It was my uncle Francesco in Italy that got me into bikes. I use the term loosely as he has one of these (he bought it in 1967 and he still has it and rides it now)
My first bike....Got kicked out at 18, skint, lived in a bedsit - it was taking me 90 mins per day to walk to work and my boss at the time agreed to be guarantor (if that's how you spell it) for a bike (MTX125). I think within about 90 seconds of being on it I was hooked...only to be compounded by the fact that when I went down town one night a lad said "give us 10 quid and ill make it go faster...." he filed the washer out of the front of the exhaust and I was then hanging on to it....that was the catalyst for just liking bikes to being fanatical....
For me, and I know this is a bit cliche as we are on a Ducati forum but it was when I was 13 and my dad took me to thruxton, the first time I heard the RedBull Ducati's I couldn't believe the noise, I was hooked from there! Had a moped at 16, was a great bit of kit, and then an RS125 and things got better from there!
bougt my Dad WSB tickets for fathers day in '99, wasnt the slightest bit interested in bikes up til then, but hooked immediately thereafter caught sight of a few 748's in the car park and thought yep, thats the very fellow for me (still dont own one mind)
1970. I was riding around on old nails (Francis Barnett/James/Honda 50 etc...) and my mate rolled up on a brand spanking Duc 250 (iirc). Fell in love (with the Duc, not my mate) and from that point a Duc was on my dream list. .......4 kids, 2 marriages, working my buns off in strange places around the world and 40 years later .... I did it. 6 years on and I still LOVE it. It'll be in my will for some lucky bugger BTW...my Mate fell off his 2 weeks later and trashed it and himself :Arghh:
Note that many of these involve Dad's which is nice ! Always been fascinated & loved bikes from a very young age (I'm only 25 now) I used to run around playgrounds at infant/junior school (apparently) on my pretend Fireblade/R1/Blackbird which tended to be my invisible bike of choice whilst most of the other boys were pretending to be Power Rangers or something. Remember getting my first bike for Christmas one year, it was a Puch 50 that my Dad had secretly spent months and many man hours doing up in a friend of ours racing workshops. I was ecstatic! Needless to say I thought that little Puch was the best thing since sliced bread. Used to ride it around the Paddocks and offroad courses/rally stages at Brands as a kid whilst my Dad watched me fall off - many times lol. Great memories I'll never forget. Been around and involved in motorsport all my life. Anything with an engine will always be a massive thing for me.
Me and my Bro have been bike sluts. Go into them on the farm as very young kids (under 9). So I think is was some sort of small trials bike, then a converted* Puch moped. *So it looked like a Ducati Scrambler.
For me it all started on a little italjet dirt bike that used to be my uncles when he was young. Used to ride it around my aunties garden and on the fields behind when I was 6 up until I was about 11 when I was too big for it Same as that one but in red.
My dad bought a house and in the cellar were two NSU quicklys. After many hours together we managed to make one work. At 16 I loved the independence. My mates at the time were on fs1e's and SS 50... Mine had pedals!! Still have a hankering for the two stroke blue smoke! Hooked.
For me.. Part owned a Honda Cub aged 10, no exhaust little bodywork etc we used to stubble track it around the local fields often chased by Farmers.. I'm dam sure one night by accident (sorry) we set light to such a field as our pride and joy was a bit of a flame thrower ( bearing in mind stubble burning was common back then ) Next was a Yam FSIE which was constantly being modified with the desperate, yet floored hope of it reaching the magic 50 mph.. My tuning skills couldn't have been Upto much as it never did.. Then a Brand new Yam RD250, silver with the famous coffin tank.. It nearly managed to put me in one as I hit A saloon Morris Marina at approx 80mph on Mile End Road Colchester as the driver just pulled out in front of me, leaving no option, but the plough into the side of it route. Woke up later in hospital with my toes on one leg suddenly finding the ability to scratch my own back.. Smashed pelvis along with a few other bits and spleen removed etc.. Police said considering, you say you were only doing 30 mph you did a rather fine job of converting that Marina from a saloon, into a convertible.. Next RM Suzuki 125 motorcrosser which I used again on Farmers fields and even around country lanes although it was not at all road legal.. Twice chased by those in Blue and several times by those wearing flat caps and Barber wax jackets.. Then a gap until I fell in love with the 955 Ducatis of Hodgson Hizzy and Emitt at Snetterton BSB.. That was it... Blinkered by the beautiful Bologna Bullets.. I guess you could say I've finally matured and have grown up now, at last! .. ! Not......
I've ridden bikes since leaving school (a BLOODY long time ago),ranging from DR650s to Bandit 1200,and even had a Z1-A,but for Ducati it was in 2010 at Silverstone......tyre testing for Dunlop,the Sportsmart and D211.We had various bikes with said tyres fitted.My first session out was a 1100 Monster,second session Speed Triple,third and fourth 796 Hypermotard,never had so much fun on a bike,and even now still has the grin factor!!
this must have been around 1962'ish and was our only transport, the roof of the sidecar when open enabled me to stand on the front seat (had two seats in tandem) and experience that first rush of the motorcycle drug, I was hooked, it's me and my sister.
Easy Rider lit my fire. Started to build a triumph T100 pre unit rigid w 12 over forks at night school. Never finished it and swapped it for a Triumph unit 500 that I never rode. Passed my test on a scooter 5 years later and bought a brand new 750 bonnie with a bank loan.
My love affair started in about 1967/8 when my dad was going through a box of old cine films he had shot years before.He rigged up an old bedsheet on dining room wall and we watched a 1960 cine film of John Surtees winning the "race of nations" on a 500cc MV Augusta at Monza and beating Mike Hailwood.This was just before he tried his hand at a bit of F1 racing!What a rider,what a driver,what a man - total legend! When my old dad passed away in the mid seventies some bloody idiot slung the whole box of about 50 reels of super 8 - gutted
Bike madness when I was about 2 and my uncle (like a big brother really) used to stick me on his and take me around the block, not looked back since Ducati fandom 1998 with Foggy winning WSBK and really wanted one from then, got my first ariund 2002 and had about 12 since
started for me hanging around with other lads in my village who had bikes and getting the odd ride on the field bikes hooked ever since I was about 11 and got hooked on ducati's since finding a picture of a 500 sport in one of my dads books aged 12 odd it looked great amongst the rest of the bikes in the book ok i know better that the 500 is not the most loved ducati but still loved the looks so much I have one and it reminds me of my dad so there
