dreams remained. After working at a gas station part time for two years in order to be able to afford a bike, I bought my first bike – a Honda Chappie little 50cc mini bike for R 350.00 (second hand) which had to be stored at a friend to hide it from my family.

Years later, it just so happened that I ended up marrying the niece of this very same guy I used to go and watch at night…..life sometimes has funny ways

MadnohB, I can imagine the little boy waiting for those revs to pick up.. it's in the blood eh?

I see you guys were playing 'name the cars' .. well done!
Not that I can tell if you're right or wrong!

BMW wrote:Not that I can tell if you're right or wrong!

don't be shy now ......oh wait,think you saw right through the trap.......the pure fact that we were able to name the cars was a dead give away of age

let me take a guess on the year model of the takers......I would say between 1955 and 1965????

Can't see the pic of the cars, but my dad had a red dodge when we came to RSA, looked the same as the Valiant if you didn't have a keen eye

Back to the post, since I can remember there were bikes in the family. My dad had bikes, when we stayed in TRG and I was starting school he strapped me to him to ensure I don't fall off the Z1000 on the brekkie to Stywe Lyne. The competition at the time had the GS750, mostly in red although there was a blue one as well. Used to go to 4-ways, there was a filling station, not musch else, take out the baffles, leave it in the veld ... some dices underneath the bridge on the Krugersdorp highway ..

My older sisters's boyfriends and later husbands all had bikes, so did their friends, so did my cousins, AR50, AR 80, old Zundapps, CX500, Goldwings, XS-elevens etc. My borther in law had a GPZ 750 turbo when I was in Standard 8, blew the turbo and bought himself a Honda Benley 105cc delivery bike (without top-box) to use while his boney was fixed, so that became my first bike ...

Used varsity student loan to buy a GPZ 750 until it was stolen, didn't ride for 10 years (girlfriend, kids, the whole catastrophy)... Eventually bought the S a few years ago ..

Joe, thanks for your post!
To see the picture of the cars, you have to go the first page of this thread, click on the little block with the 1 - to the right of your screen (top or bottom of main page).
Happy posting!

What great stories !
Thanks Jamie for the compliment !

That's also why I love Cars in the Park. To see all those old cars, many of which my folks owned over the years.
As I mentioned before, my father loved the Valiant. The front drivers seat and front passenger seat was 1 seat, like a bench. Couples never sat on either side of the car like we do today, but the passenger sat right next to the driver ! Will try and find a pic.
I will have to post a pic of one of my father's Valiants ( if Dani will allow) and then I promise to talk about bikes again.

Fantastic stories !